Almost every day, I walk somewhere between three and four miles around our
neighborhood, which has done wonders for my physical and mental health. This
afternoon, Ms. B. and I decided to go walking out on the
Fieldale-Smith River Trail, which is my favorite of the trails in this area. In 2009 and 2010, I loaded
up a mile-plus length of the trail with geocaches, and they're all still
active. Yesterday, in fact, a group of geocachers found them all. Just for
good measure, I decided to give each of the caches a physical check-up, and I
was pleased to find them in decent condition. One of them (called "
Haunted Island") involves a little tree climbing, and since that's one of my favorite
physical activities, up I went (the view in the photo to the left is actually from up in the tree). I even managed to get back down.
My favorite of the trail's attractions is the view of the old
Koehler Warehouse across the river on Route 57, which I've always
called "
The Spooky Place" because it was the site of the Martinsville
Jaycees' infamous Halloween Haunted Castle when I was a teenager and a bit
beyond. For a couple of tales of my sordid adventures in the Haunted Castle,
you may visit my article at the
Horror Writers Association Blog here. Don't be afeared... much.
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A view of the Spooky Place without the spooky people in the way
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A view of the Smith River from the trail
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Tree damage! |
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A happy little community of mushrooms Ms. B. discovered
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