Wow, was that a surprise!
Our hike yesterday was a beauty. My expectation was for sloppy conditions as the recent snows melted. I couldn’t have been more wrong. 10 miles of snow and ice, just under 2,000 feet of elevation gain, bear tracks in the snow and swollen rivers to cross!
The crew met at Total Wine and headed west on 66, turned left at Front Royal, left again at Bentonville and then shimmied to the trailhead just on the outside of the SNP.
The lollipop hike started up a narrow trail that was more stream than trail and the sides were more ice than snow. It made for an interesting start to our day. When we turned left to head up the valley the snow took over and we had a lovely walk besides the babbling brook. It became apparent at our first crossing that this was going to be a tad trickier than we thought. Once all were across several of the team had either one or two rather soggy socks, and some of the smiling faces decided to go away.
At the base of the climb up to the falls, we de-layered and then headed up. And up it was. About 1,500 feet up in just under two miles. Whatever your personal lumpiness scale is, that is steep. As we approached the falls rather large bear tracks were noticed so we upped the noise and kept together as a group.
Lunch was had at the top and then the lovely walk back down the ridge began. Because the snow was there it actually made hiking much easier than normal and we showed pretty good giddy up on the way down. We shared the trail with few other hikers and also three people on horseback. At one point it was suggested that “penguining” down the trail would be fun. Then it was decided that there were still rocks and pointy things that might hurt, so double-decker penguining was considered. Not surprisingly there were no volunteers for being the base penguin!
Once we got back to the cars all definitely realized they’d been out for the day and should be really proud of getting round this hike. It was one of the hardest we do and the conditions led to a little extra effort needed.
Congrats to Jonathan R., Brandon and Erin Pak who completed their first 10-miler. Others attending were Ian F., James R, Helen F. and Cy Mueller. Of the old people there were two Fs, one S., one M., and two Ps.
Our next hike will be Dec. 16 to Catoctin Mountain. This is a lovely 10 mile loop and not to tricky.
Check out the hike pix over here.
-Matt Salt