January 1: Home to Fork in the Alley and back. 5 miles.
It’s a compliment to The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All that on a day when the morning low was 9 and the high was projected to be 24, she was nonetheless game for the layers needed to get on out for a New Year’s Day walk. Well, yes, its midpoint was a restaurant instead of a mountain peak. She got no beef from me.
January 6: Home to Tuco’s Garage and back. 5.5. miles.
Pretty much ditto the above, except this day’s temps were 8 and 20.
January 13. Valley View Mall to Countryside Sports Complex and back. 6 miles.
Urban again! This time to accommodate watching a 2 pm basketball game involving grandson Tyler, the relentless 10-year-old defender and gunner. At least this walk involves a brief stretch along the Lick Run Greenway, and involved our first foray over the new Lick Run Bridge over I-581, a trek long overdue.
January 21: Andy Layne and Appalachian trails to Tinker Cliffs and back. 7.8 miles.
With a high projected to reach the low- to mid-40s, we finally got into the woods, and to a favorite spot. The trail was pretty full of people, and was perhaps as muddy as we’ve ever seen it, which’ll make you grateful all over again for the log steps added a few years back to the two formerly totally slick steep spots toward the top of the Andy Layne Trail. We picked a new piece of the formation for lunch, with the same great views toward Blacksburg and West Virginia.
January 28: Star Trail to Mill Mountain summit and back. 3.4 miles.
A very short walk for us; a good walk for the dog, and a good picnic under the pavilion and out of the drizzle.
Since Valentine’s Day 2004, Blue Ridge Country Editor in Chief Kurt Rheinheimer and his wife Gail have hiked at least once almost every weekend. Of those bazillion weekends, they have missed just 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, and they have a longer streak now, which Kurt is too superstitious to talk about. They celebrated their 1oth anniversary of hiking with a February 2014 trip to hike the trails of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. They completed the 550 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia in the summer of 2008, and have walked more than 5,100 miles total, mostly in Virginia but including hikes in West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Oregon and … New Zealand! This blog is an ongoing chronicle of those hikes. We hope you enjoy these tales from the trail, and we encourage you to get out there and experience the beautiful Blue Ridge for yourself – happy hiking!
Feedback? Suggestions? They are always appreciated. Feel free to contact us:
