Ending point—Two Rivers
Distance— 7 miles (approximate)
Cumulative Distance—102.1 miles
Well, we didn't hike naked, but at least we hiked today. Given the multitude of mosquitoes, I don't think hiking naked for summer solstice would have been advisable. We missed out on the sunshine from the longest day of the year since it was overcast and quite foggy for most of our hike. We hoped the cooler temperatures in the low 60s would deter the mosquitoes, but they were even worse than last time for parts of the hike. However, we were a bit better prepared with mosquito netting for both backpack carriers. It worked really well, as Teddy escaped with only one bite. AJ didn't fare quite so well since he wasn't in the mosquito netting the whole time.
We ran into four patches of unexpected water. Kerry managed to stay mostly dry on the first crossing by carefully picking her way along the logs. Dave just sloshed through the water, which is what happened for all the rest of the crossings as they were too deep (mid-calf) to stay dry. At least it wasn't that chilly of a day that wet feet weren't a hindrance ... and AJ liked to say "squishy squashy" and "splish splash."
The last portion of the trail we hiked followed Lake Michigan. Although it was much cooler right by the water, the wind kept all the mosquitoes away. That made the hike much happier, as did the picnic and play break we took when we first reached the shore.
AJ was too busy being all boy, playing with sticks and looking at dead fish, to eat anything, but Teddy was quite happy to fill his belly. So happy, in fact, that he finally soundly slept the rest of the hike rather than squabbling like he had for at least a mile or two earlier. All those fish made a unique popping sound when you stepped on them.
We had a bit of a detour in the mosquito-filled woods prior to fording a stream because AJ lost his camera, which is really our digital camera. He removed it from the protective bag and dropped it, so we were backtracking several hundred feet. We decided to rip apart the backpack carrier to make sure it really fell and luckily found it wedged in the bottom underneath his feet.
The hike along the lake was quite enjoyable until we had to slosh through two crossings. At times, the trail had really nice bridges and paths, which is why we were somewhat surprised to end up with wet feet so many times.
As we hiked through Two Rivers, Dave spotted a baby raccoon along the road/trail. We're not sure why it was out and about in the middle of the day, but it was a cute critter for AJ to see.
We ended our hike in the park, and AJ loved playing on the slides and such that were just perfect size for him. Teddy hung out in the swing for a bit before we headed to Manitowoc for some post-hiking food.
