Saturday morning I hiked The Appalachian Train from I-66 near Linden North to U.S. Rt. 50. The hike was more than twelve miles and took over 4 hours. The toughest part was the first section, which took us up 800 feet. No time to warm up on this hike. It took an hour and a half to reach the top. The remainder was quite tame in comparison. This section of the trail took us through Sky Meadows State Park. I can imagine how nice this park can be in the summer months. Today is was cold and very windy in Big Meadows. Next weekend we are back on the trail, we will resume where we left off and finish at Route 7. 25 miles down of our 175 mile trek to Duncannon Pennsylvania.

Saturday afternoon I spent some quality time on the Appalachian Trail. We started south of Front Royal, Virginia and marched nearly 12 miles north to Linden, Virginia. The mountains of Western Virginia are beautiful this time of year. The temperatures were about 20 degrees at the start and never warmed up much. The climb up the first hill was over 1000 feet. (This why I’m sitting on a downed tree) The second hill was merely 500 feet and seemed easy. The Shenandoah Mountains lie just to the west of the trail and are truly something to see.

I spent last weekend camping, canoeing and fishing around Elk Neck State Park Maryland. The weather was so-so and the fishing was slow but it’s always good to get out there.