A.T. Hike Through Trumbo Hollow

 Sunday, August 30, 2020

Hi Blog!

After a fun week with William, we had the weekend off. Unfortunately, Saturday was a washout as Hurricane Laura passed by and dumped buckets of rain. On the bright side, Laura did pass by quickly, leaving us with a beautiful early Fall day on Sunday. We decided to take advantage of the good weather and drove up toward Front Royal, Virginia so we could hike another section of the Appalachian Trail.

Here we are at the trailhead, which is known as the Trumbo Hollow Access. Notice Dave sporting one of our new National Park Face Masks. Today's mask was Big Bend National Park.

We started our hike around 11:00 a.m. The trail was cool and shady.

It's always fun to start a hike with a bridge.

We continued along the old plank road.

Just after leaving the boardwalk we had to cross an active railroad track.

We were not the only ones on the trail. This Eastern Box Turtle was working his way south. While in the pond turtle family, and not a tortoise, the box turtle is largely terrestrial. Box turtles are slow crawlers, but as we passed by, this little guy really picked up his pace.

The one thing the Appalachian Trail is know for is rocks. Here is Dave with a few examples.

Virginia boasts a full quarter of the 2,135-mile Appalachian Trail, around 550 miles of hiking glory. The AT in Virginia features hikes leading to overlooks, waterfalls and wildernesses, as well as scenic, cultural and historical sites.

Our first scenic view was the Trumbo Hollow Overlook. The wide meadow gave us views both East and West of the trail. If you look closely, you can see tiny little hikers working their way across the field.

With summer foliage closing in, the trail was very narrow in spots. The blazes in this section are on posts next to the trail.

This was once someone's farm.  There are still sections of old fence standing.

Winter is Coming... For many, many years, legend has held that caterpillars can predict whether the coming winter will be mild or harsh. This little guy is sporting a very fluffy coat. Better get ready to hunker down for a long, cold winter... or not.

Sometimes you just have to stop and smell the roses. Other times, you have to stop and pet the ferns.

After three miles, it was time for lunch. There is nothing better than a squished peanut butter and jelly sandwich after some hard hiking. The jelly gives you a quick sugar rush, the carbs from the bread give you energy and protein from the peanut butter helps to sooth and strengthen those aching muscles.

Our hike back was more of a meander. The day was beginning to warm up so we took our time and explored remnants of the old farm.

We didn't notice this nest on our way up the trail, but happened to see it on the way back down.

As we returned to the trailhead parking lot, we were greeted by a flock of chickens prancing on the side of the road. As soon as they saw us, they skedaddled back to their coop.  In doing so, they showed us the meaning of...

The End!