Saturday morning we had a lovely walk around Tuscarora State Park. The temperatures were below freezing again, but there was no wind and the day was sunny. We hiked the Spirit Trail which we had done in the summer when it was filled with wildflowers. Today it was covered in a dusting of snow and patches of ice. The trail starts off following along the lake for about a mile ascending through an oak and hemlock forest. We could see views of frozen Tuscarora Lake below and also hear the water shifting under its thick coating of ice. It makes an eerie sound; kind of hard to describe. We then took the loop south heading back down towards Locust Creek where we hiked in and out of rhododendron tunnels. Parts of the creek were frozen solid and others had a coating of ice above with water flowing underneath. We passed by the Spirit Tree which is covered in a green coating of moss and mushrooms, even in the winter. We made our way to a newly added bridge and crossed over the creek to begin another ascent. At the top we came to a clearing with lovely views and an evergreen forest. Before continuing onto the second loop (the trail is actually a figure eight if you look at it on a map), we explored a side trail which ascended the mountain again. I believe would have taken us to the Crow Trail. We’ll have to explore that one on another day. The trail then dropped us back down for more creekside hiking. We crossed another bridge over the creek that had been broken by a fallen tree. When we arrived back at the trailhead, we took a walk down to the lake. By this time there were ice fisherman and ice skaters taking advantage of this beautiful winter’s day. It was a nice contrast to when we had visited over the summer.

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