Today began again with, you guessed it, more rain. It just won’t end this year! We decided that it would be a good morning to go out for breakfast, for the crepes at Sunrise Cafe that we’ve been looking forward to all year.

Not having any desire for such a long walk in pouring rain, we drove down and parked along West Street. West Street was nearly deserted in these conditions, and with the hurricane approaching this weekend on top of it all, I think many people, and all of the cruise ships, were staying away.

I fed the meter even though it was debatable whether we needed to pay for parking so early in the morning—one message on the meter said that no payment was required until 8am, while another said none was required until 9am. I played it safe and added enough quarters to keep us safe until 8:22am, while Rich went inside the cafe and ordered our crepes and drinks.

I had ordered a blueberry crepe without whipped cream (not that I have a problem with it, just that I think it’s usually unnecessary) but they forgot and gave me one with whipped cream. Oddly enough, they brought me that one and then insisted on giving us another one without. So I ended up eating one and a half crepes, somehow. (They are actually very thin and light. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.)

Rich had the veggie crepe that he has been craving all year, and it was excellent too (filled with red peppers, onions, arugula, and avocado). We had our customary tea and coffee to drink, and watched the pouring rain as we sat in the cafe, the only guests for most of the time. Just as we were ready to leave, some more people came in to eat. So we finished up just in time. We drove back to the room.

We sat on the porch for a few hours, waiting for the rain to end. A few hours later it was finally looking brighter outside, so we decided on a few very quick scouting missions. Of course, when we went out to the car it was misting again! We figured it wouldn’t affect our plans too much, so we went anyway.

First, we went to the Park Headquarters along Eagle Lake Road to search for the “secret park ranger trail” I had heard about. We walked all the way to the end of the very last one of several driveways in the headquarters area. There were all kinds of equipment, vehicles, storage, signs (one for Cadillac Mountain!) scattered around. But once we got to the very end, we found what we were looking for: an obvious trail heading northeast toward the old access road where we found benchmark K 9 many years ago. It is even labeled with a cool old wooden sign on a signpost, with the words “employee trail” carved into it.

I didn’t follow that trail today, because we were trying to keep our adventures for today quick and simple, and Rich was trying out some easy walking (he came with me down to this point).

Another objective I had was to search for the potential beginning of a trail heading south from the headquarters parking area. From the old maps, it looks like this old road, if it is still discernable, might be a quicker way to approach the area of the old Southwest Valley road. I would like to search for this old road at some point, but access from the carriage roads would likely require a significant walk. If this road behind the park headquarters is a feasible entrance point, it will cut off some of the distance and also give us a decent parking spot.

However, it wasn’t to be this time. There is some kind of construction underway at the south end of the park headquarters property, and the entire area is marked “for authorized personnel only - area under surveillance” as well as being surrounded by orange construction fencing.

So even if I had been able to go down to search for the road, I probably would have been blocked by the fence. We will have to check it out again next year when, I assume, the construction will be complete.

Instead, I thought I’d take a few minutes to check on benchmark K 9 again to see how it is faring after all of these years.

Initially I was thinking I would walk the employee trail down to the benchmark location, but we decided to drive down to the access road instead. This was probably a good choice for today. I can explore the area in more depth at a later time.

Rich parked at the southern end of the access road and waited in the car while I headed down the road to look for the mark (again). My goal was to use its adjusted elevation to calibrate the altimeter in my GPS, which seemed to work out well. (The GPS-obtained elevation was off by 19 feet—not terrible but could be better.)

Along the short walk to the benchmark location, I found the spot where the employee trail intersects the access road. It is quite wide and obvious and will probably be an easy walk when I decide to do it.

I re-located the benchmark without any trouble, took a few photos, and calibrated the GPS as planned. Back on the access road, I took a few photos on my way back to the car. There are some nicely carved granite slabs here, probably being stored for whenever they are needed.

I was pleasantly surprised when Rich asked if I had anything else in mind for today, and although I really didn’t, we both simultaneously suggested looking for the steps in the woods near the Precipice that supposedly lead up to the Orange and Black trail.

We found easy parking right near the fourth storm drain from the Orange and Black trail, and we both walked into the woods to find the base of the stone gully, which was actually right in front of us.

A faint path led me up toward the line of white birches I was supposed to be looking for, which in turn led me right to the stone steps! In fact, I was already standing on some of the steps before I even realized it!

It was far too wet and slippery to climb to the top of the steps today, but I took a few photos that basically show the line of the steps, although these types of photos never come out very well nor do they show how obvious the steps are in person. We will come back another drier day to climb to the top and hopefully reach the current Orange and Black trail!

We relaxed on the porch and in the room for another hour or so, and then headed into town for supper. You will not be surprised to hear that we chose Rosalie’s again! We got a small pizza topped with mushrooms and onions this time. Excellent!

We also went back to MDI Ice Cream for another maple pecan cone, and I tried the lemon poppy jam ice cream this time (also good). It was a nice warm evening, so we sat on a bench at the Village Green for a while and then came back to sit on our porch to enjoy a small glass of wine.