I take in all of the extra Taylor snuggles I can, this is going to be the first weekend away from her.
Blake and I stopped by his parents house before we left for our weekend of camping to pick up some firewood and while we were walking back to the shed we found a little box turtle.
On the way to Piney Blake and I stop by REI (I am trying to find a new pair of hiking boots and due to the shortage, my size is never in stock). We also stopped at the Charlottesville Wegmans for food and of course their chocolate chip cookies!!
We arrived at Piney River and took our mandatory pictures as we entered the George Washington National Forest.
We begin driving up and down the road looking for a campsite for the weekend. The campsites are first come, first serve. We had a couple of places in mind as to where we wanted to camp but unfortunately they had already been claimed. We found a spot Blake never camped at before and it was the perfect spot for what we needed. Blake’s brother Ty is also coming to camp with us for the weekend.
Blake and I set up our tent, got a fire started and took a couple of pictures of Gander.
Once we got settled, I started to cook dinner and realized that I forgot to get sour cream. We went to the little country store that is “close by” and thankfully they had a small container. We get back and I begin to cook again. We had kielbasa and pierogies, a dish we have about 2-3 times a month. It is one of the kids favorite meals and one that I can normally get everyone to eat without complaining that they don’t like it. Being cooked on a camp stove this time, it turned out really well and we will make note of this for the next camping trip.
A little bit later, Ty and his dog Kenny got to the campsite. Blake and I helped him get things ready for the weekend and heated him up some dinner. We sat around the campfire for a couple of hours and then went to bed.
In the morning, we sit around the fire and talk about plans for the day. The plan Blake and I had is to have Ty drop us off at The Priest trailhead and we hike the entire day along the Appalachian Trail and he would pick us up that evening near the campsite. It would have been our longest hike to date.
Prior to beginning our hike we stopped by Mac’s Country Store https://www.facebook.com/pages/Macs-Country-Store/107202059337334 for breakfast. Blake and I had hot chocolate and Ty had coffee. I was about halfway through my sandwich and Ty accidentally knocked his coffee all over my food and myself. He felt terrible and I thought it was funny. We cleaned up, finished breakfast and headed to the trailhead. Gander stayed with Ty during the hike since it is a busy hike and he is very hard to keep on a leash. He does 1000 times better off leash, plus he is harmless.
We arrived at the packed trailhead. Ty dropped up off and we began our hike. The starting elevation for the hike is about 970 feet with the summit of The Priest being 4026 feet. We captured a picture of The Priest before we began our hike.
I was already not feeling the best. I have been having some health issues going and but I wanted to try and push as far as I could. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it far at all and we turned around about 20 minutes into the hike and around 550 feet of elevation gain. I was disappointed in myself, okay extremely disappointed in myself because I know the only thing holding me back is what I have going on medically. Thankfully Blake is extremely understanding. We turn around and begin out descent back towards the parking lot. We had hope that maybe Ty would still be there knowing there was a possibility that we would be returning to the trailhead, however he was not there. We begin walking down Route 56 and hoping that we will hit an area quickly that has cell coverage all while knowing that if Ty is already back at the campsite he will have no service.
We just kept walking and walking and walking. I kept asking Blake what we were going to do and he said he didn’t have a plan yet and was thinking about what to do. A little big later he tells me to stick out my thumb. I said “to do what? Hitchhike?????” He said yes and that he hopes someone will pick up us and bring us to Mac’s Country Store where there is cell service and from there we can text Ty and when he heads out at some point he will receive the message. We keep on walking and put our thumb out every time we hear a car. No such luck so we keep on walking. We ended up walking about 3.5 miles and we see a silver sedan turn around and we laughed for a second thinking there is no way this car is really turning around for us, the car was really turning around for us! One thing that is known in the hiking community is Trail Magic which is basically acts of generosity. A female picked us up. She herself was actually coming from The Priest, she hikes it a couple of times a month for exercise. She asked where we were headed and we told her that we are camping at Piney River and that if she could just get us to the store we could get a ride from there or hopefully at some point Ty would see our text. She kept driving past the store and kept asking us where to turn to get to the campsite. She ended up driving us the entire way back to the campsite. We couldn’t believe it. This was definitely trail magic in full force. We were extremely grateful for the ride and conversation. We gave her money for the trouble and she went on her way and she also learned about a great camping location for the future.
Ty saw us pull up to the site and immediately got up and asked us what was going on. We told him the whole store and we all stood there and laughed and laughed and laughed. Never in my life did I ever think I would hitchhike let alone in the mountains with no cell service. It was an experience for sure and I am so happy it all worked out.
We sat with Ty and had lunch and the Blake and I went driving around. We tried to drive up the road leading to the towers on top of a mountain but that drive ended all too quickly when we came across a tree laying across the road.
With no way to move the tree we turned around and drove to Staton’s Creek Falls. We love these falls and since it had been raining the water level was up creating a more spectacular sight.
We stayed here for about 45 minutes and kept driving. We both spotted out of the corner of our eyes what looked like a waterfall we have never seen before. Blake turned around and we got out to explore the area. We did come across a roadside waterfall (unsure of the name). We took a couple of pictures.
While at the waterfall we found what we think are Conopholis Americana. If that is not correct, someone please help me out. We have never seen it before and this is the first time we have noticed it in the area and when we got back to the campsite, it was growing there too.
On the way back to the campsite, another thing goes wrong and Blake’s car turns off on its own and we cannot get it to start. Thankfully for us, we are descending the mountain back to camp and Blake puts it in neutral and the car coast down the mountain and stops right at the campsite. Again Ty meets us and we all engage in laughter.
Blake and Ty work on his car and eventually get it working. Later we have dinner and sit by the fire until we head to bed for the night.
We have pastries the next morning for breakfast and sit by the fire for a few before we pack up to head home. We had a great weekend and Taylor did great for her first weekend away from us. It was hard not being able to talk to her because of no cell service but well all survived. Taylor has amazing grandparents that took excellent care of her.
Nic of Time - Travel 