This summer, in late June/early July, I took five days and did a 1600 mile solo roadtrip through four of the southwest United States. I started in central New Mexico and drove north, passing through the corner of Colorado and into Utah, eventually looping downward through Arizona and finally back into New Mexico. Along the way, I hit four national parks, did 20+ miles of hiking in temperatures above 80 degrees, and went through a LOT of water. In efforts to do this on a budget, I rented a Kia Rio which got 40+ MPG (offset by "underage" rental fees), stayed mostly in Airbnbs, and ate peanut butter sandwiches or canned ravioli for most meals. It was a blast.
Zion National Park
Arizona line
The first day was a lot of driving (roughly nine hours). I began my trip heading north and made several stops along the way. The first was at the Aztec Ruins in northwest New Mexico, where I spent an hour or so wandering around the reconstructed dwellings.
I also stopped at the Four Corners monument that lies at the epicenter of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Of all the places I visited, this is the one that felt most like a tourist trap. Pay $5 to stand in line for half an hour and have your picture taken at the same place hundreds of others people are going to that day. 3/10, would not recommend.
Look at me, I'm a tourist!
The bend
My last major stop of the day (and probably favorite roadside stop of the whole trip) was in Page, Arizona to see Horseshoe Bend. I had seen pictures of this canyon before, and it looked amazing, so I really wanted to see it for myself. A huge sign in the parking lot flashed dire warnings for anyone who would attempt the hike without water, so I was expecting a bit of a trek to get there. Turns out it was less than 3/4 a mile over a couple of ridges. This overlook was not nearly as developed as many of the other ones I encountered during the rest of my trip (with concrete, guardrails, etc.), and there were a few people who seemed very set on testing fate near the edge.
The edge
My lodging that night was a hostel in Kanab, Utah. Little sketchy, but it was a bed close to Zion National Park, which I hoped to visit the following day. By the time I arrived in the park the next morning, the parking lots had already started filling up. I parked alongside the road in the town just outside the gates of the park and entered on foot with other latecomers
Quick side note on the "America the Beautiful" Pass. If you plan on visiting three or more of the big national parks within a year, this is definitely the way to go. For $80, you and anyone else in your vehicle (or you + three others when per-person fees are charged) are allowed admittance at any of the national parks (as well as other sites managed by the Forest Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, and Bureau of Land Management, among others) for a year. Considering admittance to Zion, Bryce Canyon, and the Grand Canyon was $30 each, this pass paid for itself just within a couple of days.
Zion canyon
Having arrived late, I made the decision while riding the bus into the heart of the park to spend the full day there, rather than splitting it with Bryce Canyon, as I had originally intended. I'm very glad that I did! Zion ended up being the highlight of my entire trip. I did two hikes and there were many more I would have liked to have done. I could easily have spent several whole days there.
My first challenge was the Angel's Landing hike. My friend Dietrich had recommended it to me as a tough hike, but very rewarding when you got to the top. At about five miles round trip and ~1,500 ft of elevation gain, it is known to be one of the more strenuous hikes in the park. It is also one of the most dangerous, with the last half a mile or so lined with chains that you hold onto to keep from falling off either side of the mountain (see picture below for perspective). The park service is aware of "about five people" who have died accidentally on this trail.
Angel's Landing (note hikers for scale)
Ledge sitting
With that in mind, I filled my Camelbak, put on some sunscreen, and headed out. It was hot, and the elevation, terrain, and technicality made it probably the hardest hike I've done. I was thankful for every bit of shade along the way, and my (sarcastic) mantra became, "Yay, switchbacks. I love switchbacks." I actually made it all the way through my two liters of water by about mile four, on the way back down. The view from the top, though, was incredible.
Little sweaty
I'm a big fan of shade
My second hike of the day was The Narrows - a slot canyon with a river flowing through it. You can hike up the canyon wading in the river (which can get waist deep and beyond at times) for quite a few miles. I ended up going two or three miles upstream, just to get away from the hordes of people, but I met a couple of guys coming back who had gone six or so miles.
