Fun (and funny) things you find
when you
don't find
what you
set out to find!
Click on any of the images on this page for full size/full resolution pic.
This trip report is a little different from my usual. My plan for this particular day was to get to a waterfall in the area that I hadn't yet been to. As is often the case when I'm hiking somewhere for the first time, I often don't find a route or a waterfall on the first try. But it is quite unusual to end up with a hike that's still worth posting about!
As I was wandering through the woods trying to find the waterfall, I followed a trail up from a creek to a little rise, and found a small open area of forest. What first caught my attention was some wind chimes hanging from a tree.
Right below the wind chimes was this cute little stature....
Little Girl with Watering Can
I realized I'd obviously wandered onto private property, but there were no homes in sight, and the peaceful scene drew me in. Just beyond the wind chimes and statue was a bench, overlooking the small stream I had just crossed, further downstream. This little fella was on the end of the bench:
Squirrel
Going over to the bench, I then looked across the stream, and saw another "sitting area".
Across the Stream
I followed some steps that led down the incline, across the creek to the other side. Still no sign of a house, and my delight with the cuteness and effort that someone had put into all this kept pulling me along.
Wrought Iron Bench and Duck
Here's a close up of that duck that is by the bench shown above:
Duck
By far the cutest statue I came across was this fellow shown below. He was a little further up the trail from the bench and duck:
Fox
The trail that had brought me here continued on, up another hill, but I figured I'd intruded enough on this delightful area and retraced my steps.
As if the hike hadn't produced enough surprises, the biggest one was yet to come. As I was heading back to where I'd left my car, I decided to check out a trail I'd seen as I made my way in that morning. It went only a short ways up to the top of a hill, where this greeted me:
Treadmill
(which has long since seen better days!!)
This is by far the weirdest thing I've EVER run into in the woods!! A treadmill??? Really?? Why did someone bring it here?? HOW did someone bring it here??
Photos shown here can also be seen in my SmugMug Gallery.