A River Hike with Chocolate

On Saturday I returned to Shenandoah River State Park for another hike and this time chose the river trails rather than the forest trails we took last time. The trails on Thursday had been very crunchy beneath their thick layers of leaves but today the warmer temperatures had warmed the mud and now it was slippery.

Once again there were few people around and only a few birds' songs broke the silence.

In some shadier areas the ice remained but for the most part I had to tread very carefully and often needed to walk on the sides of the paths in the thicker vegetation where I could get a grip.

Climbing up about 500 ft led back to the spectacular view of the Shenandoah River. This is probably one of the most scenic parks in Virginia, opening in 1999 and offering over 24 miles of trails that range from flat river walks to meadows to hilly forest climbs. It's becoming a firm favorite with me and I plan on bringing my mountain bike out here too to explore more of the trails. I brought the kayak here in the summer and loved the work out with the rills on the river.

I hiked for about 3 hours but have no idea how many miles I walked, likely about 6 or so, but even though a few more folks had turned up at the parking lot as I got back to the car, I hadn't passed a single person on my hike.

I took a slow drive back home exploring more country lanes, finding longhorn cattle and some pretty barns on the Marriott Ranch. By the time I got home I was ready for a snack and what could be better than a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, especially one that was 8oz! My friend Jenn had bought me a two pack which was a pound in weight total of chocolate and peanut butter. These things were massive but I was pretty confident that I could demolish one of them in one go. That was a big fail, I managed half of one and even that was a struggle.

 It dwarfed my bottle of nail polish so I got out my little people for some fun photos, and had to eat a quarter of the cup to show the inside of the deliciously gorgeous chocolatey treat.

This package was a lot of peanut butter cup to consume but as always I put a lot of effort and determination towards the task and can now report that the mission was finally accomplished. But I'm not too sure I'd repeat the event!