No running today as it was hiking day! Got up early and made it out to Old Rag in the Shenandoah Valley around 7:15. Hiked .8 miles up to the ridge trail start point and headed out from there. Took the ridge trail, which I realized was pretty intense up to the summit, climbing up the bolders, crevices, etc. to finally get there. Made it up the 3.5 mile trek in about 2 hours. Spent about 45min - 1 hour at the top just enjoying nature. It was something I really just needed to do with everything that's going on with me at this point. Quite calming and it soothed my soul. Set out contining on the trail down the mountain and made it back in approximately 1.5 more hours. During the trek back, I was startled by some noise in the woods, looked over, and there was a black bear that was probably 400-500 lbs. I was quite startled and moved a little quicked along the trail to distance myself from the bear. After I reached the trailhead, I continued back down the access road to the overflow parking lot and noticed several people standing around looking at one side of the woods. Wow....about 15 feet away from me was another black bear..a little smaller. I watched it from a safer distance and then we saw 2 little bear cubs following her through the woods. They actually moved out of the woods, crossed the road (I got a great picture), and headed out in another direction. It was my first encounter with a black bear in the wild, and after I figured out that they weren't going to hurt me, it was pretty cool.
Basically, the entire day was great as I finished my hike well before noon. I'm already sore from climbing, jumping, pulling myself all over the place, so that's good. It was probably a great mix-up workout from the regular running and going to the gym. Now...the next hike I'm planning is out in the Shenandoah and it's called the Bluff Trail/AT Loop. I'll check the schedule, but I'd like to do it sooner than later. Well...I'm sore and Pepper needs another walk. He missed me today but would have gone crazy if he saw the bear. | 