Mountains, hiking, camping, friends, campfires, sunshine... just a few of my favorite things all together made for a GREAT weekend. Saturday morning a group of us left for hiking in Roanoke. It was intended as a part of mine and Kara's "23 hikes in 2009" series we're working on but she had to back out. Me, Heidi, Jenn, Dennis, Cliff, Jon, and Jimmy. We arrived at the Appalachian Trail parking lot off highway 311 around 1pm. McAfee's Knob was the first hike. I didn't know much about it before I began, only heard a few things and seen a picture online. It was a medium difficulty hike I'd say, maybe even on the easy side of medium. I think it was about 2.7 miles to the Knob and man... when we got there, it was breathtaking for sure. The sky was bright blue with some white puffy clouds and we come out into a clearing and see this "knob" protruding right out over this huge, beautiful valley. It was amazing.
We stayed up there for a while and hiked back down.
The hike down wasn't too eventful but it was nice. Not quite the drenching sweat that we experienced as we climbed up! From the parking lot, Heidi and Cliff made their way back to the 'Burg to fulfill prior obligations for the following day. The rest of us took off to find a place to set up camp for the evening. We went to the parking lot of our next hike, "Dragon's Tooth." It wasn't too far away, also right off the AT. We found a good spot and only had to drag all our junk about a quarter a mile. We set up our tents and ate dinner... or was it the other way around? Probably... Everyone was SO tired. The evening chilled off a bit and we started a fire and just talked as long as we could stand to be up (mostly just waiting for the sun to go down!) Morning came after a long, windy night of attempting to not roll down the hill I was on and into the tent wall, as well as trying to ignore thoughts of the wind causing a very large branch to fall and stab me through the tent's thin walls! We ate a quick breakfast, packed up and Jenn and Jon left to head back. Dennis, Jimmy and I began our hike up Dragon's Tooth. It was a shorter hike but definitely more difficult. The first half was a pretty normal incline, once we got about half way it was stairs galore. The ground turned into large rocks and boulders that we had to step over and up onto. At some point along the way, I got what I deserved for wearing my Chaco's on the hike rather than suffering from blisters in my Merells. I hit a rock just right, catching my middle toe nail and tearing it right off. I didn't want to say anything to the boys so I just kept walking because I didn't want to complain! It didn't take long for every step to begin oozing blood and making my toe stick. There was so much climbing which was actually pretty fun because it was different. Finally we reached the top and climbed to the way top of these rocks.
It was so beautiful! There was valley and hills all around. We sat up there and snacked a little. I got a little sick feeling between looking at my toe and being on the edge of this thing, but we were able to relax and just enjoy this creation. The trip overall was SO enjoyable. I couldn't be more thankful for the beauty we were able to see, the feeling you receive, and friends to share that with. Life certainly IS good and more than that, our God is good. Signing off for now but hoping for many more weekends like this!
It was so beautiful! There was valley and hills all around. We sat up there and snacked a little. I got a little sick feeling between looking at my toe and being on the edge of this thing, but we were able to relax and just enjoy this creation. The trip overall was SO enjoyable. I couldn't be more thankful for the beauty we were able to see, the feeling you receive, and friends to share that with. Life certainly IS good and more than that, our God is good. Signing off for now but hoping for many more weekends like this!
