April 17th Foothills Trail
On Friday, April 17th, we completed the Foothills Trail at Table Rock State Park. On this day, we slack-packed instead of backpacking. That means lighter packs and ideally easier hiking. There was a fair amount of rough terrain, lighter packs made a positive difference for me. This was our longest mileage day at around 15 miles. We began hiking before the sun rose and finished about an hour and a half before it set. We saw the most mammals today. A couple of deer ran off in the distance fairly early in the hike. There were more squirrels in this section of the hike. Toward the end of the trail, about 1/4 mile from the Table Rock Nature Center, we saw two black bear cubs. For a change, I was in front of Stephanie as we got close to the end of this adventure. So I spotted the bear cubs. They were absolutely adorable! I saw them, stopped, took three steps back and let Stephanie know. When I first saw them, ...