Today we ventured east to try out the Maple Highlands Trail — a rails-to-trails conversion that stretches from Headwaters Park to Chardon in Geauga County, Ohio. The facility is beautifully designed, provisioned, and maintained. It is paved with asphalt over its nine miles, and is of gentle terrain for those of us who have not been riding our bikes enough lately to be strong as we once were — we know who we are! Shallow slopes, slow curves, woodlands, wetlands, and few road intersections make this a good ride. Many birds and dragonflies flew across the trail as we cruised from one end to the other and back again. Along the way I steered to avoid what I thought at first was a dead leaf, then maybe some poo… at the last second I could see it was a smallish frog. I stopped and turned around to take a portrait of the little amphibian before urging it off of the trail. We encountered one other frog, of another species, on the pavement but it was a little shy and refused picture-taking. It was a good ride on a warm and sunny day. Forecast for this week is cloudy with rain chances so we're glad we fit this in.
By the way, I shot the frog photo with Her older model Panasonic Lumix camera –Her first digital camera– and am very pleased with the result. We're offering the point-and-shoot to my mother as a replacement for single-use film cameras she has found disappointing of late. We'll see how it works out for her.
PhotonStopper 