We’re back! Not that we haven’t been hiking- visiting the Redwoods on west coast and Rockies around Denver- just breathtaking and beautiful! After a busy summer we are back in Ohio and trying to stay on track to finish the ‘Little Loop’ of the BT by years end…lets see how it goes. Gotta admit, feet and bones feel kinda refreshed 🙂 Today we are still trying to finish parts in CVNP that Wendy (out backpacking) has already done. We managed to get two friends, Karen and Ed, to join us with dog Bailey, for hike today on Blue Hen Falls trail. Got a late (noon-ish) start, weather was threatening to rain and parking by Blue Hen was SUPER crowded, so not encouraging to begin. But we started hike at Jaite and walked back south toward crowded falls area, so ran into very few people along trail. Hiking is a great way to catch-up with friends and get in some good exercise as well! Hike starts with a stiff climb up ‘stairs’ but then rides the ridge a long way. Trail was VERY well maintained and often used nearby rocks and small tree trunks to cleverly raise trail bed or divert water. Did rain a little but rarely felt under tree canopy. Very quiet in woods today- a few bird calls and chipmunk sightings. Ran across two guys ‘panning’ for gold in stream- they had no luck other than getting wet, which was probably nice considering how humid it was. At end, crowds at falls put us off from exploring them further and old blacktop trail down from parking area was also not great. Still turned out to be a great hike, good to get back at it and a BIG thanks to our friends for the company! Hope you can join us again!
