Wow, was it pretty yesterday. Winter brings brilliant blue skies to Virginia. Then you add-in frozen waterfalls and snow dusted hills. Just a wonderful day.
Twelve Scouts met at 7AM this morning to count-off and get rolling--Andre, Jack T., Noah, Ian F., Charlie, Nino, Matthew H., Jason, Mario, Manuel, Kai and Braden. And they were joined by Mr. Salt, Mr. Harrington, Ms. Bielamowicz, Mr. Bielamowicz, and Mr. Forrer.
We had a short drive just beyond Front Royal to the Overall Run/Beecher Ridge trailhead. The trail started-out following a nice stream--where the many rocks in the flow were capped with snow. The hike has one major climb -- in 1.5 miles you gain 1100 feet of elevation.
And almost at the top of the climb is the waterfall--almost entirely frozen. Then you carry along a ridge which would afford no views in the spring and summer. But because all the leaves are gone now, we could periodically see off both sides.
A note about the temps. It was 15F when we left the cars and not yet 20F when we returned. But with minimal wind and lots of layering, the guys were warm. Don't take my word for it, ask them at the meeting. All that cold air did was dry out the sky and sharpen the hues--I thought I was in Colorado for a while.
We had all the guys home about 4PM.
A big thanks to the B's (Steve and Anne) for recommending this hike for today. I'm already looking forward to February's hike for Buck Hollow.
-- Mike Forrer