A fair day with promising weather brought out a good crowd for a day on the trail, with hike leader Ken Moss gathering the flock at Albemarle High School before heading out in three cars for the Valley. We met up with Michael Seth at the trailhead near Crimora.
The trail rose gently, at first, along Meadow Run as we followed the Riprap Trail through Riprap Hollow and past the famous swim hole we would revisit on our way back to the cars. The climb began in earnest soon after, as we made our way past an old mill site in a narrow gorge in Cold Spring Hollow.After a long climb we broke out into the open in a former burn area, where we had excellent views of the Valley to the west. Arriving at our destination of Chimney Rock, after about 3.5 miles, we stopped for a leisurely lunch to admire the views and rest.
We retraced our steps back down the mountain, but made a point of stopping at the swim hole this time, only about 1.5 miles from the car. Several hikers gave in to the temptation and took to the waters, among them Marian Styles, Dan Funkhouser, Neil McKinney, Pete Fink, Andy Wilgruber and Ken. The water was quite brisk! Bev Fink and Marie Moss took a tentative wade and judged the water to be quite chilly even for that. Looking on in amusement were Lindsay Brown, Rita Kieffer, Bill Holman, Don Davis and Michael.
Following the refreshing dip, it was a quick stroll back to the cars. From the parking lot we split, with some heading back to Charlottesville while a larger group decided to stop by Blue Mountain Brewery for refreshments...only a slight detour from our return route. The crowd was large and the service was slow on this move-in weekend for UVa, but the company and conversation was good as we toasted another fine day in the mountains.
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