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It is organized by trail, so that it will be easy for people to find information.
Please read our usage notes before starting. You can read reviews without joining the forum, but you have to join if you want to post. Click here to register.
Hawn State Park - Whispering Pine Trail
Posted by: ladyalite (IP Logged)
Date: October 30, 2005 08:19PM
Time: 5 1/2 hours
Distance: 10 miles
Official Site: [www.mostateparks.com]
My Photos: [www.mohiking.com]
Another beautiful day and 5 trails clubbers set out to do all 10 miles of the Whispering Pines Trail at Hawn State Park.
This is a beautiful trail. In case you are not familiar with it, the brief run down is that it is a fairly smooth trail for the most part, with just a few rocky parts. Mind you I said smooth, not flat, it does go up and down hills. This trail is made up of 2 loops, a North loop that is 6 miles and a South loop that is 4 miles. If you don’t want to do 10 miles you can just do the 6 mile loop. The trails are marked to go counter clockwise.
The north loop has a fabulous over look that makes a great lunch spot, and the south loop goes down by the river. There is also a great rock formation on the South loop that is fun to climb and makes a good rest stop.
TODAYS ADVENTURE
We started by heading down the pickle creek trail to pick up the other trail at the end of it. This is a more interesting way to go because it follows the stream.
The pines really were whispering today! I’ve been out there 3 times now and today was the breeziest it’s ever been. The breeze was whooshing through the tall pines, bending them and making them give up their secrets in hushed tones.
It was a pleasant hike in which we drank in the autumn beauty of the trail. We all admired the creek with it’s colored leaves floating on top and lining the bottom of the clear water. We had a great lunch break at the overlook and lively conversation. I shared my chocolate covered espresso beans and electrolyte chews so everyone could keep up their strength.
We had to 2 bits of excitement.
The first was because I was stupid. Way back at the far end of the trail there is spot that goes down almost into the river. You are up against a dirt bluff and have about 5 inches of space to put your foot or else you are walking in the river. I already knew this from when I did the back trail for the first time the other day. I told my fellow hikers that I thought that part was a bit much, and since I just did it the other day, I would just by pass that part.
My plan was just bush wack along the top of the bluff and meet them where the trail comes back up. I knew it wouldn’t be very far and didn’t think it would be any big deal. I found a trail at the top and assumed it was the alternative trail for people carrying big packs who didn’t want to tip toe between the river and bluff.
After a while 2 things happened kind of at the same time. I noticed the blue arrows but they were on the wrong side of the trees. Also I could no longer hear my hiking companions even when I yelled as loud as I could if they could hear me. Oh oh.
I decided the best thing to do would be to back track and try to find that trail and eventually catch up. It turns out that my companions had the same idea. They said they came back a ways when they could no longer hear me. So we both back tracked a bit and I was very relieved to hear them at the bottom of the hill. I could not see them but I followed the voices and bushwhacked down the hill to join them. Whew.
Lesson learned: sometimes things just don’t work out the way you think they will. Imagine that.
The next bit of excitement is that I spotted the place where we had dug for mushrooms the other day. Amy and I wanted to share our new found knowledge of lobster mushrooms with our friends. Lobster mushrooms are reddish orange and shaped like a frilly funnel. They grow under pine needles and it’s fun to look for them. You have to train your eye to look for little mounds of pine needles, and when you gently move them away, you can find the orange mushroom!
It’s more exciting that it sounds. It feels kind of like an Easter Egg hunt or treasure hunt. Amy and I demonstrated this to the other hikers and we all had fun uncovering mounds to find orange mushrooms. Amy found one that was huge!
Although it was a great hike it felt good to get back to the cars. Total hike time was about 5 ½ hours.
Edited 2 times. Last edit at 10/30/05 09:21PM by Nick Kasoff.
Distance: 10 miles
Official Site: [www.mostateparks.com]
My Photos: [www.mohiking.com]
Another beautiful day and 5 trails clubbers set out to do all 10 miles of the Whispering Pines Trail at Hawn State Park.
This is a beautiful trail. In case you are not familiar with it, the brief run down is that it is a fairly smooth trail for the most part, with just a few rocky parts. Mind you I said smooth, not flat, it does go up and down hills. This trail is made up of 2 loops, a North loop that is 6 miles and a South loop that is 4 miles. If you don’t want to do 10 miles you can just do the 6 mile loop. The trails are marked to go counter clockwise.
The north loop has a fabulous over look that makes a great lunch spot, and the south loop goes down by the river. There is also a great rock formation on the South loop that is fun to climb and makes a good rest stop.
TODAYS ADVENTURE
We started by heading down the pickle creek trail to pick up the other trail at the end of it. This is a more interesting way to go because it follows the stream.
The pines really were whispering today! I’ve been out there 3 times now and today was the breeziest it’s ever been. The breeze was whooshing through the tall pines, bending them and making them give up their secrets in hushed tones.
It was a pleasant hike in which we drank in the autumn beauty of the trail. We all admired the creek with it’s colored leaves floating on top and lining the bottom of the clear water. We had a great lunch break at the overlook and lively conversation. I shared my chocolate covered espresso beans and electrolyte chews so everyone could keep up their strength.
We had to 2 bits of excitement.
The first was because I was stupid. Way back at the far end of the trail there is spot that goes down almost into the river. You are up against a dirt bluff and have about 5 inches of space to put your foot or else you are walking in the river. I already knew this from when I did the back trail for the first time the other day. I told my fellow hikers that I thought that part was a bit much, and since I just did it the other day, I would just by pass that part.
My plan was just bush wack along the top of the bluff and meet them where the trail comes back up. I knew it wouldn’t be very far and didn’t think it would be any big deal. I found a trail at the top and assumed it was the alternative trail for people carrying big packs who didn’t want to tip toe between the river and bluff.
After a while 2 things happened kind of at the same time. I noticed the blue arrows but they were on the wrong side of the trees. Also I could no longer hear my hiking companions even when I yelled as loud as I could if they could hear me. Oh oh.
I decided the best thing to do would be to back track and try to find that trail and eventually catch up. It turns out that my companions had the same idea. They said they came back a ways when they could no longer hear me. So we both back tracked a bit and I was very relieved to hear them at the bottom of the hill. I could not see them but I followed the voices and bushwhacked down the hill to join them. Whew.
Lesson learned: sometimes things just don’t work out the way you think they will. Imagine that.
The next bit of excitement is that I spotted the place where we had dug for mushrooms the other day. Amy and I wanted to share our new found knowledge of lobster mushrooms with our friends. Lobster mushrooms are reddish orange and shaped like a frilly funnel. They grow under pine needles and it’s fun to look for them. You have to train your eye to look for little mounds of pine needles, and when you gently move them away, you can find the orange mushroom!
It’s more exciting that it sounds. It feels kind of like an Easter Egg hunt or treasure hunt. Amy and I demonstrated this to the other hikers and we all had fun uncovering mounds to find orange mushrooms. Amy found one that was huge!
Although it was a great hike it felt good to get back to the cars. Total hike time was about 5 ½ hours.
Edited 2 times. Last edit at 10/30/05 09:21PM by Nick Kasoff.
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