Nice cool and clear day for hiking. The Heart Lake parking area was close to being full when we arrived around 9:30 am. The trail was in good condition -- starts out with a fairly steep incline with alternating flat portions and climbs until the summit. We hiked up to the Sugarloaf lookout point and then doubled back and continued up to Mt. Erie. It was easy to get lost on the many winding, intersecting trails.
Western tent caterpillars were everywhere, crawling all over the trail and surrounding plants. We found a few crawling up our legs as well. It is apparently a population boom that happens every 7 years or so. There had to be millions in the woods. Neat to see, but by the end of the hike the sheer number of caterpillars gave me the creeps.
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