To be specific, it's less than a week until we depart for our boys' long weekend hiking/camping trip to Shenandoah National Park. As Brother Eric notes in his recent blog post, we've done basically nothing in terms of planning. But that's okay, a trip like this doesn't need a lot of planning.
It's a car camping trip, and we've done this often enough that it's pretty much a matter of tossing our gear in a duffel, throwing it in the car, and off we go. Between Phil (who won't be there this time) and Eric (who, thankfully, will) we always eat very well on these trips. They both enjoy making good meals, and I'm grateful. Left to my own devices, meal planning for camping would be a very simple thing: one jar of all-natural peanut butter, one jar of raspberry jelly, and one loaf of bread. And I'd honestly be fine with that. But having actual meals in the evening is a wonderful thing.
We'll leave Thursday night after work, drive to the vicinity of SNP, and get a cheap motel room. Friday morning we'll plan to be up early and hike Old Rag Mountain. This is one of the signature hikes of SNP, and none of us has ever done it. It's a 7 mile loop with 2,500 feet of elevation gain, and the scenery and the vista at the top are supposed to be among the finest in the area. Hike descriptions are here and here.
We want to spend Friday and Saturday nights at Big Meadows campground in the park. I looked at the park's website, and the campground opens on March 27, but it's first come/first served (i.e., no reservations) until May 5. So we'll hope for the best. It's Easter weekend, and I hope that will keep some people at home.
A hike for Saturday is still to be determined. I have some rough ideas, but I have to get out my big map and my trail guides and come up with some more specific ideas. That's my project for this weekend.
I think Sunday we'll go to Stony Man - the vista that was the destination of all our youthful trips to Shenandoah. We can spend the morning there, then think about heading for home.
I'm purposely not looking at long-range weather forecasts. First of all, anything more than 2-3 days out is little more than a guess. Second, it doesn't matter. We're going, and it's going to be fun no matter what the weather. Getting away with the guys is always a treat. We'll be prepared with clothing and shelter for whatever weather we get.
Did I mention that I can't wait?
