I’ve hiked the trails at Anderson Marsh State Park a number of times but never realized the park included trailheads at other locations. I found this one at the end of a dead-end street in the city of Clear Lake. I parked below an osprey nest (beware of “gifts” dropped from above!) and then followed the fairly short trail through a tall field of wild teasel.

I was relieved to reach the shade of the trees on this warm morning — however, a couple of the venerable oak trees had fallen and lay across the trail, and it took me several minutes to figure out how to scramble over the largest one and continue.

Lorquin’s admiral

The payoff was a large shaded spot under an ancient oak tree, overlooking a quiet backwater of Clear Lake. Garner Island sat just across the way and out of my reach. I did spot another trail, tempting me to explore northward, but it led through thick blackberry bushes guarded by a seemingly unending series of spider webs. I wasn’t willing to destroy the hard work of all those spiders; so after taking a few minutes to soak in the beauty and the quiet solitude, there was nothing to do but turn and retrace my steps to my car.

Beyond the trees, a glimpse of the vineyards between the lake and Highway 29

I did explore another side trail that led to the south, toward Slater Island, but the overgrowth took over again, and since I didn’t have my machete handy, I admitted defeat and turned back.

It looked promising, but both trails led to a dead end