JoJo and I decided to check out St Peter’s Village today.  Every time I think of St Peter’s Village I think of the time my best friend, Jen, took me there YEARS ago (it was actually the only other time I had been there).  We were hiking around and I kept feeling like there was something on my head.  I had the front part of my hair pulled back in a clip and I just kept feeling a lump where the clip was.  I kept asking Jen if she saw anything and every time she would say no.  When we were done hiking and got back in the car I looked in the rearview mirror and I see these tiny arms and legs frantically moving around and peaking out from my hair – tiny little buggy legs.  LOL!  It was like it was saying, “HELP ME!!!”  Of course I did the only rational thing I could think of – jump out of the car and start screaming.  haha.  I may like nature, but NO ONE said I have to like bugs!  So Jen comes running over and helps me get the bug, which turned out to be some kind of beetle, untangled from my hair.  Poor little guy!  I will NEVER forget seeing those little legs waving for help!

ANYWAY, we drove over and I couldn’t remember where you park – I saw a lot of parking areas but I didn’t see any trails so we kept driving around.  Finally, I decided to check out the lot that had big boulders sort of framing it.  I got out and saw a trail next to a sign that said the lot closes at dark.  Jo and I set off for some exploring!

I have to mention if you head out here, make sure you have a GPS or you are really good with directions because there are no maps at all for this area.  There are a bunch of trails but I had no idea what intersected with what to make it a loop.  There are also several places to “jump the rocks” or boulder hop here which is a very popular thing to do in this area.  With the horrible balance I have, this is not an activity I care to try – haha!  Some of the trails we had went right through these boulder fields so we just turned around and tried another one!

  
  

  
There was a lot of people on the trail, which I wasn’t surprised about as it was an incredibly beautiful autumn morning and this area is very popular.  We did run into 3 sort of unfriendly dogs which is one of my fears of solo hiking – having to break up a dog fight.  Jo just doesn’t understand that some dogs aren’t friendly and she doesn’t know what to do – she wants to say hi to EVERYONE!  The 1st dog we came across was pulling the owner all over the trails to get to Jo. He said the dog was friendly, but then it kept jumping on her head – this was a BIG dog and she’s only 60lbs.  The owner had to keep pulling his dog off JoJo and she was whimpering a little because it scared her.  The 2nd dog we ran into was off leash.  As the dog approached I said “Is your dog friendly?” and the owner says, “He is…..” and his voice trailed off as if there was a but.  I got a little tense as the dogs sniffed each other and then the owner said “Let’s go” sternly and they left.  The owners for the 3rd dog actually got wayyyy off the trail.  I said, “She’s friendly!” and they said, “He is NOT.”  I thanked them and the dog growled as we passed.  Yikes.

The trails themselves were nice, not very steep.  It was pretty rocky in some parts and hard to see those rocks with all the leaves on the trail, but still fun!  There is a TON of graffiti on the rocks – I guess you could use this as trail markings to find your way back if you got lost.

  
  
  
The hardest part about the day was making Joey sit still and pose for pictures!  🙂

  
 There is nothing like walking in the woods with the breeze blowing through the trees, and the crunching of leaves under my feet.  It was an awesome morning!  🙂