All I knew from looking at the road map was that Lake Monroe seemed like my sort of destination. So I plotted a course along a road that traversed the lake and hoped for a trail. I lucked out and found a state ranger station at Paynetown. The ranger inside listened to my needs (a short trail to the lake) and suggested something called the Whitehead Trail.
The trail is located on property owned by the Sycamore Land Trust. But the area is called the Amy Weingartner Branigin Peninsula Preserve.
The trail was ideal for what I wanted to accomplish in an hour or so. At first a narrow path leads to an old dirt roadbed, which then heads through a lush forest along a short peninsula of the lakeshore.
At the tip of the peninsula there is a small beach, perfect for hunting down smooth pebbles and tiny shells and relaxing by the water. Fortunately I was in the sun with a slight breeze coming off the lake, so mosquitoes weren't much of an issue.