My turn around point
Smoke on the horizon
That night I stayed in Panguitch, Utah, which I didn't realize happened to be on the edge of the large Brian Head Canyon fire that was burning that weekend. I first noticed something was up when I started smelling smoke, and then saw the fire on the ridge as I rolled into town. The second picture below is a view from behind the motel I was staying in that night, which was just across the road from the "incident command base." I asked a couple of people if there was any concern, and their response was overwhelmingly casual, saying things like, "Oh, it's 65% contained."
This is fine
I went to church at the local cowboy chapel the next morning (the weekend before the 4th of July, ironically), which looked to be the only non-Mormon church in town. They wanted me to stay to eat soup with them, but I wanted to get going to my next destination... Bryce Canyon National Park.
Wall of windows
On my way into the park I unknowingly boarded "The Happy Bus" with a very enthusiastic bus driver who had obviously been doing this for quite a few years. The nice people of Blacksburg Transit have given me an overall positive view of bus operators, and this gentleman was no exception. He knew the capacity of his bus and wanted to make sure it was full of (happy) people!
A beautiful day for a hike
I devised a hiking route based on some advice from my friend Adam, whose family had visited the park earlier in the summer. It consisted of a 6 and 1/2 mile loop connecting the Queen's, Peekaboo, and Navajo trails. This was the first time I had done an "inversion hike." In Virginia, we hike up mountains. Then, when we're tired, we hike back down. Canyon hiking, however, is just the opposite. There's definitely a psychological difference in having to climb back up to the the rim at the end of your hike.
Selfies with tall things
While Bryce did have some cool rock formations, it wasn't nearly as varied as Zion, and I think I enjoyed the hikes there more. However, Bryce did have the advantage of being much less crowded than Zion on the day that I went. I hiked several miles on the floor of the canyon without seeing a single person, which was great.
North Kaibab Trail overlook
The next day I had a long drive to Sedona, Arizona (by way of Flagstaff) with a stop at The Grand Canyon thrown in for good measure. I actually planned on stopping at both the North and the South Rims of the canyon. Since hiking to the bottom or rim-to-rim is usually a multi-day, permitted affair, I was OK with my time there being limited, since I wasn't planning on doing any significant hiking. I stopped at the North Rim first, which, although not as spectacular as the South Rim (the primary tourist destination) may have been prettier in my opinion, with the vegetation. I hiked out to Bright Angel Point and then part of the way down the North Kaibab Trail.
Bright Angel Point
Bright Angel detail
After that, I drove around to the South Rim and hit a series of overlooks, gradually making my way to the main overlook near the visitor's center. I spent less time here than I would have liked, but I was under a little bit of a time limit because I had to check into my Airbnb by 8:00 PM.
The South Rim
Airbnb view
In Sedona I stayed with a nice older couple in a golf community. They had converted the private master bedroom suite to host guests, and I had a view of the red rocks out my bedroom window. They also cooked me breakfast the next morning, and I enjoyed talking with them before starting my final long day of driving.
As I drove through eastern Arizona back into New Mexico I stopped at the Painted Desert/Petrified Forest National Park. One of my coworkers had brought his family out earlier in the year and had loaned me the CD audio tour they had purchased for the park. I listened to this while driving a large loop through the park, which took an hour or two. It was interesting, but definitely falls to fourth on the list of National Parks I visited.
Lookit! Pretty rock
That night, I dropped off the rental car and got an Uber to my Airbnb for the night. I found this place while looking for a cheap place to stay near the airport. My flight left at 6:00 AM the next morning, so I knew I wouldn't be there for long, but, considering I had to go to work the day after I got back, I wanted to try to get some semblance of a night's rest (instead of just camping in the airport). With those criteria in mind, this room in someone's apartment popped up for $28 with no really terrible reviews. I thought, "I'm young. I'm by myself. Why not?!"
When my Uber driver dropped me off he asked, "Do you want me to stick around until you get inside?" I assured him I would be OK, as the host had told me to "just look for the bag of potting soil next to the front door" so that I didn't accidentally go into the wrong house. I reached through metal bars on the front door and let myself in. The first thing I noticed was the distinct lack of air conditioning on this hot summer night, which I didn't remember being mentioned in the listing. I wandered back to the bedroom and discovered the door didn't lock. No worries there, just set my pocket knife within easy reach of the bed. To their credit, the sheets at least looked clean, so I crawled into bed for a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, the mattress had a dip in it that kept wanting to dump me out in the floor, so I'm not sure if I ever really got any sleep that night.
