September in the Mountains

We awoke to a gorgeous morning here today. With nothing aside from soccer planned for the weekend, we decided to take off for the afternoon and head for the mountains. So after Jeffrey's soccer game we headed home, threw together a picnic lunch and hopped into the van.

We decided to head south to a hike that we'd never taken that was listed as a "family friendly" hike in our hiking book. We stopped on the way to the parking area to have our lunch. We found a great overlook with some gorgeous views. We hopped up onto the ledge and munched away. After a few minutes I realized it was the same overlook that I took these pictures 3 years ago. My how things have changed. But the day was the same gorgeous sunny day.




After we finished up lunch we continued South to the Wayside and headed out for our hike. We followed a fire path up the mountain (a rare thing in the Shenandoah, a hike that starts out up and ends coming down). The kids were very intrigued by a spring we passed by. They'd found some walking sticks and enjoyed sticking their sticks in the water.



Erin led for most of the hike up. Once we got to the top, it leveled out and followed the ridge for a while. We came out to an overlook with some amazing views. It was pretty steep so the kids had to be very careful. The views were amazing though. The hike continued on for another 1/4 mile or so before we came to another outcropping and overlook. This one was just pure perfection. The view of the valley was gorgeous. There was quite a bit more room so the kids could walk around a little. We all enjoyed this stop.



From there it was pretty quick down the mountain. We walked under another big outcropping that was almost like walking through half a cave. The kids thought it was really cool. As always down was quicker than up, although more stressful. Jeffrey's still not the most agile and had a few "leaps" where he almost rolled down the whole mountain. After a discussion of "safe hiking" practices he calmed down a little.

We all really enjoyed our hike and are looking forward to heading back into the mountains next weekend for some extended camping with some friends.

Oh yeah, and the green shirts thing...both kids are on the green team for soccer (although on different teams) so I wore my green in support. Then we rushed out so quick after soccer, no one took time to change.