Hiking a new trail at Raccoon Mountain

We have hiked Raccoon Mountain many times over the years, but yesterday was our first time on the River Gorge/Laurel Point trail.

It was a gorgeous sunny day, and the leaves were quite beautiful, eventhough the foliage has probably peaked. We had seen a bald head eagle and several blue herons when we walked around the lake in early October, but no luck on the birds this time.

Yours truly saw no bird on this trail

Sophal, Julie, Debbie and Simba

A nice picnic area with BBQ grill

We were going to walk another 2.8 miles in the woods, but Simba, Debbie's cute Pomeranian, refused. We called it quits and moved on to the paved road back to our car. We were walking for about 10 minutes when all of a sudden, a majestic buck (8 to 9-point, according to Julie, hunter and taxidermist) emerged from the woods, and ran from one end of the park to the other. We were awed! It was like a show put on just for us. We fumbled for our cameras - to no avail. Alas, no pictures, but we'll never forget this encounter. At least I won't.

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