Since my last post I've done three things in Virginia. Partly alone, partly with friends. Partly chill, partly high impact. As it should be! Here's what I've been up to... Shenandoah National Park I spent a few nights in Shenandoah to see Skyline Drive and do some solo camping. Skyline drive was lovely, but it was basically a less impressive Blue Ridge Parkway so I wasn't blown away or anything. I camped at Loft Campground, which is at the south end of the scenic drive. The campground was super tame and pleasant! It was mostly families and yolked out RV/ truck & trailer set ups. I enjoyed some hiking while camped at Loft. The first day I hiked to a waterfall, 6mi with 1,450ft vert in 1h 37min. The second day I hiked 9.4mi on the Appalachian Trail with 1,700ft vert in 2h 55min. Hidden Valley climbing I met up with three friends from NCOBS to rock climb for a few days at Hidden Valley. I went to Hidden Valley last fall for the NCOBS Women's Climbing Camp so I was excited to return on my own. Hidden Valley is mostly sport climbing, which is what we were there for. For all of us, it was our first outdoor trip this year so we shook the rust off and got comfortable leading moderate climbs. I led a few 5.8 climbs on this trip, which I am thrilled about. This coming weekend I climb with NCOBS friends again at the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, so this Hidden Valley trip was the perfect warm up. Many of the following photos were taken by my dear friend Rachel Veale. She takes rad photos, check more out at her instagram @rachelcveale. Before I close up the climbing portion of this post, I must share two amazing and relevant articles that feature my good friend and climbing buddy all summer long, Danielle....
Damascus - virginia creeper trail As previously mentioned, my next stop is in Kentucky for more climbing. I had a few days to spend by myself in between the two climbing trips. I camped at a Forest Service Campground called Backbone Rock, which was 3.3 miles from the VA Creeper Trail. The Creeper Trail is a 34ish mile long rails-to-trails through the forest. It’s multi-use, but mostly used for biking. The Creeper Trail section that I rode is entirely uphill one way, so 98% of people pay for a shuttle to drop them off at the high end. Personally, I did an out and back- half "creeping" uphill, half flying downhill. I only saw three other bikers going uphill the whole time and they were all ripped! Seeing this confirmed that uphill on the Creeper Trail is only if you want cardio... good thing that's why I was there! On my first day near the Creeper Trail I biked 30mi with 1,150ft vert in 3h 16min. The second day (this morning), I did 15.6mi with 540ft vert in 1h 43min. Onward...Next up is more climbing as I venture to the Red River Gorge for my first time!
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