A hike, in photos

It’s been a busy month, quite social for the introverted ajmatt blog, as evidenced by our lack of posts.

Last Sunday I went hiking with my friend Lisa in Shenandoah National Park. The park entrance is about an hour outside of DC, and our hike was at mile marker 19, about 20 miles south of the entrance.

The first 4.5 miles were easy, walking downhill along a gravel road. One of our landmarks was this cemetery. The gate was falling off its hinges, and took two sets of hands to get it open.

This innocuous sign marked the beginning of the true hike. During the last 2-3 miles—there were varying estimates of how far we actually traveled—we would climb 1,800 feet in elevation. (The “st” stands for “staircase,” which refers to the bazillions of rocks on the trail.)

Hello, I am not feeling photogenic right now, but also not yet exhausted, and find this ravine picturesque. In other news, my legs are glowing.

Lisa’s daring log trick; I might as well be hiking with my brother. And look, it’s the same conclusion—a great photo results from the madness!

The view most of the way up the ravine… although this is one of the gentle inclines. There were parts of the trail where hands were required to climb the rocks. Those parts coincided with the passing thundershowers, though we were grateful for the drop in humidity and welcomed the rain.

Cruising along Skyline Drive on our way out of the park, Lisa spotted this bear on the side of the road. She stopped the car, I managed to get a picture through the window, and we both asked, “Where’s Mama Bear?”

Isn’t he cute? He made me wonder if Mama Bear could pry open the little Volkswagen in retribution for our gawking.

Aww… cute bear butt. As we drove away, Lisa said, “Now you have something interesting to blog about.” (Bear sighting is exciting for the suburban-raised.) I agree. It was a great hike.