Lots of little treats: snow, 360 degree views, a peaceful pine grove, moss-covered trolls and more.

Who: Bryce, Kristen

Yesterday (Saturday) was cold and rainy, and we woke up today cold and trying to figure out if we wanted to stay in bed all day or go out for a hike. We stayed in bed for a part of the morning before finally decided to go. We made breakfast (avocado toast, biscuits, fruit salad), packed up and headed out for Cole Mountain.

We first hiked Cole Mountain in 2018, the year after the 52-Hike Challenge, with Julia, Stanley and Trevor. We did it as an overnight backpacking trip - we left our packs in the car, hiked the six-mile Cole Mountain loop, picked up our packs and hiked three miles to Mount Pleasant and camped for the night. Neither Kristen nor I could remember the Cole Mountain hike very well, so we decided to go again.

The weather was beautiful - sunny, temps in the 40s, a nice break from the recent spate of gloomy clouds. When we got to the trailhead, though, we were surprised to see snow. Apparently the brief sleet that had hit Harrisonburg yesterday was actual snow in the mountains above Buena Vista, and had stuck around. We were a little concerned that maybe we weren't totally prepared for the conditions, so we hedged by deciding to do the loop in the counterclockwise direction, which would get us to the summit of Cole Mountain within a couple of miles, so it would be easier to turn back if we decided to cut off the hike after reaching the top.

Fortunately, the snow pretty much vanished a half-mile into the hike as we got out of the shadow of the mountain. It was a short, somewhat steep climb up to the summit of Cole Mountain, which is a bald, meaning that there are no trees at the top, leaving a close to 360 degree view, especially in the winter, when the leaves are all gone. Kristen and I enjoyed the beautiful vista. I found the USGS benchmark at the top.

After leaving the summit, it's 4.5 miles back to the car, mostly downhill. Out of the shadow of the mountain, the temperature was pleasant, and the hiking was easy. On the way we passed a mysterious stone wall (who built it? why?), a serene pine grove which was dark and silent, with snow still on the ground, and a field of mossy boulders that looked like the trolls in Disney's Frozen. And as usual, lots of interesting rocks, mosses, trees and lichen.

On the way home we stopped at the White's Travel Center in Raphine to get some Popeye's, which I've been thinking about since we got back from New Orleans (apparently, that's where people who live in New Orleans go to eat, who knew?). It was good enough, I guess.

We'll head back sometime soon to do the Mount Pleasant part of the hike again, which can be accessed from the same general parking area.

Field Guide Fact of the Day: The moss in the picture below is the juniper haircap moss (at least according to Google Lens). Here's the Wikipedia article to learn more.