Chris had Friday off of work for Good Friday so we decided to go for a little hike, never mind that it was raining. We went to the New River Trail and started at the Shot Tower. The Shot Tower was built in the 1800's and was used during the Civil War to make bullets for muskets. The tower is 75 feet tall and has a shaft that goes another 75 feet below the ground. The lead was poured from the top and would fall 150 ft. to be formed and then land in a pot of water to be retrieved for use.
A little ways down the trail is this bridge which replaced the Jackson Ferry that was in operation in the late 1700s and 1800s to ferry people across the New River.
Part of the New River Trail crosses on top of this old Trestle.
The kids enjoyed stopping to climb on slippery rocks along the path.
The girls kept calling these umbrella flowers, which was pretty appropriate for the rainy weather. In fact, they are May flowers, not yet in bloom (they bloom in May, go figure). There were plenty of other wildflowers along the path that were in bloom.
We came to the area called Foster Falls, and yes, those are the falls. I guess when the rest of the river in this area is like glass, a little white water is considered a waterfall. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks into the river, looking at the geese and finding their tracks, collecting horse chestnuts and finding the horse chestnut trees as well as petting some real horses.
Clarissa is ever the adventurer, we couldn't keep her from climbing the rocks. We really enjoyed ourselves, even though it never got warmer than 51 degrees and our fingers were a little cold, it was still nice to get out and see a little history.
Chris had Friday off of work for Good Friday so we decided to go for a little hike, never mind that it was raining. We went to the New River Trail and started at the Shot Tower. The Shot Tower was built in the 1800's and was used during the Civil War to make bullets for muskets. The tower is 75 feet tall and has a shaft that goes another 75 feet below the ground. The lead was poured from the top and would fall 150 ft. to be formed and then land in a pot of water to be retrieved for use.
A little ways down the trail is this bridge which replaced the Jackson Ferry that was in operation in the late 1700s and 1800s to ferry people across the New River.
Part of the New River Trail crosses on top of this old Trestle. 
The kids enjoyed stopping to climb on slippery rocks along the path.
The girls kept calling these umbrella flowers, which was pretty appropriate for the rainy weather. In fact, they are May flowers, not yet in bloom (they bloom in May, go figure). There were plenty of other wildflowers along the path that were in bloom.
We came to the area called Foster Falls, and yes, those are the falls. I guess when the rest of the river in this area is like glass, a little white water is considered a waterfall. The kids enjoyed throwing rocks into the river, looking at the geese and finding their tracks, collecting horse chestnuts and finding the horse chestnut trees as well as petting some real horses.
Clarissa is ever the adventurer, we couldn't keep her from climbing the rocks. We really enjoyed ourselves, even though it never got warmer than 51 degrees and our fingers were a little cold, it was still nice to get out and see a little history.
3 comments:
Fun! You'll have to take us on a hike or two when we come. Keeping in mind we will get tired before your kids do ;) I bet it's a very different stroll through your woods.
Seeing some of the areas your family hikes and explores makes me wish we had more area like that here.
I love it great family fun happens despite the weather!
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