Hiking!

I was feeling restless. On Friday, I was able to leave work a little early, so I decided to go to Cacapon State Park at the last minute. Cacapon is one of my favorite places to get away and hike. I feel very safe at the lodge and on the trails, and the challenging hikes help clear your mind.

It was wonderful!

Here's a shot of the mountain at night—I took this on Friday. I had dinner at the lodge and then sat on a rocking chair on the "back porch" and watched the sun go down. Beautiful.

Here's a shot of the mountain in the morning. It doesn't really look like much, huh.

Just as I picked up the trail, I heard an enormous screeching in a tree just off the trail—a huge bird fight. I've never seen anything like it, and because the tree was kind of "open" with its foliage, I could see a lot. And it was LOUD. There were at least two types of birds involved, and who knows what else. I saw birds dive-bombing the tree over and over, screeching and screaming. I don't know what the heck was going on—maybe a squirrel? Just as suddenly as it started, it stopped. All was quiet.

On my way up, I saw another huge bird take off from a tree—I think it was a hawk, but I'm not sure—there was a lot of foliage there.

I also saw lots of perfectly-formed mushrooms. This one in particular caught my attention, because it looked like it was fake, with fake detritus on top of it.

I also saw this weird bright red mushroom. It was in a dark place, but a shaft of sunlight rested right on it and it glowed like it was fluorescent.

At the top!

A few minutes after I took that picture, I was walking in the tall grasses to get to a side trail to pick my way down. Out of nowhere, thus huge—and I mean HUGE—pheasant bawked and squawked right next to me, emerging from the tall grassess unexpectedly. She went scuttling down the hill, hollering and yelling at me the whole way. "Honey," I said, "you scared me, too!" It was the only time that day where I was scared. As I went around on the side trail, she was still yelling at me, so I felt compelled to holler back, "In about an hour, I'll be coming back up there, just so you know! And I'm not gonna hurt you, so calm down!"

As I was making my way down the side trail, I saw a huge daddy longlegs (with a bright orange body) picking its way majestically across the trail. He looked just like an important man crossing the street. I stopped so he could cross, but too late. He sensed me and stopped. I stood still for awhile, waiting for him to continue. When he didn't, I said, "please, be my guest," which made him turn tail and run in the opposite direction. It made me laugh, because he was SO majestic when he thought he was alone—and so comical when he turned tail to run.

And then: the highlight of my hike <insert David Attenborough voice> "...in all my days of hiking, I never thought I'd see such a sight in action. A working dung beetle, right here in my midst! I crept carefully around him, so as not to disturb him in his important work…." (The beetle is the dark figure at 11:00 o'clock; he's turned around, so you're seeing his backside--he's pushing the dung with his hind legs. The dung is...well, it's the round bit next to him.)

And finally, when I was quite close to the trail head, I saw a family of deer. Two small ones, a large buck with horns, and a doe. They seemed unconcerned for the most part, but they were pretty far away. If you squint, you might make out the two small ones.

So, that was my hike. I didn't see any other people the whole time I was hiking, either, which was just right. I feel very, very, very fortunate to know this awesome place.

I love hiking!!!