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camping

Happy Camper

September 1, 2020 by gracefulfitness Leave a Comment
Mount Rogers

Among other, less positive, obvious challenges, my Summer 2020 has been the year of the Great Outdoors.

So many times this summer my end-of-the-day shower water ran dirty as I washed away the muddy mountain bike ride off my shins or the garden clay off my feet.

I love it.

In addition to more mountain biking and gardening than ever, my Summer has been full of walks, hikes, and lots of camping.

I’ve slept in a tent every single Saturday except for one since the first week of July! And I’ll be back in “the plastic palace” this weekend as well. That’s 9 out of 10 weekends 🙂

Most of these camping trips were of the “car” variety; everything but the kitchen sink thrown in the truck, sleeping with real sheets and blankets, french press coffee in the morning…

Last weekend was a proper “backpacking” trip to Grayson Highlands, a place I’ve wanted to visit for most of the 10 years I’ve lived in Virginia.

Our plan was to do a 20 mile loop over three days, two nights. The weather had other ideas so we scraped the first night and the loop, instead hiking in and out 4 miles and skipping the torrential rain of Friday night.

Grayson Highlands

The Mount Rogers/Grayson Highlands area is the most diverse landscape in Virginia I’ve ever experienced.

Within those few miles we saw everything from wild ponies to moss covered Spruce forest and the highest point in Virginia to huge rock outcroppings and sweeping vistas.

The ponies were brought to the area and released in the mid 1970’s for the purpose of keeping the brush down. The herd has thrived and we saw about a dozen over the two days, including the two who tromped right through our campsite while we were falling asleep!

We camped at Thomas Knob, after breakfast on Sunday we walked less than a mile up the trail to reach the highest point in Virginia, the top of Mount Rogers at 5,729 feet above sea level.

Mount Rogers

The “peak” is heavily forested so a little undramatic as a summit but the woods around the very top are gorgeous and so unique for the Mid-Atlantic. The damp Spruce forest looks so much like the Pacific Northwest!

Mount Rogers

The logistics of visiting Grayson Highlands/Mount Rogers:

  • Backpackers can pack at either Grayson Highlands State Park or the Elk Garden trailhead to explore the area. You must pay to park in the Backpackers Lot at the park and reservations are highly recommended, it fills up. I cannot speak to the Elk Garden trail because we parked at the Park, however I can say that the way we did it, which takes you through the Wilburn Ridge area, is absolutely stunning. Plus, your car will ostensibly be a bit more secure because the Park is patrolled as opposed to Elk Garden, which is parking on the side of a public road.
  • If you want to explore the area but car camp instead, Grayson Highlands State Park has two car/RV campgrounds. There are tons of trails around there and from what I experienced, you only need to walk a mile or two to get to an area the ponies frequent.
  • The Appalachian Trail runs right through the area (we were on it most of the time), so the mileage is virtually unlimited if you want to go further afield, pun intended.
  • We camped on Thomas Knob, which is on the white blazed Appalachian Trail. There is an AT shelter there, a pivy, and a spring (we brought a water filter to refill our bottles). There are about a dozen well-established campsites spanning the mile or so of the knob, most of them are north of the shelter (before you arrive at it when coming from the Park) but there are a few nice ones just past the shelter. Knowing that the Backpackers Parking Lot was full, we were very pleasantly surprised to have our pick of sites and only see/hear a few other campers.

This happy camper is going to go get her hands in the dirt 🙂

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Posted in: travel Tagged: backpacking, camping, Grayson Highlands, Grayson Highlands State Park, highest point in Virginia, Mount Rogers, Mt. Rogers, The Appalachian Trail, Thomas Knob, Thomas Knob Shelter, wild ponies

October is for Challenges

October 1, 2012 by gracefulfitness 9 Comments

With the return of October my mind turns to pumpkins, hot tea, earlier dinners and bedtimes, more t.v. watching, the possibility of frost, the possibility of snow!, hearty soups, baking muffins, and watching the leaves change color and fall to the ground.

With the change of the calender page, I’m also feeling a little more settled into my Fall routine.  September was a whirlwind of attempting to stay on top of my new teaching schedule while still enjoying the spontaneity and fun of late Summer.

Tate and I made one last-ditch effort at Summer with a Saturday night camping trip to Spy Rock, high in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

I love this spot.

Tate made us coffee and breakfast as the sun burned off the nighttime chill.

 

The leaves were ablaze!

 

Spy Rock September

I am embarking on two “challenges” this month; Grow Soul Beautiful‘s pose-a-day and a ascending duration meditation.

The pose a day challenge is a fun way of using instagram and yoga to connect with other people and remind yourself to asana everyday.

DAY 1! Yoga break at the clinic.  I keep some yoga pants in my desk for this very purpose. 🙂

Feel free to follow @gracefulfitness on Instagram to see my daily posing!

The second challenge is one I have set for myself.  Thirty-one days of mediation, with the time in minutes corresponding to the date.  Today is the 1st, I meditated for one minute this morning.

I’ve never had a regular mediation practice but there have been different times in my life that I’ve felt I would benefit from one, and now is such a time.  I’m pretty sure that the first two weeks will be rather easy, then 15 minutes will be a threshold, and from there out the daily sitting will become a challenge in many ways.

Feel free to join in either of these challenges!  Or set your own and share with a comment!

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Posted in: yoga Tagged: #YogaADay, camping, Grow Soul Beautiful, meditation, Spy Rock
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I am Faith Levine, a movement instructor, home gardener, mountain biker, hiker, pickle maker, closet poet, and best of friend to some of the most amazing women in the world.

I’d love to hear from you,
gracefulfitness@live.com

Header photo: Meredith Coe

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Hi, I'm Faith! New? Check out I Am for my story, I Cook for recipes, and I Move for some motivation to get moving! I'd love to hear from you, e-mail me gracefulfitness@live.com
Header photo: Meredith Coe

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