Recently taken by one of our guests, our morning sunrises show one more reason that we love our commute to work each day. I know, its a hard thing to have to put up with, but it is our life.
We have taken the opportunity to 'do' a couple more hikes. Two weeks ago, we tried to summit Angels Rest. The trail starts in Pearisburg, VA and treks up the Appalachian Trail (yes, the AT comes down out of the mountains, into Pearisburg, crosses the New River, and then climbs back into the mountains again). Unfortunately, we were a bit early in the year and found the summit capped in ice with snow on top. Gaby, the wonder hiker, was willing to go to the summit but Janet and I decided that it has been here for millions of years and we'd have another go in a couple of weeks. Gaby, of course, uses four paws and has a much lower center of gravity then Janet and I do. None-the-less, the hike is beautiful. One climbs about 1600' in 1.5 miles, so bring your hiking boots (and maybe some crampons for winter hiking).
The other area that we've been starting to explore is Pandapas Pond. There is a nice, fairly level hike around the pond itself, with boardwalks and side streams. I can see where the summer activities with younger hikers could be quite fun (skipping stones, bird viewing, frog watching, searching for bugs and such). From the two central parking lots, there are a number of hikes/bikes for the more adventurous hikers/bikers. We have hiked part of the eastern edge (along the Eastern Divide - more in a future post) and I can see that we'll come back often. I hope, next we'll be able to take out the mountain bikes.
