Mud Spring

Robert, Wednesday, July 16

We hiked to Mud Spring today. It is located about a mile from the campground along what is described as a primitive trail. The trail is actually far better than many improved trails I have hiked. The only drawback to the trail itself is that it goes through muskeg. For those not familiar with the term, think “swamp.” There were numerous mud holes along a third of the trail. It was impossible to keep your feet dry unless you were wearing rubber boots that reached at least mid-calf (we weren’t). We only lost the trail one time on the way up but found it again pretty quickly. One thing is certain, mud spring correctly describes the spring. The spring was located in the middle of a large expanse of willow. The spring was a clearing about 100 feet in diameter that consisted of dried mud, not so dried mud, and several pools of water. The water bubbled with methane gas and supposedly was salty. To say it was uninspiring puts it mildly. Fortunately Leslie suggested we take our hiking poles. They made it easier to take giant steps across some of the mud holes on the trail. The whole hike took slightly less than two hours and it was good to just get out and walk. We saw lots of moose tracks and thousands of mosquitoes. When we got back to the campsite, there was a nice breeze which kept the mosquitoes away so we sat outside for a while after washing the mud off of our shoes. After dinner, we built a campfire but as the breeze slacked, the mosquitoes returned enough that we came inside.