I finally hiked to the top of Mt Manitou this weekend:
Those are the jars that hold the visitor log for the summit. Based on the frequency of entries (the older, almost full notepad went all the way back to 2007) I was probably the only person to make that hike this weekend.
Of course, if it were a more frequently visited mountain there might actually be a trail. As it is you take Barr trail to the fork with the sign for the experimental forest, then take the road that goes by there until it meets another road. Take a right uphill, then as the road starts leveling out look for an easy slope on your left and just go uphill from there. Eventually you get to the top (which is covered in trees so there’s not a good panoramic view), but just downhill to the east there’s a big rock that you can get up on for a view of the springs:
The biggest surprise in terms of animals seen was a deer:
She was between the tent set up by the creek and the group of campers up the trail at the experimental forest station (they had a fire going on one of the old concrete foundations). She watched (and listened to) me from a distance as I went by on the road.
There were lots of flowers in bloom, and I took enough pictures a couple actually turned out nicely:
