Lower Trail / Big River / Easy Rider

With absolutely perfect weather on tap for the day, my husband and I decided it was time to head down to the Lower Trail to check things out. He wanted to jog along the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata, and I would ride my bike. 

The trick was getting my bike into the car. We tried to slide it into the back seat of the Impala. No go. And then I discovered a huge SPIDER under the bike seat. Yick! (Also: EEK! I wonder how long THAT has been riding with me!) He pulled the bike back out, I removed the spider, we tried again. This time, he got out a ratchet set; removed the front tire; okay, it fit now. Off we went, over to the river. But there was even an adventure on the way there!

My husband and I were in the car, driving down route 45, heading for the Water Street access point of the Lower Trail. It's a lovely rural route, and we were taking in the scenery. We both saw a huge black snake curled up on the road, not far from the edge.

Suddenly, a small gray form came HURTLING toward the snake! It was a RABBIT moving at top speed! The rabbit ran directly to the snake, and began attacking and biting it! DIRECT ATTACK! Kick kick kick! Bite bite bite! Somehow I never thought of rabbits like that. It was in a frenzy!

The snake attacked back! Wow, what a battle! One for the ages! They were still duking it out as we passed them by, my husband swerving the car to the left to miss them both.The whole thing took mere seconds. I never even thought of the camera; if I'd have gone for it, I'd have missed the show.

We both wonder who won the big battle. We returned home via the same route, and I looked for bodies. There were none to be seen. No dead rabbit. No dead snake! Wow, what an amazing event to witness! In all of our outdoor adventures, neither my husband nor I have ever seen such a thing. In fact, my husband says if he weren't there to see it himself, he would not have believed me when I told the tale!

I have seen a video or two online of a rabbit attacking a snake. Typically, the comments indicate it was a Mama Bun, defending a nest of babies. Now, I do not know if this was a PREVENTIVE attack, to keep the dangerous snake away. Or if it was a REVENGE attack, after the snake approached or ate baby bunnies. But I'll tell ya what. You do NOT mess around with Mama Bun!!!!!

And then we were at the river, and parking the car, and my bike went back together. Off I zoomed, with my tunes box, Tiny Tiger, the Moose, and the Anteater in my daysack, riding along with me. My husband and I agreed we'd meet back by one of the benches near the beginning around 2 p.m. for a late picnic lunch of ham and cheese sandwiches, pickles, sunflower seeds, cold baked beans, and drinks.

The trail was a corridor of green along the river, with lovely benches at reasonable intervals, as you may see in the shot above. The river was running high and muddy after recent rains, and there was some flooding along the banks. I even spotted a few snapping turtles on my adventure.

There is a tree I usually walk out to, wrap my arms around, and then lean out over the river for a wide shot of the views and reflections; not so on this day, as the water prevented me from my usual perch. (This is the tree to the right in the river view in the extras.)

My husband was jogging and I was on the bike. We were both heading in the same direction, so we kept running into each other. I'd stop the bike and hop off, take some photos, and he'd catch up to me. Then I'd get on the bike, and buzz past him, laughing and giving him the finger, like a lunatic!  That's just how we roll. All these years, he's been in front of me. Now, on the bike, I get to pass him and go on ahead. He doesn't like it one bit! Ha ha!

I was wearing my loosest, most comfortable clothing for my ride: a t-shirt I got from my dad (that big sister Barb bought him, of course, and he may have never even worn), and big, baggy gray shorts that I inherited from Barb with huge pockets for tissues and what-not. The shorts had a hole inside the one pocket when I inherited them, and I patched it with comfy pink fleece. 

The t-shirt features a pair of cows riding in a pink car. Beneath the image, it says: "Cattlelac." I can just imagine Barb laughing when she bought that shirt for Dad. She always got such a hoot out of silly things. So on this happy big-adventure day, I wore my purple hat, my favorite pink and purple Scarpa sneakers, a t-shirt that makes me hear Barb's laughter every single time I wear it, and her shorts, soft and comfy like a big sister's hug. You may see me in this outfit, on my bike, in the extras.

In the end, I finally zipped past my husband and put the pedal to the metal, and rode a couple more miles. He ran about four miles; I easily rode six. I stopped at a tiny pavilion near a beautiful bend in the river, got off my bike, and sat down on a bench; took a short video of the peaceful river scene. 

A fellow on a bike saw me with my camera, presumed I was a birder, and stopped to chat with me, and to let me know that he'd been regularly seeing an indigo bunting a bit further up the trail. I didn't make it far enough to see the bird but I did appreciate his kindness in letting me know where the coolest critters can be found. Photographers just love that stuff, believe me!

And finally, it was time to turn around and come back, and I did. I have mentioned before that the Lower Trail is an odd and wonderful place to ride bike. It is wide and flat and EASY, and it was just delightful, the whole experience. Perfect weather, perfect views, a beautiful river with lots of water in it. It almost seemed like riding downhill, in both directions!

At the end of our afternoon, my husband and I packed up our stuff. He had brought both of our chairs and a cooler and his daysack, and I was on my bike with my own daysack. So he walked, carrying stuff, and I rode. We sat on the next-to-last bench; then the last one by the entrance.

I got off my bike, put down my daysack. My husband put down his daysack and the cooler and chairs, and sat on the bench; stretched his arm out. I sat down, snuggled into his embrace, eased out a happy sigh, and we sat there like that for a few last minutes, just watching the river roll on by, enjoying a spectacularly beautiful day in May.

I've got three photos so here are three soundtrack songs. There are two songs for the river, and one for the rider. :-) First, we've got Johnny Cash with Big River, and the Grass Roots, with River Is Wide. And for our bike rider in the extras, wearing her big sister's clothes like a hug, I've got Tom Petty covering the Byrds hit, Ballad of Easy Rider.

P.S. This is only the second time ever that I've ridden my bike here. Here is a link to the story of the first time!

Bonus: A short video plus nine photos on Instagram.