Lauralea and I went for a short, hilly run this morning — net change in elevation of 350 feet, repeated several times over 2.5 miles — and then went to Lost River State Park for a hike up Big Ridge (elevation 3200-3300 feet) on White Oak Trail. On the way, we passed groves of trees that looked almost exactly the way I imagine the edges of (nerd alert) Lórien looking.

From the end of White Oak Trail, we took Miller’s Rock trail a short distance south to Cranny Crow overlook, with a panoramic view of four (?) counties in Virginia and West Virginia. This is the view of Hardy County, where we’re staying.

Some folks who came up there on horseback (they passed us, but we kept up pretty well) took a picture of us from the stone shelter.

To me, the eastward views toward Shenandoah County, Virginia, were most spectacular.

After a picnic lunch (leftover brined smoked chicken, crisp red bell pepper slices, and graham crackers) and a hike back down, we spent a couple hours of late-afternoon eighty-degree sunshine at the State Park pool (including some more Adam Smith reading) before returning to the cabin, where I put together a not-bad spaghetti with meat sauce that Lauralea and I ate out on the deck in the cooling dusk.

I couldn’t have asked for a better day.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Asides. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.