When I got up at 4:00 AM to leave the next morning, I made my way to the bathroom and found a friendly cockroach feet up, twitching behind the door. So that was good. While waiting for my Uber in front of the house, the host actually showed up... at 4:15 AM. I asked no questions, gave him a nod, and moved on.
Thankfully, the rest of the trip home was relatively uneventful and I was back home around 3:00 PM the following day. Altogether an enjoyable vacation which resulted in some fun stories!
In June, my friends Dietrich, Carlie, Ken, and I joined our friend Beth (who was spending a month or so hiking a section of the Appalachian Trail) for a long weekend backpacking/camping trip along the Tennessee - North Carolina border. We spent two nights on the trail and hiked about twelve miles total from Spivey Gap to Sam's Gap.
Good morning!
I had done long hikes before, but never any real backpacking, so this was a new experience for me. Since it was warm, I decided to forgo a tent and use a hammock and rain fly instead. This worked out pretty well, except, as Carlie pointed out, since I was out in the open, I would be the first to be eaten by any wild animals.
Carlie joined Beth on Thursday, while Dietrich, Ken, and I drove down after work on Friday. Once we had dropped vehicles in the appropriate lots (and made a pitstop at McDonalds for Dietrich), we three guys started out in the dark to find Beth and Carlie at our first campsite. When we arrived at the campsite and heard Carlie and Beth, Dietrich and Ken greeted them in friendly voices (*read* loud caveman noises).
Before we went to bed, Beth and Carlie taught us their favorite game from the previous day called "It's Not a Bear." Gameplay proceeds as follows. When one hears an unknown noise in the forest, one turns to their friend and says, "That was not a bear." It seemed to work pretty well for us, seeing as how we didn't see a single bear the entire weekend.
Beth's resupply
Ken's breakfast
We started the next day with lots of uphill (and about as much complaining from Carlie). "Who put Ken in front? I have to take three steps for every one that he takes!" Despite the hard time I'm giving her, Carlie was a champ, hiking in a pair of flip flops because the shoes she had been wearing wore pretty bad blisters during the first day. Her footwear was a topic of interest for almost every hiker we passed, much to her chagrin.
A fork in the trail
A typical discussion when reaching a fork in the trail would sound something like the following:
Ken: "So, we have three options."
Dietrich: "How many options do we have?"
Ken: "Three."
Dietrich: "Are you sure?"
Carlie: "OK, what are our options?"
Ken: "Well, we could go straight up this hill, or go around it."
Dietrich: "Uh-huh. So what's the second option?"
Ken: "There are three options."
Dietrich: "Right, so what was the first one again?"
Approaching Big Bald
The biggest point of interest along this section of the trail was Big Bald, TN - a big, open bald (go figure). We reached this spot early afternoon on the second day. As we were passing through the meadow below, we met a couple, walking their dog, who happened to be from Delaware (which, including Ken, brings the population of that state to three, according to Dietrich).
On top of the bald, we met a group of muggles that had walked up the road from the ski resort below. One older guy in particular was extremely intrigued by the idea of thru-hiking (even over our short distance) and had lots of questions. "Generally, what do you eat? "Generally, do you get lost?" "Generally, do you sleep in tents?" (He really liked the word "generally.") We answered his questions as best we could, and, before we left, he asked to take a picture with us. As we were leaving, he told us, "You guys are heroes!"
Looking back at the meadow
A storm is brewing...
We were expecting a rainy weekend, but it wasn't until we were leaving Big Bald that a storm rolled in. We stopped to put on rain jackets and pack covers and then continued on our way. A while later, we noticed we had somehow left Ken behind and stopped to wait on him. He wasn't bitter about this development at all, but did spend the next several minutes telling us how some nice man he met helped him put on his pack cover since he didn't have anyone else around to help him.
