Appalachian Trail (9/23)

We are in n no hurry to get going this morning.  It was a long weekend and a long drive here.  Joe sleeps to almost 9 am.  Once up we finally get going.  We are excited to do some hiking today. We have not been able to hike for some time.  We drive to the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park.  We don't go very far just to the beginning of it where there is a parking place and a opening to the Appalachian trail.

We walk across the bridge and up the road a little ways then we are on the trail.  You see the trail marker which is just a white stripe on a tree no other signs to direct you.  There were some rangers where we parked and they told us what to look for.

We start up hill for a ways then it levels out.  It is so peaceful in here.  We have decided we would hike until 1 pm then turn around and come back.  There is really no destination to hike to unless you are doing one of the long all day hikes or are a thru hiker.
As we are hiking I see what Joe has always said about this trail. there are no views, all you see is the trail and the trees.  Once in awhile you can manage a small view.

Can you pick the view out.  It is really hard to see.






Here are some pictures of the trail.

 Joe picked up a hitch hiker on the trail.  This was the weirdest caterpillar I have ever seen.  If you click on the picture it will enlarge.

We did about 6 miles round trip, it was nice way to get back into hiking.  We are hoping to at least get one more day of hiking in, if the weather cooperates.
Once we get on the I 64 we see it was a mistake, traffic is backed way up and at a complete stop.  We find out that there was a car fire about 2 miles up the road.  Luckily it wasn't to long of a wait, about 20 min. then we were on our way again.  I am tired but feel really good and content, it was a great day.