Scouting Out Some New Trails

I am always on the lookout for good trails for family hikes and good spots for Young Women's camp hikes.  Dan and the kids have been scouting out some trails with me. Thankfully, here in Virginia we are having a mild season and so we can still get outside.

Over Thanksgiving weekend we checked out Dobie Moutain, just south of Humpback Rocks. They were very unimpressed by the seven-mile total because the last three miles were all uphill, but they were amused by the Appalachian Trail hut that served as our turn-around before the uphill part.

Then this past weekend we enjoyed a few miles on the Appalachian Trail on Loft Mountain near our favorite camping spot in Shenandoah.  The purpose of this one was to see the Potomac Appalachian Trail Conservancy hut where lots of trail service starts.

 I might have failed to read the important yellow sign near the spring before A and I drank from it. Oops. It was just so cold and clear and inviting. We didn't get sick, and I am grateful. 

We had lunch at our turnaround. It's amazing what good snacks and lunch at a cool viewpoint do for morale. 

 We are nearly four months into our year without desserts--more on this later--and somehow we are still able to enjoy food without wishing it was a donut or a Cadbury mini egg.  We once coaxed our kids along trails with Tic Tacs and the promise of licorice, but they are pretty happy to have good dried fruit now. 

On this warm, hazy day I gained a little perspective on the geography of this area. I am not exactly sure, but I think these mountains down on the Piedmont are just north of Crozet and south of Earlysville, two small towns to our west and southwest. From this viewpoint I appreciated how quaintly tucked into the hills some of those homes and farms really are.