It's hard to carry on a conversation in the rain, so we walked in silence for a good while... even after it had stopped raining. At this point, Carlie realized, to her horror, that she was the only (strong) extrovert in our group. She kept trying to start a conversation, but the rest of us weren't buying it. Eventually, she said, "Uggh. Why are all of my friends introverts?!"
Break time
As we were walking along, we discussed how we were hoping to stay dry that evening. Dietrich interjected, "Hey, Ken!" Ken replied, "Whatever you're about to say, it's not true." Dietrich went on to explain how he had cut some holes out of Ken's rain tarp to use the material to patch something, and Ken just nodded his head and said, "Uh-huh."
The rain had mostly stopped by the time we made it to our campsite, which was good. We cooked our dinner (including a couple of the large cans of food Ken had brought along) and then hung the rest of the food in the bear bag. It started to rain soon after dinner, so we all huddled together under my rain fly to stay dry. We sat and talked for a while, and Beth told us a couple of stories from her time on the trail thus far.
The next morning, we set out early to complete the last few miles to the parking lot. We climbed out of the valley and walked along the ridgeline with North Carolina on our left and Tennessee on our right. The clouds were rolling over the mountains, which made the forest look very "Lord of the Rings" like.
At some point, Dietrich ran off by himself down the trail and I mentioned that he looked like Samwise Gamgee, with the pots from dinner the night before hanging off of his pack. From there we decided Beth and Carlie could be Merry and Pippin (because Merry takes care of Pippin when he gets in trouble), I would be Frodo, and Ken could be Gandalf (because he was always in front, obviously).
Gandalf and the Hobbits
We made it!
Around midmorning we made it to our destination parking lot and took one final group picture, in "tallest to greatest" order. At this point, we said goodbye to Beth, who was on her way to the next shelter. A few hours ride back and Dietrich, Carlie, Ken, and I were home (after a stop at Sakura) while Beth continued on into the Smokies!
As some of you may know, I graduated from Virginia Tech in December with my bachelor’s degree in Computer Science (along with minors in Math and Geography). In February, I began a full-time job working for a company in the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center here in Blacksburg as a software engineer.
I had a roughly two month long break between graduation and starting work, and, besides working on a list of things I needed to accomplish before I stepped into the working world, I decided I wanted to take some type of road trip. My original thought was that I would probably never have this much continuous time off after starting work, and should take advantage of it. Having never driven farther west than the middle of Kentucky, I was initially considering the center of the contiguous US (located in Kansas) as a destination, or perhaps beyond that to Pikes Peak, in Colorado. I also considered the Florida Keys, in order to visit the southernmost point in the contiguous US. However, due to a variety of reasons (including time quickly running out to plan and execute the trip), I settled on a four day trip to Niagara Falls with a visit to Toronto, Canada thrown in.
I left on a Friday morning and began the roughly nine hour drive to the American side of Niagara Falls. A couple of hours in, I made a pit stop at the New River Gorge Bridge. I hadn’t realized that my route would take me over the bridge, and I made a spur of the moment decision to stop and look around. After all, this was an adventure. I wasn’t in a hurry! I enjoyed reading about the engineering that went into the bridge, looking at their 3D map of the gorge, and watching a short film on the construction of the bridge (yes, I’m a nerd).
New River Gorge Bridge
Due to a few complications with the winter weather (another story for another time), the rest of the trip to New York took me longer than expected, and I ended up arriving at my hotel around midnight that night. That first night, I stayed in the Aashram Hotel by Niagara River, a few miles away from the falls in Niagara Falls, NY. It was a nice, clean hotel, although the strong smell of curry was a little overwhelming at first.
The next morning, I got up early and did my best to plan my day in Toronto. I then packed up and drove over the Rainbow Bridge border crossing into Canada. The Canadian border crossing guard seemed slightly suspicious that a guy from Virginia would be going to Toronto for one day, by himself, as a tourist. However, after looking at my passport, she let me through. Before driving the hour or so to Toronto, I stopped to see the Canadian side of Niagara Falls.
