18 weeks pregnant, my belly is getting bigger and I want to go hiking for my birthday. My birthday is 11/20 and we have all the kids that day and Blake works Friday and Sunday of my birthday weekend so we decided to do our celebration 11/16. I drive up to his brother’s apartment the night before and stay the night to be in Richmond when Blake gets off work. As soon as Blake gets off work, we head up to Amherst County. We start our day with a quick hike to Panther Falls.
Panther Falls
Distance: 0.3 miles
Elevation: 29 feet
Panther Falls is a quick out and back hike that offers natural swimming holes and stunning views. Being an easy hike, the rocks around the falls can quickly fill up with people. Being mid November we were the only ones there and it was nice to sit and enjoy the sounds of the falls.
We take a couple quick pictures before loading back up in the car heading to our main hike.
We arrive at the Mount Pleasant trailhead and look at the trail sign posted to decide which way on the loop we want to take. Let me clarify, Blake looked at the sign. The hike was supposed to be an out and back hike along the AT to Cole mountain through meadows. Well that trailhead happened to be a little further back down the road. Trusting Blake, I head in the direction he says to go. We ended up on the Henry Lanum Loop Trail.
Henry Lanum Loop Trail
Distance: 6.3 miles
Elevation: 1,322 feet gained
The trail offers views from the summit of Mount Pleasant as well as views from Mount Pleasant East and West Summits. Beautiful views from each summit.
We hiked the trail clockwise and the ascent was quite the ascent. Had we gone counter clockwise, the elevation gain was not as drastic. But at the end of the day, I made it. (we both made it).
The views from the summits are spectacular and well worth the elevation gain. From the summit we could also see the trail we had planned to hike…… Personally I think Blake set me up but he wont admit that.
We sat down at the summit for a snack and take in the views for a bit before hiking back to the car.
Back in the car, Blake tells me we are going back to the city (Richmond) for my birthday dinner. He took me to La Grotta. He has been taking me here for my birthday since we started dating. The restaurant is amazing and offers course dinner with wine pairings for each course. This year I did not get to have the wine pairing, I did enjoy watching Blake enjoy the wine pairing for the both of us. Despite no wine pairing, my “water” pairing was perfect and we enjoyed our meals and had a wonderful dessert.
After a wonderful day filled with hiking followed by a tasty dinner, we head back to Blake’s brother’s apartment for the night since Blake has to work in the morning. It is a lot faster for him to get to work from the apartment vs driving the 45 minutes home and hour to work the next morning.
Nic of Time - Travel 
Very nice blog! Your photos are great and really give the reader an idea of what the views are like.
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