This weekend was spent mostly in relaxation. I have to work 70 hours in 7 days next week so I did little if anything productive this weekend. Saturday I rode down to Boone, NC. My parents were camping there and I wanted to see them and spend the night. I had written Steve and Jack on Friday telling them that I would be relaxing for the weekend and if they wanted to go to Fenwick Mines on Sunday to let me know.

Fenwick Mines is in Craig County Virginia. It is an old open face iron mine from the early 1900's that has been turned into a little park within the Jefferson National Forrest here in S.W. Virginia. The iron camp actually was a little town with hospital, stores, and school, but when the iron ran out, it was all abandon and is no longer there. The old iron pits are now part of a walking trail and this is where Steve, Jack, and I went. What is of interest here for Jack and I is the variety of plant life on the trails. Jack is a botanist and I would like to think I'm an amateur one and we look at every plant, bush, shrub, and tree along the way. This time we actually saw a few varmints which I don't usually. At the end of one of the trails is a small waterfall which is a cool ending to the short hike. We had a good time and avoided the rain. We were all going to go to Paint Bank and get a hot dog, but it was getting late and my hell week looks ahead, so we said bye and headed home.