Bike Trails at Medoc Mountain

For St. Patrick's Day, Sandy and I took Alex for a hike to Medoc Mountain State Park.  We left around 730 arriving a little before 9.  The visitor center wasn't open yet, so we did a short loop around the Air Awareness Trail.  By the time we finished, it had opened and I got Alex's passport stamped.

From here, we crossed the street and picked up Bear Swamp Trail.  It starts out in an open area next to the road then descends gradually to a crossing of Bear Swamp Creek on a big bridge.

Past here, the trail led to a split at the Saponi Mountain Bike Trail.  This trail is one way for bikers and the opposite direction for hikers, so we went right.  The trail then joined with Dam Site Loop and we came to the old dam site shortly after.

The bike trail continued on for another couple miles, coming to a bridge, where Pyrite Trail picked up on the other side.  These biking trails are new since the last time I visited, so we crossed and followed this long and windy loop for about 5 miles.  We stopped and sat at an old dead tree for a snack and gave Alex a treat.  Then we finished up the loop, crossing the bridge to finish up Saponi Loop.  Before we headed back, we took Dam Site Loop Trail where it split away from Saponi Trail and then came to Summit Loop Trail at Little Fishing Creek.

Turning left, we made the steep climb up the mountain to the summit at 325 feet above sea level.  There's a big tree and a couple benches here for us to take a short break and enjoy the view.

Then we headed back down.  On the way back, I noticed a number of trout lilies blooming along the forest floor.

I don't know how I missed them on the way out - there were a lot.

Maybe the very chilly weather was distracting.  After some pictures, we made our way back to the car and drove home.