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.

The Hike, Week 98: 12/26/05

With the snow and ice several days in the past, we were surprised to find the Blue Ridge Parkway closed north of U.S. 460 east of Roanoke, and were thus denied our plan for a loop hike off the parkway and including a stretch of the Appalachian Trail.

Fallback was a quick drive over to U.S. 220 at Daleville for what would be a fairly crunchy climb up to Hay Rock along the AT. We came across several other sets of hikers on this sunny day-after-Christmas, and the footprints in the snow were fairly pervasive from the parking lot up the 2.5 or so miles to the ridgeline and the view down onto Carvins Cove. But from that point to Hay Rock--another mile and a half--the boot prints of the Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All were the first in the snow.

We built a little fire in the small, informal firepit on the lee side of the big rock, keeping all but the worst gusts at bay; and most all of those blew smoke into the face of the Day Hiker, no matter how many times she re-arranged where we sat in relation to the fire.

We put out the fire with more than a little guilt about having contributed to what always strikes us as an almost semi-urban spot along the trail, even though it is at least four miles from any civilization. The big rock formation has been spray-painted over the years, certainly the most egregious aspect. But the history of fires by the rock has served to create a sooty, dusty 25 feet of AT--a sort of dirty alleyway along an otherwise clean green path.

Our hike back down was uneventful save a pause at the last outcropping looking onto Carvins Cove, to admire one of the prettiest views around, in any season.

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