It’s been a while since I have written anything about a trip I’ve taken. That’s not because I haven’t been on any, I just haven’t felt like writing… oh yeah, and WordPress deleted a 1700 word post I wrote about the Roan Highlands! Since my last post I have been to New Hampshire to hike in the White Mountains and visit with family, North Carolina, Tennessee, and of course my adopted state of Virginia. This post isn’t going to be about any of those. Instead, it is going to be about my most recent trip (which happens to be the one I cherish the most).
I’m on my Christmas break from school right now and, as the days dwindle until it resumes, decided I needed to get at least one last trip in. I started scouring the internet for weather conditions in Virginia, trying to find some pleasant weather, but, despite the rather warm winter we have been having, everywhere I looked was going to be below freezing at night. This isn’t a problem for me, but I wasn’t the only person who would be going on this trip.
On this occasion I would be bringing along a wonderful woman I have been seeing for a while. With dark hair and blue/green eyes (they change), a go-with-the-flow attitude, and a beautiful smile, she makes my heart skip a beat every time I am with her. She is beautiful inside and out. However, she has never been camping in a tent. I had to show her how wonderful it is, so of course I chose one of my favorite spots in Virginia: McAfee Knob.
I was initially worried about the weather because she gets cold easily, and it could definitely be argued that I should have just waited… but I wanted to make a memory like this together sooner than later. Besides that, can you think of a better way to bring in the New Year? That’s a rhetorical question, don’t answer it. So I asked her if she would like to come, she said yes, and I began planning.
I had to borrow a pack from my buddy, and some wool blankets, but other than that I had everything we needed. We left my house at around 10:30 a.m. and headed south to Roanoke on a, surprisingly, mostly empty I-81. 81 is notorious for being packed with 18-wheelers, who have no problem driving side by side at 20 mph under the speed limit, so that was a real blessing. We got to the Catawba Mountain parking lot on VA 311 pretty quickly, and started up the mountain at 3 p.m.
Clouds were covering most of the area we were hiking in, so it was overcast and chilly, but we still had to stop and take breaks because we were sweating. There really wasn’t a happy medium in layering and rate of travel to be comfortable while still hiking fast enough to be at the Knob for sunset. So, we marched on, and made it to the world-famous vista fifteen minutes before sunset. By then, the clouds had somewhat cleared and we were able to snag some good pictures, but we didn’t stay long. Our destination for the night was the Pig Farm campsite, .6 miles north on the Appalachian Trail.
I really am proud of Maggie. We got to the campsite right as the final rays of light were ebbing away, and it was getting even colder. She helped me set up the tent (Big Agnes Seedhouse SL1), and then started gathering sticks to make a fire. There were really only twigs around, which don’t go far when you want to warm up, but she made several trips all around the area to find them while I set camp up and got dinner ready. I don’t want to say that this surprised me, but it sure makes me smile when I think about it.
After our attempts (with copious amounts of lighter fluid) to turn the damp twigs and leaves into a roaring fire, we decided to just eat our dinners and get in the tent. Normally I bring Mountain House meals for each meal (I still did for breakfast), because they are tried and true, but this time I went with the more expensive “Good to-go” brand and brought a Thai Curry and Herbed Mushroom Risotto. I was introduced to the Thai Curry from “Good to-go” by some friends I met while camping in the Grayson Highlands, and I think they taste a bit more like real food.
We could hear the wind howling most of the night; it was louder than any wind I have ever camped in, and for a minute I was worried that it might collapse our tent. We were very warm though, because we probably had ten to fifteen pounds of sleeping bags and blankets under and over us. We used two sleeping pads (my closed-cell foam pad, and an inflatable pad), my Kelty 35-degree synthetic bag (which we draped over the pads and laid on), my Marmot Sawtooth 15-degree down sleeping bag (we unzipped this and used it as a quilt, with a Nalgene full of boiling water covered in a wool sock by our feet), and laid the two wool blankets over all of it. It almost felt like a summer night in the tent, we were so warm.
