Friday January 12th 2024

It rained off and on all night. This morning the rain stopped around 9AM, but it left many puddles to navigate around. The sun never made an appearance all day. Still, the temperature climbed from the high fifties to about eighty degrees my mid afternoon. Another cold front is due to arrive before morning to usher in more cool temperatures. This front isn’t forecast to be as rainy or severe as Tuesday’s storms.

Today I hiked the Baynard loop trail on the far side of the Hillsborough River. It is accessed on via a log suspension bridge. After following the river for a few hundred yards it loops inland then back to the river. Today wasn’t the best day to explore this trail. Last nights rain filled many of the soft and low areas with water. I managed to navigate around all of them with out falling in or getting anything more than the soles of my shoes wet. It was a real challenge at times. Some of the puddles took up fifty feet or more of trail. The adventure didn’t result in any particularly unique sightings, but I can mark it in the accomplished column.

On my hike I saw my favorite Great Blue Heron. It was in one place on my outbound leg and in a little different place on my return trip. Once again I took advantage of how photogenic the bird appears to me. I took several pictures of the bird and its reflection in the calm river water.

Later in the day while I was out exploring the area, I found a Walmart with the intent to top of my supplies. This turned out to be an old Walmart that hadn’t been upgraded with a full grocery section. It only had the easy to maintain grocery essentials. There was no produce, meat or fresh bakery goods available. I managed to get a few things that I needed, but I will need to make a full grocery run on Monday.