There are so many criteria for choosing a weekend’s hiking destination . . . a summit or a stream, a pretty trail section or a great lunch spot, a place you’ve never been or a place you love to return to.
Photo Above: Kurt and Cookie along the lonesome Glenwood Horse Trail
And then suddenly, in the spring of 2020, there is only one criterion: solitude. And so, from along the Blue Ridge Parkway, we chose on this nice day a spot that had, really, two more criteria: A place with access to the Glenwood Horse Trail, and a parking area for it with no cars in it.
Of course one of the real good things about hiking in the mountains of western Virginia is that it doesn’t much matter the name or location of the trail . . . you’re going to experience the forest and the ridge line, the pine and the deciduous, the breeze and the pretty sky above you.
We did encounter three people, each alone, on this day, each apparently as surprised to see us as we were them. And maybe the biggest surprise encounter for both sides was where we sat down for lunch, at a random spot along the forest-road-wide trail. Well, not exactly random, as The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All chose it because it provided a view of of the trail to a good distance in both directions. This choice provided her with both the assurance of a visual warning of any oncoming hiker as well as the avoidance of any temptation I may have had toward bushwhacking a short distance to find a secluded spot. A tiny grandson had had three (!) ticks on him a few days back, see, so there were to be no bushes and weeds for us, thank you.
And likely the visual surprise we gave the kindly hiker who approached as we ate would have been little less on any other day. There we sat, just off the trail, on our respective neon green and neon orange hiking chairs, with a blanket of goodies spread between us and a big black dog sitting nearby. Out of nowhere.
At least he had that distance of trail The Day Hiker created to get used to what he was walking up on.
