It looks like the weather is going south this morning so I’m going to have to use my weather-related psychic powers to make it better. Dominion Riverrock is too important here in Richmond to have it messed up by rain. Last night the weather was cool, though! It was very nice. The Trailblazers had a booth set up in the Interactive Village and a few of them ran in the Filthy 5K race. I got caught up in taking photos. The infinite number of shapes, sizes, expressions and creative clothing of my fellow humans can be fascinating when we are not just walking down the street. God Bless us. I hope there will be a lot more excitement this weekend but we will have to see. Mother Nature rules and heavy rains are in the forecast.

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This past weekend our Central Virginia Trailblazers group went to False Cape State Park on the coast of Virginia to explore one of the very few nature refuges on the east coast.  There were about 25 of us and I would say, just looking around, that everyone had a fun time.  One of the things I appreciate about this group is that it is friendly  but not clique-ish.   I don’t feel comfortable hiking alone but it’s fun having a certain amount of solitude while you are exploring nature.   If you have a question or need help there are folks around but you don’t have to worry about the mind games.

So I appreciate this group and am actually learning a few things about the natural world and my place in it.   The rangers in this park were very nice, as well, and we learned some survival techniques during a Sunday morning class from one of them.  Nettles are one of my new, favorite plants!

The weather held up pretty well and we had some good meals in the lodge thanks to some of our talented trailblazer cooks.   Here are some photos. I am also learning to appreciate Flickr as they do a much better job displaying photos than FB or some of the others. All in all, it was one of my favorite camping adventures to date.

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Last night I dreamed
You were gone
And wandered, crying
In the woods.
Awoke to a lonely room,
An ancient remedy.

Soon I will hurry home
Exhausted. Unable to run
Any longer. Leaving
One I have
Taken for granted
Far behind.

Remembering
You keep old things
Around,
Grieving the loss
Of fond memories,
Worn clothes and me.

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Today I went up to DC to visit Zachary and participate in the dedication of a new columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery.   A columbarium is a structure that contains niches for the storage of funeral urns.    It was an interesting ceremony although the jets from Reagan National drowned out some of the words.   Is there any way we can shut down that airport?  It creates noise pollution and the airplanes messed up some of my shots. Here’s a photo of the new area being dedicated and a jet in the background looking like it’s heading towards the moon.

This evening I drove back to Richmond on I95.  They are repaving parts of it so the traffic was squeezed into one lane a couple of times.  I have a suggestion.  Instead of fixing the road five miles here and five miles there they should just fix it in one ten mile stretch.  Then we would only have to go through the dance to get things down to one lane ONE TIME.

But I digress.  It was warmer today.  Spring has finally found us and not a moment too soon. 

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We hiked up a mountain and along a ridge to our campsite. We camped for a night and then went up some more to McAfee’s Knob where we could view our trail from the prior day. You learn things about yourself when you do things like this with 25+ pounds on your back. For instance, when I arrived at the campsite and set up my tent the only thing on my mind was getting inside and curling up in the sleeping back. Temperatures were falling into the low 40′s, high 30′s. But I was cold and started shivering (one of my least favorite things to do). So I cooked up some Ramen Noodles and later returned to bed happily discovering that it was 20 degrees warmer in my cozy tent although the temperature had dropped some more.

Some of our group went up to McAfee’s Knob to view the sunset and get some great photos of the golden light hovering on and around the rocks, the trees and their happy faces. But I could not do it and had to wait until the following day when the entire group passed through there on our way back to civilization.

Hopefully, I will figure out how to get beyond this impasse but at present it seems as if this 60+ year old blogger has missed the cut and needs to dial back some of his adventures. I see older folks on the trail and they seem to be doing quite well. So I’m not sure what to do. Falling behind is not really a problem. The woods are made for solitary walks. But I did not reach the end of the hike until the others had been there for an hour and my legs felt, perhaps, like those of someone who cannot walk at all and is confined to a wheelchair.

I have walked and run in the past 18 months enough to cross the US and returned a good ways. But there were too many fires in my legs the past two days. The pain(lactic acid?) was going up my thighs and into my hips over and over again. It was more difficult than running the half-marathon. Perhaps running and hiking require too different training regimens and do not reenforce each other. Maybe I need to eat more protein when I’m out there. I don’t know. But I did have a great time being with the other hikers and viewing the vast expanses beyond the rocks. There were lots of photo ops on Sunday morning. And we had a great meal at a restaurant in Staunton after the event. Central Va Trailblazers, you rock!

Here are some photos.

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