January 18, MLK Day, Urban Towpath

Graffiti adorns a railroad bridge

Took today off; Kay didn't have class. We decided to check out Summit Lake. I had never been there, but looking at the map I could see that the trail ran along the eastern shore, the length of the lake.

It was surprisingly pretty. The lake was smaller than I'd envisioned, but very scenic for a lake situated in an urban area. There's a section of the trail that runs across the water. It's called a floating trail, named after the original floating towpath along which canal boats traveled. We walked the length of the lake. We came to a railroad bridge under which the trail ran. The underside of the bridge was covered with colorful graffiti, which looked beautiful against the dark wood of the bridge, and seemed to fit perfectly in this very urban section of the trail.

Trekking further south, we passed through an industrial area. A factory to the west was spewing smoke from its stacks into the sky, and also into the water along the trail. It was very pretty actually, but the smoke irritated my eyes. We snapped several photos and decided to turn around shortly before reaching Wilbeth Rd. We headed back to our car, snapping pictures all the way. Lots of ducks out today!

We then stopped at a trailhead just south of I-277/244 off Manchester Rd. The trail ran just south of Nesmith Lake, one of the Portage Lakes. We walked for awhile in each direction, but didn't stay long. Again, lots of ducks, and even a few Canada geese.

Projects, graffiti
A floating bridge on the lake
Happy MLK!