Hiking Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Date: September 14, 2024
It’s always fun to explore a new trail and this one was at one of our favorite hiking locations. Germantown’s trails are all shady, but we never hiked the Purple Trail before because it goes out into the sunny meadow for two miles. Since I was recovering from leukemia and couldn’t be in the sun or get bad side effects, we just skipped this trail. I am feeling so much better now so today was game on.
We began at the TV Welcome/Nature Center and hiked a mile on the wooded Orange Trail. Runners who were competing in a 50K Run (30.9 miles) kept jogging past us. At post 20, we turned west, and the Purple Trail took us out into the hot 80+ degree sun through a beautiful field of wildflowers, small colorful birds and an occasional butterfly. The trail crossed Boomershine Road along more grassland and wildflowers before abruptly and unexpectantly turned into a small forest. This was a great surprise and much cooler. The trail twisted and turned a mile or so through the woods and over two bridges before emerging back into the sun. Rosie pointed out that some of the leaves were beginning to turn red meaning autumn is approaching. The Purple Trail and Brown Spur Trail joined and then went .7 miles through tall grassland and wildflowers before crossing back over Boomershine Road. Back in the forest the Purple Trail Ended. We turned south on the Orange Trail for .8 miles back to our car. Overall, we hiked about 4.6 miles of enjoyable open and shady trails.
