Emerald Lake State Park has a number of nice camping spots where you can either pitch a tent on a well worn site with a fire pit, or you can drive your RV out to the same site and 'rough it', as the father of one of my other good friends still calls it. There is also a nice beach area where you can take out kayaks or canoes and row around Emerald Lake. When we went down for a bit the water was wonderfully clear and the bottom was smooth - definitely nice for someone who is squeamishly terrified of fish biting her toes.
IAM's father mentioned that there was a footpath that crossed under the road nearby and was supposed to go up the hill to the left to then look down on the lake. After a while we decided that we hadn't quite done enough walking that day after the fabled Red Trail at Mt. Equinox, so we dried off and headed down a path near the parking lot for the lake access. It led us under the road as promised and over a few creeks forded by little well build bridges.
The footpath it's self was definitely easy to follow as it was wide enough in parts to drive up it, and it more or less followed the road back up towards Emerald Lake (though the road its self was now farther away, below our right). Though we didn't know it (I learned this while writing this from looking at Emerald Lake State Park brochures) this trail was called the Vista Trail and actually seems to have made a loop around the lake. Unfortunately we had gone probably only halfway along the section of the trail that parallels the road when we came to a post in the middle with a witty poem nailed to it. Why I didn't think to take a picture of this I honestly can't say, but it was something about a hiker who hiked all trails that he found, but when he got to this point he had to stop - the rest of the trail was apparently under maintenance.
So after a short debate whether to continue on or not, IAM's father got the better of our argument and we headed back. Since we didn't get to a point where the trail really looked down on Emerald Lake, we stopped at a point where the trees cleared enough and I was able to climb down a bit of rock face so that I could get a clearer shot. If you look down just a bit more you could see the road, it was really rather close. If we had a better view of the lake you could see that there are actually some islands right in the middle though which are pretty neat. The rest of the trail was usually sparsely lined with trees, but I took a couple just to show them.
So we may not have gotten a magnificent view of Emerald Lake from the Vista Trail, but we still got some cool views of it none the less. We were also able to take a nice, short, leisurely walk after our encounter with Mt. Equinox's Red Trail. Yet while we weren't able to take the whole Vista Trail at Emerald Lake State Park, it was probably for the better, again thanks to Mt. Equinox's Red Trail and our now tired feet.
On the way back over the last little footbridge we met this little guy. I was debating between giving you his picture or another mushroom picture ... I figured he'd be more interesting for you ;) Unfortunately IAM flicked him from his perch, so unless he can float, he is a sad little creature. Which reminds me, we have been seeing awesome all-black whooly-bears at our apartment this fall, as soon as I started posting again I've been on the look out for one to take a picture, hopefully they're not all gone already with the frost.Lastly, since I will not be posting again before then, I would like to wish MD a happy early birthday!! :D:D
And to justify my title: please search the song 'Camptown Races' (or if you want a youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXE_PfcXtYE).
G
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