Leave Nothing But Footprints – #6 Lazy H Campground
This is my contribution for Heaven’s Sunshine’s weekly challenge, “One Step At A Time”.
So come along and hike with me, one step at a time!
Lazy H Campground, Akron, Iowa
Over a mile of intertwining forest trails
Back in 2021 when we were crisscrossing the United States in our RV, we pulled into Lazy H Campground to rest up for a couple days after driving two long days.
The next morning, their trails were calling! So off we went to refresh our legs and explore the forest trails behind the campground.
A beautiful invite to hike!
My husband suddenly stopped me and told me not to move. Off in the distance, he saw what was possibly a mountain lion or bobcat resting atop a downed tree! I then saw it too.
My husband had me back up behind him, and we slowly went back around the bend and then hightailed it back to the campground. We soon saw a campground worker and went directly to him to alert and report what we saw!
He started laughing, telling us there were all kinds of surprises in the woods. He assured we were safe, there definitely were not any lions or bobcats in the area.
And then he enlightened us about one of the campground’s “family fun” was to take a hike through their ‘walking safari’, where they have placed life-size ‘wildlife’ throughout the woods, on the ground, eye level and up in the trees, as if they were in their natural habitat. He guessed the front desk at check-in forgot to mention the wildlife safari. They had forgot.
Yep, we were bumbling east coast fools! 😂
Laughing (and embarrassed!), we turned back around and went back on the trail, and this time I took photos of what we saw of that wild cat.
It sure did look real from a lot further back with the naked eye! 🤣
Life-size, stuffed toy tiger
Spread out and far apart, some “animals” were easy to spot and some were not. When you hadn’t seen one for a bit, it was then you knew you really had to look to find it.
But real wildlife was also around, and I went back to concentrating on what was alive!
My four favorite ‘real’ wildlife shots from the beautiful, intertwining “safari” trails~~
White-tailed Deer (real!)
Red-headed Woodpecker (real!)
Yellow Warbler collecting nesting materials (real!)
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
Take a hike, short or long, one step at a time.
Mother Nature promises to reward you.
And please remember~~
Leave nothing but footprints.
Kill nothing but time.
Bay Photos by Donna 
Wish I could walk along with you down this glorious path.
Gwen.
What a great story! Your spouse was an ace, definitely a guy I’d want on the trail with me! 👍🏼 🙂
Great photos, beautiful spot
That is too funny! I am sure you weren’t the only one who was fooled. Best to be safe and back away as you did. 😁 And your real wildlife photos are great.
Really funny about the mountain lion. From your picture, it did look like a real one; we probably would have the same as you and walk back. You get some nice shots of the real wildlife. (Suzanne)
That was a laugh sounds like the police being called over here for a stuffed toy in a field. You did the right thing! The photographs of the wildlife are gorgeous and those amazing flowers at the start are great. You must have had a lot of fun in your RV.