Unofficially.

When I awoke to thunder nearly shaking my house this morning, I became a wee bit concerned over the fact that I had planned on going hiking.  Still groggy from my good night's sleep, I texted Missy to confirm that we actually were going to hike, and much to my dismay, we were.  The group ended up doing an "unofficial" hike to Schoolhouse Gap.  The rain was still coming down with thunder rolling in the background, but we set off on our "adventure".  The first part was basically an uphill gravel road, then we hit part of the trailhead.

My feet were completely drenched and the wet socks began to get somewhat uncomfortable.  Yet, we trudged on and eventually came to a bat cave.  Around the bat cave we also saw a couple of wild hog traps and then a whole multitude of different flowers.  Missy is an expert on flower identification so she was naming them off.  Then we found a waterfall which we affectionately referred to as simply "Waterfall".  After this small adventure, the real fun began. We tried to find a back way back to the trailhead and ended up getting on a path that virtually led to nowhere.  Did that stop Missy Kane?  No it sure didn't.

So to make a long story short, we essentially walked for a good 15 minutes through the woods, completely lost.  There was no trail, there were no markings, and there was no sign that we were going the right way.  The ground was incredibly deep with leaves and other branches, yet Missy led on.  Sharon Spezia and I were like 5 year olds lost at the mall and we were feeling pretty scared.  Eventually we found a trail that led back to where we came from.  Overall, it was a day filled with adventure, even if it was "unofficial".  Come join us on our next hike!

What a fun group!