Hiking in the Shenandoah
We're in Luray, VA. We got a really late start last night and left at 12:30am, pulling in around 2:30am (with a stop for dinner. that's right, we still hadn't had dinner yet at that time. I was whiny about it, and I think understandably so, but John didn't appreciate it so much).
Today John woke up at 9:30am and went out and brought me breakfast! That got me up and we went out to the trails. We started at the parking area between mile markers 45 and 46 on Skyline Drive. We went down the Cedar Run Trail, which had way too many leaves and rocks. Often times, the rocks were hidden by the leaves. My knees were not happy. We continued onto the link trail, and then took a break when it hit the White Oak Canyon Trail to have some trail mix, Chex mix, and water. We watched some dogs come by and play in the water. The White Oak Canyon Trail had a lot of pretty waterfalls, but the first really steep section was a little much for us, being out of shape. There were a few other steep sections that were hard on John and a little tiring for me, but we got through the whole thing with a bunch of breaks. We ran out of water though before the end of this part, and we had filled our CamelPak with almost a gallon. This made the last part of this trail and the fire road really tiring. The fire road was even really easy (though still uphill) but we were so exhausted by that point. We both cheered when we saw the horse trail turnoff, and high-fived each other at the end of the 8.5 miles. Trail map can be found here for those interested.
Dinner was yummy at a "home-style cooking" restaurant called Brookside. I got both the grilled cheese and the spaghetti feast, which also came with a trip to the salad bar. I totally scarfed down my meal. Grilled cheese dipped in the meat sauce was really good.
Tomorrow will be Luray Caverns and the Garden Maze.
Today John woke up at 9:30am and went out and brought me breakfast! That got me up and we went out to the trails. We started at the parking area between mile markers 45 and 46 on Skyline Drive. We went down the Cedar Run Trail, which had way too many leaves and rocks. Often times, the rocks were hidden by the leaves. My knees were not happy. We continued onto the link trail, and then took a break when it hit the White Oak Canyon Trail to have some trail mix, Chex mix, and water. We watched some dogs come by and play in the water. The White Oak Canyon Trail had a lot of pretty waterfalls, but the first really steep section was a little much for us, being out of shape. There were a few other steep sections that were hard on John and a little tiring for me, but we got through the whole thing with a bunch of breaks. We ran out of water though before the end of this part, and we had filled our CamelPak with almost a gallon. This made the last part of this trail and the fire road really tiring. The fire road was even really easy (though still uphill) but we were so exhausted by that point. We both cheered when we saw the horse trail turnoff, and high-fived each other at the end of the 8.5 miles. Trail map can be found here for those interested.
Dinner was yummy at a "home-style cooking" restaurant called Brookside. I got both the grilled cheese and the spaghetti feast, which also came with a trip to the salad bar. I totally scarfed down my meal. Grilled cheese dipped in the meat sauce was really good.
Tomorrow will be Luray Caverns and the Garden Maze.