Saturday 3-21-26 Camping at Sanders Cove & Hiking Trails

 

Pat Mayes Lake

We had another hot day but it was gorgeous with blue skies. The morning temperature was 62 degrees and the high was 89 degrees.

Last night we slept with the fan going, which made it comfortable. I woke up at 7:15 am, this is mighty early for me. Larry was surprised. I wanted to get an early start on our hike because it's suppose to get to 90 degrees. We had a blueberry bagel with cream cheese spread on it and we shared a meal replacement shake. After breakfast we got ready to go on our hike. It was warm enough, that we didn't need a jacket and we wore short sleeve shirts.

The hiking trailhead was close by, we had to walk .15 mile. We hiked for an hour and  45 minutes for 2.50 miles. We hiked on a few trails, Deer Run ( .6 mile) and Dogwood (1.4 mile). It was very hard to tell which trail you were on because they weren't marked. We started at the trailhead sign, which took us to a staging area. The area had picnic tables, bike repair station and the trails. The trails had a sign with arrows showing you where they begin. There were arrows throughout the hike but they weren't labeled with the trail name. The trails intertwined with each other. The hike took us through the trees, up and down hills, over rocks, along a ridge and by Pat Mayes Lake. One part was very challenging, it went down a steep hill to get to a creek. The creek didn't have much water flowing so we could cross it with no problem. On the other side we had to climb back up the hill, it wasn't as steep or as high. We saw a couple of fishermen on the lake and the Dogwoods have some beautiful blooms. There was a bench that looked over the lake close to the campground, we rested there for a bit. A short distance later we could have just walked to our site but we decided to continue following the trail back to the trailhead. We saw a few people hiking the trails and a couple of bikers. The trails were marked with two different color arrows, black and red. The black arrows indicate you're hiking the trail forward direction. The red arrows indicate you're hiking the trail in the reverse direction. By the end of the hike it was starting to get warm and we were sweaty. At the trailhead sign Larry took my pouch and pole and went back to the Minnie and I walked to the shower house to go to the restroom. It was another .50 mile roundtrip. When I got back to the Minnie I had done 9,000 steps and 3 miles. We had a great hike. The trails allow hikers, bikers and class 1 e-bikes.  

  

Hiking trails sign

The trail going through the trees, down a hill and across the creek via bridge

Stationing area where trails begin

Bicycle repair station

Forest

After lunch Larry went outside to enjoy the campground and continue reading his book in his chair. Larry finished the book and started a new one. I joined him after I did my games. I started a book called Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

Larry relaxing in his chair

I played games. I played the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. The event was Event: Two Game Tango Mini of 6 games (3 Klondike and 3 Spider). It took me 18 minutes and 44 seconds, which put me in 19th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.

In the evening I walked around the campground a couple of times for 48 minutes and got 2 miles. By the end of the evening I had done 16,000 steps. After resting after my walk I put our chairs away.