Wednesday, June 4, 2014 at 7:34 AM

4.62 miles
Blakely Park

Start: 73°/ FL 73° 90% Humidity
Finish:83°/ FL 90° 71% Humidity

This was really an adventure! We walked at Blakely Park again, but this time we searched out the Jackson Spring trail.  This eventually led us to the Old Blakely Town and down to the river boardwalk. We took advantage of the picnic table at the boardwalk to sit and sip some water and nuts, knowing that there aren't many sitting places on these trails.

From the boardwalk, we went in directions we had never been before and were surprised to find a slight elevation change. The map only showed it to be 150 feet, but it seemed like much more. The trail wound up and around Jackson Springs (I suppose that's what it was) and the recent rains made it a flowing little spring. At one point we lost the trail (these trails are poorly marked when they are marked) and had to trace our way back.

We tried a different approach to mosquito management this walk. Our son, Noah, gave us some Skin-So-Soft that they use in the Marine Corps, and I was amazed at how well it worked. I was also amazed at how oily it was, but it did make my skin feel very soft. I still had the problem of being bitten (bombed is probably a better description considering how these mosquitoes attacked me) where my clothes were. I tried spraying insect spray on my clothes, but it didn't seem to help. So once again I have huge red whelps on my thighs and find myself uncontrollably scratching the horrendous itch they cause.

I was very glad I had brought the Frogg Togg because I had to wrap it around my head, covering my ears to keep the insects (it seemed they were the size of hummingbirds) from flying into my ears.

This walk was quite intense with its ups and downs. Even though it was early in the morning it was already hot, which only added to the workout.

After our walk we went to the Rouse's in Spanish Fort to eat lunch at their hot bar and had the nicest surprise. Their bakery was giving a "sample". . . it was a whole, huge, petite four and it was absolutely delicious. I guess that was sort of our "Trail Magic" for that walk.

When we got home we realized our adventure was not over. While I was drying off, I found a tick on my ankle, just where my sock had been. He wasn't really attached, but immediately I had Glen look at the parts of my legs I couldn't see. Then I looked at his.

There on the back of his thigh was a big tick! It was really attached, I had to pluck him off, but he came off alive and in one piece. Thankfully Glen hasn't even shown the slightest redness there.

Monday, May 26, 2014 at 12:00 PM

5.02 miles
84°/ Feels Like 90° 66% humidity.

Today we walked at Blakely Park.

It seemed fitting that on Memorial Day we walked the battlefields of the last battle of the Civil War. It was hard to imagine soldiers hunkered down in the breastworks, or dying in the very spots where we were walking.

It took us a little bit to find a place to park. The trails were poorly marked and the map didn't seem to readily correspond to what we saw on the ground. We just started out on something that looked like a trail and we made it to the battlefield, the Confederate Breastworks and the Union Breastworks. This trail just seemed to loop around so when we came to a fork in the road, we took another direction.

I knew one trail led down to Blakely river but I couldn't get our bearings with the paper map they gave us when we came into the park. I looked at our map on May-My-Walk and followed the trail down to the river by watching our progress on the screen of my phone. 

There was a nice boardwalk along the river and we followed this to the end. It made a big loop back to the main trail we followed down to the river.

At first the walk seemed very pleasant, warm but not hot. Then suddenly I felt as if I was on fire. I was pouring sweat and I felt as if I was walking through mud. I wondered if maybe my blood sugar was low because I hadn't really eaten much before we left.  I remembered Glen had packed some sweet ice tea in our bag. A few slugs of that and in a few minutes I felt much better. It stayed hot to me, although Glen said he didn't feel hot at all.  But then he is much more heat-acclimated than I am.

I was surprised at the bugs we encountered. They were vicious and relentless. I don't think I have ever sprayed bug spray on my face before, but they were trying to get in my nose, mouth and ears. Several times I was bitten through my pants, so I sprayed my clothes as well.

When we first started, the trail was full of tiny frogs. . .just heads and feet, they didn't seem to have any bodies. They jumped around so fast when we walked by, I hope we didn't step on any. I also saw several salamanders which were definitely more afraid of us than us of them.

Blakely River

While walking to the river, Glen spotted a snake in the road, but it had been run over so it was of no threat. I looked for snakes, especially along the river, but didn't see any.  I am looking forward to walking here again, especially since we will be more familiar with the trails and the layout of the park.

Our route for this walk.