Lower Hoop Hole loop. 4 miles.
It was the lure of the swimmin' hole for grandsons Aden and Matthew on a warm summer day that took us up into northern Botetourt County for this four-mile loop.
Photo atop Mt. Pleasant looking southwest toward the Peaks of Otter by Ken Knott.
Blue Ridge Country editor-in-chief Kurt Rheinheimer and his wife Gail woke up on Valentine's Day in 2004 looking to do something a little different in recognition of the occasion.
Since then, Kurt and Gail have hiked at least once every weekend for more than six years. Of those 300-plus weekends, they have missed 14, virtually all due to occasional balkiness from Kurt's old-man knees or achilles. For the first two years (Valentine's Day 2004 through Valentine's Day 2006) they didn't miss a single week. They completed the 546 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia in the summer of 2008, and have walked more than 3,000 miles total, mostly in Virginia but including hikes in West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Oregon and ... New Zealand!
Trail Signs: The President Was Here?
Dragon's Tooth Trail to Appalachian Trail; AT to Dragon's Tooth and back. 5.2 miles.
What with the two-year-old dog's recent semi-diagnosis of maybe a torn ACL or something (what is she a running back or a dog?), the decision was to stay pretty short...
A Ballad for Funnel Cakes
Buffalo Mountain in Floyd County, Va. Up up up up and back. 2 miles
No, it's hardly up at all, what with the distance being only a mile and with several switchbacks along the way.
Yes, what with a free pass to FloydFest for the day and not having been up...
Dog Meets Skunk, and Other Adventures
Andy Lane Trail to Scorched Earth Gap; Appalachian Trail to... Lambert's Meadow Shelter and back. 7.4 miles.
On the way up the Andy Lane on this hot day in our hottest Roanoke summer in likely forever, it began to mist lightly. The Day Hiker worried a...
Mill Mountain with a Four-Year-Old Hiker Chick
Mill Mountain Star Trail up and down. 3.4 miles.
With family logistics being such that our usual Saturday evening out was instead going to be in the company of two of the four grandchildren, we decided to work to integrate the best of several worlds i...
A Hot-Day Hike in Rock Castle Gorge
Rock Castle Gorge loop hike. 10.8 miles.
Maybe the dog's reaction to the early part of this strenuous, hot-day hike should have been a caution to us.
And actually, it was, at least to The Greatest Dayhiker Of Them All, whose suggestion it was to get th...
Getting Oriented on Price Mountain
Price Mountain Loop. 5.5 miles.
This is a walk we've done so rarely that we've tried to start out in the wrong direction both times. And both times it was I who needed to get the map oriented to reality.
More Articles...
- The Saturday of Dan and Fred
- Drizzle to Downpour
- Photographic Trail Magic
- A Roanoke-Convenient Blue Ridge Parkway Hike
- A Hike for Four: McAfee and Catawba
- The Lure of the Forest Road
- A Two-Summit Hike
- The Bear Spotter and the Confident, Expert, Lost Woodsman
- A Blithe (Extra) 4.5 Miles
- Bushwhacking to the Cascades
- Pretty Daggone Easy
- There's Hikers, and There's Hitchhikers
- Parakeets, Pigeons and a Volcanic Island: New Zealand, Part 3
- Picture Postcards from Down Under: New Zealand, Part 2
- Mountains on the Other Side of the World: New Zealand, Part 1
- Y'all walking for fun?
- Orange-Blaze Detours
- Urban Legerdemain
- Carvins Cove on a Winter Day
- A Cold Trek to McAfee's
- A Walk in Record Snow
- A Hike and - Gasp - an INDOOR Lunch
- Campfires in the Snow: Dryer Lint is Overrated
- The Graffiti at Hay Rock
- Osage Oranges and River Views
Page 1 of 12
Popular
Comments
Copyright © 2010 Blue Ridge Country. All Rights Reserved.
