Trooper

Ethan, water bottle and walking stick at the ready, at an observation tower above Fu Dog Garden at Allerton Park. He is already soaking wet and we had not yet started our trail trek.

It was my idea to drive out to Allerton Park and hike on Memorial Day, so I dragged along Red Chief. Had to buy him lunch, a rain jacket and hiking boots first, though. When we got to the park only one other car was in the parking lot. Guess no one else wanted to walk in the rain and mud. We walked all through the gardens, then took a trail and tramped about 2.5 miles in the rain and muck, and I do mean muck. In places the trail was nothing but mud, and when close to the Sangamon River some of the trail was under water. But to a seven-year-old . . . great fun. Red Chief kept saying we were going to survive this. "Hiking in the mud is pretty fun, Grandpa!" And pretty fun it was. We were absolutely soaked, and mud up to our knees. Had to walk off-trail and into heavy woods and thickets to avoid water over our knees. But we had plenty of water to drink, and our hiking sticks helped steady us as we climbed over huge fallen trees and negotiated pooled water and downed timber.

Red Chief wanted to keep going, but it was getting late and the Princess Mother was expecting us.

"We gotta do this again, Grandpa!" Yup. Pretty fun.