West Prong Trail

Typically, Jay and I gravitate toward longer, more epic hikes. We make a day of it, and push ourselves to our physical limits. This past weekend, however, we switched it up a bit. I went to church Sunday morning, and Jay had to work. He didn't get home until a little before 3PM. Without much time to devote to high mileage, we settled on a shorter trail.

Bote Mountain Trail doesn't really have anything special at the end, but does cross through a really pretty camp site. I had forgotten, but he and I did this trail one other time - him carrying fishing gear and me with a book.

The trail is an uphill both ways hike, which truly makes it easier. The steepest part of the climb is in the first mile. Then it gradually descends into the campground. Of course that does mean a bit of an incline for the return but nothing challenging.

Sunday was one of the warmest days we've had so far this spring, so we ran into several different hiking parties on the trail. Thankfully we had the campsite to ourselves to kick back and relax.

We took a few minutes to catnap, look for fish, and enjoy the sound of the water.

On the way out, we had noticed a side trail - the trail description said it went to a cemetery, so we decided to explore it on the way back. We were just short of having 4 miles total and this detour would be a good way to make that up.

Turns out, its a through path, so we still ended up with just under 4 miles (3.75 once i walked around in the parking lot for 0.05 to round up to the nearest quarter). Our total hiking time was under an hour and twenty minutes (moving time). Not bad for an impromptu Sunday stroll!