North River Gorge Hike

I had done hike to North River Gorge  on 26th April . It is located in Virginia State
Hike Location
Name: North river Gorge
Distance: 120 miles from Richmond(approx)
Total hiking distance: 12.5 miles.
Hiking Experience:Started around 7:10 am in the morning to organizer's place. Around 7:28 am started towards the destination. It was sunny day and windy. Reached Starbucks around 8:45 am for coffee break and also had breakfast(home-made) brought by fellow trek mates. Started from Starbucks at 9:10 am towards the destination. Reached the start point of the hike by 10:00 am. The parking lot is on the left side of the road and at corner of parking lot, the trail started and there was sign board for the same. The trail initially had purple markings. After walking for 0.2 miles the trail intersects with yellow trail and we followed the yellow trail. The trail was going down and has steep slope. Reached a stream along the trail. The trail was covered by trees on both sides, but not shady enough to protect from scorching heat. However windy weather compensated the heat to an extent. Trail was maintained well. The stream is flowing fast and freezing cold. The rocks beneath the stream were slippery and sharp. It was great pain experience even though it lasted for seconds. The coldness of the water made us more active and we continued on the trail. Then we followed the white marked trail for around 7 miles.
                                                The trail had ascent for half the path. The ascent was steep and climate was getting hotter with Sun heat and no wind as we hiked further. After a strenuous hike for 8.5 miles, The white trail ended. we halted there for lunch around 1:00 pm. Had delicious home-made Aloo parathas, sandwich. Taken enough rest and started again at 1:32 pm. The rest of the trail  had purple markings. It was a pretty straight walk with wide trail along the midst of the jungle. The trail passes along the side of the river. It was a great scenic to see the river stream passing by while walking along he trail covered by trees. The trail has some thrilling surprises. Crossed the stream 9 times before reaching the end of the trail. Every time the stream had taken us by surprise. One time the speed of the water flow was high, one time the depth of the stream was high, one time the width of the stream was high. The water remained freezing cold from morning to evening. Finally crossed all the streams and to our surprise there was a seep ascent at the end of the trail. Reached the  parking lot by 3:54 pm. The trail was a loop, half covered by white mars and rest by purple marks. Started to home around 4:05 pm and reached organizer's place around 6:05 pm and reached home around 6:20 pm. All is Well.