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Don’t you love September?

The heat and humidity of August start to fade, and the sky is so blue that if you saw it in a photograph, you would think it was touched up.

This time of year, I always want to be outdoors. Last Sunday, I finally got myself over to walk the Chinqua Penn Trail, something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.

I started my walk midafternoon and met only a few people along the way. In fact, I saw more Canada geese than I did people along the 1.5-mile trail. I came equipped only with my camera, but I would recommend that you take a water bottle on a sunny day. Although most of the trail is shaded by mature hardwoods, the beginning and final stretches are open to the sun.

At the first landmark, Jeff and Betsy Penn’s stew site, I encountered Rebecca Kallam of Reidsville on a cool stone chair with her feet propped up on the stone table. She said it was very comfortable.

According to a brochure I picked up, Jeff Penn had his own recipe for “stew cooked in an iron pot that was so large it was rolled over the fire on a railway track.” The Penns and their guests played cards on the stone furniture while they waited on the stew to cook.

The next landmark, the Turkey Pond, is full of Canada geese. Looking across the pond, I saw a large barn packed full of round bales of hay. There is something very satisfying about seeing a barn ready for winter feeding.

Entering the woods again, I passed some of the Upper Piedmont Research Station’s black Angus cattle relaxing in the shade. The herd originated from the Penns’ herd.

The next attraction on the trail is called “Little Niagara.” Since we’ve had such a dry spell, the creek barely trickled over the stones. Maybe I’ll see it in its glory this winter or next spring.

The Pump House was the next milestone. It is built of the same stones as the plantation house and was used to pump water up to the mansion to irrigate the gardens.

The trail then passes onto a boardwalk around Lake Betsy. The placid waters of the small lake reflect the sky and the forest that edges it.

As an Eagle Scout project, a Boy Scout built the safety rail on the dam that created Lake Betsy. The Penns’ summer house, a picnic area, overlooks the lake. The tables are constructed of millstones, and I noticed that millstones are also built into the dam.

The Penns often enjoyed Sunday brunch at the summer house. Jeff Penn wrote a poem that is inscribed in the rock dam.

For me, the most enjoyable part of walking the trail was the deep shade of the hardwood forest leading to and away from Lake Betsy. The leafy green canopy enclosed me. I was awed by the root systems of the giant trees towering overhead. The bark formed textures that could occupy me for hours, given the time. Huge moss-covered stones were scattered along the path.    

Later, when I researched the trail at home, I was surprised to find that it was created in 1997 by the Upper Piedmont Research Station. In the past couple of years, the Rockingham County Naturalist Club and the Dan River Basin Association have contributed to trail development and maintenance with a grant from the Annie Penn Community Trust.

The trail is open seven days a week, and the parking lot is a third of a mile west of the entrance to Chinqua Penn. The trail is accessible for everyone, and there are plenty of benches on which to rest.

I recommend you spend a few hours there. It will restore your soul and give you some healthy exercise to boot.