Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Lunch Time Walk to Great Blue Heron Colony

2011 has not gotten off to a great start for hiking, or too much else, actually. First, there was the death of our dear friend, Judy, at the start of the year - just four weeks after being diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Two days after her memorial service, I headed to upstate New York to visit my sister Ann, ill with stage four breast cancer. Five days after I got back home, I had foot surgery, which has pretty much sidelined me for three weeks.

I took the bandage off yesterday for good, and decided I needed a little lunch time hike today. I went to the great blue heron colony in the James River, right in downtown Richmond. This is an interesting urban hike, as documented in more detail in my blog here almost a year ago. My walk today was 2.25 miles, and I had no trouble at all, despite my foot surgery of 3 weeks ago. It felt great to take a walk on a nice day and enjoy some views of the river and wildlife. My route, as tracked by my DeLorme PN-60 GPS, is shown on the map below. I walked in a clockwise direction, and the three little images show where I took my pictures.

Here are some herons on their nests, high in the trees on an island in the river:

A view of the island from where I stood, with many nests in sight:

Nice painting on a bridge support, with a formal sign on the other side of the support:

Rapids further upriver:
View of Tredegar Iron Works Civil War Visitor Center:
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2 comments:

  1. HappyKFebruary 16, 2011 at 1:10 PM

    So sorry to hear about your friend.
    Also sorry your visit with your sister had to be under those circumstances.
    Glad to hear that you are able to get out and take a walk.
    The heron nests are awesome.

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  2. o2bhikingFebruary 17, 2011 at 3:21 PM

    Thanks Karen. I've been feeling a lot of sadness lately on both accounts. But I was glad to see my sister and my other siblings.

    Yep, it felt good to take a walk. I paid for it a bit the last two days with some foot pain, but it was worth it. And of course, it was great to see the GBH nests. Art

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