Cedar L:ake Overlook With The Dogs

I drove down with the dogs to Trout Lake State Forest, about an hour southwest of home. I planned to try two trails, the first of which was to take me to an overlook over Cedar Lake. I parked and stepped out of the car, immediately seeing Purple-Flowering Raspberries, a favorite of mine which I haven't seen recently:

The trail to the Cedar Lake Overlook was billed as short but steep, and the beginning of the hike confirmed at least the second half of that - it was steep:

We made it to the overlook and the dogs ran back and forth along the rocky edge:

Seamus is getting old and developing leg and hip problems, so he was content to hold still and look out over the beautiful lake with me. I too am old and lame, so we made quite a pair as we hobbled along:

Clover and Daphne had run off to the left, but returned to where I was standing, 100 feet above Cedar Lake:

And the little dogs decided to act like mountain goats. I made sure Seamus stayed away from the edge as he has fallen more than once:


And then we started back toward the trail head:

The dogs stopped at several woodland brooks for a drink of cool, clean water:

And we passed through areas of tall trees:

Much of the trail was rocky, and both Seamus and I were beginning to limp:

We were going downhill to the trail head, but that doesn't mean the trail was all downhill. We had a few sections which took us back up:

But we soon reached the trail head and hopped back into the car for a short trip to the next trail. I'll post about that tomorrow: