Oh, so sad! We did our next-to-last hike of the season on this cool May morning at a new hiking trail for the TrailBlazers. Thirteen hikers, one dog, and one bird hiked the Rookery Trail at Lake Sequoyah.  That's east of Fayetteville on Hwy 16 just before you get to Elkins.

Kenya and Linda had scouted this trail back in February when it was still leaf-off.  Today with all the lush greenery the group had a little trouble finding the trail connections. You have to cross a couple of pastures and the blue blazes are few and far apart.  But still, it was a success.

This trail runs parallel to the lake and was so beautiful with all the greenery and sunshine this morning.  Along this trail is a very long impressive rock fence that has been there probably pre-Civil War.  Also, we were crossing a foot bridge today when Bill spotted a water snake at the edge of the creek having a snack.  We waited till we finished the hike to eat our lunch at the picnic tables at the trailhead.

With the snakes out, it is definitely time to taper off on hiking. That's not even mentioning the poison ivy encroaching on the trails and the ticks and the chiggers.  All that's left of the season is the wrap-up picnic Saturday, May 21st, at Devil's Den, then we'll swap out hiking for water-sports until October.

Click on any pic below to enlarge and see the slideshow.

{gallery}2016-05-07-lake-sequoyah{/gallery}