Shenanigans at Sharon Woods

On Saturday, June 16, the family and our honorary member, Cheryl, headed to Sharon Woods for a hike. I think we all agreed that this felt more like a "walk" instead of a "hike." If one of you disagrees, it doesn't really matter, as Ryan pointed out during the hike, seeing as this blog is only written from my perspective. So, I have all the power! Hee-hee-hee! Although, there is a place for comments, of which I don’t seem to get very many. I am going to assume that means that I am always on the mark! Huh! Power again! Even though the trail was paved and the hike had a very public park atmosphere, we still had a fun time on this 80 degree day. We walked 4.53 miles in an hour and 50 minutes.

After crossing the bridge and stopping to look at a pretty waterfall, we took a few minutes to explore the Cummins Historic Cemetery. The graves were marked with tiny white marble headstones without any writing on them. The headstones popped out of a lush ivy-like groundcover. I did some internet researching to find out how old the cemetery is, but I didn’t have any luck. I guess the park office may have more info.

The path was one of those fitness trails where it has pit stops to do a variety of exercises as you walk. This is where the shenanigans come in. At one stop, there were some parallel bars. You had to hoist your body weight off of the ground and move across them using your arm strength. Cheryl was interested in trying them, so she gave it a whirl and only hoisted herself off of the ground. She didn’t know how to get herself moving. Then, Ryan showed her how it was done. You can tell by the pictures he really knew what he was doing! Cheryl took a second try and moved a little bit, but I think because she was laughing, she didn’t get far. A big pat on the back to Cheryl and Ryan – none of the rest of us even tried!

After hiking through some wonderful shaded areas, we reached Sharon Lake. There were some pretty views. Lots of people were at the park. There were boats on the lake, including people in paddle boats. We walked around the lake and went through a cool tunnel to travel underneath the road. It was constructed as part of a stone bridge and was a pretty spot on the lake. The trail curved around the lake and passed through two big tunnels to go under the highway. These were really loud with passing cars.

This is a very nice park for the local community. If I lived nearby, I would walk it all the time for exercise. Although, it didn’t satisfy my appetite for a deep woods peaceful hike, the company was stupendous.  Thanks to Ryan, Morgan, Cheryl, and Joe for keeping me company. I’m so grateful for it!

32 hikes down and 28 to go!!!!

I will blog again soon about a couple of hikes we took at Shawnee Lookout. Not sure about hiking this weekend as the weatherman is forecasting temperatures in the hundreds…missing winter hiking!