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Weekend Hikes - Week 84
WEB EXCLUSIVE
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The weekend hikers: Gail and Kurt Rheinheimer stand on top of Rice Fields, a bald southwest of Blacksburg, Va. along the Appalachian Trail. They were photographed in May by a couple who were thru-hiking the AT with their two children. |
Week 84: With concurrent logistical monsters (a son's wedding, a
new screened-back porch under construction), The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All
suggested an in-close classic. And it is a wonderful thing about living in
Roanoke that you can get in the car and in just less than half an hour, get out
of that car at the base of the Andy Layne Trail out in Botetourt County, and
start your way, through fields and across the steam two or three times, up the
side of Tinker Ridge toward one of Virginia's Appalachian Trail Triple
Crown.
The trail's been rerouted a bit in recent years, to run a little less steeply up the mountainside, but there are still two stretches that are as acutely upward as any in the region. Still, Gail had us up the 3.1 miles to the AT intersection at Scorched Earth Gap in just over an hour. We paused there, at the big rock where you have the chance to make a decision based on the weather. Cold or rainy or snowy? Take the AT north for 0.7 miles to Lambert's Meadow Shelter and stay warm. Pretty and clear? Take the AT south for about 0.6 miles to the stunning views from Tinker Cliffs.
We did the latter on this day, and the slightly-too-warm feel of an afternoon for the end of summer disappeared completely as we unpacked lunch on the rocks looking over the Catawba Valley. The breeze from the west was nearly as refreshing as the food and the good cold water. Both of our sometimes-accompanying dogs were along, and they too seemed to be unusually calm, as if the perfect spot, the perfect breeze and the good treats made them realize too what a wonderful place along the big trail that Tinker Cliffs is.
Click here for the archive of Kurt's Hikes
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