Ten Mile Run - the video!

This is not turning into a vlog, but I am making a few videos as part of a fundraiser for the Catskills Center.

Black Hill loop hike

I am working up to longer hikes again, and so on Saturday I aimed for at least five miles in our local Black Hill park. My route traced one of the lake's northern peninsulas, and so was rather flat.

Byrd's Nest #4

On our last day in Shenandoah, we got another hike in, only a little more challenging - a loop to Byrd's Nest #4. We started on Rocky Branch, which was surprisingly overgrown, then took the Appalachian Trail to the Neighbor Mountain trail. We followed it to Byrd's Nest #4, one of four day-use shelters. What was supposed to be a mown (I think, based on other photos) field was filled with waist-hike grass, which obscured the trail. But after a lunch break, we plowed through and down Neighbor Mountain back to Skyline Drive and our car.

Traces Trail

We spent a few days in Shenandoah, and in large part due to the weather only did a little hiking. On one day, I did a solo hike of the Traces Trail, an easy loop around Mathews Arm campground.

Dyke Marsh

For the PATC Challenge, any hike on National Trails Day counted, so we took advantage of this to make a Pride-month appropriate visit to a trail that had been on our list for a while - Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve. This is a short, one-mile flat trail in Alexandria, starting from the Mount Vernon Trail. 

The difficulty level was very low, of course, but we saw wildlife, including a little green snake. Some volunteers were out planting trees, too. At the end of the trail, which is mostly gravel turnpike, is a boardwalk with views of the Potomac.