Sunday, April 11, 2010

My Hike At Island Lake

Today I have more scenery pictures for you. Normally pictures like these would end up being seen by my eyes only. This top picture shows a strong downward slope on the trail. It's something that I've never been able to capture before. I've felt bad until now that it might not be seen by anyone but me.

Before I go on with my story I want to mention the fact that I haven't been able to visit your blogs much the past two days. It's the same reason I'm not showing a few things here that I want to right now. I'm having a problem with limited time because of interference from the outside world right now. This happens every once in a while right now. I hope to remedy this soon, but I just don't know what's going to happen.

Going out to see nature and reading your blogs goes a long way towards giving me the kind of relaxation that each of us desperately needs. It's a huge problem when I can't do them both. I'm able to write for a total of three blogs when I have even a small amount of time. But without that time, I have to pull myself back a bit. Writing is easy and fun when I have the time, so I try to at least get that much in. So for now, I'll bring you this beautiful scenery.

This place is the beginning of a trail that is full of pine trees. All of that green gives it a feel as if spring is already here. The orange looking color on the ground is a blanket of pine needles that have dried from being there so long. The time of year makes all of these colors brightly pop out.

I didn't see any animals on this particular trail, but I heard them all through here as I walked along. There were birds of so many different types. I'm not good at identifying birds by their sounds, no matter how much I try, but I can tell when I'm hearing different kinds. There were very many different kinds. It was an absolutely beautiful sound.

Here's a clearing at the edge of the trail I was on. I was in the woods looking out. Even though you can't see them, there are several trails on the other side of this clearing. Each trail goes off in another direction into the forest. There were only so many hours in the day, so I could only travel the one I was on. I'll be back there hopefully soon. I need to find those noisy animals.

I wasn't going to include this last picture because I like to keep it to three. It's one of my favorite pictures, but it also shows the parking lot. I don't usually like showing things like that in my nature pictures. But this might give you an idea of how peaceful even the parking lots are at Island Lake Park. If you search a bit, you can even see a little bit of my truck in the picture.

This is such a nice relaxing place. It has helped me to just write this post. Tomorrow is the beginning of the week, and I'll bring you the earlier promised squirrel pictures. I'm going to do it in a different way than I ever have before. Some of you will like it and some of you won't. The squirrel's behavior is all worth it though. This was a very amusing squirrel. See you then!

14 comments:

  1. these are lovely photos and a lovely trail Ratty, I love to go on hikes like this myself where there is nothing but myself and nature around.....going back to simple roots is the best therapy in the world.

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  2. Take a minute to smell the beautiful air and take in the unbelievable scenery. The rest will take care of itself.

    Bill:www.wildramblings.com

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  3. I just hate it when the outside world interferes with my enjoyment. You got some great pictures and it looks like a very peaceful place to clear the mind and heal the soul. However you choose to present the squirrel is okey dokey with me :)

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  4. My human has been at a conference this weekend called BlogPaws (it's for pet bloggers - she even got to speak!) and it was hard for me to get online since she took the laptop with her! So it's been hard for me to visit and post this weekend too. I will have to give her a piece of my mind when she gets back.

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  5. I was wondering if you were going to burn out trying to do three blogs! But I also know that writing and taking nature photos is therapy for you, like it is for me. ha
    Don't feel guilty for not reading blogs....all of us take that break when we need to...never have blogging a burden to you...it will take away all the fun.
    We will soon be going back to Florida to meet our new grandson who is due any
    day now, and I will be reading and writing less then too....life has it's priorities!!

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  6. I always feel so zen after I visit you and look at the pictures you take. They are always so beautiful. Please don't feel like you must limit it to just 3.

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  7. Awesome pictures, Ratty! Wish you a great and relaxing Sunday.

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  8. Really nice pictures!! I like them!

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  9. It is good to see the greenery start to bloom from colorless season :)

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  10. Ratty- I've been to Island Lake. When I had time to drive out there from A2, it was the BEST place to feel like I really could get away from grad school. My final couple of years there were stressful as I fell into a deeper pit of political error with my department. The trail was long enough and isolated enough that I really felt like I was in the woods again. A2 had more trails than almost any city I know, and I think I might have hiked them all. They were great. But Island Lake was out there in a different world.

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  11. Those third and fourth shots leave me breathless. That is my kind of spot to contemplate, read and write. I am so used to having free time that when the outside world interferes it's like I become another person.

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  12. Your hiking trails look great as long as there are trees around.

    It must be very difficult to keep up with three blogs. Cheers!

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  13. You're right, it is difficult to show sloping ground in a photo.It usually doesn't work for me, but you did a great job in that first picture.

    Hooray for spring weather. It's warm and sunny here in east central Minnesota too, at last. Plants are popping up in the prairie in anticipation of having their portraits taken.

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  14. beautiful pictures, i can imagine how wonderful the hike is, yes, i too a lot of the times have difficulty showing the slope in the photo.

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