Blogs from George Washington Nat. Forest, Virginia, United States, North America

Since helping out our friends, we've had a couple of more shake down cruises. First was to Lake Anna State Park in Louisa. We had gone there last year with our friends, the Lodges, and this year Trish Moore, from the So-We-Go Sams club joined us. While the week prior had been sunny, hot and in the 80s, this weekend was cold, some rain, and dreary. At first, Trish wasn't going to join us, but we convinced her it would be fun. In fact, when we got to the park, she was waiting for us. We picked 3 adjacent sites, set up, and waited for Lodges. Trish came over and we had a great time chatting, listening to Bluegrass, and munching on cookies and coffee. Lodges arrived and after greetings all around, we ended up in ... read more

Hey everyone I'm back... Well just this last weekend we went camping in the George Washington National Forest. (The 1-million-acre George Washington National Forest is steeped in American and pre-American tradition: a one-time home for Indians, a passageway for pioneers and a battleground during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars) It was so beautiful, peaceful and a real change from the hustle and bustle of the American way of life. We built campfires, shivered in our sleeping bags and made some great meals! We had some sweet Smores, Wassle and Pumpkin Muffins to top it all off. One of our bold companions even attempted to scare off what may have been a ghost screaming in the night! He shouted out in a deep baritone voice "WHO WAS THAT" and that was the end of the screaming spirit ... read more

We were halfway up Hankey Mountain, and I was gaining on Liz as she mashed up the hill in her granny gear. I, on the other hand, was in walking gear; pushing my singlespeed Gary Fisher Rig up the mountain. As I squeezed my helmet against my head with one hand, and watched the sweat drip out of my helmet pads, I remembered what one singlespeed blogger had posted, “I ride singlespeed because I like walking uphill.” Liz & I had committed to pre-riding as much of the Shenandoah 100 as we could in one weekend. But what with jobs and families, we couldn’t leave until early, early Saturday morning. By 4:30 A.M. we had tw... read more

Happy Birthday Sis. Well it rained well into the night. The rain let up and cleared around 3AM. The moon created nice shadows on the side of the tent. Wind whistled through the pines and hardwoods all night. Our tent spot was somehow sheltered from being battered, but we heard the wind all night long. Temp dropped just below 40 degrees and getting out of the bag was slow. Cold breakfast just like dinner. Had everything packed and on the trail by 8:30AM. Camp was at about 3,500' and we started off down hill to Salt Dog Gap 300' lower. As we were headed down we met a northbound couple. They had started walking at 2AM from the Brown Mtn. Creek Shelter just so they could get a free lunch at "The Dutch Haus." They looked ... read more

Yesterday was our longest as far as miles traveled in one day. Today was the most elevation lost and gained in a single day. Started at the Maupin Field shelter, ele 2,720'. Dropped down into Tye River at VA Hwy56 ele 997'. Then up "The Priest" 4,063' and down to the shelter at 3,840' -1946', +3066, all this over 10.4 miles. We amazed ourselves and a couple of weekend hikers. We walked past them at the bottom of The Priest. We had a 15 minute head start up the mountain. They caught us 45 minutes later. Try as they might they could never get more than a few hundred feet ahead of us! We had already walked four hours when we met them and just plodded up the hill at a constant rate. After we got ... read more