On April 9, Cool Guy and I took quite a long drive down to Babcock State Park. This is one of my very favorite places. We hiked the Skyline Trail. It is 2 miles one way.
The weather was fantastic. If anything, it was warmer than we would have liked.
The trail starts from a cabin area and immediately goes up at a gentle grade and into a stand of rhododendrons and a lovely down falling stream, like a baby waterfall. For the upward part, we were surrounded by giant rhododendrons most of the way with some parts of hardwood. There were some amazing overlooks once we got to the top and leveled off. I need to add that we just didn't have to climb very high to get way above the world.
Another really cool thing is that for the entire hike, we could hear the water rushing in the river below us. So we had it all: view, water, sound.
At the end of the trail, we were next to the road. There was a picnic area and the most amazing view. We enjoyed our lunch and gazed at the mountains. We decided to hike back the way we came, but Cool Guy went much, much faster this time, and we made it to the bottom in 25 minutes. I'm glad we took our time getting to the top and enjoying the scenery on the way up.
The weather was fantastic. If anything, it was warmer than we would have liked.
The trail starts from a cabin area and immediately goes up at a gentle grade and into a stand of rhododendrons and a lovely down falling stream, like a baby waterfall. For the upward part, we were surrounded by giant rhododendrons most of the way with some parts of hardwood. There were some amazing overlooks once we got to the top and leveled off. I need to add that we just didn't have to climb very high to get way above the world.
Another really cool thing is that for the entire hike, we could hear the water rushing in the river below us. So we had it all: view, water, sound.
At the end of the trail, we were next to the road. There was a picnic area and the most amazing view. We enjoyed our lunch and gazed at the mountains. We decided to hike back the way we came, but Cool Guy went much, much faster this time, and we made it to the bottom in 25 minutes. I'm glad we took our time getting to the top and enjoying the scenery on the way up.