Day 56 The Hike-Willy and Dad's faux adventure

This is Bill typing today's post. Willy and I intended to go to Sky Meadows about 45 minutes from our house.
As we got out into the rural area near Sky Meadows we remembered we hadn't eaten so we drove 16 miles each way (out of the way) to get a subway. When we got to Sky Meadows the heavy rains we'd been having all afternoon had cleared and the sky was beautiful but the park was still closed for winter. Weird, but the weather has been so warm that its hard to remember it still Feb.
As Willy and I contemplated what to do, he Googled and I looked at a map, and we finally decided to drive to a nearby Appalachian Trail through hiker shelter that you could get to by car. It was starting to get dark and we missed a couple of turns, which led us into some kind of scary locations. When we got to the Blackburn trail center we saw a sign and some old stone chimneys that we thought must be it. We put on our forehead flashlights and looked around, trying not to disturb the residences we saw 200 yards up the hill from us, and ended up putting our tent in the parking area just in front of our car. You know, in the gravel. Once we got ourselves situated we felt the high winds that the radio man had been talking about but we prayed to be safe and the winds stopped sounding so threatening.
It was cold but our new sleeping bags and the tent we borrowed from the scouts treated us well.
After a restless night of turning and tossing on the rocky ground we finally emerged at 8:30 to see that the actual trail center was the structures we thought were homes above us. There are two very large grassy areas (perfect for pitching a tent) at the center and some rustic facilities. Boy were our faces red. We walked up to the center and then up to the actual Appalachian trail, so we could say we had. The elevation is about a 1500 foot climb over about 1.5 miles so I was glad we'd done it by car. This video is a hiker's capture of their visit to the center. You'll see the lawn that would have been so nice to tent in. Well, that's what happens when you try to find a good camping spot in the dark.



It was a lot of fun and Willy and I have a lot of funny memories and stories to share. We had a great time and although we didn't get our boots muddy, it was worth the work. Austin and I are going to hike Bull run mountain in a couple of weeks, I know its open and how to get there, but I also know its a hard one.