Appalachian Trail from Black Horse Gap on the Blue Ridge to Wilson Creek Shelter and back. 5.0 miles.
A short, easy walk on a cold day, on a relatively unremarkable piece of the trail, most attractive for its relatively gentle descent from the ridge line, making for pretty easy walk back as well. But the primary lure was the shelter and its fire pit, where we even found a little stash of cut wood covered with plastic. We left that for someone who'd earned its use with a longer walk and maybe an overnight stay, and instead found plenty of breakable, burnable dry wood for a good and warming lunchtime fire, and made our way back. The Day Hiker, who'd voted for small and brief due to not feeling 100 percent, was both grateful for the short walk and feeling just the slightest bit wanting-for-more.