Today's hike started at Krul Lake where we entered the Sweetwater Trail which began with a boardwalk and passed by a working grist mill and then over a suspension bridge and 
along a creek for approximately three fourths of a mile before becoming a dirt trail. The Sweetwater trail runs into the Bear Lake trail at approx. 1.3 miles. We then looped around the north half of the Bear Lake trail until it met up with the Jackson connector trail. This is where we got into trouble. So the Jackson connector trail was blazed in blue and it quickly ran into a dirt road where we turned right. We followed the road until it crossed a paved road called Hurricane Lake road. We continued on the dirt road for 10 minutes or so when we realized that there were no more blue blazes on the trees. So what do we do? We kept walking thinking that someone must have forgotten to blaze the trail for us! Rookie mistake. So we trek on for another 20 or so minutes until we run into another paved road called Old Martin Road and then there is no trail or dirt road to follow. So we do an about face and head back up the road. We did find the trail on our way back and in our defense the markings for where the trail turned off the dirt road were completely covered by brush. At this point we opted to just continue back to the Bear Lake trail as we were getting really hot. Did I mention that today was the hottest day of summer with a heat index well over 100! Anyhow, we continued back to the Bear Lake trail and hiked it back to the Sweetwater Trail and back to Krul Lake. Once we got back we ate a little lunch then went for a very refreshing swim. Total hike distance was 9 miles!
along a creek for approximately three fourths of a mile before becoming a dirt trail. The Sweetwater trail runs into the Bear Lake trail at approx. 1.3 miles. We then looped around the north half of the Bear Lake trail until it met up with the Jackson connector trail. This is where we got into trouble. So the Jackson connector trail was blazed in blue and it quickly ran into a dirt road where we turned right. We followed the road until it crossed a paved road called Hurricane Lake road. We continued on the dirt road for 10 minutes or so when we realized that there were no more blue blazes on the trees. So what do we do? We kept walking thinking that someone must have forgotten to blaze the trail for us! Rookie mistake. So we trek on for another 20 or so minutes until we run into another paved road called Old Martin Road and then there is no trail or dirt road to follow. So we do an about face and head back up the road. We did find the trail on our way back and in our defense the markings for where the trail turned off the dirt road were completely covered by brush. At this point we opted to just continue back to the Bear Lake trail as we were getting really hot. Did I mention that today was the hottest day of summer with a heat index well over 100! Anyhow, we continued back to the Bear Lake trail and hiked it back to the Sweetwater Trail and back to Krul Lake. Once we got back we ate a little lunch then went for a very refreshing swim. Total hike distance was 9 miles! 
What I learned hiking today:
1. Don't lose sight of the trail. If you do, STOP, turn around and find it again!
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