Taking a moment to prepare for the adventure, Thor, Sparky, Waldo, CB, and Chops are ready. The original entrance is blocked, but a new entrance is only a short distance just behind the sign board.
Waldo and Sparky checking out the new look the trail has taken on. This original forest is now even more shaded. The humidity in the forest is thick and heavy.
Perfect condition for mushrooms
Although we are not sure which department has reopen the trail, we realize that the trail is narrow, and although headed toward the same directions, it has altered somewhat. We don't see sign post #1 or #2, here we approach post #3.
Fungus growing on tree trunk.
This same mushroom has been here for a long time, it's the same one photoed last year!
We seem to have stumbled on sign #6, after we have passed #4 and #5, and become temporarily lost in the jungle. It is a joy to find another sign post.
The trail meanders past some of the triple ribbons left behind by the bird counters who set up thirty-foot-long thin nettings strung from several trees. These ribbons confuse us a little bit, although we are able to find our way out the one confusing segment of the trail. Waldo decides to remove some of the fallen branches away from the trail. While searching for the trail we are caught in a heavy downpour. We are all soaked through. It actually gets a bit cold!
Sparky shows off his emergency pack, ready for all occasions.
Another familiar mushroom on the trunk
Whatever are Chops, Waldo, Thor, and Sparky looking for on the ground, they sure look intense.
We recognize this cliff with many trees growing out from its face. The pink ribbons are readily visible even though at times the trail is so narrow that we are not really sure if we are on the right path (one ribbon is visible on the right). When we reach near marker 13 (we haven't really seen the marker, but we recognize the location, the last marker we have seen is #8), the trail is now detoured away from the original downhill drop, instead, it climbs just a little, then remains on level plateau...
...until we reach this narrow cliff ledge. Thor, Chops, and Waldo carefully get down to the base of the cliff. When we reach the bottom, we notice many red ribbons tied to chicken wires circles.
The encircled chicken wire fences all have these signs attached. Division of Fish and Wildlife is conducting some sort of studies. Maybe they are one trail-clearers?
We wander around this area for a while, trying to find our trail as we know we are nearing the exit, but no sign of Marker 16, the last marker, as yet. Finally, something resembling a trail is found, we converge in that direction.
Waldo calls out that he finds a shell. The location is marked with blue ribbons around the shell. It is over one foot long. We take a good look at it without touching it. From here we exit the park and begin walking on the "road". The road that used to be drivable is no longer a road. It is a narrow path through overgrown brushes, vines, and grass, and at times barely visible. It seems like a long, long walk, sometimes having to be careful not to trip on a hidden trunk or branches underfoot.
Finally reaching our cars, we take off our wet gloves that we have worn for over two hours. We display our prune-looking hands.
Although we are all tired and eager to get out of our wet clothes and shoes, we decide not to waste the snacks we have brought, and should take a moment to relax and refresh. It is nice and cool. Chops, Thor, Sparky, Waldo, CB, and CC all agree that the hike is not difficult, but it is nevertheless tiring, and quite enjoyable. The hike takes us almost three hours.
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