Mon, Aug 24 2026 - Monday Morning at Simpsonwood Park (View Original Event Details) Trip Leader(s): Joyce T. Participants: Joyce T., Mike C, Marianna, James H., Cara M, Gina, Lee W, Drew W, Franziska, Maurice P, Memphis Russ, Karsten, Eric S, Beth C, Laura L

Click for Album

Today's hike was special . . . Karsten's 100th AOC event. He was very happy to have accumulated so many events despite dealing with some pretty significant medical issues. It was a pleasure to honor him today.

We had a really nice hike at Simpsonwood this morning. The air was decidedly less humid than on recent days, so we stayed relatively dry. We had several newbies today, which made for lots of great conversation. Gina was on her 3rd hike, Eric was on his 6th, Beth was on her 8th, and Laura was on her 4th. Welcome to all of the newbies!

I was very happy to find the labyrinth today, thanks to help from Lee. Simpsonwood is for me still a complicated set of trails to learn, so I usually have no idea where I am until it's time to figure out how to get back to the parking lot. Toward the end of our hike, we had four trip leaders up front - - I, Mike, Russ, and Drew. Mike made the joke that with four of us leading, the group better know they were in trouble. Thanks to Drew's AllTrails tracking, I had a good idea of where we were and how to get back to the parking lot. A happy ending to our 4-mile trek.

Thanks to Lee for the photos he added to the album. Since it was a special occasion today, he also made a Relive video of the hike. You can check out his video at: https://www.relive.com/view/v1Ow7WoDBXO

~ Joyce