virginia hikes: Roanoke Star & Mill Mountain, April 10 2020

June 6, 2020.Reading time 7 minutes.

The Roanoke Star sitting atop of Mill Mountain is the largest free-standing illuminated man-made star (wikipedia). It is where the city of Roanoke, VA gets its nickname, Star City. On the way into the city or atop prominent peaks in the area like McAfee Knob and Fort Lewis Mountain, the star can be seen above the city (though you’ll need to know where to look and maybe squint).

20_3_fort_lewis-100 — Roanoke and its star from Fort Lewis Mountain.

In the middle of COVID-19, the trails on Mill Mountain was as local as it got.

trip video: Mount Robson Provincial Park – Berg Lake & Snowbird Pass, August 2019

June 3, 2020.Reading time 3 minutes.

This is the companion videos to our trip report detailing a 3 day and 2 night backpacking trip in Mount Robson Provincial Park. This was an in and out hike with a basecamp at Berg Lake Campgrounds. Weather ended up shortening our hike by a day, but we saw powerful waterfalls, teal lake, rushing rivers, and gigantic glaciers that took up our entire field of view.

You can find the detailed report of our hike linked in the index below.

virginia hikes: Fridley Gap loop, May 23 2020

May 30, 2020.Reading time 13 minutes.

If you’ve read enough of these hike reports, a common theme you’ll find is that I love hiking next to running creeks, streams, and rivers. As we get into the summer in Virginia, they can also provide a perfect respite to the hot and humid weather in the form of swimming holes. So after a week of none stop rain, I was excited to go check out a hike featuring some swollen creeks and wide swimming holes.

trip report: Mount Robson Provincial Park – Berg Lake & Snowbird Pass, August 2019

May 27, 2020.Reading time 52 minutes.

From an aesthetic standpoint, what makes a mountain spectacular? What makes it impressive? This is one of those questions that provides for some interesting discussion around the campfire and of course is subjective based on who you ask. For me, it’s typically not the mountain itself that makes it memorable, but the context you find them. Snow dusting, glaciers, expansive forests, teal lakes, turquoise rivers, thundering waterfalls, and big ice that contrasts the mountains providing for the perfect scenery. These features were everywhere we looked on our walk through the trails under Mount Robson (Texqakallt name: Yexyexéscen or striped rock), the highest point in the Canadian Rockies sitting at 12972 ft or 3954 m (wikipedia).

This is the fifth entry and fourth hike of our Canadian Rockies trip series. You can navigate to the other parts in the index below as they are posted.

virginia hikes: Poor Mountain Preserve – outer loop, April 5 2020

May 23, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

Sometimes you just need to get out of the house and a short walk in the woods to get your heart pumping a little is just fine. While nothing spectacular, Poor Mountain Preserve did the job. The spring wildflowers were a nice touch as well.

trip video: Mount Assiniboine, August 2019

May 19, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

This is the companion videos to our trip report detailing our 3 day and 2 night backpacking hike to Mt. Assiniboine Provincial Park. The highlights of the hike were hanging out along Lake Magog underneath Mt. Assiniboine and a perfect morning hike down from Wonder Pass to perfectly still Marvel Lake.

You can find the detailed report of our hike linked in the index below.

virginia hikes: Rock Castle Gorge, May 9 2020

May 17, 2020.Reading time 13 minutes.

A different season in Virginia can make the same hike a completely different experience. It was winter the last time I visited Rock Castle Gorge. When we returned for a spring hike, we found a completely new experience.

20_5_9_Rock_Castle-104 — my first time here was different experience with the Roanoke Outdoors Meetup group

trip report: Mount Assiniboine, August 2019

May 13, 2020.Reading time 45 minutes.

Mt. Assiniboine is the highest peak in the Southern Continental Range of the Canadian Rockies sitting at 11870 feet (3618 m). Its pointy pyramidal shape reminds many of the Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps, giving it the nickname of the “Matterhorn of the Rockies.” While our previous hike of the Iceline was about the experience as a whole, this hike was the opposite. Mt. Assiniboine is well worth the end to the many miles of mediocre trails.

This is the fourth entry of our Canadian Rockies trip series. You can navigate to the other parts in the index below as they are posted.

trip report: Yoho National Park – Iceline & Celeste Lake loop, August 2019

April 1, 2020.Reading time 21 minutes.

Sometimes a trail is about the summit or endpoint, but the ones I’ve always enjoyed the most are the trails that’s about the whole experience. The Iceline in Yoho National Park is one of those hikes. The Iceline took us onto a bench sitting under the Presidential Range and Emerald Glacier. For there, we could see the peaks and glaciers of the Waputik Range the Yoho Valley below. Once we were off the Iceline, we were then treated with green lake and roaring waterfalls. Sure there were stretches of forest, but they served more as breaks than the main course.

This is the third entry of our Canadian Rockies trip series. You can navigate to the other parts in the index below as they are posted.

trip video: Yoho National Park – Iceline & Celeste Lake loop, August 2019

March 29, 2020.Reading time 2 minutes.

This is the companion preview videos to our trip report detailing our day hike loop of the Iceline trail, Celeste Lake Connector, & Yoho Valley Trail. The highlights of the hike were the views from the alpine bench along the Emerald Glacier and the Presidential Range (the Canadian one of course).

You can find the detailed report of our hike linked in the index below.

virginia hikes: Buzzard Rock at Read Mountain Preserve, March 19 2020

March 28, 2020.Reading time 6 minutes.

The same trails in Virginia has a tendency to have completely different feel to them through the seasons. In the winter and spring, you can catch the trees barren revealing more than the tunnel of green typical of late spring and summer. This is why summer is my least favorite hiking season here. To that end, I may have a tendency to penalize a hike during summer. So I gave a local hike another shot and subsequently found it slightly more enjoyable a second time around.

trip report: Kootenay National Park – The Rockwall, August 2019

March 25, 2020.Reading time 41 minutes.

Our first hike of our trip into the Canadian Rockies was The Rockwall in Kootenay National Park. If granite rock faces are your thing, you will have all you can handle on this hike and more.