Foothills Trail - South Prairie Trailhead - #SaturdaySnapshots

I've been on portions of the Foothills Trail before (blog post here), but this was my first time on the newly-opened section between the South Prairie and the Buckley Trailheads. We walked three miles along a paved surface, then turned around and retraced our steps on this easy hike. 

According to a Pierce County, Washington, website (here), the Foothills Trail sits atop an historic railroad bed. Another great rails-to-trails project.

This daunting sign greeted us as we set out on our hike. I asked myself: How fast can you run? (FYI: If you look closely, you'll see that someone corrected the sign to read "its" instead of "it's" by removing the apostrophe. That makes the grammar nerd inside me smile.)

An elevated portion of the trail overlooks farms and country roads...

... and crosses rivers and creeks.

When I saw the structure pictured below, the word "springhouse" came to mind. The stream ran right through it! After the hike I looked up that term and found this on Wikipedia: 

A spring house, or springhouse, is a small building, usually of a single room, constructed over a spring. While the original purpose of a springhouse was to keep the spring water clean by excluding fallen leaves, animals, etc., the enclosing structure was also used for refrigeration before the advent of ice delivery and, later, electric refrigeration. The water of the spring maintains a constant cool temperature inside the spring house throughout the year. Food that would otherwise spoil, such as meat, fruit, or dairy products, could be kept there, safe from animal depredations as well. Springhouses thus often also served as pumphouses, milkhouses, and root cellars.

In settings where no natural spring is available, another source of natural running water, such as a small creek or diverted portion of a larger creek, might be used. In addition, some people put jars of milk in a bucket suspended by a rope in an "open-mouth" well during hot weather.

Could that be a springhouse?

FYI: Sasee Magazine published my personal essay "Happy When I'm Hiking" in its April edition. You'll find it HERE if you're curious about why I love hiking so much. 

Saturday Snapshots is hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads. 

To participate: 

Post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken then leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky on West Metro Mommy Read's website (link: HERE) Photos can be old or new and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don't post random photos that you find online.

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