As I mentioned last week, I spent part of this weekend adventuring. Specifically, along with my friends Jason and Rebecca, I hiked a new (for me) section of the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park, as well as taking in the climb to to the top of Stony Man Mountain, the second highest peak in the park. Our hike picked up the AT at the Pinnacle parking area (where we were greeted by some well-lubricated revelers in the picnic area), and proceeded south to the branch trail leading to the Stony Man summit, and back again. Total round trip was a little over 8 miles, and while we only picked up six or eight hundred feet of elevation, we started at 3400 feet, so the height was not insignificant.

For a late May day, it was actually pretty chilly, barely brushing the low 50s, and quite windy. Still we were well-prepared, and stayed warm with a rather brisk pace, covering the outbound leg of our journey in around two hours, leading to a very windy lunch on the summit. Along the way, we saw some very nice scenery, including lots of just-blooming wildflowers, a baby grouse with it’s mother (who didn’t cooperate for photos), and some really rather beautiful scenery:

Here’s a shot of Stony Man (featuring the back of Jason’s head) from about the halfway mark from Pinnacle:

And another shot from the same place, zooming in on the mountain’s namesake rock formation:

A few shots from the summit at high noon:

And here’s a red-breasted grossbeak who called to us on our way back down:

It was a nice, brisk hike, with lots of pleasant conversation along the way, though we all came away noting how old we all feel, comparing the aches and pains we were nursing afterwards. Still, there are plenty of 38 year olds who couldn’t do what we did at all – I know many of them. That I did it with no ill effects other than a few muscle aches (largely due to using muscles in ways I don’t when biking when I have to carefully descend from mountain peaks on trails covered with loose rocks and plenty of switchbacks) and no complaints from my circulatory system, I feel pretty darned good about myself.

Also, on the way home we stopped off in Culpepper VA to check out the rejuvenated downtown (Jason grew up there, and there’s a bit of a renaissance of new independent businesses downtown), where we visited the Culpepper Cheese Company which has lots of cheese, of course, but also wine and beer, and where we partook in a wonderfully refreshing beer tasting as a reward for our physical efforts. I had samples of three really great beers from local brewers, though the highlight was generally agreed to be the Wood Aged Kilt Flasher Scottish Ale from Devil’s Backbone. Excellent stuff – if you have the means, I highly recommend finding yourself some.

So yeah, a pretty good Saturday.