Bev
and Pete Fink, Samara Khalique, Iva Gillet, Emerald Young, Katherine
Maus and Lee Wenzler from Roanoke joined hike leader Michael Seth on
this short hike up Second Mountain in Massanutten. Iva shepherded the
folks for Charlottesville
and met Michael near the trailhead on Cub Run Road. The weather was
excellent- sunny, low 80s but with low humidity, clear air and gentle
breezes.
Hikers were asked to bring loppers and clippers for a little
maintenance but since Michael with a couple friends had recently worked
on the trail there was little to do so we just hiked. We climbed the two
miles and 1200 feet up Second Mountain without
pausing and had lunch at the top. The trail is notorious for rattlesnakes but we did encounter one nor any other wildlife other than gnats by the cars. Unfortunately the beautiful yellow
fringed orchids that were blooming just several weeks earlier were gone.
Bev and Samara made it up the mountain first.
Bev spotted one of the two original CCC stone trail markers, no one saw the other which was probably obscured by vegetation.
When we arrived at the top there was a little metal box
containing a woman’s ashes with a glass candle holder next to it.
We sat at a clump of rocks near the summit and had lunch.
While at Kaylor Knob we encountered a few hikers from the
Massanutten Resort taking the trail from Dell Webb Drive, otherwise we
had the mountain to ourselves.
Pete and Bev led the march down. We then took a short side trip to the Boone Run Shelter were we sat for a bit, then hiked back to our cars. No seemed in the mood for a swim although a couple folks went down the short path to check it out.
In total we hiked a modest six miles for the day.
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