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| Marit Anderson, Pete Fink, Susanna Williams, Nancy Handly, CJ Woodburn, Bev Fink, Clair Cline, Dave Borszich (back) Marion Styles, Dennis Templeton, Gabriel Garretson, David Crowe (photographer- Bill Holman) |
Isn't it nice to sometimes take a hike that is only 25 minutes from Charlottesville? Thirteen hikers arrived at Sugar Hollow Reservoir and proceeded to hike the North Fork Moorman's River Trail on a slightly overcast, muggy Saturday morning. The lush forest provided lots of shade and recent rains made for decent water levels for the swimming holes and river and stream crossings. Always fun for hikers!
All of the group proceeded along the Moormans's River on the yellow blazed trail to Big Branch spur trail, headed by hike leader, Marit Anderson. We stopped for a nice refreshment break of chocolate chip cookies to enjoy the two waterfalls. Marion Styles took a dip, but could not entice anyone else to jump in. After the snack, Bill Holman led a group of four back to the parking area, rounding out the short hike to 5 miles. The others continued on towards the Skyline Drive and Black Rock Gap on the North Fork Moorman's River Trail with Nancy Handly at sweep. Unfortunately Susanna had a small slip on a wet rock, so an ice pack and ace bandage were applied. Dennis and Dave escorted back to their vehicle. Later a report from her home let us know that all was well. The rest of the group continued on to the North Fork Moorman's River Road and stopped for lunch by the water. Gabriel returned back to the starting trail head at this point. Five hikers proceeded to the Shenandoah National Park and AT marker at Black Rock Gap to do a high five. Then they retraced their steps back to our original point making it an 11.9 mile hike with 1,398 ft ascent. We saw lots of cool things today, including abandoned bus shacks, lots of wildflowers, numerous baby snakes, and marvelous mushrooms. The skies stayed clear and we never had the thunderstorms predicted. Yea!
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| Love those river crossings |
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| Wading through can be easier than slippery stones |
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| Marion the Mermaid |
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| Cookie time |
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| Lunch Bunch |
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| Black Rock Gap on the Skyline Drive |
submitted by Marit Anderson
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