Daleville, VA (USA)

Had a few things to be thankful for this morning: I left the Catawba Valley last night and missed the snow showers; I didn't try to hike down from the ridge yesterday when I was already tired; and I was wearing the new hiking boots. Those things made all the difference during the challenging hike. Ate breakfast at the hotel.  Arrived at the trailhead on VA-624 at 0745 and headed SOBO. There was snow on the ground, light at first but gradually thickening as I climbed. When I reached Lost Spectacles Gap, it started snowing again. I'd expected flurries but it started to stick on my clothes (hmmm...). I continued up to the top of the ridge via some VERY nerve-racking rock faces. It took all my concentration not to fall the 100+ feet below - this was real climbing, not just the typical AT rock scramble. The snow didn't make it easier, either... I encountered a local guy named Nelson who had already climbed to the top and was heading down. We discussed how great we had it to be out on the mountain alone on such a good day for a hike. He warned me that he'd almost fallen a few times and this made sense when I encountered even harder terrain near the spur trail to the Dragon's Tooth. It took both hands, both feet and my butt to avoid a huge fall and I felt off balance for most of the morning. At the top, I kept going on the AT so I could reached yesterday's turnaround point on Cove Mountain. I was able to find it (although snow always changes the views...) and then decided against going out on the Tooth trail because the snow was really coming down by that point. The descent was harder than the climb and the visibility decreased until I reached Lost Spectacles Gap again. At that point, it started to get warmer and the snow turned the ground to mud during my backtrack. Made good time to the car, arriving at 1115. I'd only seen two people on the popular hiking route and was glad for the solitude. Logged only 6 miles today but it felt good to have been able to make the climb and avoid injury. Looking forward to my next chance for a hike!  Got a gas fillup (extremely cheap fuel cost) in Troutville (1140).  Drove home via Harrisonburg and ate dinner with Brenna at Ruby's Arcade (stayed until 1700).  Drove home via I-81 (traffic jam), I-66 (snow storm near Front Royal) and I-495. Home at 1930.  AT Today = 2.8 miles / G.T. AT = 853.28 miles