Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area: Northlook Trail

I'm getting lucky with wonderful weather on all my days off lately. In between my haircut this morning and my doctor's appointment this afternoon, I decided we needed to get outside and take advantage of the warm temperatures and blue skies. We made the short drive south to Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area again. Today we decided to hike the Northlook Trail that begins behind the Nature Center.

We started passing the bird feeder behind the Nature Center. It was just loaded with pine siskins. We continued north on the mostly snow-free ridge with wonderful views off both sides of the trail.

The views were so good, we just had to stop every now and then to take some photos.

The views to the east featured the ridge we had hiked last week on the Monument View Trail, and a small canyon that separated the two.

We continued in the beauty,

eventually arriving at the recreation area's boundary fence.

The trail followed the fence line for a bit, and ended at an interesting overlook of the surrounding area.

I found a small, domed, rock promontory to climb up to where I admired the view.

Then we turned around and headed back the way we came.

As we approached the end of the trail, we took a slight detour by following a a dirt road, labeled as a "Nature Trail" to the west,

and then we finished our short hike back at the Nature Center.