Little Stony Man - Shenandoah National Park

Between my work schedule and traveling, I haven't made it to as many of the training hikes as I would have liked, unfortunately. This past Friday night, as I was leaving the office, exhausted, at 9pm, I decided that there was no way I was going to make it to Shenandoah by 8am the next day. Instead of bailing on a training hike completely, I called my friend Patrick. We decided to meet up at 10am instead so I could sleep in a little and still have plenty of time to get out to the trail.

Patrick and I decided to hike Little Stony Man, a moderate trail whose trailhead is right on Skyline Drive. It's not a particularly difficult hike, but it is pretty much straight uphill for half a mile, then it levels out and the woods open up to a stunning panorama of Luray and the Shenandoah Valley.

It was much colder than I expected it to be. I didn't have a windproof jacket, only a long-sleeved shirt and a fleece vest. It was nice in the sun, until the wind whipped up. We reached the cliffs and took picture after picture of the scenic valley. It was so blustery, with the wind trying to carry my camera away, I had a hard time getting a single non-blurry photograph. We started up the rest of the trail toward the summit of Stony Man mountain when a frigid gust of wind whipped across my body. I said to Patrick, "I'm done. Are you done?" He concurred and we got the heck off that ledge as fast as we could.

So I didn't get in an all-day training hike, but at least I got outside and made it up and down one good hill. I still have a ways to go before I am prepared for a 2-night backpacking trip...