A hike at Hibernia Campground

I met my friend Lea for lunch last Thursday.  That makes it sound simple, doesn't it, but I managed to complicate things considerably (but I'm going to put some of the blame on Google Maps).  Let's just say if a road is not labeled on both ends, one can not assume that one end of the road has the same name as the other end of the road.  (And I did send feedback to Google Maps, so hopefully that will be updated with the name that is currently missing.)  Let's also say that a woman in pain and in a hurry may compound an error with additional bad judgment calls.  (And a thanks to a couple of Century Link technicians who were taking a break and let me borrow a cell phone.)
Mom likes to say about most any bad situation, "It could have been worse," so I should mention that I had plenty of gas in the car.  At least in all my tearing around the countryside in the wrong direction, I didn't strand myself.
The good news was that the second time around I took the correct turn, Lea was still willing to treat me to lunch, and we had a nice meal and a wonderful hike at Hibernia Campground.  Here are some highlights of the hike (as photographed by Lea).
The first picture here is one I specifically requested because it shows the lovely colors in nature on a mild February afternoon-- the strong blue of the sky, contrasting white clouds, calming greens of the loblolly pines and lake, and the light grays of the trees reflecting the afternoon sun.

 

Here are a couple of more shots of the lake.

 

 

We took a nature trail to an old cemetery and plantation site.  Then we walked along the edge of the lake cove.  I especially enjoyed looking for signs of wildlife along the lake edge.  There was a large blue-gray feather that I'll bet was left by a great blue heron.  I jammed it into a tree root and had Lea take a pic.

 

I also found a white feather (with a black shaft).  For me this was an unusual find.  I wondered what kind of bird dropped this.

 

There were lots of tracks in the sand along the edge of the lake.  Here is a dog track (or coyote?).  (We also saw tracks of deer, raccoon, birds, and either squirrel or muskrat.)







Several places there were large collections of freshwater clam shells.  I'm thinking a raccoon must have feasted here.

It was a relaxing and lovely afternoon.  All's well that ends well.