Today’s hiking adventure began at Bertram Chain of Lakes Regional Park.

After looking at the map, I can see why the park has “Chain of Lakes” in the title. Four lakes and a pond are surrounded by hiking trails.

We followed the trail down to Bertram Lake.

The unpaved trails were wide and well maintained.

We crossed over many different bridges throughout our hike. Little bits of green were popping out. Spring is here!

Long Lake offered beautiful views. The clouds mirrored themselves across the still lake. The lake was actually quite long, hence its name. There were several places along the trail to stop for different views.

New growth was everywhere!

Alongside the hiking trails, a single track bike trail weaved throughout the forest.

We continued on the trail.

Hiking through the pine tree grove is always a favorite. The smell is so relaxing.

I forgot to mention earlier, the trails are numbered 1-5. So far we had been hiking on trails 1 and 2. Trail 3 is a loop which circles the park’s prairie restoration area. They recently had a controlled burn of the prairie. The contrast of the green trail and the burnt prairie was striking.

Back on trail 2… The bright blue sky and the green grass was so nice to see.

Wildflowers added a wonderful splash of color along the trail.

A snake shed its skin right on the trail.

We found a bit of tree graffiti along the trail.

As we looped back to our starting point, the sky was mostly clear. I snapped a few more photos of Bertram Lake. The trees mirrored against the calm water.

Today’s hiking adventure was 8.3 miles.