We had purposefully waited until around 10:00 to start the hike, letting the sun warm us up from the overnight temperatures in the 30's. (Wasn't it just two days ago when we had to hike early before it got too hot with afternoon temperatures in the 80's?!?!) It was 49 degrees when we started the hike, so we both were wearing jackets. As you can see from Denisa's hair, there was also a brisk breeze, making a crisp wind chill as we found the first of the white blaze markers on the trees. We are once again on the Appalachian Trail!
As many cars as we saw in the parking lot, we did have times when it seemed like we had the trail to ourselves. On a 8-mile-loop hike there's plenty of room for everyone, especially since we hiked the more difficult and narrow Appalachian trail route. We found that most hikers took the easier fire road route.
Two hours after we left the parking lot, we got to the summit of McAfee's Knob. It did not disappoint, as we took the first picture of Denisa standing on one of the pointed ledges of the knob.
It was breezy at the top, so we're both bundled up with all our layers. Denisa even had gloves for today's hike. But the views were very heart-warming.
There was a large group of people at the summit, and some were even celebrating. We recognized that hiking uphill for four miles is quite an accomplishment, but we thought bringing out the champagne to celebrate seemed a little excessive.
That's when we realized people were pointing at the open field, far below in the valley. It didn't match the trees or the green meadows, and were there words at the top?
That's when we realized there had just been a marriage proposal.
James Wright had invited many of their friends and family on this frosty morning group hike. When they all got to the summit, he got on one knee and let the message in the mowed hay field do the talking. They had been dating for almost 9 years, and Stephanie definitely said "Yes!" She had found her Mr. (W)right!
It's always fun to find out the details of how such a plan unfolded. Mark is on the edge of the cliff, talking to James and his friend, who happens to own the land we can see below. The letters were made of black landscape cloth, pinned down to the ground. It was quite an engineering feat to get the spacing right, and the letters big enough to read from the summit.
After the excitement of meeting the newly-engaged couple, we spent more time hanging out on the cliffs, with ridiculous drops down into the valley.
This hike and this summit would be great any time of the year, but being surrounded by some nice fall foliage made it even better.
As the weather warmed, the crowds at the top increased. When we remembered that Virginia Tech had played a Thursday evening football game this week, we suddenly realized why there were so many people hiking today. All these VT fans didn't have a Saturday game to watch, so they headed to the mountains. We got to see the complete line of this year's Virginia Tech sweat shirts and fleece on the trail, as all the students were celebrating that Thursday night win by proudly wearing the VT logo. We joked with the students hiking that there must not be anyone left on campus this week-end. But we did discover that we could get away from the crowds if we continued along the cliffs to the area where the rocks divided into crevices that we could walk between.
Those crevices were filled with some lovely leaves. Let's face it--everything is covered with leaves by now. We are finding that this adds an interesting dimension to hiking. We can no longer see the rocks or tree roots that we need to dodge on the trails, because they are hidden by a layer of leaves. When this layer is wet, it makes for a slippery hike over uneven ground that can be perilous.
We stopped back by the summit for the panorama view over the Appalachians.
We also had to take one more of those cliff shots just because they are so dramatic. We had read that this is the most photographed spot on the Appalachian Trail, and now we can certainly see why.
Since we had hiked the four miles to the summit on the Appalachian trail, we decided to take the wider and gentler fire road down. That makes for an 8-mile loop hike. It seemed like the gold leaves were on fire!
It was after 3:00 by the time we got back to the parking lot. We had broken our rule of not going to popular places with the crowds on a Saturday. But our travel schedule and rain delay brought us here on this day so we could enjoy another marriage proposal. Even though it was one of the most crowded hikes of the year, there was still plenty of room to spread the crowd out and get some space on the trail.
We had talked to a volunteer ranger on the trail, who grimaced when we told him about all the vehicles parked along the narrow mountain road at the trail head. He said the county gives tickets and even tows cars that park in the no-parking area on the highway. Sure enough, we saw the cars by the highway with their $15 parking tickets blowing in the breeze. A crowded Saturday makes for an increase in the county's coffers!
It was a great hike, and we recommend it to anyone. We would also recommend doing it during a weekday, when the Virginia Tech students are in class (or the Saturday of a home football game). The number of pictures we took today should help to keep its reputation of being the most photographed spot on the Appalachian Trail.
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