Fantasy Hike

A number of days ago, my sisters and I went on a hike on a nearby trail close to our house. It was a trek to get to the trail itself, but it was worth the extra walk. Once you step onto the trail, the forest feels as if it is luring you farther in. The feeling is similar to the way the ocean draws you in when you stand at the edge, the waves lapping at your ankles.

My sisters and I tramped through the woods, stopping here and there to throw rocks into the creek. We headed on your usual rout to the bird watching pond and up the steep hill that leads to a large meadow area to our picnic spot. Once we reached our picnic spot, we sat down and had a drink and I ate a mini protein bar I had in my bag.

As we sat, we gazed at the distant castle towers and the spires of the cathedral. One of my sisters suggested that we go and walk to the castles, so after we were rested we started the mile and a half walk to the castles. As we started to the castles, I started vloging the experience, because I thought it would make for good content.

As we walked along, I caught a glimpse of a doe. At first I could not see what it was and thought it looked like a goat from far away, but it was definitely a deer. Knowing, that if there is one deer and there might be more nearby, my sisters and I turned around and went another way.

For people who don't know much about deer, deer are not usually going to hurt you and are more likely to run from you. However if there is a herd of deer, males will charge if you scare them. Deer also have no spatial awareness. If they are in full gallop and you happen to walk in their way, they will hit you and keep going, usually resulting people injured. I was nearly hit by deer an multiple occasions during cross country, so I tend to play it safe when around deer. The worst thing to do in a situation where you know there are deer is to walk in dense brush or high grasses. My sisters and I were in dense brush, where if a deer happened to be galloping through, it is highly probable we would be hit. So we backtracked and I led my sisters another way.

To cut down the hill we were on, there is a flight of stairs. At the top of the stairs there is a red door way which stands out in the middle of the woods. My sisters and I went back to the main trail, traveling through rock formations and over bridges, all under the giant canopy of the forest.

We had to climb two more hills to reach the castles- old mansions designed after medieval castles that were built in the late nineteenth century, that are now a museum, a wedding venue, and another was turned into office space. We explored a part of the property that was a little more hidden and much less kept up. It felt as if we were wandering through ruins of a long lost kingdom. There, my sisters and I posed for pictures and marveled at the architecture. We felt like main characters in our own real life fairytale, without, you know, the unfortunate drama of being actual main characters. There were so many adorable chipmunks, which my sisters and I swooned over. The chipmunks were fast too, I could not get a picture of any of them. As we walked around we found that from the front of the museum you could see the entire Philadelphia skyline, which was epic as the sun was setting.

It was amazing and we could have wandered around for hours more, but we had to get back home for dinner. That, my friends, concludes our journey. I hope you enjoyed reading about my adventure as much as I loved experiencing it!

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