June was scorching, and busy. I didn't get much of a chance to hike anywhere. I did take my girl scout troop camping, to Kettle Run in Medford NJ. It is one of several girl scout camps in NJ. Saturday I got up very early, about 6 am. I'd gone to bed early (14 9 and 10 year olds will wear you out!) and I couldn't sleep very well on those awful cabin cots. It was lovely out - quiet and peaceful. I was a bit chilly in my tshirt and shorts, which was refreshing, it had been so hot for a month. I took some pictures, and then decided to explore, learn my way around and scope out our nature hike for later. I figured I'd have a couple hours before the rest of the group was up. I had breakfast (leftover teddy grahams and a granola bar) sitting on the picnic table outside.
I walked down and around the lake. It was so beautiful, the pictures don't do it justice. There was a mist above the lake that looked truly ethereal. It was a bit lonely - no dog and I felt like the only person around for miles. But the solitude was nice actually.
I swung to the right instead of staying along the lake, and walked through a stand of trees. Eventually I came to some campsites that were more like what I was used to when we went camping as scouts - raised platforms with canvas tents.
Kept following along and found a frog pond/marsh. There were some boardwalks through it that led to one isolated cabin. I turned around and came back and cut through a forest to come back to the trail, went back to the main part of the grounds, and started again around the lake. There was a bridge to another trail which we took later that afternoon for our nature hike. I'd show pics of that but I can't put pics of the girls online without parental permission.
I eventually came back out and headed up the main road to our cabin past the lake. The mist had burned off the lake, letting you see the boat/swimming dock on the other side. This is only part of a large lake that has many islands/peninsulas.
