The date was July 3rd 2016 and the temperature at 9 a.m. in the Shenandoah National Park was 59 degrees, awesome day for a hike!
Yesterday’s weather was perfect for hiking in any month let a lone in July. We met as usual in McLean nice and early, 7 a.m. and headed out west to the park. Once in the park we headed south on Skyline Drive, which is probably one of the worlds greatest and most beautiful roads, for about 20 miles until we reached the Dark Hollow Falls parking lot.
Once Mr. B had gone over our plans for the hike we headed to the trail. The air was damp and humid and pretty soon we all were working up a nice sweat. We headed down to Lewis Falls on the west side of the AT and then headed back up to Skyline Drive. Lordy it was a steep and long climb and quite a few of us were definitely out of breath by the time we reached the top. A well-earned rest was had and then we realized we’d only gone just over 3 miles!!!! Hmmmm this was a hard one.
We headed across Skyline drive and began our decent to Rose River Falls. A needed lunch was had by all and we continued down. For those of you that haven’t hiked with me, let me tell you down is not good! Flat is good, up is OK, down is bad!
The falls make it worthwhile (I think!) and as you can see from some of the pictures the forest looked somewhat prehistoric. Misty clouds we weaving in and out of the trees and flowers were in full bloom. Truly a beautiful spot.
Once we reached the bottom we regrouped for the climb. As I said above, up is OK. OK means every step doesn’t hurt as javelins of pain are launched into your knees and ankles. OK doesn’t mean it isn’t tiring. And this was very tiring.
We climbed and climbed and eventually reached the Dark Hollow Falls. Unfortunately we had a pseudo emergency as one of the adults slipped and hurt their wrist (turns out is got broken). One of the great things of hiking with the Mr. and Mrs. B is they are both doctors and so we were all good on that front.
The last mile of the hike involves a 1,200 foot elevation climb in just less than a mile (that’s pretty steep by the way) and also involves dodging all the sightseers coming the ½ mile from the parking lot to look at the falls. By the time we got here it was close to 3 p.m. and the temperature had risen enough for it to be a nice warm day. Some of the folks we passed were oddly dressed in thick sweatshirts, scarfs and one even had a down jacket on!!!! We on the other had were drenched with sweat and overheating.
The hike was one of the hardest in terms of elevation gain, but it really makes that ice cream in Warrenton feel deserved and holds no guilt at all. I even got a large.
Thanks as always to Mr. and Mrs. B for planning the hike and well done to all who completed another 10 miler. Scouts attending were Will S, Charlie, Ian, Jack, Aaron, Tigo, Ale, Mario, Manuel, Kai, Braden, Ethan.
Next hike is scheduled for August 14th. Watch this space for details.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your 4th holiday and congratulations on your victory. At least by living here I get to have a day off work!