Happy New Year
I haven't been on a hike or seen my friend Mia since last year! So at 9:00 AM I hooked up with her at Apollo trail north and we went on a hike to the cliff overlooking Safe Harbor Dam. Our trip ended up being quite an adventure.
The Hike Out
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| A sunny but crisp 25 degrees when we started out at 9:00 AM |
The way out to our destination went fairly smooth. We took the upper trail and met a hunter all dressed in orange. She said she was hunting squirrels but her husband was down in the valley along the creek trail (Wilson Run) hunting deer. Mia and I both got to give her kisses.
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| This is the only deer we saw. Mia's owner said it would make a good European Mount. |
On the trail out we found a deer skull. Mia's owner, George, said it would be a good European Mount. I had never heard of that before. George likes to bring back "treasure" from his hikes but for some reason he didn't carry this back to his truck. It is still out there and if you want to go get it there is a good kit you can get from Amazon to mount it.
Click here to see it. Ican't believe George didn't add it to his "hiking treasure" stash.
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| We made it to our destination. You can see what a beautiful morning it was. |
The Hike Back
The hike back was even more exciting. Remember how last post George ended up taking back about 7 or 8 sticks? Well he had one of the sticks with him. I am glad he has a walking stick now. And, as you probably could guess, on the way back he was on the lookout for more "treasure". He did come up with a great find. A part of a stump with all kinds of grooves in it from bees or termites or something. He says it will look really good when he varnishes (he has this thing about varnishing stuff) it and puts it on display. He is going to label it "
Nature's Art". I am sure Teresa, his wife will be really thrilled to see more "treasure" coming home.
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George's find. "Nature's Art". It may be for sale soon.
He carried it through the woods for a mile so it won't be cheap. |
Mia is good at finding stuff in the woods too. Guess what she found. Below is a picture of her bringing it back the trail to George.
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| She is so proud to be bringing back a hornet's nest! |
You want to be really careful if you go hiking with Mia in the summer. I would hate to have her bring you a nest that is full of hornets! Thank goodness there weren't any hornets at home in this one.
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George hauling out his "treasure". I don't think the hornets nest made it back.
See Teresa, it could be worse. You could have a deer skull and bees nest also on display. |
George got lost on the way back. He wandered off the trail. He might have been looking for more "treasure": Mia and I had to go get him back on track. If you look close in the picture below you can see Mia and I fetching him.
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| George takes a wrong turn but we found him. |
Mia was a little concerned that George didn't understand the trail markings so she tried to get him to see the blue blazes for the trail we were following.
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Mia kept checking to see if George was still coming.
Notice the blue blaze on the tree she is pointing out to him. |
We all made it back to the parking area. It was a great way to start the New Year. Only 365 hiking days left in the year. Get out there and get some exercise!
