3rd Saturday hike and lunch

The weather was perfect (61F) with a nice, sunny start.  The 6 of us left the parking lot a little after 12:15 p.m., (Picture 1) and headed up Sawtooth trail (picture 2), a sandy, trail and soon came upon a sign indicating an old sawmill had once been located.  Also prominent were the signs of an old well (Picture 3). We soon moved along and came the a fork in the trails and turned left (headed south) for a mile or so and then picked up the Glenora trail and occasional glimpses of the lake through the trees and with no leaves on the trees a few more views of the lake were evident that weren’t in July, time of our last hike there.  We crossed a bridge and slowly moved up a hill. (picture 4).  We walked until we came upon a mid-1800s smokehouse that was part of a collection of out-buildings associated with a long-ago plantation upon the (once was) Anna River (pictures 5, 6 and 7).  Walking past the smokehouse, we came to our first rest spot upon the shores of Lake Anna with a comfortable breeze and incredible sunny skies and a nice bench to give it a rest, which we did.

We went back up to the smokehouse and doubled back a hundred yards to the split in the trail and this time began the Big Woods trail, which continued our walk occasionally come upon (closely) to the lake.  We walked down to the lake and walked on the ice at the edge of the shore (Pictures 8 & 9) and took in the views., crossing a couple of wooden bridges and then on to Cedar Run trail, a somewhat windy path that took us down to the shore once again and picnic table.  (Picture 10).  After snacking for 20 minutes, the group packed up and resumed going back up Cedar Run Trail and picked up Turkey Run Trail away from the lake and back towards the parking lot, which took only about 20 minutes and the end of our day’s excursion.  Total trip was about 4.8 miles and 2 hours 30 minutes.

{This is a new series of hikes I'm trying out for those that can't meet on Sundays.  It will be on the 3rd Saturday of the month.  Lunch Location TBD after the Hike}

We did this hike this past summer so I thought it would be interesting to do the hike in winter.  Come join us for a winter hike along the banks of Lake Anna.  We'll stop by an old smoke house which was part of a plantation in the 1800s.  We'll have a snack on the shores of Laka Anna at one of the picnic tables.

The hike will last 2 hours and cover about 6 easy miles with plenty of places to rest. 

BRING: Water or a hot beverage plus snacks.  Park Info:  http://www.dcr.virginia.gov/state-parks/lake-anna#general_information?