The end of the line...

After a couple of days off due to other commitments, we hit the trail again Wednesday but reached tne end of the line as we confronted our trail was roped off like a crime scene shortly after the 10th Street steps.

We didn't really want to backtrack, so we thought about going up right there. Bethany made a hesitant attempt.

"I don't know, Laur," she said as she took a few steps up the dubious "path."

Then, "Uh-uh. ... No way."

After Bethany's retreat, we meandered back a ways and found a decent path that didn't require Herculean effort to traverse.

A couple of days away brought a change in the landscape of part of the last section of the trail, as some of the work on the bike trail has resulted in some areas of missing trees, which felt a bit jolting as we walked.

We already knew that we would lose the last several steps of the stone steps near the Bemidji State University campus, so that wasn't a surprise, but seeing the work makes it a little more real.

Behind the uprooted tree is rubble from the bottom steps.

I'm glad most of the steps will be preserved. There's some great masonry along this trail and it would be a shame to lose it.

We talked today about going bicycling sometimes, so at some point maybe we'll be riding along that paved section that has currently displaced us from the end of the trail.

The storm Tuesday tried to displace us, too, but we soldiered on past a large tree branch obstructing the 10th Street steps.

Here's a shot of Bethany making her way through the jungle. Below is the obstruction.

We'll see what Thursday brings us!

-- Laurie 

Posted by: trailmix on 7/15/2009 at 8:11 PM | Comments (0) | Permalink

Tags: bemidji, bemidji state university, hiking, local, minnesota, news, outdoors, steps, storm, trees, walking, weather