Sunday morning came bright an early to our little campsite! I actually managed to stay warm - in my sock liners, socks, leggings, hiking pants, two long sleeved dry fit shirts, fleece, and sleeping bag - but that didn't exactly make for a restful night. Between the sleep-scootch-sleep cycle, the freight train snorer in the next door tent, and the general restless camping sleep, three of the four adults were a little bleary eyed in the morning. Garth, on the other hand, apparently slept soundly something like 87% of the night according to his fitness tracker. Bully for him.
I was up and out around 6:30, and got to enjoy a peaceful morning before a snuggly Mary Emma joined me.
After breakfast, we packed our gear and decided to leave it near the site for the hike to the summit of Mr. Rogers, which is the highest point in Virginia.
The peak is rather anti-climactic. It's buried in a beautiful evergreen forest, which smells lovely and is quiet and shady; but, it really seems like highest peaks should afford some sort of view!
Rudy, at one of the highest points...there were two USGS survey markers; based on our eyeballing the two, we think this one is actually slightly lower.
Four kids, taking a break from jockeying for position as the highest person in Virginia.
Ellen and I had chosen what looked like a 6-ish mile hike back out to the car for today, but when we checked the map against our location and looked at the potential routes, it looked more like 9 miles. Ouch. Instead, we chose to backtrack a little and take the "gnarly" route over Wilburn Ridge that we'd let someone talk us out of yesterday.
Snake sighting!
Again, me with the views. Can't help myself.
We took a short break at "Fat Man Squeeze." Ellen found these flowers blooming in the shade; the kids enjoyed exploring the "cave" and looping through it and back around to the trail.
One of the things I was hoping for was to see the rhododendrons in bloom; with trail names like Rhododendron Ridge, I was expecting a riot of flowers. The time was almost right - all of the bushes in the valley lawns were in bloom - but I think our cold winder set the mountain blooms back. We saw a few about to burst, but not quite...
A bonus of our shortened route was the extended lunch period. We stopped for what we thought was a short break, but soon extended into an hour of lounging on the hillside. Sunny day, nice breeze, tired legs, fabulous views - not a bad way to spend an hour! The kids mixed up the lounging with some exploration of the rocks.
Then, back to hiking...
We saw another herd of ponies today. This bunch was more active and much more interested in us. A few troublemakers kept sneaking up behind kids and nibbling on their backpacks.
I don't know much about ponies, but this foal seemed almost brand new. It wasn't even all that sturdy on its legs. The little guy came right up to Mary Emma and Rudy, and I think it took every ounce of their self-control not to pet him!
Overall, it ended up being a really wonderful trip, so I'm glad we stuck to our plans and modified as necessary to make them work as best as we could.
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