Autumn Hiking

We've been enjoying the amazing autumn weather -- seems like there has been an abundance of days with bright sun and temps in the 50's or 60's!

We spent one recent morning at Great Falls, always a local favorite. It hasn't rained in awhile, so the water was quite clear.

Looking down on some paddlers from the top of Mather Gorge.

Low water level = nice view of Great Falls

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Bob's Birthday Annual Old Rag Hike

It's become our tradition to hike Old Rag the Friday closest to Bob's birthday. We joke that it's become a test of the aging process, and this year's hike was a piece of cake (no pun intended). We walked right up, negotiated all of the scrambling, and made the trip down without any problems. This is the first time we've been there since the upper parking lot has been permanently closed. We've always dreaded the extra walking on the road but it wasn't bad at all.

It's the day after we really aren't even that sore (we did a bike ride today to prove it!). Here is some of what we saw and did...

Typical view between the rocks

Bob going under the famous wedged rock in the natural staircase

We made it to the top!

Feels good to scramble around

This is Michel from Switzerland who is traveling the USA & Canada for year and his very cool 1991 Mercedes camper. We hiked with him for most of day - he was interesting to talk to and made the hike down fly by!

From Sandy Beaches to Snowy Mountains...

Enjoying the view while taking a biking break

We went to Roy & Yoli's at Bethany Beach at the end of October for what has become an annual tradition. We had gorgeous autumn weather: sunny skies, cool but not cold temps, a full moon, and beautiful colors in the trees and other beach flora.

We spent lots of time outdoors enjoying the scenery, going sea kayaking one day and biking the next.

The new bridge construction over Indian River Inlet

Yoli, Bob & Roy taking a break from sea kayaking

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Early November Snow...

Snowy Canaan Valley

The first weekend in November we went up to Canaan Valley in West Virginia. We've decided it's time to make the transition from biking to more hiking-oriented activity. The weather looked like it might snow up there, and the forecasters were correct!

The first day was cold with rainy, sleety, snow blobs falling out of the sky but we did a great hike. We finally found the trail out of Thomas that goes along the Blackwater River. Really it's the North Fork of the river, but we found a very steep side trail that took us down to where the main Blackwater and the North Fork meet. It was beautiful! It was surprising how many waterfalls are along the the North Fork.

Bob on the Bald Knob trail

The next day we hiked up one of our favorite ski routes: up the Bald Knob trail, along the pipeline, and up to the top of Weiss Knob. It had been snowing during the night. There was about an inch in the valley and four inches at out high point. It was full blown winter up there!

Anna going up the pipeline
(notice her boots are covered by the snow depth!)