Hiking Devil's Marbleyard

The other weekend we all got the hiking itch, so we loaded up in the car and headed out for a new adventure.  Granted, it was supposedly a strenous hike, but we just knew we could do it.  Before hitting the trail, we filled little bellies with grilled cheeses at the Pink Cadillac Diner, and then after a few wrong turns, we found the Belfast trailhead. 

 The boys loved running back and forth across this bridge that marked the very start of our hike.

Back in the day, I guess this used to be a place called Camp Powhatan, as evidenced by the stone marker.

There is a cycle of cicadas that is emerging this summer in Virginia.  They only come out every 17 years.  We heard their noise frequently throughout the day, louder on some parts of the trail than others.

Mountain laurel, in bloom:

The trail started off so nicely.  Packed dirt.  A few little steps.  Nice and wide. 

I loved this little waterfall, behind the blooming rhododendron.  It reminded me of the Weeping Rock in Zion. 

As we climbed, we came into some stunning views, of those beloved Blue Ridge mountains I call home.

And here, you catch a first glimpse of the Devil's Marbleyard - an immense field of boulders on the side of a mountain.  It became quite rigorous getting up there.  We had to finally put the twins in the packs for fears of their safety on the big rocks, and we had to take it very slow with Pierce too.  He was a trooper, even on the steep sections, but I finally reached a long slanted boulder that I didn't feel comfortable having him cross, and we decided to call it a day and head down.

Me and Cort, with the marbleyard in the background:

Pierce rock scrambles:

That's a LOT of big rocks!

Navigating, very carefully, back down:

We found a friend.  "Odie" (according to his collar) joined us for the walk back down the mountain.  The boys were thrilled.

And soon Paul and I found ourselves without our hiking sticks.  Turns out the little guys enjoyed trying them out.

Hiking is a lot more fun when you have a hiking pole.

Brotherly love -

Four hours later, we made it back to the car.  Several servings of Doritos and a few minutes after that all we saw was this:

But you're not surprised, are you?