Our first hike - Trinity Trail (7 mi)

We know that we must get in shape for the 10-day backpacking trip to Philmont. We must also break in our boots. So we have decided to start by taking some hiking trips. Last year I purchsed the book "60 Hikes within 60 Miles" of the Dallas Fort Worth area. It is nice because it is arranged in a number of different ways - location, duration, difficulty, etc. I took a look and found a moderate hike of 3.1 miles at Lake Lavon. It is called the Trinity Trail.

The Trinity Trail is an Equestrian and Hiking Trail that goes from Brockdale park on the north to East Fork Park on the south. The total trail is 9 miles. The "60 Hikes" book shows a 3.1 mile loop from Brockdale park that uses the trail out then a path along the lake back. Here is info on it a trails.com http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=XMR018-035

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Saturday we woke up early and headed out to the trail head. The GPS in the car was good in getting us to Brockdale park. We arrived in the parking lot at about 8:50 am. There was a horse trailer with 2 horses being unloaded. Otherwise the parking lot was empty.

We set out on our hike at 9 am. The boys posed next to the entry sign. We had our boots, camelbacks and protective gear.

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The sky was overcast and the temperature was in the high 60s. The hike was just as described in the book. Alot of grassland and some trees, and a view of the lake every so often. The terrain was varied, so it wasn't so boring (at least for me). The boys talked most of the time, but did complain they were bored.

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I enjoyed what we saw on the trail. There were birds that we mostly saw, but didn't hear. There wasn't many types of trees, mostly Juniper and Bois'darc. We also saw quite a bit of skat with rabbit fur. Reminds us this is wilderness. I was able to take some nice photos that I have uploaded in my picassa web, so check them out http://picasaweb.google.com/KarenPlanoPics/Jan3TrinityTrail?authkey=EQaTAEJ3Moc&feat=directlink

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The loop trail was 3.1 miles, but I wanted us to hike 5 miles. So, I gave the boys a choice to hike out 2.5 miles and then back over the same trail, or to add on a mile out and back and take the loop. They didn't want to make a decision, and so I decided to add the mile out and back to the loop. The mile that was added to the loop was mostly a flat equestrian trail. We met two sets of horse riders. Boy did we feel small walking past them.

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We got back to where the loop should have taken us near the water's edge. It was hard to tell since the lake had receded a bit. It was neat to see the clam shells and the growth that used to be under the lake. We never did find the proper trail outlined in the book, so ended up walking back on the trail that we came on. All in all, we hiked 7 miles.

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We got back to the car and were all starved so we stopped at Sonic in Whylie on the way home.

Oliver and I were whiped, but was mostly due to allergies. Alex had a pain in the bottom of his foot. He is flat footed, and so I will plan to get him some arch inserts. Oliver had no foot problems. My boots which I will not be wearing to Philmont caused me ankle problems. I can't wait to get my new boots.

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Not bad for our first outing. We are already planning our next trip.