Angel's Rest

I went back to Angel's Rest.  I swore it would never happen.  It wasn't that this was a bad hike, but from my memory, I recalled a short, yet grueling climb up to a very lackluster little overlook point.  But, alas, Casey has caught on to my goal to finish Venture Out's (the outdoorsy shop on campus) list of the top 10 hikes in and around Blacksburg.  And, in catching on to my plan, Casey decided that he too would like to finish these hikes.

This is no problem at all - I welcome anyone who values nature over sitting inside playing video games, surfing the web, or doing schoolwork - but it meant that Casey would need to hike Angel's Rest.  I told him to go find someone else to hike it with him.  He said he would.  But today the sun was shining, the breeze was just perfect and I was feeling kind, so I kidnapped Casey and drove him 35 minutes to the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.  And took him on a hike.

And you know what?  I'm really glad we went.  I needed to stop to rest about as many times as a person on a road trip guzzling soda needs to stop to pee, but we made it to the top.  Again.  This time, though, I took in the cool rock outcroppings near the overlook and even climbed up a few.  We had a picnic at the overlook point.  The view was much better than I remembered.  We talked with a backpacker who was just about to finish his 620th mile (at this point I almost choked on my own spit and vowed to never ever complain about walking 1.7 miles ever again).  We found a little "cave" built into the rock outcroppings.  We wandered.  I got a kiss at the overlook rock.  It was actually pretty perfect.

Now I'm back and my legs hurt, my butt aches, and I have a much fonder memory of this little hike in Southwest VA.

Read Mountain

Casey, Kevin, and I decided to do this little hike on a whim during our return trip from Smith Mountain Lake to Blacksburg.  I was convinced for a bit that we were lost as we zigzagged through a neighborhood of McMansions all placed neatly side by side on a little paved road with little manicured lawns.  Not your typical trailhead destination.  Low-and-behold, the trailhead was there, up a neat little labeled drive situated neatly between two of the aforementioned McMansions.  It made me smile.

Overall, Read Mountain was the perfect mid-roadtrip hike, as it wasn't too tiring, but provided a nice chance to stretch our legs and get outside.  Of course, me being me, I was still breathing quite heavily as I climbed the steady ascent to the overlook.  This time, I'm blaming it on a cold that is hanging onto life like no other.  We saw a few families with children at the overlook which leads me to believe it's a popular destination for the neighborhood families.  Overall, it was a nice experience on the most gorgeous day of the year so far.