Horseshoe Falls
Double rainbow and Rainbow Bridge
Next, I had my first substantial driving experience outside of the United States, taking Queen Elizabeth Way from Niagara Falls to Toronto. The trip was (thankfully) uneventful. The only main difference with driving in Canada was adjusting to speed limits posted in kilometers per hour. On this drive, I also glimpsed Lake Ontario for the first time. It was the first time in my life that I had ever seen a body of water meet the horizon that wasn’t the ocean. I guess a sense of scale is hard to get until you see some things for yourself.
I arrived at the KiplingToronto Rapid Transit station around lunchtime and ate a lunch I had packed before beginning my adventure in Toronto. When I went to purchase my day pass, however, I made an unfortunate discovery. Despite having called my card company and asking them to remove the international blocks on my card (which they had assured me had been done), something had gone wrong, because my card was repeatedly declined. At that point, despite all my preparations to avoid turning into a stereotype, I was the dumb American tourist paying for his TRT day pass with American dollars. However, the Canadian man helping me was not grumpy about it, so that was good. Lesson learned: check and double-check your payment options (and have multiple available).
My first stop was High Park, on the outskirts of Toronto. I again exposed my tourist sensibilities by exiting on the wrong side of the transit station into the middle of a (quaint) residential neighborhood, and then trying to go back through the (gated) entrance to get to the other side. Thankfully an elderly lady (who apparently didn’t speak English) pointed me around the station to my destination. Once in High Park, I watched people skate at a public ice skating rink before looking unsuccessfully for a few geocaches and falling in the mud going down a hill. I had considered walking to the zoo that was located on the far end of the park, but, taking into account the time of day, I decided to continue on towards the center of the city.
Old and New
My next stop was St. George Station, near the University of Toronto. I spent some time exploring the campus, including checking out the library (they had a floor dedicated to maps!) and finding a few geocaches - including a particularly cool one. It was kind of weird seeing a university stuck in the middle of a big city, and one thing I thought was really interesting was the way they had built some of the large, modern university buildings around some of the existing older structures. It was at this point that Google Offline Maps became particularly useful. I had saved the entire Toronto map area to my device before leaving the hotel that morning, which enabled me to see my current location, search for destinations, and get directions within the map area - all without internet.
My next destination was the CN Tower, so I jumped on the subway at Queen’s Park and rode to St. Andrew Station. From there I walked down to the base of the tower and the waterfront. Apparently there was a basketball game that night at the Air Canada Center, and I waded through swarms of people headed that direction and past many people scalping tickets. At this point, I also began to notice many people with an interesting looking patch on their coats. It had the words “Canada Goose, Arctic Program” around the edge of the patch. As I discovered after doing some Googling later, these jackets are made by a company called “Canada Goose” (go figure) and retail for between $600 and $1275 CAD. This gave new meaning to the phrase “Arctic luxury apparel.” Never fear, though. An enterprising college student started a Kickstarter campaign to launch a similar “America Duck” patch, costing $8 apiece.
I came to Toronto to go to the Apple store.
Finally, I went to the Toronto Eaton Centre to visit the Apple Store. Yes, I know I’m a nerd. See many of the previous paragraphs. The area I walked through on the way to the mall was definitely much higher class than any of the places in the city I had been in previously. It was filled with fancy restaurants and shops - a much different life than what I’m used to. At one point, I watched a lady leave a hairdresser and walk a block or two back to her high-rise apartment building. I had the realization that, depending on where her workplace is, that lady may live the large majority of her life inside of a couple of city blocks. Everything she needs is probably accessible right there. Definitely a completely different life.
After leaving the Eaton Centre, I walked through a small part of the PATH system, and looked for a few other places that I had considered visiting (the international market and the Toronto Public Library), but eventually decided to call it a night. I jumped on the subway at Dundas, transferred at Bloor-Yonge, and rode back out to where I was parked at Kipling Station. From there, I drove back to my hotel for the night, which was on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. This hotel (Glengate Hotel and Suites) was a little sketchier than the one the night before, but I was exhausted from walking all around Toronto and was just thankful to have a bed.
