Training Hike #5 - Little Devils Stairs

This week's hike was a "friends and family" event where we could invite other hikers to join us. On Friday afternoon, a small group of us headed out to Front Royal to go camping overnight. (A big thank you to my friend Patrick for coming out with us!) Despite the rain showers that came and went, we had a good time and managed to stay fairly dry.

We met the group at the trailhead for Little Devils Stairs around 8am on Saturday morning. The beginning of the trail was a steep uphill climb for about 2.2 miles, with several stream crossings, however, the water was pretty low. There were parts where we literally had to ascend steps in the huge rocks lining the trail, making we wish there was such a thing as a "little angels escalator." Turns out we climbed approximately 2,200 feet in elevation before we reached the Keyser Run Fire Road at the top of the trail. Here is a photo of one of my teammates heading up part of the "stairs."

It was pretty hot and muggy, but seemed to cool off a bit when we finally started heading downhill. All along the fire road, there were tons of butterflies feeding on the nectar of wildflowers.

To see more pictures from the hike, click here.

The whole thing took almost 4 hours, by which time my feet were hurting. But I really felt like I had accomplished something significant. After the hike, Patrick, Pamela (our hike leader) and her friend Maggie went back to the campsite to cook a well-deserved lunch of brats, onions and chicken wings.