The next morning we got up and packed my Osprey Atmos 50 pack with some water, snacks, and the two wool blankets (it was still 25 degrees) before making the .6 mile uphill trek to the Knob again to watch the sunrise. We made it a few minutes before and were in awe once we got to the cliffs, from which we would be watching the sun make its appearance. The howling wind from the night before had removed any trace of clouds from the sky, leaving the horizon so clear that you could see the transition of colors from the dark red just visible over the mountain tops, to the deep blue of the sky.
I like to think that I know exactly what I’m doing, and I do most of the time, but there was one thing that really could have made the trip better. I use IsoButane fuel canisters to boil water in my JetBoil, but because of the cold the fuel would barely feed to the ignitor, and I couldn’t get the water to boil in the morning. It didn’t seem like that big of a deal, but we still had 5 miles of hiking to go before we got back to my truck, and a hot breakfast really would have been nice. My ego got put in its place, which is probably a good thing, and Maggie saved the day with the almonds and other mixed nuts (and slim jims) that she had brought.
Once we got back to the truck we made a beeline for the nearest Waffle House and gorged ourselves upon copious amounts of scrumptious, greasy food before getting back on the road. The destination for the afternoon was the Inn at Old Virginia, a beautiful and charming bed and breakfast in Staunton, Virginia. Not wanting to be on the interstate again, we elected to take back roads to Staunton since it was such a sunny day, and were rewarded with rolling hills of farmland and mountains in the background.
The Inn is a few miles outside of Staunton, and is absolutely gorgeous. The staff there is very pleasant and helpful, and the owner is a real sweetheart of a lady. There is a main house with some rooms in it, which has a library with elegant leather-bound books in it, a dining area inside of what I think was a greenhouse, and “the barn”, which is a short walk from the main house and has been renovated with beautiful rooms. Ours even had a private porch from which we watched the sun rise in the morning again. If you are in the area and looking for a nice, romantic place to stay, I would not hesitate to recommend the Inn at Old Virginia.
After a breakfast of french toast, bacon, and a fruit bowl, we decided to drive south to the Raven’s Roost overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This particular spot has been recommended to me by several people, and it is only 10 miles down the parkway, so we decided to go. It was very pretty, but I think I would rather go when it is warmer and the wind is not blowing in my face. We took our photos and then went to get back in my truck, when a car pulled up behind us. This is pretty normal, as people stop to admire the beauty of the Blue Ridge mountains at the many scenic overlooks, but a couple got out of the car and asked us to take a picture for them. I obliged, and as they walked over to the ledge and posed for the picture the lady said, “do you think we should tell them?” This really got my imagination running… Tell me what? Are you axe-murderers? Are you going to try and rob us? No, it was something much sweeter. She smiled at the man next to her, looked back at me, and said, “we just got engaged thirty minutes ago.” I’m a total romantic, so that brought about a goofy grin on my face and I started congratulating them. But my hands were numb from the cold by that point, so I took the photos and got back in the truck. It was really nice to see though, and the guy picked a perfect day to propose in the mountains.
Driving back north, we decided to get some food and then hopped onto Skyline Drive, choosing to take the scenic route again and enjoy our time together. We talked about serious things, funny things, and took in the beauty of the mountains while heading back to Fredericksburg. Maggie isn’t afraid of silence, which I really appreciate, because sometimes it’s nice to hold hands, stare down the road and drive, and smile at each other because we are both having an amazing time. I was a little worried that she might not want to go on any more trips with me after all the cold we experienced, but she still wants to (though, maybe in warmer weather, which I agree with).
We brought the New Year in the best way I know how: sleeping in the woods and watching the sun rise in the mountains. Oh yeah, and did I mention we are in a relationship now? It’s Facebook official. I hope whoever has managed to read this novel (I promise I didn’t mean for it to be this long) started 2016 doing something they love, and in good spirits. Here’s to new beginnings.
hiking the appalachians 