Virginia

April 30
Little bouts of light rain in the morning, but supposed to be another nice day. Travis and Lauren out early for another biking event. After another longish run for me we depart Boone and head north to Damascus, Virginia. Once there, it is a glorious sunny, 80F day. I ride the popular rail trail Virginia Creeper - just out and back from Damascus to White Top Station, a gentle uphill for two hours, just under 18 miles, wasn't arduous, but really didn't feel easy either.

A lot of the old rail stations are still there, here is White Top

Picturesque Laurel Creek

Just Picturesque

Despite the beautiful Sunday afternoon bringing out throngs of people, I got to see a deer and a black bear cub! The 'descent' was fun, taking just a little over an hour. Rudy rode the nearby Iron Mountain Trail - a little more challenging and remote. After the riding, we went to nearby Mount Rogers National Recreation Area for camping, ate pasta and played Hand and Foot (Rudy win) and 3-13 (Leslie win).

May Day!
Overcast, but no rain yet. I spent some time just dawdling around out side, expecting rain at any time (no service here to check weather - yes!)

Spring growth!

Rudy is awesome and picks up some garbage around the camp. Eventually we continue our drive a little ways toward Roanoke and park at the Walnut Flats Campground in George Washington National Forest and have an afternoon of off and on rain, not a lot though. Super hero movies for Rudy, puzzling for me, and split peas and sweet potatoes for dinner. The weather seemed to clear up and we got in a little evening stroll, enjoying lots of birds and frogs songs and chatting with a local about fishing the nice little stream.



After returning to the van, played Hand and Foot - Leslie win.

May 2
Cool, but sunny! Breezy too. A brisk little run for me on the gravel road, then we continue towards Roanoke. Our fun stop for the day was at Calvin's Cove trails northwest of town for biking. The trails were pretty good, user friendly, and relatively well maintained.

Calvin's Cove

Love seeing decorated trees out in the woods

We both felt good and had fun on our rides. Then a couple hour drive to another area of George Washington National Forest in the southern portion of Narrowback Mountain trail system. We found dispersed camping adjacent to a nice little day use area. Dinner was mac and cheese, followed by a lovely stroll around Braley Pond.

Rudy actually took this one the next day, I think

Further entertainment with Hand and Foot - Leslie win.

May 3
A coolish morning and a decent longish run for me on mostly forest road, a little pack trail and a little singletrack too. Rudy got in some biking in the warmer afternoon. Not moving today, so soak black beans and rice all day. Other activities for me included chilling out, and some yoga in the sun - I'm kind of a fairweather yogi without the indoors! Rudy enjoyed his longer ride, followed by eating, and Hand and Foot and 3-13, Rudy takes both!

May 4
Cooler, overcast, and supposed to be afternoon rain. A shorter run for me, then we travel a bit north to another area of Narrowback Mountain. Our separate rides both ended up being more than we bargained for! I intended on the Lookout Mountain loop, and pretty much did it, albeit with a few unintentional bonus miles, and rugged down tree crossings. There was actually lots of time on paved and gravel roads, and the few miles of singletrack I did get on the Wild Oak Trail was only somewhat manageable for me - lots of rock gardens and steep decents and I was pretty wore out by the end, where I got to cross a suspension bridge with high, less than bike handlebar width railings - should've gotten more pictures, pretty scenic!

Was a little disappointed with the recommended scenic overlook

Rudy was out longer than I was and he ended up with more of a back country adventure with the trail hard to find in some areas, but he did better with getting good flower pics.

Azalea

Moccasin Flower

The whole day was cool and threatening to rain, but the precipitation held off until after we departed on a drive of just under two hours northeast to Little Fort Campground - more of an OHV area and actually not far from the Massanutten Trail, which is hosted a 100 mile run in the upcoming weekend - heard it was a soggy one. Dinner was lentils and quinoa, fun was Hand and Foot - close game but Leslie takes it! A very rainy night.

May 5
The rain seemed to have let up by early morning - we didn't have service to check weather, but chanced a little bit of a hike on the Massanutten and Tuscarora Trails - lots of water on them, but rocky and not muddy, so not bad.

Sassafras!

Mountain Laurel

Still need to find this one...

 


The rest of the day was getting to a couple of my MTU running teammates Christy and Paul just outside Baltimore, kicking off another good stretch of visiting people.