KINCAID LAKE HIKE - THURSDAY

THURSDAY

Still no Verizon signal here. No Internet. No blogging. No Facebook. No email. Lots of withdrawal.

Woke at 4:00am, not sure why. There’s a pill for that so I took one and slept till 9:00. Had coffee and fed the dog and walked the dog. We climbed down the hill to the lake and noticed several trails leading along the edge of the water. Oh, what the heck... how far could it be to the end, right? Let’s do it.

The RV getting smaller.

Our fishing pier.

I enjoyed the views along the way. Kept looking back at my campsite and my little fishing pier as it got smaller and smaller till it was out of view. Came across a sign marker saying .4 miles. Didn’t say if that was ahead or behind me as the sign read the same way on both sides, so I kept on going. Saw some pretty flowers and heard some critters in the brush. Xi Shi walked in a more cautious manner than usual as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to go on. I assured her that it probably wasn’t that much further to the end of the trail.

I was beginning to feel pangs of regret for not bringing water along or for not asking for info about this trail. I was sweating a lot and Xi was panting and I knew she was thirsty but we kept walking. I thought of turning back but felt sure that we weren’t far from the end of the trail. We soon came upon another marker that read 3.4 miles on both sides. Again, it did not indicate whether that was ahead or behind us. I knew we had walked a long way but really didn’t think it was 3.4 miles. We kept on walking.

The trail soon became muddy with lots of large holes filled with water. I tried to carry Xi over these areas but soon just gave up and let her walk through them. Her legs and belly soon turned black with mud but she enjoyed it and drank some of the water to satisfy her thirst. My little survivor. She just rolls with the punches.

We came to a clearing at the top of a hill which overlooked the lake.  There were houses across the lake and boat docks.  It was a real pretty view.  After a brief break, we continued our hike.  I had no idea how far we had walked or how much further we had to go.

We had been walking up and down steep hills when I heard voices behind the brush. Got to a clearing and saw that it was a couple in a boat fishing along the edge of the lake. I said hello to them and asked if they knew how far I was from the RV park. "Is it 4 miles back?"

"No, not that far," they replied.

As we walked away I heard the woman say, "We could give them a ride back."

I laughed and kept walking. After a few more ups and downs and curves in the trail, I saw the fishing pier that I knew was located at the other end of the park. What a relief.

We kept walking and a short distance away was the trail up the hill up to the park. Whew!! Finally! Won’t be doing that again. Especially, not before breakfast.

This is what we saw when we climbed up and off of the trail... our campsite.  We had made a very wide loop around the campground.

Had to bathe Xi Shi under the water faucet outside the camper. She was so muddy. Dried her off and she took a nap. I finally ate what turned out to be lunch and took a rest.

This afternoon we put out 2 chairs by the camper and looked out at the lake. There were several boats fishing and some speed boats and pontoon boats having fun in the sun. I read a few chapters of one of my books. Very pleasant and relaxing afternoon.

The campground is filling up. I now have neighbors on both sides of my campsite.