A great day to explore

 Today is Juneteenth.  A day that deserves acknowledgement and reflection.

We headed out this morning to a nature preserve.  We haven't been there since they opened many years ago and only had a couple of trails at that time. 

However, I happened to run across information that showed that they had widely expanded the preserve and that they had a whole section previously unopened that they had added trials to.  That section is only accessible by canoe or kayak.

We packed everything up and headed out.

We had to carry our kayaks down a path to the portage area, and that trek was much longer than anticipated!

However, we got them down there and prepared to head out.

It was a short paddle over to the "southern section" and we paddled along the shoreline until we saw a rocky outcropping with a picnic table perched on top.  We pulled our kayaks onto the shore and brought our lunches up and ate looking over the water.  

 There was no one else there and the dogs ate their lunches quickly and then sniffed and explored.

The it was off to hike a moderately challenging 4 mile loop.  They had a wonderful time running and exploring.  We didn't see any deer but there was plenty of poop to prove that they travel throughout that area!

We did the full loop of 4 miles and arrived back at our kayaks.  We paddled back the way we came and passed where we had launched to explore the small river for a while.

The dogs were beat and we happy to just ride along.

They are now completely worn out and all of us are happy to have had this great day!