We arrived at Lost Maples around 9:00am. We probably missed the great color of Fall by a weekend. But, it was still very nice. We went hiking on the Maple Trail first. I do not remember ever being on this trail.

This is one of the first pictures I took along this particular trail. Dan is examining and taking pictures of the leaves on the tree.



He (Dan) is always looking for ways to improve his photography and challenges himself to do certain things. He sees things that I often do not see. Like this:



We continued along the trail. It's amazing how the landscape changes up here at Lost Maples - it is so gorgeous! This is one side of the creek. Dan was down there taking pictures of I don't know what. LOL. :-)



And, here is the opposite side of the same creek:



Dan looked down where he was standing (in the above picture) and noticed something that interested him and proceeded to try to photograph it. I didn't have a clue to what he was attempting to photograph.



This is one of the pictures he took:



When he was done, he told me what was over there - a baby frog. I immediately had to go over there and see it! I adore frogs - don't ask me why. Here I am examining the frog. Dan snapped it without my knowledge. If I had known, I would have tried to cover up - some skin is showing. :-)



And, here is a picture I took of the frog with my camera, which has closeup capabilities. I would so love to get a wonderful camera with super macro capabilities!



The land is forever changing around here. I loved the combination of the field and the mountains. This picture doesn't do justice to the wonderful colors and scenery - the trees in the distance (within the picture) seem so dark. In reality, it was an absolutely gorgeous view.



We finished hiking along the Maple Trail and returned to the truck. By this time, I was warm; so, I dumped my red jacket. (Dan dumped his blue jeans Jacket.) We then proceeded to hike along the East Trail up toward the pond. Dan took a pair of binoculars because hawks often roost along a canyon wall. It didn't take us long to reach this particular spot. Here is Dan hunting for hawks. :-)



Again, the trail's scenery constantly changes. There was a portion along the trail that was absolutely gorgeous. My camera couldn't do it justice. However, here is a shot that Dan took that somewhat conveys the beauty along this portion of the trail.



We reached the pond area rather quickly. I think both of us were hungry! We decided to rest and have our lunch there. I got cold in the shade rather quickly and decided to eat in the sun near the edge of the pond. I soon noticed the dragonflies and damselflies flying about. I love dragonflies! It's amazing how many varieties there are out there. Anyway, I saw some red dragonflies and tried to snap pictures of those - they would not cooperate. Darn it! However, the blue damselflies seemed less fearful and one actually let me get real close to him for me to snap a picture. My camera must have been six to eight inches from the thing - I was in awe!



Dan had his lunch in the shade and soon had a friend nearby. I watched that bird get mighty close to him (Dan). The bird was fearless! Of course, Dan is ready to snap pictures. It turned out to be a Tufted Titmouse.





We finished lunch and then headed back down the trail. I find it interesting how you always notice things you missed the first time around. I saw this plant and was like "what in the world"? Of course, I had to snap a picture of it.



We stopped along an area of the creek which had a mini-waterfall. Dan wanted to take pictures of it; so, he went off trail a bit and down below the falls. I sat down near the top patiently waiting for Dan to do his thing. The falls was absolutely gorgeous close up. I tried to capture it from my point of view; but, all the pictures I took stunk - I sure wish I had a better camera!



We stopped near the trail head to get a picture of the both of us against a tree with fall colors. Dan used the timer on his camera. It was so funny and scary at the same time! The first time he ran down to sit with me, I was a little scared that he would slip and fall - there were tons of leaves on the ground. However, it was funny to watch him run carefully towards me!

It took three tries before getting a decent picture. The first attempt, Dan was adjusting his hat and the camera snapped a picture with his hand near his face - not good. The second attempt, he didn't quite make it and I was busting a gut (laughing). The third attempt, finally! A decent picture. He also took a fourth just in case and that also turned out good. Dan was sort of out of breath by the time we were done and I was just amused by it all.



We then packed up the truck and left Lost Maples. By this time, it was around 1:00pm. We headed toward one of my favorite places in the world (so far), Garner State Park. It didn't take us long to get there from Lost Maples.

When we arrived, the area that we usually camp at was closed for the fall/winter. So, we went exploring old Garner. When we approached the first campground, both of us exclaimed in amazement. It was "Ghost Garner" - not many campsites were occupied. We saw deer grazing in the campsite area and were amazed simply because it was broad daylight. We reached the dam area and parked. We explored a little bit. When we reached the area below the dam, Dan discovered his batteries were dead -- he was not a happy camper. He wanted to take pictures so badly!



Again, it was so quiet and just simply gorgeous. The water was so clear - it was absolutely amazing. The water is usually murky from all the people swimming and muddying it up by stirring up the river bottom. This is a snapshot just above the dam.



We wandered up the river a bit. I was constantly amazed at how clear the river was. And, it was absolutely peaceful - hardly any people were around. There were some huge ducks resting near the banks of the river. They let me approach rather closely to take some pictures. When I got too close, one of them started up a fuss. I was disappointed with how my pictures of them came out; so, I 'm not showing them.

Dan pointed out a spot that was perfect for taking pictures of the river, trees and Old Baldy. He pointed it out to me and tried to give me some pointers. But, my camera is mighty limited! The sky got washed out in this picture - it was a beautiful blue. Oh well. Better than nothing! :-)



We decided to head back to the truck. Both Dan and I noticed that the trees were really old and big along this section of the river. I told Dan to go stand by one and he was jokingly asking if he should be a "tree hugger". I laughed and said that would make an interesting picture. It certainly shows the size of the tree.



I wanted to take one last picture before we leave - a picture of both of us. My camera does have a timer. This is the first time I ever used it (the timer). I set it on a tripod I have and attempted to take a picture of both of us against one of those huge trees. It didn't quite work out as well as I wanted. The flash wasn't powerful enough and for some reason, I was blurry. Oh well.




We then left Garner and headed for home. We arrived home around 4:30pm. I was amazed that we could take a day trip to both Lost Maples and Garner - we have never been able to do this before. It sure did feel strange only traveling a couple of hours - we're so used to having to travel five or six hours just to reach Garner.

I had a wonderful day. And, so did Dan, with the exception of the batteries in his camera dying on him. :-)