Liz arrived at Geneva State Park on Friday early afternoon and found the sites # 19 and 21 under water. She was able to arrange a move to two other drier sites. Tom arrived with his new camper he built from a kit. It was much admired by all.
Steve and Coleen and Murphy arrived shortly thereafter. We spent the evening around the campfire and caught up on events since last year. No boats accompanied this trip as the water level according to the USGS site was above the recommended 4 feet. (6.5 on Fri. to 4.5 on Sunday). The river was definitely moving - April 30 was at 4,000 cubic ft /sec to May 2nd above 2,000/cubic ft.
Saturday morning Chuck and Kerri arrived and set up camp. They brought their bikes to use on the trails around the park.
Coleen and Liz decided to hike part of the trail. They left the men at camp reading (and sleeping). They hiked the well-travelled orange trail to the purple trail which proved to be a muddy track around the edge of the water but they were rewarded with great views of eagles, starting with a bald eagle's flight where it finally flew in and joined its mate on a tree branch. As they walked under the tree and watched, the eagles then took off over the water.
At the end of the muddy trail Liz and Coleen took a break at a picnic table and were joined there by Chuck and Kerri who were passing by on their bikes. They also had seen the bald eagles (probably the same ones) on their trip. They said they were going to ride their bikes and check out GOTL downtown strip. (Kerri pronounced it (???t?l, while Liz and Coleen called it Go TL)
After Chuck and Kerri left Coleen and Liz decided to visit GOTL, too, but they were going by car. Low and behold both groups found out GOTL actually was an abbreviation for Geneva on the Lake. Coleen and Liz drove through town and on their way out they stopped for ice cream. Chuck and Kerri took a more leisurely tour on their bikes and read the historical plaques. The whole place reminded one of the 1950's but freshly painted.
When everyone was back at camp, supper was made and then we enjoyed time around the campfire. That night the windstorm (no rain) came through. The strong gusts woke most of the campers. Liz and Steve got up to the sound of a canopy being destroyed, 3 bent legs. Liz then ran over and helped a neighboring camper take down his canopy.
Sunday we all got up and packed up to leave. Kerri and Chuck headed off to do some bike riding, Liz headed off to Lake Metro Parks to hike a trail along the Grand and Tom, Coleen and Steve headed out towards home. It was a great trip even though boats were all left at home.
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