It’s early on Sunday morning, it’s dark, it’s raining, it’s windy and basically horrible out, but you’ve committed to hike. Oh how great it would be to turn the alarm off and roll over and go back to sleep. But a commitment is a commitment, so up you get.
Once everyone converged on the White Oak Canyon trailhead (just round the back of Old Rag) and on some advice from the ranger, we decided to modify our hike. It was such a wild day that the footing would have been treacherous and our basic plan when outside is to get everyone home safely and minimize risk. We decided to hike a long the Weakley Hollow Fire Road … unadventurous but still letting us get in a 10 miler and return back to McLean in one piece.
And then everything changed. After about 10 minutes of hiking all coats were removed and after about 20 minutes there was enough blue sky to make a whole army of Dutchman’s trousers! What started as a really foul autumn day turned into one of the best hiking days we’ve had. The fall colours were at their peak and the pictures to follow will show the true beauty of the day. But to try and encapsulate the hike in a few words, it was like walking down the nave of Nature’s cathedral with so many vibrant variations of yellow, it at times made you stop and go “wow”! And the view of Old Rag from the valley floor was pretty special too.
The group split into two. A complete Philmont crew headed off at a fair clip and the rest of us followed. We turned around at or near the base of the Old Rag climb enjoying lunch by the river. The return trip relived the stunning colours and continued fun conversations.
Returning back to the parking lot we all agreed what a lovely walk in the woods we all had just experienced, which couldn’t have been further from our minds when we initially arrived.
The moral of the story, just get outside! Seeing the park like that is rare and a real treat.
The team from the ladies troop included Helen, Sabrina and Amanda. From the boys troop were Brandon P., Noah, Brandon C.S., Andre, Jack T., Keenan, Graham, Scott, Connor C., Daniel, and Jack C.
Old people in support were Kate F., Mike F., Clay P., David B., Don S. and Chris P.
If you want to see pictures from this hike, click here.