Two Awesome Hiking Days

I have had 2 excellent days of hiking this past weekend - one at Wallermill Park in Williamsburg, VA and one at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach, VA. Although I only spent about 4.5 hours total for both days, it was intense, very enjoyable, and extremely refreshing. I wore my 12-lb weight vest and used my trekking poles to ramp up the resistance and heartbeat a bit. Got an excellent upper body workout due to the spring-loaded trekking poles. In total, I burned over 2,000 calories and walked over 38,000 steps.

But perhaps more importantly, I had the best encounter to date with a red-tailed hawk. He was rather large and startled me, swooping down low out of a tree from out of my peripheral vision. He allowed me to approach the tree on which he was perched, only to swoop down low again and fly up into another tree some 50 yards distant. The view of his flight was the best I had ever seen. The final approach was THE BEST. As I stealthily approached the tree he was perched on, I made sure that he didn't know I was approaching. I got the MOST amazing view from directly underneath him. As I crept farther forward, I must have startled him. But instead of flying away, he readjusted his perch and stared straight down at me. Maybe I should have been at least a little afraid, but I was truthfully amused at his reaction. From that point on, he just sat there observing my every move. Call me crazy, but I would've given almost anything to have him swoop down ... just one more time. You CAN'T have experiences like THAT inside of a gym!