I Do Stuff…

Washington Monument

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This past weekend Nancy was in North Carolina for a baby shower, so I had Saturday to myself.  It is not often that I get a day by myself so I took the opportunity to walk around Arlington and DC.  The weather started off below freezing but the high was going to be near fifty and for the middle of winter around here, that is not bad.  I saw Nancy off around 8 and by 9 I was out the door and headed north.

My first stop was to Arlington National Cemetery, weird I know.  A good friend of mine died a few years back and I have always wanted to go back to his grave and smoke a cigar.  I sat there for 45 minutes or so, smoking my cigar and just enjoying the early morning.  I left one on his grave for him, I hoped he liked it.

From there I was in a walking mood and took the Mount Vernon Trail north to Roosevelt Island.  The trail was filled with runners and bikers also out enjoying the weather.  The island is a little slice of nature just outside the city.  It is an 88 acre island in the Potomac between DC and Virginia that years ago was last purchased by the Theodore Roosevelt Association and given to the American people.  On the island is a memorial to the 26th president with several hiking trails that cross the island.  I took the longest trail around the island and was pretty impressed with the amount of wildlife I saw for such a small island.  I managed to photograph cardinals, robins, a woodpecker and strangely, saw a couple of deer roaming around.  I ended at the memorial which is rather large.  In the center is a giant statue of Roosevelt depicting him giving a speech with several sayings of his on either side about manhood, democracy, etc…

smoked a cigar with a friend

By now I had worked up an appetite so I walked back across to Virginia and had lunch in Rossyln.  I wanted to head to the Mall and enjoy a cigar but decided to cheat and take Metro.  For a beautiful day, the Mall was packed with people taking full advantage of the nice weather.  Most of the lawn was occupied with Frisbee football games, regular football and even a couple of rugby games at the far end.  On each side runs and bikers zipped by the tourists and pedestrians who where out in droves.  I just sat on one of the benches and did some people watching while enjoying my second cigar.

To end my day, I headed to the National Gallery of Art that just reopened their French masters section for a little reading.  I was disappointed I had to check my bag at the door but I grabbed my book and found a nice comfy couch to relax in and catch up on some reading.  I was trying to close to place down but I needed to get to my dad’s house for dinner.  For an entire week me and Nancy were not eating meat, out of choice, but tonight I was going to break that fast and enjoy a nice steak.  To wash all this down we headed over to Rustico after dinner to sample some beers.  We lucked out and got a booth in the back as some people where leaving as we were arriving.  We took the opportunity to sample some different Belgium and Germany beers from their extensive list.

Pileated Woodpecker

After a long exciting day I was happy to get home around 11:30 that night.  According to my GPS logger I walked about 6 miles in total and I was feeling it.  I didn’t get much sleep the night before, then up early to see Nancy off and all the walking wiped me out.  On my adventures that day I did get a few ideas of things to do with Nancy.  I can’t wait for spring and the cherry blossoms, if they bloom, I would like to have a picnic on the Mall again.  This winter has been crazy and is causing the plants to get confused.  There were the tulips starting to bloom on the Mount Vernon trail and some cherry blossoms at the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden starting to bloom as well.

us at the summit

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I called my brother on New Years Eve to shoot the shit for a while, lets be honest, it was a drunk call.  One of the many things we talked about was getting together to do some hiking.  With his future wife pregnant, she is not able to hike like they use to.  He knows I love to hike so we made a pact to get out and do a hike before the end of the month.  We talked to Matt and he was in for a hike too.

I suggested Old Rag Mountain in the Shenandoah National Park which is a popular hike in the park.  It is a great hike to the top of a 3291′ mountain with great panoramic views of the surrounding valleys.  As you near the top you have to scramble across open rocks, down crevasses, and squeeze between cracks.  It is a challenge but certainly fun and I thought both Stephen and Matt would enjoy the experience.

We meet at Stephen’s place and got an early start for the short drive out to Sperryville and the outskirts of the park.  When we arrived I was surprised to see the parking lot pretty full for a day that was not going to reach above freezing.  We got there about 11am and headed out for the trail.

view down to the valley

The first 3/4 miles is just going from the parking lot to the park boundary.  By the time we made this small trek, Stephen and Matt already needed a break for food and water.  This was pretty much how the afternoon went, we would make some gains but take a break.  We commented frequently on all the people that started after we did and passed us on the way up the trail.  I remember this hike being difficult but not impossible.  This just goes to show how out of shape we all are.  We talked like old men, how are joints and muscles ached or old injuries coming back to haunt us.  I am the oldest and am only 33, a shame we are already talking like this.

