The fallen leaves made trail navigation interesting since the ground all looked the same. Instead, we ran by 'feel'. If we got off-track, the ground was much softer; on track, the ground was packed hard. After a while we realized that Corky knew her way pretty well and stuck to the trail; except when she darted off after a deer.
We were pelted with some sleet for a few minutes and then the clouds blew away and the stars came out. We were making our way back to the car when I noticed something fly through the trees in front of us. It was too big to be a bat and I immediately thought owl! Sure enough, it flew past us and lighted on a tree limb 20ft up and just off of the trail. We stopped to get a better look at this nice-sized barred owl and (s)he just looked at us back.
Good company, great trails, and wildlife sightings!! It doesn't get much better than this!
