We spent two hours on a very warm afternoon under a nice cool canopy of shade trees. We started down the Birch Trail and reached the junction with the Wildwood Trail. Our group has in the past turned to the left to continue northward along the Wildwood Trail. Since Alfredo had not been on the southern segment, which merges in with the Upper Macleay Trail, we decided to go down that path. We eventually reached the Old Stone House-- a classic landmark featured in many local galleries. Had we continued a little further, we would have reached the Audubon Center, and our group has done so in years past, but we were running out of water, so decided to turn around. A disturbing note to share...there is a lot more crushed gravel on the trail than there was at this time last year. In fact, at the junction of Wildwood and Upper Macleay Trail, there was a three-foot high pile of crushed gravel-- obviously waiting to be laid down along the trail. This trail has traditionally been chosen because of its relative ease and least amount of gravel for beginning barefooters. We have seen this trend along all our favorite trails in the last two years (sigh).
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