The next morning, I got up early in order to cross the border back into the United States and go to church in Buffalo, NY. Again, the border guards had lots of questions (apparently it’s unusual for a person to drive by themselves to Canada from Virginia for only a day), but eventually let me through. My only regret in leaving Canada early that morning was not having the opportunity to purchase any souvenirs with the Canadian flag on them. That’s not really something that’s sold on the American side of the falls, and I do like the design of the Canadian flag.
The church I chose to attend that morning was called The Chapel at CrossPoint. I have volunteered as an audio/video/lighting technician at churches I have attended for a little over ten years, so I always enjoy the opportunity to see how other churches are using technology as part of their worship services. This church was quite big, and, although they had many production elements in their service, I thought they did a good job of showing restraint and using those elements to add to the service and avoiding distraction. I also appreciated that the message was clearly focused on Jesus Christ as the only thing worth placing our hope in (Luke 14:15-34).
The Chapel
The Chapel is a multisite church that broadcasts their services live to several other campuses around Buffalo. One really interesting element of their production was the fact that the live band was split across both the main auditorium and the overflow room on the main campus. Video shots were mixed from both rooms for IMAG, and the audio from both rooms was combined. They also had a camera crane on stage, which may have been a bit much, but I enjoyed it.
After church, I stopped at Chipotle for lunch and then went to Trader Joe’s to do some shopping. While I was living in NoVA during the summer of 2014, the couple I was staying with bought me some delicious cinnamon raisin bread from Trader Joe’s. Since the closest Trader Joe’s from where I live is normally a couple hours away in North Carolina, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get another loaf of this bread. I also picked up some delicious chocolate covered raisins as well.
Next, I drove back to the American side of the falls, and went ahead and checked into my hotel for that evening (Quality Hotel and Suites at the Falls, which included free parking - critical anywhere within walking distance of the falls). I spent the next couple of hours walking the several miles of shoreline on the American side of the falls, checking out the different views. I can confirm that, in general, the views from the Canadian side are better than the ones on the American side (especially of Horseshoe Falls) However, because it was the offseason, there were very few people jockeying for the best viewing positions, and I got to spend as much time as I wanted looking around. I also got to go out on the observation tower for free (which there is usually a fee for). One downside, though, was that there were several overlooks closed because they were snowed and iced over.
I had several other things on the American side of the falls that I had considered doing, but, by that time, I was exhausted from all of my walking - combining the miles from that afternoon and the day before, in Toronto. So I went back to my hotel room to relax, and eventually decided to go to Denny’s for dinner. The waiter was overly friendly (I think he felt bad for me sitting by myself), but I still enjoyed my meal. After dinner, I took a dip in the hotel pool and hot tub, which I had entirely to myself for the hour or so I was there. Again, there are advantages to visiting in the off-season.
Finally, I decided to go see a movie at the local Regal cinema. As I drove to the theater, I noticed again how dead everything was. This is definitely a tourist town, built for a huge influx of summer visitors. It was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve had watching a movie. I picked Kung Fu Panda 3, and was literally the only person in my theater. When I came out, they had roped off the main hallway, guiding me towards one of the side exits. Everything was dark, and my car was one of only a few in the huge parking lot when I came out. I didn’t see another human being from the time I entered my theater until I passed someone on the way back to my hotel. An apocalypse could have happened and I would have never have known the difference. In fact, driving through the deserted, industrial streets on the way back, it wasn’t hard to imagine that it had happened!
I slept late the next morning and then began my long drive home to Virginia. The trip home was much less eventful than the trip to New York, but I did make a stop in Pennsylvania to pick up my first geocache in that state. This one was behind a restaurant called The Dutch Pantry.
All in all, it was a good trip and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
The morning of New Year’s Day 2015, some friends and I were enjoying a late brunch together at one of our friend’s houses. While we were preparing the meal, we were discussing what we should do with the rest of our Christmas break. And so it transpired, in the midst of the bacon, eggs, and pancakes, that we hatched a crazy idea. What about a predawn hike up Sharp Top Mountain in Bedford, VA to see the sunrise? Fully convinced of the excellence of this plan, we set the date for the very next day. New Year’s Day itself wasn’t over yet, however, and three of us decided to drive an hour and a half to the Dip Dog roadside restaurant in Marion, Virginia for dinner before heading to bed early in preparation for the next morning.
