TTA Long Hunter Day Loop

Craig McBride, Sara Pollard, Roy Duncan, Rebekah Norman, Jennifer Zahn, and Hilda Vaughn did the 4 mile Long Hunter Day Loop.  They have put up a new Kiosk and now have a new trailhead.

We enjoyed the beautiful sights and sounds of nature.  There were a lot of people out hiking and trail running this morning.  We took a snack break at the point with the bench and Roy filled us in with some great information of the Percy Priest Lake.  There were lots of boats out and many were heading to the party cove.
 
We got to see a rat snake which remained calm until the dog wanted to check it out.  Then the snake said to leave him alone.  It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of good fellowship.

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Long Hunter State Park

Couchville Lake Trail 2.0
Day Loop Trail 4.0
Volunteer Trail 5.5

Lora and I hiked at Long Hunter State Park today. We started out with the Couchville Lake Trail, which is a paved two mile trail around the Couchville lake. Every time I have been on this trail I have seen deer. The deer are not scared of people and usually just watch you go by. This is the first time I have hiked here that the lake was frozen over. Someone had actually drove some type of vehicle out on the ice. I'm not sure how that went as the tracks just stop out in the middle. This two mile trail passes by sinkholes, through hardwood forest, and crosses the lake on a 300 foot bridge.

After hiking the Couchville trail we headed over to the Day Loop and hiked it. The weather was warming up and the trail is beautiful. We stopped and had a snack on the bench overlooking the lake. When we got to the split where the Volunteer Trail comes in, we decided it was early enough that we could hike down towards the campground. We passed our first hiker on the way out towards the camp. We stopped along the lake shore and ate lunch. After lunch we hiked on to about two miles shy of the campground. Here we got to listen to a couple of Barred owls talking to each other. There were numerous different birds to see including some blue birds.

We turned and headed back. On the way out we past seven backpackers that were going to spend the night. We finished the Day Loop on the way out to the car.

This is a beautiful park to hike.

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