Another Shenandoah

Hans' sister (Alesha) is staying with us for a short while, so we made a short trip out to Shenandoah National Park to take advantage of the holiday weekend and off-season crowd (or lack thereof).

The sky was dark and moody and the weather report called for sleet later in the evening, so it was no surprise when the park ranger we met at the entrance told us to head back to the exit at the first sign of precipitate (apparently they'll shut down the park if the roads look like they're going to get nasty).

Our first little excursion was on the short trail for Hawksbill Mountain.  Here the path gently wound up a small hill to an exposed rock face with fairly pleasant views.  A few feeble rays of sunlight illuminated the scene and the clouds were low enough to wisp around the peak.  We spent a short amount of time taking silly pictures and climbing around the rocks.

Our second hike was into Dark Hollow Falls, or as Alesha put it, "The secret entrance to the Ice Queen's Lair in Narnia!"  It was a quiet descent among bare eerily-green lichen-colored trees and past impressive frozen rock walls to the 50-ft creek falls, which were mostly frozen but offered an few exciting sprays of water.

 

Wishing we'd brought a thermos of cocoa along, we returned to the car and made the long drive back to Maryland.