A lazy New Year's Day.
On January 2nd, our contingent, initially consisting of three friends and myself, assembled in the parking lot at Baptist Collegiate Ministries in Blacksburg, VA at 4:00 AM. The temperature that morning was hovering somewhere around 34 degrees Fahrenheit. We had all come prepared, however, with quite a few layers of clothing, coats, hats, gloves, flashlights, liquids, and snacks. Once everyone arrived, we all loaded into my car and began our journey to the mountain, which took about an hour and a half. Along the way, we picked up another friend, bringing the number of hikers in our cohort to five. We arrived at the base of the mountain around 5:30 AM, ready to begin our trek.
It was slow going in the dark, as we picked our way up the mountain. We quickly discovered the difficulty of climbing over rocks with a flashlight in one hand, and we had to make frequent stops to catch our breath in the cold air. The snow that was still on the ground from the last snowfall also made the mountainside slippery. As we neared the top, I feared that we might miss the sunrise. As it turned out, we had nothing to fear.
We made it!
The sun begins to peek out.
We arrived at the peak of the mountain a little before 7:00 AM, but the sun wasn’t scheduled to rise until about 7:30 AM that morning. At first, we sat around waiting on the exposed summit, but the biting wind and bitter cold soon drove us into a stone cabin built on the top of the mountain for shelter. Before I took cover, however, I set up a video camera in order to capture time-lapse imagery of the sunrise. We waited until five minutes or so before the sun was supposed to rise before braving the cold again. We were not disappointed, as the sun rose and transformed the sky into beautiful shades of red, orange, pink, and blue. The howling wind, however, may have slightly tempered our enthusiasm for the scenery.
The sun rises in the east.
Now we weren't quite as miserable.
The next order of business was to get down off of the mountain before any of the members of our fellowship lost an extremity to frostbite. We were able to hike down the mountain much quicker than up it, considering that we could now actually see the trail without a flashlight. We arrived at the bottom of the mountain without incident and decided to take the Blue Ridge Parkway route on the drive to Roanoke, since we weren’t in any particular hurry to get back. On the way back to Blacksburg, we stopped at a Taco Bell for breakfast, which felt strange, considering we had already been awake for more than five hours.
All things considered, I would recommend this journey to others, but probably not in January or any other month when the temperature might be below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Also, if this would be your first time hiking Sharp Top, it would probably be best to try it in the daylight first!
On Saturday, our entire team returned safely to Blacksburg from Southwest Virginia after spending several hours on the road. The morning was mostly uneventful as we packed up, cleaned, said goodbye to Jan and Scrappy, and left The Manor.
On the way back, we stopped for lunch at the Dip Dog Stand in Marion, VA, which is a BCM SWVA mission trip tradition. Our car arrived a little bit before the other, due to a navigational challenge, so we took a few pictures while we were waiting.
Drew's car.
Waiting for our food after the others arrived.
Drew impersonating a walrus.
Below is the video from Drew's attempt to eat an entire Gut Buster at Teddy's Restaurant all by himself on the second night we were in SWVA. The Gut Buster consists of every ingredient and topping that is used to make the milkshakes and ice cream dishes sold at Teddy's and is designed to feed at least a few people. Teddy himself told us that he has only seen two men eat the entire thing by themselves. Drew took this as a personal challenge, despite having just eaten dinner and a milkshake.
WARNING: There is a reason that the title of this video includes the word "Attempt." If you have a weak stomach or are easily grossed out, you may want skip this video. However, it is quite hilarious.
On a more serious note, one theme that seemed to come up repeatedly for me this week was that of thankfulness. Not just thankfulness for the material things of life, although I certainly have reason to be thankful there, but also for the opportunities that I have in my life, as well as the relationships the Lord has blessed me with in many areas. I may go through difficult times, but I should be joyful because I know that the Lord is in control and He is working for my ultimate good. Romans 8:28 My prayer for myself and our entire team is that we could maintain that attitude while jumping back into the rest of the semester.
