It’s been a long time since I’ve found it fun to stay up till midnight on any night let alone New Year’s Eve. Just as I have a bah humbug reputation over my Christmas attitude, I am pretty sure “party pooper” comes to mind when it comes to NYE. So this year with the wonderful addition of the Eurovan, we opted to camp at Woolly Hollow State Park and enjoy the first day hike to celebrate the First Day of 2020 instead of the last night of 2019.
Woolly Hollow State Park is only 20 so miles away from us. We enjoy using the trail and occasionally the swimming and picnic areas. Since it was a holiday that doesn’t usually involve camping and temperatures below freezing, we had our pick of campsites along the lake. It was very quiet with only a few other RVs there with us along the water.
Our evening was spent bundled up around the campfire enjoying a few beers and a no fuss dinner of snack like items. As the temperature dropped and dropped and the stars peppered the dark sky, we retreated to the Eurovan for hot tea, cookies and a few rounds of UNO of which I totally dominated. Unfortunately, the quiet of the campground was broken by the celebrations of the surrounding countryside. Nothing like marking he New Year with copious rounds of semi-automatic gun fire. Thankfully we were able to go back to sleep.
I woke just as the sun was tinting the sky. These are the kind of beautiful bright colors exploding in the sky that I like to mark the new year.
After breakfast we quickly packed so we could make it for the First Day Hike on the Huckleberry Trail. I’ve only ever hiked portions of it and usually its been in the opposite direction, so it was nice to get a different view of the trail. The highlight of the hike was getting to see my first frost flower in real life.
When I was in high school some friends and I used to trek out before dawn on New Year’s Day to a local wilderness area and climb the boulders to watch the sunrise. We would spout of resolutions and watch the sun set the sky on fire then run off the breakfast at Waffle House. Apparently I was doing a first day hike before the hashtag started. lol
I want to make First Day Hikes my new tradition. Since I am working on my Master Naturalist Training in a few weeks, it seemed a good way to start 2020.
