To View Bob Mooney's pictures click on the link: https://photos.app.goo.gl/WfZtZEMmrh9pZeTP7
And you will want to see Bill Billings pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/b5bGwGQn3YH82U4MA
On this Tuesday the Tuesday Group was hiking and I had talked with False Cape Park Manager to see if I could use the tram to transport our little group of hikers through Back Bay Wildlife Refuge down into the State Park. I let her know we would do some Trail Maintenance for the use of the tram. Well the little group turn into 30 hikers and the Trail Maintenance was not much for us to do. The trails were in very good shape mainly because this year was very dry with little rain and not that much wind. The trees didn’t grow as much and only a few small limbs had fallen from the Pine Trees, so we mostly hiked.
On December 7 the weather was cold and windy and I wasn’t sure how many of the 30 hikers would show. Not the Tuesday Group, all 30 were there by 8:55 A.M. and ready to go. Margaret and I had brought five blankets just in case anyone wanted to wrap up in one on the ride in on the Open Air Tram. Well on this cold morning we should had a few more blankets, they went like Hot Cakes.
As we drove down the gravel road on our way to False Cape State Park the first thing some of us saw was a mother deer and her two fawns, which were almost grown and ready to leave their mother in the next few weeks. Margaret got out and open the first gate into the Refuge and we drove on and over in the first pond were 20 or so Tundra Swan resting and feeding for their trip down south for the winter.
As we turn south into False Cape we had one Otter run across the road in front of the tram, he was so fast only a few of us got to see him. The first stop was the Visitors Center for a Bathroom Break and to say Hi to Cameron the Park Manager and thank her for the use of the tram. This being December 7 and the 80Th anniversary of Pearl Harbor I asked the group for a moment of silence in honor of those great men and women of 1941-1945. If not for them we would not be here hiking as free people in a great park and country that we have today.
I drove down to False Cape Landing Road and parked the Tram and we started our first of 3 hikes. This was the Maple Leaf trail and I told the story of why we call it The Maple Leaf Trail. It was the name of a Union Ship back during the Civil War and 150 prisoners were on this ship with only about 15 Union Soldiers Guarding them and they escape through this area of the park. We hiked out to the ocean and with the winds blowing; we only stayed here a few minutes and headed back to the Tram.
The next stopped was to see the old Corvair which was abandon way back in the 1970s and has been there ever since. We moved on down to just passed the Wash Woods Road and parked here for our next hike. We hiked the Sundew Trail out to Wash Woods Road and on out to the ocean were we walked a short distance south to where the Maritime Trail comes out to the sea. Hiking back towards the Tram we all stopped at the platform which TATC had built back in 2004, this was one of the first project the club help me do as volunteers for False Cape Park.
Now we had hike almost 4 miles and had 2 history lessons and saw a rough and windy ocean and it was now 12; 00 noon and time for lunch. I drove the group over to the EEC Building and we all had our lunches, some inside and some wanted to stay out on the beautiful deck and enjoy the view out across Back Bay. After Lunch and another Bathroom break we once again loaded onto the Tram and headed north through the State Park. I had one more trail that I wanted us to hike and do Maintenance on before we left the park. This was my Favorite Trail here in False Cape, I guess because back in 1995 I found this area on the South Inlet and got approval from the Park Manager and DCR in Richmond to build the trail, a small bridge and a Platform overlooking the Inlet and Back Bay. I got all the lumber free from HQ Builders for the platform and all the lumber for the small bridge from the ocean that had washed up on our beach. It was kind of like the first people that lived there that came ashore from ship wrecks and started a community from what they found that had washed up on the beach. WELL JUST A LITTLE! We hike this trail with just a little maintenance and enjoyed the view from the platform and headed back to the Tram. Our next stop was out at the Bay on Barbour Hill Road to see the new LARGE boat docks. These docks were just a little over kill for False Cape State Park to say the list.
Well now we had hike about 5 miles and it was time to head back to the parking lot and the ride home. We did get to see the mother deer and fawns once again and this time everyone got to take a long look at them because like the buck we had seen down the road a few minutes earlier they stood there looking at us as we looked at them. We drove on by them as they ran off into the woods and Margaret got out opening the last gate of the day. We got to the parking lot at 3:00 P.M. like I had told everyone we would and all had a good but cool day hiking with the Tuesday Group. On this trip we had Ellis, Marti, Mary, 2 Bills, Steve, Stephanie, 3 Kathie’s, John, Jane, 2 Bobs, Elaine, Debbie, Vic, 2 Margaret’s, Sharon, Ron, Sue, Aura, Ann, Tim, Linda, Ed, Lynn, and 2 Bruce’s. Thanks to all that made this hike with me to False Cape State Park.
Bruce