"The world is black and white and I have this one pixel of color; that's God." Thankful for a great week with great friends. Rom 8:28-39.
— Dakota Talley (@xSSKT) March 14, 2015
Today was our final day on our worksite here in SWVA. We spent the day putting in the molding around the edges of the living room in the mobile home, and finishing up various other small tasks. We had to be very careful while cutting the molding, because we had a very limited amount to work with. Thankfully, we were able to finish the entire room with roughly six inches of molding to spare!
Although it was raining today, it didn't prove to be a problem because we had fewer cuts to make and were able to use the saw indoor without issues. We finished up the floor around lunchtime, and ate lunch in the finished living room before leaving.
Group shot with the finished floor, along with the homeowner.
Hunting for a Geocache.
After we returned to The Manor, we went to look for a couple of Geocaches in the rain in Nickelsville. We were able to find the first one we were searching for, but we weren't quite as lucky with the second. We did, however, take a cool group selfie at the base of the bridge that is on the road at the entrance to Nickelsville.
Selfie with the Nickelsville bridge.
After Geocaching, Dakota decided he was in need of some of the delicious tater tots from Teddy's. Drew joined him, and an hour or so later our team started to wonder why they weren't back yet. I drew the short straw and walked down to see if Drew was trying another Gut Buster. As it turned out, what was originally intended to be a trip for tater tots ended up including not only the tater tots, but two corn dogs (because the first one was slightly burnt, according to one of the employees), cheese rounds, and fried corn bread on the house as well. Dakota and Drew also enjoyed talking to Teddy (yes, Teddy, the owner) and most of the other locals who were in the restaurant at the same time.
While Drew and Dakota were talking to the rest of Nickelsville, a few of us spontaneously decided to take a road trip to Natural Tunnel, a large, naturally formed (Ha-ha) rock tunnel, which is located about thirty minutes away from where we're staying. Five of us hopped in Drew's car and drove to the tunnel, hoping it wouldn't be raining too hard when we arrived. Thankfully it wasn't, and we were able to walk down to the mouth of the tunnel and back out without getting too wet.
When our group returned to The Manor, we ate a dinner consisting mainly of leftovers from our other meals, and then had our team devotion for the evening. We also took a final team photo with everyone piled onto a single couch. Afterwards, we played several rounds of Body Body to finish out the night.
The entire team on a couch.
Please pray for our safety as we travel back to Blacksburg tomorrow morning, as well as the seeds that were planted this week as we served and were obedient.
Today, we went back to our worksite to continue working on the living room floor in the mobile home. Our focus today was on laying down the new laminate flooring after cutting it to length. Thankfully, it did not rain, and today was a beautiful day to work outside. We also worked on replacing a section of drywall, and tying up a few loose ends with the door we had installed. We also added supports to the last several pieces of floorboard we put in on Monday.
The way we went about our work for most of the time today was someone with a tape measure would call out a measurement, I would cut the board to length, and then the team inside would align all of the boards that made up a single row of flooring and slide them into place.
Putting down the new flooring.
Today we were able to finish laying all of the flooring in the living room as well as our work on the wall. Tomorrow we plan on heading back to install the molding and finish up anything that's left.
After we were finished working, we took a (curvy) detour hoping to see a nearby waterfall. Unfortunately, the gate to the area was closed, most likely due to the road being washed out by the recent floods. We then returned to The Manor and had dinner, which consisted of salad, grilled cheese, and tomato soup. After dinner, we decided to walk to the small park here in Nickelsville. On the way there, we stopped on a bridge which crosses the main road and took a group selfie, which turned out fairly decently.
Bridge selfie with Nickelsville in the background. Also, Drew.
Drew "traversing" the playground.
We enjoyed fooling around on the playground equipment in the park for a while before returning to The Manor where we rounded out the night with a team devotion, bonfire, and s'mores.
Please pray for our safety during our last day of work tomorrow as well as our return home on Saturday. Please also pray for several of the regular volunteers at the food pantry that we interacted with this week who are facing tough or difficult times in their lives. Please also pray for our team as we jump back into the school semester on Monday, having had little or no time to catch up on schoolwork over break.
