I was originally planning to hike elsewhere today, but after the long drive home from Hanging Rock State Park in North Carolina yesterday, I decided to join my friends in the meetup for a quick hike at the nearby Yellow River Park. This is not one of my favorites, but it is close to home and will allow me to get some decent mileage in today.
After meeting up with the group at the parking area, we do our traditional round of introductions and then head into the woods. These trails are really meant for mountain bikers, but my friend that owns this Meetup, really enjoys those kinds of trails. As we make our way down a steep embankment (which bikers probably love jumping over), a first-timer that I had been talking with trips and skins her hand up pretty badly. We pull out a first aid kit and get her wound cleaned up and dressed. She seems tough and thanks us for the help.
A bit later in the day, I hear a distress whistle in the distance. With my Wilderness First Responder training, I always take this kind of thing seriously and since I'm in really good shape right now, I sprint in the direction of the whistle. When I arrive, I find that some of my other friends on the outing had fallen behind just a little due to another hiker falling. No harm no foul and we quickly get the whole group back together.
I stated earlier that this is not a great area for hiking, but I do really enjoy the company of friends as we make our way through the woods. I even made a couple of new friends today as we walked 8.5 miles through the woods. Back at the parking area now though, it's time to call it a day. I've had a pretty good weekend on the trail and now it's time to head home.
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