Yeah, Bob thought we took him on a walk...

...but the real MAN's walk (lol) came Monday, as Scrappy and I ventured to Shoaff Park!

 Now, for the non-locals, Shoaff is our closest major park, and it takes a while to get there.  Above is the view just before you take the walkway under St Joe Center Road...

 And that one is from the street bridge that you have to cross after you go under the road.

Just before you get on the 1st boardwalk...

...and after that boardwalk, and a 1/8th mile of actual neighborhood street, the next phase begins.

 There's a mix of boardwalk and asphalt from here to the actual entrance into the park from our house.

And if you are adventurous, just before you emerge from the shady trail, there are side trails you can take into the park border.

It is a bit steep in places, but you get good views!

We came out just shy of the back way in (another hiker was taking advantage of a secluded spot to meditext) and came out at the back "door".  Time from front door to "back door", 33 minutes.

This is the bridge that leads you into the main park- as usual, we met some dogs there, but they were shy.

And into the main park we go!  The biggest feature on this side is the pond that sits near the event building...

(Not this!  These guys were on the river itself...)

Where we found many of our Mexican neighbors fishing.  I asked if the "fishing was bien", and was told, "Oh, no..."

Scrappy had no luck, either...

So we said goodbye to the pond, and after a quick stop at the ball diamonds for a taste of the water fountains, we went to the boat landing.

 And in goes Scrappy, while we took a fifteen minute break.  We are now around an hour in.

But as peaceful as it is, SOMEBODY was soon complaining we should move on...

"Damn it, I said, let's go!"

And so we began the seldom taken (by us) long loop around the golf course.

A small row of trees is all that separates us from the River for part of the way...  And just before we left it, we found a trail.  It started off easy enough...

...but then we hit this rise, where tree roots equalled steps....

...and then it got a bit hairy.  After this, the trail merged into a large patch of "where the heck do we go now?"  Scrappy actually went into "lost dog" mode, but I spied the golf course a way off, and after dodging, ducking, and stepping over...

...we exited the woods here.  You can see the exit, right?

A little bit later we hit a bigger trail and I could see a stairway.  I was curious to see where it led, but had no further interest in trail exploring.  And the stairway?

...uh, that would be a "no."  So back out around the course we went...

"I HATE the 12th hole!  Take that!"

Oh, BTW Bobby, no more Scruffy!

I was surprised that we didn't see more golfers, but it was VERY windy...

Finally we were closing in on where we came in at.  But instead of taking the bridge, we took what the bridge bridged...

At this point, Scrappy said, the heck with this ravine, and led us up to the trail.

I called another five-minute rest.  Amazingly, someone was STILL not happy...

(But he still snaps a mean picture!)

We were exactly 2 hours out at this point.  The walk home was pleasant if uneventful- except when we took the footbridge across the feeder on the way home.  I said, "Scrappy, a snake!"  He ignored it, the snake tried to flee, Scrappy stepped on it, detaining it for a half-second, and we all moved on.

At home time, 2 1/2 hours.  Distance, 4.75 miles- not quite 2 miles more than the Saturday walk.  Ready, guys?