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.

virginia hikes: Petites Gap, Highcock Knob, & Sulphur Spring loop, March 21 2020

March 23, 2020.Reading time 11 minutes.

With COVID-19 pandemic shutting down everything, there are a lot of questions regarding if hitting the trails is something ok to do. My impression on the aspect of social distancing is to avoid other. So it’s not just a simple questions of is heading outdoors ok. Rather the question is can I go hike somewhere not many other hikers are. Remember it’s not just contact with other, but also surfaces others have contacted. You know that rock everyone likes to sit on (McAfee), probably should avoid that. This is the reason popular parks such as Yosemite are closing as they should. Not to mention how the popular parks get tramped on the most without rangers upholding infrastructure (see the damage from government shutdown of 2019, Business Insider).

So the takeaway is go hiking, but probably should be limited to day hikes in your local area on the lesser trafficked trails. With all of that in mind, we headed to an out to explore an out of the way trail we hadn’t done before. We saw only 2 groups of hikers along the 8 mile stretch, so I’d consider that minimizing the risk.

virginia hikes: Fort Lewis Mountain Tower Outlook via Angeline trailhead, March 8 2020

March 11, 2020.Reading time 12 minutes.

On the perfect sunny day in early March, I headed out to explore a lesser traffic trail known for its steep incline. That reputation was spot on as I encountered the steepest non-scrambling and non-technical uphill among all my hikes here.

virginia hikes: North Mountain & Pete’s Cave, April 27 2019

May 30, 2019.Reading time 9 minutes.

Getting started can be the most difficult part about anything. Whether it is me getting these entries out there or getting back on the trail after a long layoff due to injury or other circumstances. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the hardest or most perfect, you just have to get going. On a beautiful Saturday, Katherine joined me to get back on the trail as North Mountain & Pete’s Cave between Lexington and Covington, VA next to I-64 was the perfect combination of reward and ease.

virginia hikes: Roaring Run, April 7 2019

May 28, 2019.Reading time 6 minutes.

After finishing the Hoop Hole loop, I still had some day light. And unlike Hoop Hole, Roaring Run was a hike I had wanted to do, but could never justify driving out there for such a short hike. So this was a good opportunity for me to take a look at the well liked falls of Roaring Run.

virginia hikes: Hoop Hole, April 7 2019

May 27, 2019.Reading time 12 minutes.

Spring had arrived when I headed up to hike Hoop Hole. Flowers were in full bloom at lower elevations around Roanoke, so I decided to go for a hike one Sunday afternoon to see the bloomage on the mountains. Since I was by myself that day, I also was looking to explore something new. Hoop Hole is a well known local hike, but it was one that never really sounded that interesting to me before. Having put it off all these years, it did serve my explore mentality.

travel 2 walk

Tag: spring