There Better be a Hawk up there!

Back in late March or maybe it was April a bunch of us went to Hawk Mountain. We climbed to the North Lookout and back on the main trail. We decided that coming back in the fall would be great! Only two of the four who hiked that day could make it today. Life has a way of doing that.

Today we took the River of Rocks Trail to the top. Combined with a return to the visitor center via the North Lookout Trail it's a 5 mile loop. The River of Rocks Trail lives up to its name. Not hard to do given it's found in "Rocksylvania".


The signs claim the River of Rocks trail is a moderate hike to the top. Moderate is relative though. Compared to the Skyline trail which is nothing short of death defying, the River of Rocks trail IS moderate. For us, it was a pretty good workout and as we neared the top one member of our group swore that there better be some hawks up there for all the work we put in getting there. Being the organizer of this trip I did not want her to be disappointed and was determined to lasso one if I had to. Fortunately I did not have to. Although we really couldn't tell one bird from another (except for the Turkey Vultures) there was a man at the top of the calling out the birds as he saw them through a gigantic camera lens.

If we had not seen any hawks, it still would have been tough to be disappointed because the view was fantastic.

After a rest at the top to enjoy the view and the birds and a snack, we began the trek back down to the visitor center.

On the way down, a man on the way up called out to Julius.

And the countdown began. Tick Tock Tick Tock. ...........and Julius won! He recognized his friend Bryce before Bryce introduced himself. Maybe you had to be there or maybe you have to be easily entertained as I am but I thought it was amusing.

Today was a gorgeous day to be on the mountain with friends.