A Sense of Wonder

Sometimes in your life you stumble upon a place so magical that you are struck with a sense of wonder.

Last weekend we took a hike to a place called The Channels.  It was almost three hours of driving, a portion of it far off the beaten path, to get there.  But I had discovered an article about this hidden gem a month ago and knew we had to make the trip.

Three miles of well maintained trail, all up, to get to these slot canyons.  We saw an abundance of wildflowers the whole way, and barely any other hikers.  You know you are almost there when you reach the old fire tower.

I cannot begin to describe how fabulous The Channels were.  It didn't feel like Virginia.  It felt like the American Southwest.

The rock formations go on and on.  You can explore for hours.  The twins were deep into crevices, but I stayed in more habitable areas.

I have to say, this is one of my most favorite places, my most favorite hikes, that I've found in Virginia.

As for Pierce and Paul, they explored a little.  But they spent much of the time trying to get a SOTA contact on the portable ham radio at the summit.

I hope everyone is having a marvelous spring, and enjoying their own sense of wonder in nature.  

2018 Wrap Up

Looks like I haven't posted since last July.  I don't have much to say, but here's a few fun pics from the last half of the year (and yesterday).  If you follow me on Instagram, these will be repeats for you.

From this fall's GoFest festival.  This is the outdoors focused festival in Roanoke. 

We got a new puppy.  I had a pic of him and Pierce at the vet from when we first got him at 7 weeks old, but when I uploaded it Blogger kept turning it sideways.  But here he is being bratty, having thrown his ball in my coffee because he wanted to play fetch.  He's an Australian cattle dog/blue heeler.   

 

Cort was an elf in his school musical.  He also played a newsboy in a community theatre production of Gypsy last fall.  This picture is coming up sideways too.  I'm just going to leave it. 

 

 

We went to Fairystone state park with my brother and his family over Thanksgiving.  Here's a picture from the area by the dam, following a hike we did.

 

We got 15 inches of snow last month.  This is A LOT for us.  Cort made an igloo.

 

Yesterday we went to Smith Mountain Lake state park to start off 2019 with a hike.

 

It was mild weather for January, and we had fun on the trail around Turtle Island.  I usually do a wrap up post for my books and running each year.  Last year I ran 679 miles.  I broke my running streak of 536 days last June, when I got lyme disease.  It's been a long recovery and I'm running short distances a few days a week and trying to rebuild my stamina, even so many months later.  Last year I read 124 books.  Standout reads were The Stand, Far from the Tree, Educated, and Where the Crawdads Sing.

Thanks to those of you who checked in.  Wishing you all a happy 2019!