Three days hiking the Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness, May 2023

I thought I’d check on the occupant of this trash/swill container. The result was — crickets — humpback crickets, to be precise. Apart from the crickets and lots of spider webs, it was empty. That’s a shame. It seems the previous occupant has been removed by someone. What a killjoy.

The sunrise didn’t live up to my expectations, so I turned over and went back to sleep, finally dragging myself out of the hammock at around nine am.

It was a lovely morning, though the phrase “the ticks abound” sprung to mind several times. Shortly before twelve-thirty, I was back on the South Loop heading back the six miles to the trailhead.

Is there room for a hammock between those two trees on the left? That would be a different place to hang out.

The big tree, left of the frame, fell and blocked the trail and the small well hiding just off the trail has been revealed. This is looking back along the trail I’ve just come along.

This is back near the point where the North Loop and South Loop join together.

I love the equine trail users, they keep many trails open that would otherwise disappear through lack of use, but in some places, like here they also play havoc with the trail by tearing it up. This was not easy to hike along.