![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rootofnewtYes, I'm still awake, for some reason.
We drove out to the parkway today just intending to sit at one of the lookouts for a bit and enjoy the air. I pulled out my quicklist of short trails and lookouts and found one we hadn't tried and I didn't recognize. It was the Catoctin loop and we figured out that it left from a picnic area. We drove into the picnic area, which is large, wooded, and full of tables, grills, and trees. We found the trailhead at the furthest part of the driving loop. We parked and set off. The trail was about a quarter mile long and led to an overlook above the Shenandoah Valley. It really was pretty.
There were steps up to a low wall. We climbed up and sat for awhile, chatting briefly with a small family (and with their big, beautiful mutt). They left after a bit. I attempted to find shade, to no avail. Tom decided to explore the wall and promptly hid behind it. I decided he was cute and joined him. Being a monkey, he quickly found a fuzzy little tiny mystical white caterpillar and searched for the perfect blade of grass with which to poke the poor creature.
I found more shade after that, but the mosquitoes found me, so we fled. We walked back to the car and drove off to the Greenstone Overlook. We've walked the Greenstone Geology/Nature Trail before. It's less than half a mile (loop) and very easy. It's also on the windward side of the ridge, so sure to be breezy.
This area was settled a couple hundred years ago by folks who attempted to carve (sometimes literally) a living out of the rocky soil. This was a slave state. During the winter, slaves were sent up from the valley and hired for winter tasks, such as building hog walls, which were used to contain the semi-wild hogs "kept" by settlers for food. The hogs were allowed to forage most of the time, so a farmer would either fence in his property line or a subset within it for the hogs to ramble through the woods. The walls had to be repaired each winter, but have been left to tumble as the need for them dissipated. They can be found throughout this section of the parkway, wherever development has been held at bay.
There are big rocks around there, too. Greenstone basalt... I'm standing on an ancient lava flow. Boy explores the other side of the large pile of boulders and declares it to be his clubhouse.
We finished our walk, found some false foxglove, then climbed into the car for the drive home. We stopped in Nellysford so boy could have "the best bbq ever" while I tried to find soy-free chocolate again next door. Then we drove back to Cville and I left boy at band practice.
It was a good day for the mountains. The wind was cool, the temperature was wonderful in the shade (probably around 74F), and it wasn't humid. It will be even nicer in the fall.
I'm going to go out and say goodnight to Mars and Saturn. Then I'll go to bed.
We drove out to the parkway today just intending to sit at one of the lookouts for a bit and enjoy the air. I pulled out my quicklist of short trails and lookouts and found one we hadn't tried and I didn't recognize. It was the Catoctin loop and we figured out that it left from a picnic area. We drove into the picnic area, which is large, wooded, and full of tables, grills, and trees. We found the trailhead at the furthest part of the driving loop. We parked and set off. The trail was about a quarter mile long and led to an overlook above the Shenandoah Valley. It really was pretty.
There were steps up to a low wall. We climbed up and sat for awhile, chatting briefly with a small family (and with their big, beautiful mutt). They left after a bit. I attempted to find shade, to no avail. Tom decided to explore the wall and promptly hid behind it. I decided he was cute and joined him. Being a monkey, he quickly found a fuzzy little tiny mystical white caterpillar and searched for the perfect blade of grass with which to poke the poor creature.
I found more shade after that, but the mosquitoes found me, so we fled. We walked back to the car and drove off to the Greenstone Overlook. We've walked the Greenstone Geology/Nature Trail before. It's less than half a mile (loop) and very easy. It's also on the windward side of the ridge, so sure to be breezy.
This area was settled a couple hundred years ago by folks who attempted to carve (sometimes literally) a living out of the rocky soil. This was a slave state. During the winter, slaves were sent up from the valley and hired for winter tasks, such as building hog walls, which were used to contain the semi-wild hogs "kept" by settlers for food. The hogs were allowed to forage most of the time, so a farmer would either fence in his property line or a subset within it for the hogs to ramble through the woods. The walls had to be repaired each winter, but have been left to tumble as the need for them dissipated. They can be found throughout this section of the parkway, wherever development has been held at bay.
There are big rocks around there, too. Greenstone basalt... I'm standing on an ancient lava flow. Boy explores the other side of the large pile of boulders and declares it to be his clubhouse.
We finished our walk, found some false foxglove, then climbed into the car for the drive home. We stopped in Nellysford so boy could have "the best bbq ever" while I tried to find soy-free chocolate again next door. Then we drove back to Cville and I left boy at band practice.
It was a good day for the mountains. The wind was cool, the temperature was wonderful in the shade (probably around 74F), and it wasn't humid. It will be even nicer in the fall.
I'm going to go out and say goodnight to Mars and Saturn. Then I'll go to bed.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-08-25 09:53 am (UTC)