The Old Brewery Loop

I grabbed the trail shoes and headed out to Lime Creek hoping for some true running mileage, only to find the trail conditions to be absolutely crappy.  Frozen slush, glare ice, snow, bare dirt...I might have had better luck trying the route on snowshoes.  But I had committed to the workout and had the time with plenty of podcasts along for entertainment so I trudged onward, albeit a lot of walking to be safe!

At the junction near the old brewery, I was surprised to find that the recent mild weather has allowed the county employees to open up the view of the old place that had been slowly become hidden amongst vegetation.

There is info in the kiosk near the site that explains a bit of the history of the brewery and even some reference to my ancestors that originally did some greenhouse and truck-farming on what is now part of Lime Creek Nature Center property.  I have slipped into the woods to find the old foundations of the greenhouses and the house where my great-grandparents and grandparents had lived with my dad and siblings.  Perhaps I can post photos of the old place sometime before spring .

(Sorry for the reflection of my Dion Snowshoe jacket in the photos!  It is high-vis which is a good idea when winter running but not so good for taking photos with reflective surfaces.)  I remember my father telling a story about taking refuge in the brewery one night during a tornadic rainstorm.

Further down the trail, where I had previously seen (and even heard one night) evidence of river otter activity, I found where an otter or two had feasted on a fish...scales and blood in the snow beside the bank.

River Otter on display in the Nature center

The tracks out in the snow on the ice are unique in the way the otters step and then body-glide to form the tell-tale trail.

10 miles total but had to mix running and walking to match the trail conditions.