Long Hunter Day Loop

This afternoon, C and I loaded up gear and headed to Long Hunter State Park, home to one of my favorite trails in the area, the four-mile Day Loop Trail. A portion of the Day Loop coincides with the longer Volunteer Trail, and as the park website notes, "These trails wind along the shore of J. Percy Priest Lake, climb overlook bluffs, and wander through hardwood forest, cedar glades, and interesting rock outcroppings." Both offer great scenic hiking, no matter the time of year.

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C got to try out his new hiking pole, compliments of Santa Claus, and since the temp was only in the mid-40s, we remembered the hot cocoa—our favorite cold-weather, hiking companion. Right around the two-mile mark, we took a break on one of the rocky bluffs, snacked on trail mix, and slurped down our hot chocolatey treat. At the end of our hike, as we headed up the gravely path that empties into the parking lot, we saw a deer standing almost at the trailhead. It watched us for a long time before deciding to bolt, and another deer jumped the trail right behind it.





Long Hunter Day Loop


⇒ Click here for a more detailed .pdf map of Long Hunter State Park.

Late Run at South Cove

C and I got a late start hiking at Radnor Park today, but we decided to try the South Cove Trail anyway. An approximately 2.7 mile jaunt, the South Cove sits opposite the lake across Otter Creek Road. It's a pretty hike with a number of climbs that take you up to a nice ridge line before descending rapidly back down to the road.

Late Run at South Cove

Map created by EveryTrail: Travel Community

Today, we had a guest hiker along. A new stuffed animal, Sharpy the lizard, rode in C's pack most of the way. Sharpy picked a good day to come out. The weather was absolutely gorgeous for December, with temps up into the mid-50s.

About half-way through the hike, we saw a herd of nine does browsing along for acorns, and C correctly identified a bright red cardinal just off the trail as a "boy bird." We cut it pretty close, getting back to the truck as nightfall came, but I think C enjoyed getting to use his flashlights for the last half mile or so.

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Trail Mix on the Cheap

The Loveless Cafe gift shop is not the place to shop for trail mix. Still, as a visitor there, I willingly forked over $5 for a Lilliputian bag of mix just the other night. Circumstances were such that, had I not shelled out the cash, my five-year-old was going to erupt into hunger meltdown. If you're a parent, you know it was money well spent.

I will say, however, that the mix was a good one. It consisted of dried raspberries, raisins, white chocolate chips, pecans, cashews, and almonds. It was a nice blend of sweet and salty/savory. After munching on some of the mix with C, I decided I needed to experiment with my own recipes.

Just so happens that we hit Dollar Tree today. In case you've been out of the country for a decade or were lucky enough to enter the world with a silver spoon dangling from your lips, the Dollar Tree is a retail outlet where every item is a dollar or less. Being an ever-alert shopper, I quickly discovered that the store offered trail mix supplies aplenty, and for $7 plus tax, I picked up the following:

• 2 bags of salted cashews
• 1 jar of peanuts
• 1 bag of banana chips
• 1 bag of sunflower seeds
• 1 bag of yogurt covered raisins
• 1 bag of Tropical trail mix (with pineapple, raisins, dates, bananas, papaya, coconut)

Since Kroger was just next door, I ducked in for a few more items. These additional ingredients were decidedly pricier, but I felt like they really added some nice flavors to the mix.

• Sliced almonds @ $1.80 a bag
  
• White chocolate chips @ $2.50 a bag
  
• Ocean Spray dried cranberries (both regular and cherry flavored) @ $2.50 a bag

At home, I mixed everything up in a giant bowl, tossing in a few more raisins from our supplies, and voilà! A tasty result if I do say so myself. The whole concoction came in under $18 with tax and made up enough mix to stuff a gallon-sized Ziploc. At the Loveless, we would have needed to sell our second child to afford that much trail mix. The lesson here? If you need a nice, healthy snack on your next hike, the dollar store is definitely your friend.