North Shore Trail – Grapevine Lake  6/16/12

The walk started around 8:30 am.  But we did not get to the trail head until around 8:45 am.
Our Plan: To hike the trail between Murrell Park and the southern end of Coe Road.
Coe Road was the staging point of a Tri-Athlon we stumbled into at one of our previous walks.  The distance to Coe road is approximately 2.9 miles making a round trip hike about 6 miles.

The trail head from Murrell Park immediately took us into the woods.  The path was clear and well-marked and remained, as mentioned all the way to Coe Road – shaded and with a very distinguishable path.  Sometimes there would be a shout ‘Bike’, alerting everyone to give way to the occasional mountain biker riding the trail. Sadly a few members of our group had a prior commitment and could not make it all the way to Coe Road and had to turn back. Understandably, we were sorry to see them leave.

A few minutes later – down the trail another family of hikers joined us – they were unsure as to the distance and direction to the beach head at Coe Road, they were gladly welcomed.   This trail was fun and a bit technical.  There were a few creek crossings, switchbacks, rocky outcrops, and of course – scenic views of Lake Grapevine.  Our hikers even stumbled upon wild grape vines with fruit.  Grapes were sampled – and in my view – we’ll stick to grapes at the grocer.

We got to the end of Coe Road (our destination) at approximately 10:20 am. It took us about 1.5 hours. Some of us took off our boots at the shore of the lake and splashed around with the kids – our ‘hiking toddlers’.  We rested for about 25 minutes, and then our boots were on; packs on our backs; and again got back on the trail headed to our starting point at Murrell Park.  We were back at the park in about an hour’s time – with some time spent trying to decide on the correct path from the final leg of the trail to the parking lot…fun, fun all the way.

We hope the next walk will be as enjoyable – the plan is to head north along the trail starting from the same parking lot in Murrell Park.

I’m looking forward to seeing ‘da team’ there.

G.