Anna started up the trail about 45 minutes later at a very easy pace, enjoying the scenery since it had been awhile since she'd hiked up Cedar Run. Here is the first falls and a water slide further up the trail.
She turned around after about an hour and fifteen minutes, and made it back to the van by 11:00 or so. By this time it was snowing quite hard, and sticking to the ground. She boiled water for hot chocolate and hung out in the cozy van listening to tunes, waiting for Bob's call on the 2-way radio. He beeped at about 11:30, still a mile out. Here he is at the end of the first leg in his vertical mile, with the wet snow pounding down...
After drinking hot chocolate, eating and changing socks, we both started up the Berry Hollow fire road to the top of Old Rag. It had stopped snowing by this point, but there was a lovely coating of snow on the ground to make the hike different.
Here is a nice view of Hawksbill, where Bob hiked to in the morning. It's the highest point in Shenandoah National Park. The first leg of his vertical mile from the bottom of Cedar Run to the top of Hawksbill was 3300+ feet. Hawksbill is the hump in the middle of the picture.
When we reached the top the sun was out and it was very windy, probably 20 to 30 mph and quite cold, probably low 20's. Our hands froze, and Bob's hydration hose had frozen a long time ago. Here's Bob at the official sign post, and at his high point on Old Rag! Congratulations Bob!!
It turned out that Bob's first event in his continuing epic fitness challenge really was an epic, with the cold, wind and snow. See more about his 50th year challenge on his epic blog.
Back at the van, we celebrated by eating the most amazing chocolate cake, thanks to our neighbor, Laura. It was triple layer chocolate cake, very rich chocolate frosting, and chocolate dipped strawberries on top (we also had a "proper" recovery snack of protein & healthy carbs).
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