Harwood Mill's 1-21-14

Ha Ha ! We beat the snow. Yes, some were afraid we would get caught out in the wilds of Hardwood Mills and never be seen again. We had 24 hikers to show up, too many to name, and you know who you are anyway. Everyone arrived by 9:34 A.M. and we were on our way by 9:45., but not before we had our safety talk and everyone told their name, rank and serial number, no that was years ago when I was in the Army. Today we only asked for your name, and talking about names we had two Marks and 3 Bobs and the Bobs were all standing next to each other and it went like this BOB,BOB,BOB. I started ducking under one of the trucks, thought I was back at Chippokes St. Pk.

The plan was to hike 2 miles on the south side of Oriana Rd. then cross over to the north side and do 4 more miles with a total of 6 miles. As we arrived at the parking lot the skies were getting darker and the temp was dropping so I decided to skip the first 2 miles and go straight for the 4 mile side. We had only gone a short distance into the woods when we saw 3 deer running away from us. Some of the hikers told me later that this was the first time they had ever seen deer in the wild and today we saw 8 or 10 and a Bald Eagle. See how good our Tuesday Group is, even I have been places with the group that I never knew were around here and probably would have never gone to if not for The Tuesday Group. “We are good.”

Crossing under the power line and walking through the second group of pine trees we headed west and after a short walk we were back on the main road that runs from Oriana Rd. all the way through to Denbigh Blvd. Reaching the blvd. we turned north/east and started hiking on one of the many Mountain Bike trails. Watching out for Mt. Bikers, which we did not see any, so as to get out of their way and not hold them up we stayed on this trail for about a half mile, (as the crow fly’s). Back on the main trail we made another turn toward the east and the Reservoir. Here we stopped to sing Happy Birthday to Marti & Margaret who were on the phone down in Virginia Beach at one of the hotels having a girls night out with 4 others, (you missed a very good hike) . Now we were in the largest stand of pines with about 18 trails running east and west from one end to the other. Here we saw a few more deer and as we reached the waters edge we saw the Bald Eagle flying over head. We stopped for a short break, I’m sure no one needed it, but it’s always good to take one.

Here we headed back south in order to make our 12:30 finish time, but not before we saw 5 more deer and I made the trail just a little longer so we would have 6 miles total. Finishing up at Joe’s & Mimma’s Italian Rest. for lunch, this made a great day with super people for another Tuesday Group Outing. With plenty of talk and our belly’s full we all headed home way before the first flake fell on Tidewater. Thanks to everyone for another great hike and don’t forget to sign up for next weeks Urban Hike with Steve & Stephanie.

Bruce

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