Morning sunrise yesterday (Fri) was nothing to write home about, but there was a special one this morning (Sat) that I happened to catch. I post it here for your viewing pleasure. It’s odd for us to get to experience real panoramic views of sunrises living down in a glen surrounded by hills covered with tall trees. Since we don’t drive into work anymore, we no longer get a view of the early morning upper world. A nice sunrise is a real treat.
With us up on the western side of the Shenandoah range in the GW&J park, we are looking off to those not too distant peaks of the eastern section of the Shenandoah National Park.
Ok, back to yesterday’s biking events.
In preparation for yesterday’s ride there were some late night musings around Bob’s campfire. So many trail riding possibilities. This reckoning continued when the folks returned to the Lodge that evening and apparently still more consideration in the morning hours hours. The Delaware contingent finally hatched what sounded like a definite plan and Andrea biked up from the Lodge to inform Bob and Paul. The boys got ready to go, but of course, there were still some minor last minute changes. This seems to happen quite a lot.
All settled with a plan, with bikes mounted on bike racks and shuttle drivers ready to go, they were off for a long days ride along the Reddish Knob and Timber Ridge trails. Paul logged 20 miles, which might not seem like a lot of biking around home, Timber Ridge was a 1,000 foot ascent. (The previous day’s Lookout Mountain was 1,600 ft up.) The shuttle ride up to Reddish Knob was 2,800 elevation gain and the way down was a net 500 ft, a very steep, bone-crunching and butt-numbing descent, what mountain bikers call “fun”.
When I look at this photo of Paul (above) I see an overgrown kid playing in a puddle. What these biker folks see is someone making a technical water crossing with great skill. LOL!!
My observations of the day were all pondering the state of our wildlife and how much more music there should be in these lovely woodlands. Just like home, there seems to be less morning song from the birds to greet the sun rising on a new day. The decline has been very noticeable in just a few short years. This makes me very sad.
I saw many colorful butterflies throughout the day. One was smallish and a very intense dark blue with a slight greenish tone in the sunlight passed by, as well as some kind of hawk. I didn’t get a good view of either before they flew out of range.
It was another windy mid-morning – the afternoon. The wind here makes a howling sound through the trees whenever it picks up a bit. You can hear it outside the camper even with the windows closed.
The wind died down in the evening, which should help keep the chill out of Bob’s A-liner camper. They are predicting another 40 degree overnight temp.
The George Washington & Jefferson National Forest consists of over 1.8 million acres of Appalachian forests in Virginia, West Virginia, and Kentucky.
Once buffalo and elk roamed here, but like in so many places they no longer call this home. However there are bear and deer in abundance. And, at least 1 turkey.
Lots more campers arrived today, more kids and furry family members, and of course, lots of bikes. I think pretty much all the RV sites are filled and no telling how many are in those woods. The wooden play set in the middle of the green has now become a constant point of interest and hive of activity.
No turkey sightings today, probably not going to see it again with all the people and their critters about the place.
We ended the day with a Mediterranean-style dinner of falafel, humus, baba ganoush, cucumber and tomato salad, a bit of green salad, homemade tsatziki, some other dips, and of course, pita bread and feta cheese. Sorry, no photos to share of the feast, too hungry to think of that at the time. We finished the evening off with some little homemade individual banana and chocolate cakes (with added chocolate chips of course).
That’s all for today’s report.
Twenty miles sounds like an impressive number of miles to ride no matter where you are. This vacation sounds like a training camp for an iron-man competition. Very inspiring accomplishments and scenery!