As we made it up the mountain, things improved a little.  The trail went from being steep rocky switchbacks to not so steep rocky crawling.  The three cover opened up a little which allowed us to see the summit and that gave us encouragement to get to the top and eat lunch.  Stephen kept wanting to eat early but I kept telling him “we are almost there.”  Up this far there was permanent snow on the ground, it wasn’t much but it was there.  The temperature certainly dropped a few degrees at this elevation, down from the balmy 32 degrees when we started.  We were working so hard and dressed appropriately that the chill didn’t bother us much at all.  It was funny, one of of the rock outcroppings we stopped at over looked and got a different perspective on where we started our journey.  It was way down there, we probably climbed 2,000 feet by this point.

the rock scramble towards the summit

When we reached the summit it was pretty full with people enjoying a break and the panoramic view of the valley.  We tried to find a covered spot to escape the bitter wind but on the open rocks, it was rather difficult.  By now all the heat we built up walking up the mountain was gone and things started to get rather cold.  Soon after lunch we headed down the mountain and continued the loop back to the car.

Going down the mountain along the fire road I think is a little easier, it is longer, but there are much fewer rocks and the fire road is not to steep.  Just like going up the mountain, we got a different perspective on the summit.  From the fire road we could clearly see the summit and how high it really was.  We stopped at the Byrd’s Nest and Old Rag shelters for our mandatory breaks.  Matt and Stephen got their first look at a pit toilet at the Old Rag shelter and that experience was pretty funny.  I don’t know how they would do camping at False Cape State Park as you will only find pit toilets.

As we neared the end of the hike everyone was rather tired and the sun was setting fast.  The temperature dropped what seemed a degree or two every 15 minutes as the sun set behind the mountains and we lost day light.  A few stragglers like our self were the only ones left on the mountain by the time we reached the parking lot.  The ride back was not very long, but it certainly was quite as we were all to tired and soar to even talk.

After dropping everyone off I quickly drove home to shower and meet Nancy at Pan Vino in Lorton for a birthday dinner my dad and Pat were throwing.  I was pretty zoned out all night as I was to tired to do anything and Nancy could see it on my face.  The food was good and I couldn’t get enough water.

It was a great hike and I am looking forward to doing some more hiking with Stephen and Matt.  Both are eager to get outside and explore nature.  I am pretty certain the next time we hike it won’t be such a strenuous hike up a 3300′ mountain.  Two days later and I still feeling a little stiff in these old bones.  Maybe next time we will do one of the shorter waterfall hikes in the Shenandoah or maybe I will take them to Prince William Forest for a hike.

a dead tree and new life

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It has been over a year since I last hiked in the park.  Not sure why it took me so long to get back there, I guess I take it for granted living 10 minutes from the park.  I took the opportunity on Sunday to head back and enjoy a leisurely stroll on a mild winter day.  All weekend the temperatures were nice, Saturday it was actually hot when I was outside.  I decided to take a few hours on Sunday and do a little hiking and enjoy the mid-50 degree weather.  Nancy reminded me that I might not get many more opportunities like this one and to take it when I could.

I wanted to park at the H lot but it was full so I went down to the next lot and hiked from there.  This lot is where my friends and I would always park when we would go fishing.  There is a service road that leads down to a fairly good size creek, which eventually leads to a small lake and the damn.  I walked down the service road and took part of the South Valley Trail around the far side of the forest.

I believe the last time I hiked this section, it was winter as well, so things looked exactly like I remember them.  There are many low lying marsh areas and many naked trees out this way.  I remember near the camp ground there was a fire that destroyed quite a few acres of land back here.  When I walked through it this time, the trees are still gone, but the forest has certainly started to recover.  There are many saplings and tall bushes grow everywhere.  You can still see the burned remains of tree stumps and logs.  I would give the forest another year and you will probably not even know there was a fire.  All of a sudden you will just walked from a dense forest into a more open area, not noticing the damage.  I have always been amazed by a forests ability to recover from such a devastating disaster.  In my regards, the forest is better off after a good fire.  It clears out all the dead underbrush and lays down a fresh layer of fertilizer for new growth.  Life goes on.

