The George Hellwig Memorial Park loop hike took place on Friday, January 1,
2021.
This was an easy 1 mile loop hike. The problem was that the weather was
looking dicey and, therefore, no one showed up. So it was just me :\
On the morning of this hike I received numerous emails from people canceling on
doing this hike. I didn't blame them as the weather was not looking good.
But after postponing our December hike because of weather that didn't happen,
I was determined to hike this trail today!
A few strange things happened before this hike. Back on the morning of our
October, 2020 hike my TPMS monitor said that my air pressure was low within
one of my tires. So I filled them up as soon as I could. What was weird was
that this same scenario happened before our November, December and January
hikes! I must have a slow leak in my rear drivers side tire. I'll have to get
that tire fixed soon.
The other strange thing that happened was the weather. I was hearing rain,
rain, rain all morning. When I went to wait for anyone that wanted to join me
at Prince of Peace UMC it did start to sprinkle a bit. But when I got to
Hellwig Park, the rain stopped.
No one was there to join me at the park so I did this hike solo. It was
chilly and damp. And I was dressed for the weather. But there was no rain
while I hiked. Was this a miracle? I think so.
I didn't see a single other person on this trail while I was hiking. I only
saw one other vehicle driving around the park while I was there. The trail was
in good shape. Prince William County had installed some kiosks along this
trail. There was a sign at the entrance to this trail. The "Fit Trail"
excecise stations had recently been painted and refurbished. Everything
looked good... except... There were no blazes on this trail. If it were
blazed this park and this trail would have been perfect. But PWC let me down
again.
One may ask "Why do you need blazes if this is a loop and the trail is well
defined? The
reasons are that there are local, community or defacto side trails in this
park. I
have personally hiked them and have gotten lost. If the trail were blazed and
there was signing that these side trails were not official trails, that would
have been great. But no, PWC fell short... again.
In closing this was a good hike. I left POPUMC at 1:00 PM, got to Hellwig
Park at 1:16 PM, started immediately and was done by 1:42. And I was back
home by 2:00 PM. I took my time and
did this 1 mile loop hike in 26 minutes. This was a great way to start off
2021. And I had to put air in my tires when I got home.
Mike C
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Entrance sign, Hellwig Park, VA.
By Mike Calabrese
Trailhead sign, Hellwig Park, VA.
By Mike Calabrese
Selfie.
By Mike Calabrese
Thank you, Pack 1355.
By Mike Calabrese
The trail.
By Mike Calabrese
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