the kids are all settled back in school. temps are cooling. it’s about that time to take some weekend camping trips. for my first trip this fall, i was able to line up my campground with a scheduled hike with my local hiking group.
i headed up to rocky knob campground off the blue ridge parkway in virginia on friday afternoon. it’s only about 1.5 hours from my house, but i still made several pit stops to local farm stands and coffee shops. once i was on the parkway, i also hopped out to check out the mabry mill and to observe the beautiful landscape i would be exploring with my hike crew in the morning.
i got settled into my camp pretty quickly and hopped straight into my hammock for some lounging and reading. for dinner, i sauteed up some veggies and shrooms and had them along side some fire roasted chicken sausages. then spent the evening by the campfire, savoring the solitude and outdoors.
of course i packed precisely four graham crackers, eight marshmallows, and one hershey’s bar for exactly four weekend s’mores. :). in the morning, it was camp coffee, which is one of the main reasons i camp.
i fueled up with an easy breakfast (yogurt, oatmeal, berries. not shown). and then headed out to the bottom of rock castle gorge, to meet up with my hiking group. the first leg of our hike was pretty much a straight uphill climb, with slightly treacherous footing, and i thought i might die. (i definitely regretted not skipping leg day the day before). once we survived the first uphill push, we reconvened for a little breather, before pressing on for the rest of the hike.
i enjoy hiking with this crew. there’s always different folks each time, so lots of opportunities for conversations and learning about lives. but i definitely tend to not stop and take in the scenery as much when i am with them. anyways. we stopped for lunch in a lovely little appalachain trail hut that isn’t actually on the AT.
the day was so perfect. sunny. happy. butterfly-y.
the blue ridege mountains were doing their thing.
after a long walk along the ridge in the sunshine, we dipped back down into the gorge. bridges and stream crossings, etc. mud. rocks. (rock castles, perhaps, even?). it was a bit overgrown in this section. some stinging nettle to keep us itchy. good times. good times.
anyways. the hike was about 11 miles. and 2500′ elevation gain. here’s some screenshots from my phone to reference. in that third pick, we basically started at the lowest elevation point (around 2.5 mi) and the trail took us up the steep incline to the left of that point. that’s where i thought death was my only escape.
we wrapped up early in the afternoon and i was back to camp, all washed up, and lounging in my hammock for the afternoon. i even dozed off for a bit.
absolutely stuffed my face with fajita steak, peppers and onions, and avocado for dinner. finished my book by the campfire. and then just relaxed my little heart out.
before i went on my hike, i stopped to chat with my camp neighbor. turns out he’s from greensboro and was doing the same hike we did, but declined my invite to join us. he went the opposite direction on the loop, so we passed him twice on the trail. after dinner, he came over with some firewood and we had a lovely little fireside chat. i even shared one of my precious four s’mores with him. haha.
there was some drizzly rain in the night and early morning. and of course i woke up at the not-even-close-to-the-crack-of-dawn. thanks to dehydration, i was able to stay snuggled up in my tent for a bit, but still ended up dragging myself out before the sun was out. i made my coffee in the back of my car, using the tailgate as an umbrella, before crawling back into my tent for cozy coffee sipping. i took the morning slow and easy, waiting for daylight to make breakfast, and then packing up to head back to the home and fam.
it was a great getaway. BUT. it didn’t give me the necessary amount of solitude i require for true recharging. (hike with all those people, campfire time with my neighbor… all good. just not solitude). so, expect to see another post about a very solo very off the grid adventure soon.