Twenty-seven TrailBlazers under the command of Captain Kenya headed up to Fayetteville to do a 5 ½ mile urban park trek as our last hike of 2011. The weather was sunny and cool – perfect conditions for hiking. Part of the hike was on a paved trail but most was on dirt side trails. They must have had good rains in the area because in places it was muddy, marshy, or slick. Along the way we spotted several frost flowers, some past their prime, but others in good shape. 

Here and there we were able to catch glimpses of the lake because of the leaf fall. There were also several bridges of various sizes. One creek crossing was a little tricky, so Tom offered a helping hand to the damsels in distress who were log-hopping and rock-stepping. Since this hike didn’t offer a lot of photo ops, at this juncture Magda stepped into the breach to provide us some camera (aka “Canon”) fodder. Avoiding Tom, she walked along the creek to cross a narrower part when all of a sudden a tree jumped out and bit her in the ear. She fell into the water, hurt her hand, and ending up emptying water out of her boots and wringing out her socks. What a trooper! After that nobody else rose to the challenge of offering us a good photo op! 

Toward the end of the hike we crossed an “award winning” bridge that featured water flowing over a dam on one side. Reaching the parking lot around noon, we all headed out to find places to eat and some stayed on to shop. Merry Christmas - see y’all next year!