Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Giving Thanks, Day 18

I'm just glad to be alive.  Sarah, my daughter, took me on another hike this past weekend.  We went to North Anna Battlefield Park.  It started off nice.

hiking in VA
North Anna Battlefield Park

There was an easy path to follow.

day hike in VA
North Anna Battlefield Park

The path quickly became covered with leaves but it was still an easy walk.

North Anna Battlefield Park
North Anna Battlefield Park

We walked beside and/or over several different little creeks.  And then, then we came to the sign.

hiking
Dangerous Slope

You see, before we crossed the first creek, we'd had to choose between taking the Blue path or the Gray path.  Sarah let me choose after telling me only that the Blue path was a little longer than the Gray path.  It was a beautiful day and we both needed some exercise so I chose Blue.

North Anna Battlefield Park
North Anna Battlefield Park

Let me tell you people - if given the choice, never, ever choose the Blue path.  When allowing me to make the choice between Blue & Gray, Sarah never bothered to mention that the website has a Blue Path warning.  We had to walk, slip, slide & crawl from the top of one mini-mountain to the top of the next.

North Anna Battlefield Park
North Anna Battlefield Park

And while we walked, slid, climbed & crawled, we could barely even see the path under all the fallen leaves.

hiking along North Anna River
North Anna River

A few minor heart attacks later, we finally made our way to the river which marks the end of the trail.
North Anna Battlefield Park
North Anna River

It's a pretty little river, but wait....  We're at the end of the trail.  The trail doesn't loop back around?  I've just suffered about 16 minor heart attacks climbing up and down hills and now I have to turn around and do it all over again?  In reverse?  Needless to say, my dear daughter is no longer the favorite child.

hiking
Toad

We eventually made it out of the woods and back to the glorious sight of our car.  The only wild life we saw, thankfully was one very large toad.

And after all that, somehow, my dear daughter has talked me into going back next week to give the Gray Path a try.

No comments:

Post a Comment