Today I decided to check out the Nature Trail of Stewart Peninsula.   I parked in the same place that you would park for Shoreline Trail off of North Colony.  I then walked a little way up the road, crossed over where one residential road dead ends into North Colony, crossed the road and then headed to Stewart Park proper.

I first stopped by the pay station.  The woman was working on her Seduku; I hated to interrupt.  I asked if I needed to pay an entrance fee since I was walking in.  Luckily the answer was no, but she still looked at me oddly.  So off I went before she changed her mind.

I walked past a very nice camper where obviously someone from Park & Recreation actually live on the premises.  I continued walking west and finally came to a cement block building.  Just past it was the trail head for the nature walk.  Within a couple of feet, this greated me:

You know what’s wrong with this?  Freakin’ nothing!  This is a great hike.  Deep woods, hiking on wood chipped trails.  There is evidence of past fires and blow downs (trees that had fallen) so occasionally I had to step over them….

It was a great hike…and you’re shaded by trees the whole way!

On the way back I found a side trail and figured I’d follow it.  I wasn’t disappointed.

Another view of the path…I really liked this place.  It’s probably about one mile round trip.  This is the type of hike you don’t mind lingering a little longer than usual.

Finally it was time to head back when I found these two taking advantage of both the shade and breeze we had today.

Almost back to the truck, close to a small almost hidden creek I came across these holes.  I think these are probably crawdad holes.  At least that’s what I call ’em.  I think others call them “mud bugs”.

And before we get to the real exciting part of this day, lets have a look at the stats:

Miles: 2.13

Duration: 47:34

Pace per Mi: 22:17 (I told you I took my time on this one!)

Calories: 295 (really?  That’s it?  With the temperature being in the upper 80s and humidity at 45% to 50%, surely I burned up more than that!?!)

Elevation: 374 ft

So…the “fun” part.  So I wore my usual hiking boots, but this time I opted for smart wool socks.  They provide better padding and pull moisture away from my foot.  I had the usual compression shorts along with my mountain pants.  Since we haven’t done laundry, I was out of lightweight breathable shirts, so I opted for a cotton t-shirt.  I slathered on my 50spf sunscreen and headed off.

Once I got home, I started stripping.  The first to come off were the t-shirt and my bra when I hear L say “OMG Honey!  What happened?” I turned around and said “What?”.  L says “Your back…have you seen it?  Go look in the mirror!”

My first thought, was chiggers.  But chiggers typically are down low…they’d be around my ankles and calves.  Mosquito bites?  But why only on my back?  My arms, face, neck front and legs are all fine and show none of this!

So the t-shirt got thrown into the garage and I got thrown in the shower.  We used a combination of anti-bacterial soap and tea tree oil.  I’ll save it for another post, but I love tea tree oil.  That stuff is the bomb and is fantastic for wound care!  I can’t say enough good things and goodness knows with my known issues of injuring myself, it’s gone above and beyond the call of duty.

So…if you want to play a game of “Guess what’s eating me” feel free to leave it in the comments.  In the meantime I sit and wait.  So far no itching…but I’m guessing I’m going to have to figure out something other than a cotton t-shirt next time!