Reedy Creek Hike

To take a break from the novel work I drove a few miles away from the house and went for a hike in Reedy Creek Park. It's a very large (almost 800 acres) park here in Mecklenburg County. I used to hike there a lot when I lived in that area, but I rarely go there anymore. I wanted to hike to a certain spot where there's an old farmhouse ruin and just get away for a couple of hours.

The park wasn't as crowded as I'd feared, perhaps due to the heat. And I ended up having the trails all to myself which was very surprising. At any rate, here are a few photos I took while on the trails in the park.

This is an old Osage orange tree that fell to the ground during an ice storm in 1987. It was cored and revealed to have been planted beside the farmhouse roughly around 1770. Even lying on the ground it's an impressive sight.

The ruins of the old farmhouse. There's a very horrible and creepy story about this place that I've expanded upon for a plot for a short story (possibly a novella or novel). It's one of the most disturbing stories I've heard, and I figured out how to make it even more frightening.

This must have been an impressive structure in its day. Built of the local stone.

I'm always on the lookout for big trees and I found this relatively large poplar along the Rockhouse Trail. It's no monster tree, but the biggest one I saw all day.