Ladies of the Lake

 

I joined Sisters on the Fly, the largest women's outdoor club in North America, a couple of years ago. I've made it to a couple of meet-and-greets but never got to camp with them. Their gatherings are so popular, they are often full by the time I know I'm free to go. And COVID caused me to cancel a number of events I did get in until I was vaccinated. So when I got a notice of a gathering at Poplar Point at nearby Jordan Lake, I leapt at the chance to meet other camping women in my area. Ruthie has also joined so we received our official flip flops to mark our campsite and here we are! 

Fortunately, this was an informal weekend. I came worn out from Tommy's funeral--an intimate, private affair, full of his music with nary a dry eye among the gathering of family and friends. After all that, I wasn't up for a lot of group activities, but Ruthie, Odie and I managed a couple of wooded walks. Kate Pruitt, also a new SOTF member, and our friend, Cathy, who lives nearby, joined us Saturday night for a cookout. We had so much fun catching up, we kept the evening to our own sisterhood.

The humidity  was a challenge but the woods are always healing. Ruthie and I started Saturday with

American Tobacco Trail

a walk on The American Tobacco Trail, a 22.2 mile rails to trails project traversing Chatham, Wake and Durham counties. It starts in the woods near Jordan Lake and ends up at the Durham Bulls ballpark. We only walked about a mile and a half before returning to our parking lot but we got the loveliest part of the morning and the deepest part of the woods. The photo is courtesy of caryrealestate.com.

I've camped at Jordan Lake before but never at Poplar Point. Our campground is part of a series of  camping

loops up and down the east side of the lake. Our site is up on a hill with a view of the lake through the trees. A wooded trail connects all the campgrounds and we explored it after lunch and a nap. We saw this lovely inlet crossing a bridge and enjoyed the winding trail until the humidity sent us back to our camper's AC. 

I'm not sure how enthused Odie is about the great wild. He seems to prefer the sidewalks of home. That said, he doesn't want to be left out of anything, including any chance to mark over where another dog has been or to supervise us. 

Kate, Ruthie, Cathy. My sisterhood.

Sunday morning was muggy and damp but we weren't quite ready to end the trip. On the way home, we stopped at the Jordan Lake Education State Forest. Greg and I used to take the kids on a loop trail with periodic views of the lake. Today we made a wrong turn onto a new loop of the Talking Trees trail, except the trees weren't talking. It was still beautiful and I recommend it when you are in the area. 

Home now, unpacking, cleaning and dreaming of the next trip out.