Guernsey State Park 100 Posts and Still Kicking

The Wonderful Civilian Conservation Corps steps on the Brimmer Point to Newell Bay Trail

I started this blog in January of 2014 - this is blog post number 100. Another 25, or so,  page openings and the blog will hit 3,000. Not bad, an average of 30 views per post. Hope these pages get a few more people excited about spending time in Guernsey State Park.

This evening we took a wonderful hike on Davis Bay Trail, starting at the Brimmer Point Bridge. After the hike, we drove over to the west boat dock to catch the sunset.

Now that was a pretty nice evening, and  a good way to work out my considerable aches and pains from spending too many hours bent over working on the lawn and garden today. I will do anything to come up with an excuse to head out to the park.

That's it post number 100.

As I mentioned earlier this week the wildflowers are spectacular this year

I have always found this rocky knob interesting - looks like a spot for a medieval fortress

View from Davis Bay Trail

The Sunset - Goodnight from Guernsey State Park

Wildflowers in the Park

Looks like the spring rains are paying off. Wildflowers are abundant and the colors are very rich. Today we spent an hour or two in the park and look what we found. Enjoy.

Guernsey State Park and the CCC

My book on the Civilian Conservation Corps and the building of Guernsey State Park looks like it will be available late next week. I am keeping my fingers crossed. I had to reformat after looking at the first proofs (I didn’t like the way some of the photos were placed and with over 200 hundred of them it was quite a chore) and it took me about fifty hours – ouch.

I will post more next week when the book will be live and for sale.

In the process of walking in the park, pretending to do research for my book, we found a number of long forgotten CCC camp sites. Fun to find, and it often took a bit of research to date things back to the 1930s. From this site, we were able to date a bottle to authenticate the time period to the CCC in the park.

We leave all artifacts, as found, but I do take many photos. Fun stuff. Hope you enjoy this little secret in the park.

When they start circling its time to go home

Of Rainbows and Black & White Photos

On Skyline Drive

Rainbow Stripes the Castle

From the East Side Boat Dock

Wildflowers on the Trail

As the snow is gone it's time to hike the park once again.

 The trails are dry enough to enjoy and the wildflowers are starting to pop, Fun times in the park.

Break Time

Snow, Bluebirds and Lakeshore Drive

Very wet two days in Guernsey. My gauge had an inch and a half before the snow came. Not sure how much snow we got but had a foot on the rails of our backyard deck.

By early afternoon, the roads had melted enough to allow a drive along the east side of the park on Lakeshore Drive.

 Funny thing about that name, some modern maps list Lakeside Drive and the homes between Hartville and the east side entry to the lake have addresses of Lakeside Drive. When I was researching my book, available later this week, all notes from CCC times refer to the Drive as Lakeshore and some Lake Shore. Lakeside Drive must be a modern day mistake.

Bluebirds everywhere in Long Canyon today. What a great day for a drive, even if it was a bit wet.

A Few Favorite Photos

Digging through some of my old photos this week and found a few I really like. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

The Narrows after a bit of photo editing

Not many look up when standing in the water station at Lower Spotted Tail - too bad

Museum from the lower parking lot

Looking toward Guernsey from Roundtop Mountain 

From Knight Moutain