Barhamsville to York River State Park Bike and Hike 6/11/13

Remember the "A Team" when Hannibal would say how much he loved it when a plan comes together? Well, that's what today was like-a plan for a bike and hike that worked out as perfectly as you could want. The clouds cleared as the weatherman predicted and we had a sunny breezy day for our ride. We met at my house though detour signs and somewhat misleading info on the web page caused some driving delays. But all eventually found their way to the wilds of Barhamsville. Gathering for the ride were Ellis and Marti, Vic and Margaret, Steve and Stephanie, JP, John F, Carl, Bill B and Phyllis. After the conch call we mounted our 2 wheeled steeds and headed for the road. We cruised down country roads admiring fields of corn, wheat and early soybean. We passed horses grazing in their pastures and said hello to friendly country folk that we passed along the way. We made our way down to Richardson Millpond where we had to portage around the barricade placed after a bad storm a few years ago that undercut the road. ( The road belongs to VDOT but the dam belongs to Stonehouse (a nearby community). VDOT won't repair the road until the dam is repaired. Stonehouse is not inclined to fork over the $300,000 estimated to repair the structure. So, they closed the road.) No problem for the Tuesday Group! After this minor obstacle we conquered our first major hill and continued on to our next stop at the Laurel Grove Country Club. It was suggested that the Tuesday Group take up a collection to purchase a membership for me and then I could invite everyone to the pool and playground once or twice a year. What a great idea! We continued our ride on Six Mount Zion Road and then turned onto Ware Creek Road. We passed a couple of smushed turtles (one being consumed by a hungry buzzard) but weren't prepared for our encounter with a huge snapping turtle right in the middle of the road. She/he looked to be in the process of crossing the street and didn't seem too happy to see us. Bill snapped (!) a bunch of pictures before Ellis encouraged her to cross the road with a gentle nudge. She didn't like that and whipped around faster than you could say Turtle soup! Turtle encounter over we continued our ride. We took another brief stop at Bel Laurel Stables to watch some pretty horses and their riders but we didn't stay long as it looked like they were having a lesson. It was a short jaunt from there to another brief stop at Garrett's Store and then on to York River State Park.

Once inside the park we decided to eat lunch at the covered picnic shelter-apparently erected especially for the Tuesday Group. Bill told his shark jokes while a bold squirrel tried to convince us to give up our Hub peanuts (No way!) provided by Bill. ( They really are the best peanuts.) After lunch we took a short hike down to the fossil beach encountering a black snake zipping across the path along the way. Carl was on a hot geocache search while the rest of us searched for fossils on the beach. Not finding any mastodon skeletons we headed back to the Nature center and retrieved our bikes.

On the way out, we saw another black snake! This one was trying to cross the road and seemed perplexed by all the traffic. Good conservationists that we are, we allowed him to cross unmolested. We headed back to the park entrance and posed for a photo op in front of the park sign. Then on to Garrett's Grocery for another brief stop but we didn't stay long as ice cream awaited us back in Barhamsville. Leaving the store, Vic didn't realize until later that he'd left his daypack but he managed to detour back and retrieve it. We continued our ride, encountering more hills along the way, and made it back down to the dam where we reverse portaged. Then one more hill (a biggie) and we were home free.

Back at my house (~25 miles later) we dove into the ice cream sundae bar and created some well-earned desserts with Cherry Vanilla and Rocky Mountain Road Ice Cream, hot fudge, brownies, chocolate chips, toffee, almonds, blueberries, strawberries, sprinkles and whipped cream. Dale even helped JP with his bowl! Bill put us all to shame as he suddenly appeared showered and in a fresh set of clothes to go to his meeting in Richmond. We finished up our treats while watching the finches and hummingbirds dance around the feeders outside. It was another fine day for the Tuesday Group!

Phyllis

Check out Bill's amazing photos (be sure to make comments!): https://picasaweb.google.com/b.billings/TuesBarhamsvilleYorkRiverStateParkAndFossilBeachJune112013?authkey=Gv1sRgCMD0rd2nwpy6Vg&feat=email