Hiking in Fontenelle Forest

Brendt and I finally got out long enough to start exploring the Bellevue area. We heard rumors of excellent hiking in Fontenelle Forest so we decided to check it out for ourselves. It was a blast! Turns out they have miles and miles of hiking trails--we didn't realize what we were getting into and ended up hiking for almost 3 hours! And that was only a slice of the park. We didn't see much wildlife,--just some wild turkeys and millions of orb weaver spiders that were EvERyWhERe. It was kinda like something out of a horror movie.

The bridge off the main lodge.

They had a very pretty outdoor lounge area.

OK, now the real journey begins.

This was an exhibit explaining how we are continuously
expanding into forested areas and how that impacts the environment.
Naturally, I made Brendt pose for a quick snapshot.

We came to a clearing where we could see the railroad tracks off in the distance.

This water looked a wee bit stagnant.

A closer view of the sludge pit.

OMG! What a foxy forest creature!!

We hiked uphill for so long we thought we would never reach the top,
but when we got there and saw the view, it was totally worth it.
This is looking over the Missouri and into Iowa.

OMG!! We got a shot of bigfoot!

And of course a bonus pictures of Rufus!