Lake Norman Hike and Camp

Mary Poppins, Bumper, Shroom, Nina, Michelle, Beth, Dierdre, Barbara, and I all met at the carpool spot.  This is where the fun began. haha!  We had a "trail dude" show up.  He had signed up for our group last night.  Even though I sent him an email telling him this is an all womens group and he could not join us, and removed I him from our group, he still showed up!  I again told him he could not join us, he tried to leave.  I say tried b/c for the next 15-20 minutes, he kept tripping his car alarm and could not get his car started.  He then asked us for a jump and while backing his car out, almost hit a group of Dames!  Whe he saw he backed his car out too much, he asked the Dames to push his car!  That's when a handsome young man stepped in and asked if there was anything he could do to help.  We greatly appreciated the fact that he took over and we moved our cars.

We finally make it the trailhead and get started on our hike.  The weather was still holding up.  We hiked in perfect overcast, cool (well, cool for July!) weather.  The hike was a pretty fast one as far as Dames hikes go.  We timed it to be a 20 mintue mile.  AFter our hike, we all headed out in search of some lunch.  We discovered this pizza place that had 2 slices and a coke for $4.95.   Can't beat that, so we all ate pizza.

We said goodbye to some of the girls and the rest of us that were camping decided to check out the local grocery store for some adult beverages. hee hee :)  Nina and I split a six pack of Sarnac beer, while the Mary Poppins, Maureen, and Bumper split a couple bottles of wine.  Wendy and Marie already had there flasks back at the campsite.  We headed back to set up camp for the night. 

After dividing up the gear, I helped each newbie camper set up their tents.  They did so awesome and barely needed my assistance.  I then set up my hammock and let all the girls try it out.  I think I converted all but one :)  They loved the WBBB hammock.  Who can blame them :)  haha!  Seriouly, it is a very comfortable hammock.   We headed back to the tables to nosh on some fresh fruit, veggies, dip, and chit chat a bit before starting a campfire for roasting hot dogs. 

When dinner was over, we all squeezed into Marie and Wendy's picnic, which was surrounded by tarps to keep rain out.  It felt like a cozy little cabin table to play a game of TABOU.  Talk about hilarious fun!  After the rain let up a bit, I pulled out the giant marshmellows, Wendy started a fire, and Nina brought out the chocolate and graham crackers and we made s'mores!  YUMMY :)  After stuffing our faces we sat around the campfire and talked and talked til the next thing we knew it was 11:30pm, time for bed.
The next morning, we go up and hiked the trail all over again!    Great time with some great people.  Had lots of fun and we got in two hikes this weekend.  :)