Note: Don sent the following email to Joan and Bob, but has agreed to share it with anyone interested in Springwater Trails.  The pictures below were taken by Char.  Mac is watching me edit this so I am including Amy’s pictures of Mac at the bottom.

Joan and Bob, thanks for a wonderful hike experience Sunday. I was a Climber at the Mission Rd hike/Eagle Crest Winery after-hike social.  A wonderful day for a hike, and quite a nice hike route.  I was grateful for the forest canopy shading.  Some Climbers commented they could have done a bit longer route, but I realize (as I heard) the water level did not work in our favor that way.  (I would like to cover the additional south section of the trail on a repeat hike if we can, but I did hear some murmuring about continuing south in the woods/not the shore line last time resulting in some uncomfortable encounters with multiflora rose which we all can certainly do without).   Upon reaching just short of the pump-house we did not attempt to continue further south, we headed uphill on the old road which eventually brought us to the hilltop and Eagle Crest Winery.

We sighted and explored a bit at some old dilapidated foundations/structures on the way up the old road.   We did that route in probably less than 1 1/2 hours, but some hikers still had the walk up the winery entry road and then up Mission Road to get our cars still at the start point.  I think, some hikers opted for wine tasting at the winery instead of going for cars, and looked for a shuttle later to facilitate retrieving cars.

Despite the numerous days of rain we had shortly preceding the hike, the Climbers route itself had very few spots where there was mud, such that I believe most of us came out of the woods with dry and not muddy shoes/boots and no mud markings.  I could not have imagined the route having been in any better condition given the recent rains.  And thanks for doing the preview of lake level etc, just days before we did the hike, a nice extra effort on your part.

Point of clarification:  for Climbers – in the vicinity of utility pole #141 there was some sign of an entry point to Nature Conservancy lands and a Nature Conservancy sign but there was no clear mown trail here.  Instead the Climbers continued one pole further south to pole #142, and in doing so were on the south side of a creek instead of the north side.  At pole 142 we entered and walked on the very northern edge of the vineyard field itself – nicely mown, but well away from disturbing any vines in the vineyard.  I know not what pole 141 would have held for the group, but can say pole 142 was a good entry choice.

Great after-hike social venue.  Fantastic space under the white Big-Top tent to provide shade from the high sun angle and clear skies present during our Sunday hike and could have also been a welcome refuge in the case of rain.  It has been a few years since I have been to Eagle Crest Winery, and I looked forward to the hike and to returning to the wonderful setting of the winery.  THANK YOU for Hike Planning it!

Pizza:  – on a culinary note relative to the wood-fired oven Artisan Pizza – I believe I detected rosemary in the pizza crust itself.  Nice flavor for infusing in the dough!  Two other stand outs for me were Char’s Pineapple upside-down cake which she used pineapple juice in to replace some water in the recipe, and Deana in my opinion got the macaroni salad recipe just right with the inclusion of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce therein. Someone made the best oatmeal cookies that I have had in ages with lots of oatmeal, (the way they should be in my opinion, similar to the way my mom made them) and I could go on, but … So much for my culinary reviews and ramblings.

Thanks again.   Happiness in Hiking,

Don

PS.  The naturalists and tourists were careful to watch for Red Efts (the land phase of the Eastern Newt’s life).  According to Wikipedia, Eastern newts have three stages of life: (1) the aquatic larva or tadpole, (2) the red eft or terrestrial juvenile stage, and (3) the aquatic adult.