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This is the fifth hike we've done in Sterling Forest this year, all within the last two months. We've been trying to hike trails that we haven't done in the
past. Today we returned to do a lollipop south of Sterling Lake. We parked in P15, a pull-off along CR84, and headed north along the red-blazed Fire Tower
trail. Within a half mile we encountered some major trail flooding east of the swamp. Luckily we had our plastic "boots" in our backpacks (as we always do), and
managed to get through with dry feet and boots! We continued north on the white-blazed Lakeville trail, then made a right on the yellow-blazed Lakeville Ironworks
trail, visiting the impressive Sterling Furnace, and then taking yellow to the blue-blazed Sterling Lake Loop trail, which we took east. We skirted the visitor's
center to the east and took the orange-blazed trail to the furthest point north for some nice views over Sterling Lake. Backtracking along blue,we continued west before turning
left on the yellow Lakeville Ironworks trail and taking that east, visiting the many informative signs along the way. At blue, we made a left and took that all the
way to the red Fire Tower Connector trail, which we took south. At its end, we continued south along the Fire Tower trail before once again reaching the swampy
stretch where we once again put on our boots and continued south to the car at P15.
Total distance hiked today was 4.9 miles in just over 3 hours. The fall foliage is a bit late this year. We saw very little of it. Hopefully the leaves will change color before they fall off the trees!
(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)
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Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |