Tales from the "Corona" Woods

Hiking in the Woods
April 21, 2020

Hubby and I hiked in the woods 2 miles yesterday evening. It was cold, the Hawk was blowing 21 MPH and the occasional gusts were quite strong. The trees were creaking loudly and swaying quite far at the top. White Oaks (Quercus Alba) are tall, tending to grow 100 ft. There were many broken limbs along the way. The wind was howling when the gusts crested. But when it died down, there was so much beauty and calm in the verdant undergrowth.

We filled our eyes and ears with the happy chirping of birds, and our lungs with fresh air. Squatso, the girth-challenged squirrel, was darting from branch to branch, as if following us along the trail. We found few humans around, thank God, and an inner peace that only another hiker can understand.


April 22, 2020 – Earth Day
Tales from the Corona Woods

Today’s 3.5 mile hike was more eventful than yesterday.

Wide portion of the trail

Photo: Ileana Johnson

We met a woman who was being dragged in the opposite direction by a large and very friendly Labrador who wanted to say hello to us. One very hostile sleaze stack caught up with us – she was walking really fast and her face was covered by a mask. She almost fell into the thorny bushes trying to avoid any human contact with us. Maybe we should have walked closer to her to force her off the trail? Nah, we are nice people. We know what those bushes are!

By the time we got to our trail, hubby told me that some woman in Montclair posted on the neighborhood watch a black bear sighting. Montclair is not that far away but the bear would have to cross a major highway to get to our woods. The bear probably denned in the Prince William National Forest which had been closed by order of Virginia’s governor trying to protect us from the Corona virus pandemic. Since there were no more campers in the 16,000 acre forest, the bear must have gotten hungry for human scraps so he went looking for better foraging.

Old Oaks

Photo: Ileana Johnson

We joked about it but we jumped when we heard the cry of a fox really close by. We stopped on thetrail and, in the silence, we heard the cry again. We turned around, and, about ten feet from us on thetrail, jumped a beautiful racoon from the foliage. It gave us a curious look and disappeared in the dense brush on the other side. Hubby handed me the camera but it was too late, so I handed it back. Wrong move! In the next 20 seconds, a beautiful red fox jumped onto the trail after the racoon but saw us and changed her mind, and jumped back into the green thorny bushes. We started laughing really hard because we thought a bear was going to jump out. Fun hike!

Thorny bushes

Photos: Ileana Johnson