11:45 AM Sunday:  We are watching the weather before today’s hike.  Please check back on this website before coming.

The wind is keeping up and Pam says the lake is pretty choppy.  So, we are going to cancel the Kayaking – we don’t want to have anyone swimming in the lake. So come and hike and/or bike.  We will still meet at the Canoe Launch as in the original description.  For anyone wanted to Bike and Hike, we will have a nice route laid out when you get there.

Check the website for updates.  See everyone at 3:45.

Some of you may have seen Linda’s facebook post about Mac’s cough and enlarged heart.  The vet says he shouldn’t hike anymore, and I know he will miss all of his friends.  Right now we have a stroller for him, which we use on our evening walks around the neighborhood. Duffy walks on the leash and we push Mac in his stroller.

While I am sharing news, here is a video of Reid getting his diploma in Avery Fisher Hall in NYC.  He is now an official doctor from New York University!

And finally, check out Google street view: http://goo.gl/maps/oBiEi.

We all look forward to enjoying our Sunday hikes in the warm summer weather.  However, there are also, at this time, some small ectothermic invertebrates that see us as an opportunity to pursue their lifestyle.

Every organic product is a food source for something.  One of the richest, nutrient laden products is blood and many creatures have found ways to use it, either as a primary food source or, as in the females of mosquitoes and some biting flies, as a rich source of protein for their eggs.

While a biting arthropod takes only a small amount of our blood, many internal parasites have adapted to use them as a way of transmitting themselves from one host to another.  Probably, the biggest hazard to hikers in our area is the spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, which, if untreated, can make its host into a helpless cripple, and is spread by the feeding of the small external parasitic deer tick, Ixodes dammini. The disease was first described in 1975, from a cluster of cases occurring near Lyme, CT, and was named after that location.

The deer tick didn’t use to be present in our area but, they seem to be expanding their range and many outdoor enthusiasts have encountered ticks this year.  There are ways hikers can reduce their chances of becoming tick food.  The questing tick often waits at the top of ground vegetation, to latch onto a passing host.  Stay on the trail and avoid contact with this vegetation as much as possible.  However, sometimes, it can’t be avoided.  Some trails are narrow, kidneys need to be tapped, and, as in our case, there may be mushrooms to pick.

Experienced hikers never wear anything but full length pants, no matter how hot it is.  Shorts, pedal pushers etc. should never be worn in the woods.  Moving our summer hikes up to 4:00 helps avoid the hottest part of the day.  Larval deer ticks are black and about the size of the period at the end of this sentence.  If your pants are a light color, you have a much better chance of seeing one crawling up your pant leg.  Convertible pants are a good choice for hikers.  They’re usually synthetic (hikers shouldn’t wear cotton garments), a light color, and, after the hike, the legs can be zipped off, and become shorts.  Before starting hiking, pant legs should either be tucked into socks or covered with gaiters, and sprayed with a repellent.  One containing DEET works well.  Since questing ticks can also go to the ends of tree leaves, caps provide some protection.  Some literature recommend long sleeve tops but, hikers also need to be aware of heat stroke, a very serious condition caused by overheating.on hot days.

When you get home, remove and examine all garments and put them in the laundry hamper.  Stand in front of a mirror in your birthday suit and examine your ventral surface.  Have you and your partner examine each other’s dorsal surface.  If a tick is embedded in your skin, remove it carefully with tweezers, being careful to also remove its mouthparts.  Tick removers can be purchased at sporting goods stores.  Never try to relax it with alcohol, since this may cause it to upchuck and inject the Lyme parasite into your bloodstream.

Ask your doctor if you should place the live tick in a secure vial and bring it to his office to send to a lab to identify it and, if a deer tick, determine if it has the Lyme parasite.  Also, ask if there is a vaccine for Lyme Disease.  I was given a shot for volunteering to be a test subject for one they were developing but, don’t know if it has been approved.  I was exposed to this disease when I was inspecting nurseries in Long Island.  If symptoms develop, antibiotic treatments are successful, if begun early.

And so, I raise my glass of delicious Eagle Crest wine, as a toast to a productive and healthy Springwater Trails summer hiking season.

Note: Don sent the following email to Joan and Bob, but has agreed to share it with anyone interested in Springwater Trails.  The pictures below were taken by Char.  Mac is watching me edit this so I am including Amy’s pictures of Mac at the bottom.

Joan and Bob, thanks for a wonderful hike experience Sunday. I was a Climber at the Mission Rd hike/Eagle Crest Winery after-hike social.  A wonderful day for a hike, and quite a nice hike route.  I was grateful for the forest canopy shading.  Some Climbers commented they could have done a bit longer route, but I realize (as I heard) the water level did not work in our favor that way.  (I would like to cover the additional south section of the trail on a repeat hike if we can, but I did hear some murmuring about continuing south in the woods/not the shore line last time resulting in some uncomfortable encounters with multiflora rose which we all can certainly do without).   Upon reaching just short of the pump-house we did not attempt to continue further south, we headed uphill on the old road which eventually brought us to the hilltop and Eagle Crest Winery.

We sighted and explored a bit at some old dilapidated foundations/structures on the way up the old road.   We did that route in probably less than 1 1/2 hours, but some hikers still had the walk up the winery entry road and then up Mission Road to get our cars still at the start point.  I think, some hikers opted for wine tasting at the winery instead of going for cars, and looked for a shuttle later to facilitate retrieving cars.

Despite the numerous days of rain we had shortly preceding the hike, the Climbers route itself had very few spots where there was mud, such that I believe most of us came out of the woods with dry and not muddy shoes/boots and no mud markings.  I could not have imagined the route having been in any better condition given the recent rains.  And thanks for doing the preview of lake level etc, just days before we did the hike, a nice extra effort on your part.

Point of clarification:  for Climbers – in the vicinity of utility pole #141 there was some sign of an entry point to Nature Conservancy lands and a Nature Conservancy sign but there was no clear mown trail here.  Instead the Climbers continued one pole further south to pole #142, and in doing so were on the south side of a creek instead of the north side.  At pole 142 we entered and walked on the very northern edge of the vineyard field itself – nicely mown, but well away from disturbing any vines in the vineyard.  I know not what pole 141 would have held for the group, but can say pole 142 was a good entry choice.

Great after-hike social venue.  Fantastic space under the white Big-Top tent to provide shade from the high sun angle and clear skies present during our Sunday hike and could have also been a welcome refuge in the case of rain.  It has been a few years since I have been to Eagle Crest Winery, and I looked forward to the hike and to returning to the wonderful setting of the winery.  THANK YOU for Hike Planning it!

Pizza:  – on a culinary note relative to the wood-fired oven Artisan Pizza – I believe I detected rosemary in the pizza crust itself.  Nice flavor for infusing in the dough!  Two other stand outs for me were Char’s Pineapple upside-down cake which she used pineapple juice in to replace some water in the recipe, and Deana in my opinion got the macaroni salad recipe just right with the inclusion of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce therein. Someone made the best oatmeal cookies that I have had in ages with lots of oatmeal, (the way they should be in my opinion, similar to the way my mom made them) and I could go on, but … So much for my culinary reviews and ramblings.

Thanks again.   Happiness in Hiking,

Don

PS.  The naturalists and tourists were careful to watch for Red Efts (the land phase of the Eastern Newt’s life).  According to Wikipedia, Eastern newts have three stages of life: (1) the aquatic larva or tadpole, (2) the red eft or terrestrial juvenile stage, and (3) the aquatic adult.