merkin4 from St Peters MO on 7/11/2006 5:46:49 PM:
Glad you had a good time. I did this section again last night. Must have had 20-25 deer sightings, including a baby in the grass just off the trail. This GPSed out at 4.89 miles from Weldon Spring parking lot to directly under the middle of the two bridges. (I'm a little shocked that my original guess was a close as it was!)
I particularly like how there aren't usually a ton of people on this section of the trail - I only saw 2 other people last night on a ten mile ride. The swamps start around mile 3, and I'm sure there would be herons and any number of other critters out there if one slowed down to look. I've even seen deer out wading in the swamp. Frogs, turtles, deer, raccoons, oppossums, rabbits, squirrels, you name it. Then again, I'm still dealing with some nasty poison ivy burns on my hands from about four weeks ago, so it might not be a good section for really little kids.