First hike of 2024!

Who: Bryce, Kristen

January was a busy travel month for me - Mom's 80th birthday in New York, Uncle Howard's funeral in Utah, and Kristen and my trip to New Orleans, so somehow we managed to get to February without hitting a trail somewhere. We decided to fix that.

Often it seems like our first hike of the year is either High Knob in West Virginia or High Top in Shenandoah National Park. They're both fairly short hikes, and we can drive to either trailhead in about 30 minutes from our house, so they're both easy trips.

This time around we decided to go the the park. We briefly considered parking at the ranger station and hiking the AT up to the main trailhead, but decided to just drive up to the parking area. There weren't any open spots, so we parked on the side of the road and headed up the mountain.

The weather was beautiful - warm (for early February) and clear. We passed several hikers coming down. We leapfrogged one older gentleman going up. We passed him as he stopped for a rest, then about half-mile from the top, he approached us as we were stopped to shed a layer. He asked if we knew how much further we had to go. When we told him, he smiled and let us know he would be turning around, but would be back the next week to try to make it all the way to the top.

The overlook at the top was pleasant - we had forgotten how nice the view from High Top is. We don't often think of doing this hike - it's straight uphill to the top, and straight downhill coming back.