Atlantic Ridge Preserve - The Seventh Visit

 

We waited until the dry season (winter) before returning to Atlantic Ridge Preserve. Maybe we should have waited longer! We've had an abnormally rainy winter, and while these trails were a bit dryer than last time, we still got our feet wet in several places. In fact, for a large portion of this hike, we were wading through knee-to-thigh deep water! 

Our route took us from the parking area past Post #3 to just before Post #7 where we continued east to Post #9,

From there we headed north to Post #13, where we encountered our first water-covered trails, and then east to Post #14.

After that we were almost continually wading through water!

We eventually turned west again and found some dry ground.

However, that didn't last long, and the blog slog continued.

This is the stretch I actually measured - 31" deep.

Eventually, we made it to the intersection that took us south to Post #8, then #5, and out of the water (for the most part).

One last turn west at an unmarked intersection, and we retraced our steps past Post #3 to our car, for a total of 8.24 miles in 4 hours.

The goal for today's hike was to follow the north/east boundary of the park and we accomplished it. The far eastern side was all under water; the western trails were mostly dry. All that's left now is the northwest corner!

Oh, and there must have been a golf course on the other side of the boundary fence. There's Wayne trying to hit a golf ball to me. We decided to pick up the "litter" we found to help clean up the state park. Some of these may come in handy if we ever play the Black Desert Golf Course again!