This past weekend, I took the plunge back into the outdoors and marched straight into West Rock Park, in New Haven, after hibernating for what was one of the toughest winters I remember ever enduring.
A long hike from bottom to top on Saturday, followed by a mountain bike ride loop on Sunday, held muddy waters, icy encounters, but enough sunshine and warm temperatures to let spring back in my life.
Take a look at the pics below, shot with my iPhone, from the trails transition from a muddy swamp to amazingly dry and beautiful.
Below I will feature the pics taken in order of my trip. Notice the white trail at the bottom is completely still saturated, but as I walked up higher, the elevation helped to leave the water behind.
For those familiar with the West Rock trails, my loop was from the bottom at the parking lot (lake area), over to the white, to purple, to blue up top along the ridge, then back down the red, ending up behind the lake itself.
This is lake side by the parking lot. As you can see, water comes in many forms, such as solid and watery.
Yup, it's a messy swamp on the main white trail.
There was a turkey close by (not featured).
I found a huge dinosaur egg on this trail, but it was too large too carry back to the car.
This corner held many of West Rock's secrets, one of which was a great mural of, "ROGER WAS HERE."
Did I mountain bike or hike this part? hmmm...
I found this pretty girl saluting nature. I think she's a Jasmine.
The blue trail can be confusing.
I liked this view from the top. I think I'll keep it.
Yup, the blue trail has a lengthy and sometimes scary edge.
Here, we have trees close and trees far away. Trees are crazy...
There's that girl again. She kept following me.
If you look close, you can see the Ricola guy down there.
Coming down now. The red trail loops back to the backside of the lake.
Water, make up your mind already! Are you cold or warm?
I did not catch a fish here.
This "girl" accidentally pushed me into the lake here.
Water! Stop messing with my head!
So many salmon swimming up river in this spot.
