foggy forest

In the space of a few weeks, it's gone from feeling summery to wintry.  Over the weekend we had one cool, foggy, misty day - which I enjoyed while traipsing through shenandoah national park - and then a day that started out feeling like April and ended up feeling like, well, January.   The hike was led by a natural history expert so in addition to stopping to catch my breath, I stopped to learn about my surroundings.   There were some amazingly beautiful rock formations in this part of the park.

  

Potomac Heritage Trail

In the last two months of the year, completed two hikes and approximately 25 miles of the Potomac Heritage Trail -- "an evolving, 710-mile network of locally-managed trails and routes that embraces both sides of the Potomac, from the mouth of the river at the Chesapeake Bay to the Allegheny Highlands in the upper Ohio River basin."   So says the National Park Service.











Hike number one was in November (right after getting over the first of three colds in an eight-week span).  We had some beautiful fall foliage that day.

  

The second hike was two days after Christmas (right after getting over cold # 3 of 3).  

And it reached nearly 70 degrees.  Go figure.  

Amazing to find so much beauty in nature so close to the city.

Wishing all a happy 2016.