To the hills, part 2

A different set of hills this time. The shipyard shuts down for the week between Christmas and New Years, so I am forced to take time off. I have decided each year that I will hike for a few days over the shutdown. This year I made my first journey (but hopefully not my last) to Shenendoah National Park. I left my camera in Blacksburg like an idiot so all of the beauty that I witnessed is contained in my brain.

The first day was Whiteoak Canyon followed by a campout on the Cedar Run Trail. Fortunately the majority of the trail was not snowed over except for the 3 miles of fire road. Uphill in 3 inches of snow. I know I sound like an old man and I felt like one hiking through that. The cool part was how quiet the woods are when there is a blanket of snow. It might be the quietest environment i've ever been in, including those hearing booths in 4th grade. I'm getting ahead of myself. The first part of the hike takes you up through the canyon along a mountain stream. Most of the stream was frozen over, including part of the waterfalls. It was truly gorgeous. Words can't describe. I spent way too much time standing in awe of that. When you are hiking alone, you can stare at stuff as long as you want. The canyon is steep and offered many other frozen waterfalls that were not part of the main stream. This is where I stumbled upon a dream of mine: ice climbing. 3 guys from DC were decked out in crampons and icepicks climbing a 40 ft ice wall. Put that on my bucket list. After finishing the fireroad up along Skyline Drive, I literally ran down the backside of the mountain. I know what you're thinking, "Scott you're dumb. All alone on an icy trail and you're running?" Yes. It was a little warmer that day and the trail was slushy which allowed me a sort of Nordic Track type of stride: very long and sliding every step. I think I covered that last mile and a half in about 25 minutes. It was fun. I found myself in another canyon which meant the sun was setting fast. I set up camp and, since there are no open fires allowed in the park, went to sleep about 5:30 pm. I woke up at 8, ate dinner (granola, clementines, wasabi peas and trail mix), and read a little. Other than some mild foot coldness, I slept like a hibernating bear until 7 am. I opened my tent and stared at the most beautiful sunrise I've ever seen. It spanned the entire canyon in a blaze of orange and pink. Awesome.

The second day I joined my friend Josh at the bottom of the mountain. I had a grand plan to traverse the last mile and a half down quickly until I realized all that slush froze during the night. After falling 8 times and stepping knee-deep into a stream, I reached the bottom. Josh watched as I dried out my boot and we proceded to climb Old Rag. I'm sure you've heard of this magnificent mountain. It is a hard climb from one side, but the Whiteoak Canyon side is only 2.5 miles. A nice hike with Josh allowed some great catching up as well as some breathtaking views. Thank goodness he had a camera to capture that. Following the hike we went to another college friend's farmhouse to shower before the New Year's Eve party at the Glass House Winery. I bet you didn't know I was proper enough for a winery right? It was great. Lots of friends from college and fireworks. I love catching up with people face to face. With great friends it's like you never left off. You still make similar jokes and share new and old stories alike. I wish I could do that more often.

I promise after the next post about my trips to Texas and Tennessee, I will blog about current events and the mindless stuff you've come to appreciate on ye' old blog.