February 1: Tinker Creek Greenway from Plantation Road to Carvins Cove boat dock and back. 5.6 miles.
This was a family walk, with two sons, six grandchildren and one grandchildren mom along for the day. Not too bad a day until we got to the edge of the water, where the wind turned cold for a few minutes before calming down. Lunch bore out the fact that far too many of the grandchildren have caught on to Papa and Gigi’s penchant for indulgence in the mid-point of a hike, as witness some serious bags of candy.
February 8: Dragon’s Trail to Appalachian Trail to Dragon’s Tooth formation and back. 4.6 miles.
Another family foray, this time with one son and three grandchildren. The rocky last part of the climb turned out to be more of a good challenge than a deterrent for the 8-, 7- and 3-year-old, although the latter did need some Daddy shoulders a few times on the walk.
February 14: Apple Orchard, forrest road and Cornelius Creek trails loop. 6.2 miles
For Valentine’s Day we returned to the scene of the original crime—our first every-weekend hike, on February 14, 2004. It wasn’t as cold this day as that one, and the walk was not as hard, both because we cheated by taking the forest road across between the trails instead of trucking on up to the Appalachian Trail, and also because we have now done the walk at least a dozen times and as happens with most any repeated, hike, it gets a little easier each time. We had lunch near Apple Orchard Falls, which still had a good measure of ice around its edges. The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All remains such to be sure, but maybe it’s those 5- and 10-year anniversaries where she gets excited instead of, you know, “wait, we really have to do that again?”
February 22: From home to downtown Roanoke for some really good food but no waterfalls at all (and back). 6 miles.
It’s become an unfortunate if still pretty rare occurrence when our hike destination is the fine Sunday brunch at Billy’s Restaurant in downtown Roanoke. Unfortunate because it costs way too much and involves no woods, no view, no stream crossings, no nothin’ that makes hiking in the woods the pleasure it is. But the food is really really good.
February 28: From home to Tanglewood Mall for the James McMurtry CD (and an old Robert Earl Keen CD), but not views, etc (and back) 6 miles.
Wait, two urban hikes in a row. Well, she did go into the woods for the anniversary, it was really really cold, and she is, you know, getting older and all, and can no longer survive more than about nine days in a row without a visit to TJMaxx.
