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Being less than an hour’s drive away, Sky Meadows State Park became a favorite destination when Laurie and I were employed by George Mason University’s Outdoor Education Center. That was a number of years ago, so we recently made a return visit and were happy to see that there were some trails we had never walked.
I also learned that I was wrong about the origin of the park’s name. Former owner Robert Hadow had called it Skye Farm, for an island in Scotland. I had always thought that it was obvious as to how the park received its name. For, even from miles away, it’s possible to spot the large, open, richly green fields that dapple vast areas of the hillside as the topography sweeps upward from the rolling piedmont to the eastern slope of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
This contrast of open meadows and deep forests, coupled with an elevation difference of 1,200 feet, ensures a variety of environments and wildflowers. Skunk cabbage could be blooming in moist areas by mid-February. Cutleaf toothwort appears about the beginning of April, followed by violets, spring beauties and star chickweed. Sun-tolerant plants line the roadways during the hot summer months, with moth mullein adding bits of yellow as late as October.
Our outing began next to the 1800s Mount Bleak House by ascending through alternating woodlands and meadows along the South Ridge Trail. A turn onto the North Ridge Trail brought us to the height of the land and the Appalachian Trail.
I have experienced something new and wonderful every time I’ve visited this spot. I’ve heard the staccato sounds of a woodpecker to the right of me answered by another on my left, then by one behind and again by one in front, creating nature’s version of surround-sound stereo. I’ve seen turtles mate, oblivious to my presence. Other times, in late winter, bloodroot had begun to force its way through the hoarfrost-frozen ground, while spring walks southward on the AT have been rewarded with one of the most profuse arrays of trillium ever seen in one area.
We continued northward on the AT, soon turning onto the gradually descending meadows of the Ambassador Whitehouse Trail. This openness with a vast, bright blue sky had me singing those most optimistic of verses from the Wizard of Oz, “You’re out of the woods, You’re out of the dark,…Step into the light.”
The Piedmont Overlook Trail has what I consider to be one of the best views in Virginia.
From this mountainside perch, the flatter lands of the piedmont stretch out to the east. The meadows slope onto a sunlit shimmering pond. Rectangular farm fields alternate with strips of woodland, turning the landscape into a patchwork quilt of greens, browns, and golds. On clear days, the high-rise buildings of the Dulles-Fairfax area can be seen poking above the horizon.
All successfully completed hikes deserve a reward and, for this one, I suggest a wine tasting and food pairing at Aspen Dale Winery (aspendalewinery.com) in nearby Delaplane.
