FANCY GAP, VA.  We have not done much the past few days, partly due to Betty's taking it easy on her back, and partly due to the general sparsity of things to do around here.

On Sunday, August 31st, we again attended church.  One special point is that the Eagles' daughter visited from her home in Winston-Salem.  I got a photo of them together, as I did two years ago when she visited the church to attend services with her parents.

Eagles with Daughter This Year

Eagles with Daughter Two Years Ago

On Tuesday, Sep 2nd, we decided to try what was said to be a simple hike at the local Devil's Den Nature Preserve.  Interesting how around North America locations are named after the devil to draw attention, rather than after the Creator of all things.  It was an area situated around an historic fenced-in family cemetery.  

Well Maintained Cemetery

Wonderful Condition for a 19th Century Grave

This One Is Harder to Read

The map provided for the preserve is sketchy, causing us to enter their hiking trail in the wrong direction.  We thought we were headed a short ways to a couple lookouts, but we inadvertently were headed on a rocky and more demanding portion than we had intended, especially since Betty was trying to take it easy.

Betty Begins Her Hike with Great Enthusiasm

After we hiked the  demanding up-and-down trail a while, we turned back.  This was far more than Betty needed to be doing.  We went back to the cemetery area and checked the map again using a compass.  Turns out that the part we wanted to try entailed walking around what appeared to be an FCC security fence.  Apparently the fence was only to keep motorized traffic away from the cell towers down the road.

Walking around the fence, we could see mowed grass along the road.  

Trail Along the Tall Grass

As you get to the end of the tall grass, the trail turns hard left and continues to a wooded area in the distance.

The Trail Continues

You Can See a Park Bench at the Lookout

There is Even a Sort of Xylophone Beside the Bench

I attempted a short tune on the xylophone of pipes, but not much.

View from First Lookout

Continuing our walk to the second lookout, one could see it was not nearly as nice as the first one.  And the view through the thicket was virtually nonexistent.

Second Lookout Area

We returned after that.  There is more to the trail, but Betty had had enough adventure for one day.  This coming Saturday we drive down to Denver to see the Rohrbaughs for lunch.  Hope to get some nice photos then.