One of our favorite state parks for hiking got a little too busy during the pandemic, and now the entrances are often closed on weekends because the park reaches capacity. My friend and I happened to be driving in that area last weekend and it was drizzling and foggy out, so we decided to drop in and look around figuring it wouldn’t be as popular in the rain. We were right!
We had no intention of getting out of the car, but the next thing we knew we were wandering down a path in a meadow wearing inappropriate footwear for all that wetness. But the views were so pretty we couldn’t resist!
During our accidental hike we scored our first Dickcissel of the year. He was impossible to find at first because he was singing in the tall grass and moving around constantly. But eventually he popped out and bellowed from the top of a tall shrub.
After getting our feet thoroughly soaked and taking lots of photos, we drove into the park and took another accidental hike into the woods. We simply wanted to listen for a few birds, but there were so many people (even in the rain) wandering around at the start of the path that it was hard to hear anything. The trail ends by coming down a large hill and merging with the trail you start on. We got past that end point and then things quieted down enough to hear bird calls. The Red-eyed Vireos were the loudest.
At one point we stopped near a tree to let some noisy people pass us. That’s when my friend noticed there were slugs climbing on the trunk of that tree. Some of them were quite big.
Once we knew they were there, we started seeing them everywhere.
They weren’t as impressive as Pacific Northwest slugs, but they were plenty large and slimy, thank you.
My socks and shoes got soaked, but it was worth it. We saw and heard a lot of neat things during our unplanned adventures in the rain!