Only 4.33 mile and it was over in a couple of hours.  Monday came and the morning temperature was below freezing, this is the winter I am use to.  I think if it snows again I will trek out to the forest like I did a few years ago.  That hike was magical, the forest had a fresh blanketed of snow and not much disturbed by people.

hundreds of snow geese

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Once again the family has gone to the beach house to celebrate the coming New Year.  Last year I intended to do some hiking on January 1st, but that turned out to be a bad idea as I was to hung over from the night before to even think about going for a hike.  This year I got smart, I hiked before the festivities began while I still was still feeling good.

I was thinking about the Seashore Park but I couldn’t find it on the map, not sure if it is still around, and just decided to hike another park.  To the north of Rehoboth Beach I found the Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge which is over 10,000 acres of freshwater and salt marshes, woodlands, grasslands, scrub-brush habitats, ponds, bottom land forested areas, a 7-mile long creek, and agricultural lands.  Only 30 minutes from the house this would provide all the nature I could handle for the day.

crazy dead tree

The weather was rather mild for being almost January, mid 50′s but overcast, so at times it did get a little chilly.  I parked near the entrance and decided to combine a few trails and hike the perimeter of the refuge, taking in all the various types of terrain the park had to offer.  One think I noticed early one was all the deer blinds positioned around the park.  I could understand why they where placed there as I ran across two deer while trekking through the woods towards one of the ponds.  I came across many birds like this, just stumble across them.  I rounded one corner and found 4 turkey vultures sitting on an electrical pole, two of them with their wings spread wide.  I was amazed at how large these birds are and that they allowed me to approach so close.

At the extreme end of the park there is an observation tower that overlooks much of the marsh.  Here there are several bird blinds, one of which I saw was occupied.  I was fortunate to go during the migration season and saw several flocks of hundreds of snow geese fly by.  Several species of ducks were also using the pond.  It was incredible to see hundreds of birds flying over head.  As soon as one wave was done, another would come in.  Fortunately for the ducks they stayed well clear of the bird blind.

In addition to the numerous bird blinds for hunting they have a singular photography booth along one of the marshes.  It was empty when I arrived so I took the opportunity to smoke a cigar and wait for some birds to show up.  All day I had seen only a few birds, most of the waterfowl would fly away long before I could get close enough for a picture.  I could tell they are not use to humans so I figured the blind would provide plenty of cover and allow me to get some good shots.  After almost an hour no birds came near the blind.  The few I did see would land on the other side of the pond, well out of range of my camera.  I could see coming early in the morning or even taking a small boat to the one of the bird blinds in the marsh and waiting for some birds.  It would be long time to wait, but I think the shots I could get would make the waiting worth it.

4 big turkey vultures

By now the sun was setting and the temperature was starting to dip.  I completed my loop of the refuge and headed back to my car.  The final leg of my walk is a long straight fire road that reminds me of my hike at Pinckney Island.  This is another wildlife refuge that has some great marsh land outside of Hilton Head, SC.  Prime Hook didn’t have the low hanging fog with the sun streaking in like Pinckney Island.

My hike took just over three hours and I managed to hike 4 miles according to my GPS unit.  I certainly could have hiked further but I spent much of my time going off trail trying to find some waterfowl and almost an hours in the photo blind waiting for birds that never showed.  This is a great place to hike during migratory season as you will be able to see many many bird species as they pass through town on their way south.

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across the Burke Lake

This past weekend we had beautiful weather for once and we had to get outside and enjoy it.  The sun was shinning with only a few clouds, and the temperatures where in the low sixties with hardly a breeze in the air.  With all the snow we have had recently we had cabin fever pretty bad.  We mulled over a couple of ideas and settled on Burke Lake Park, a small county park in Fairfax.  There is a lake, as the name suggests, and trail that circles the entire lake.  We thought about doing a picnic, but breakfast was stick-to-your-gut good so we skipped that idea.  Instead we just walked the entire lake and had a blast.  Being such a nice day the place was packed with people walking, biking, and a ton of people running.  A couple hours after we started we finished the full trail around the lake, approximately 4.7 miles.  Now we were hungry and stopped to get some smoked wings from Whole Food.  Mmmm.

What a great afternoon spend in the outdoors.  I can’t wait for Spring to arrive and get out and some some long haul hiking in the Shenandoah Valley and other large parks in the area.