Equinox on the Centennial Trail

On September 22, the first day of fall, I headed out to put in some footsore miles on the Centennial Trail...a day that was much more like summer than fall. Slathered with sunscreen, water bottles full (2 of them frozen), it was, nevertheless, a very warm experience!

I parked at a different trail head so as to get different photos from my earlier posts this year about the trail.

A little fall color beginning to show...

Shot of the trail head parking lot.

Getting started...have to warm up for a mile.

Then 5 miles at a faster pace. Yeah, right. The first 2 miles were OK, then I began to fall apart as I got hotter and hotter. This is where I turned around:

Heading back now, trying to pick up the pace again.

Phew! Here is a little park along the section of the trail in a little town called Machias. There is the nicest restroom here on the entire 17-mile length of the trail, and I made use of it! (It was even cool inside!)

Here's me, traveling incognito in my hat and over sized sunglasses:

As much as I wanted to linger, it was time to push on. I liked the colors on this hill, so had to stop to take a shot:

More bright colors.

Almost back.

Yay! The finish in view! The end of a long cool-down.

If you turn left, as the sign for Lake Stevens is pointing, you go into this sweet little lakeside town on the lake by the same name. Maybe for my next outing, I'll head over to town and take some photos.