We began the day with a breakfast at McLean’s, a local restaurant that has been around for decades.  After breakfast we headed to the trailhead.

It was another sunny Sunday morning, after several days of rainy, and damp conditions.  We parked as close to the trail head as possible, but due to a race that morning there were a few more cars than usual.  We walked across the Boulevard bridge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulevard_Bridge) and about halfway down, I spotted a 2-1/2’ long Longnose gar lazily swimming around the rocks, 100’ feet below. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longnose_gar

We continued our walk across the bridge and hooked up to the Buttermilk trail and passed a dozen runners racing along.  We walked about 2.25 miles, crossed the railroad tracks on the elevated walkway, and took the concrete stairs (bunker style) down to the gravel trail path along the river (as opposed to the buttermilk trail which mostly is above the river in the hills and ravines of the surrounding area).  We continued our walk back and in short order were back at the bridge, although well below it.  We crossed the train tracks and up the hill to the bridge sidewalk and returned to our cars.  The day was sunny, cool to start, and with a hint of fall.  A really good morning hike.