Hightop Mountains

We had done hike to Hightop Mountain on 3rd August 2019 . It is located in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia State.

Hike Location

Name: Hightop Mountain
Distance: 81 miles from Henrico (approx)
Total hiking distance: 5.6 miles
Elevation Gain: 1480 ft
Hike Team: me and  my wife.


Hiking Experience: We woke up around 4:45 am. The hiking trail is one and half hour distance from home. We started around 6:05 am.

The weather was little cold and along with cool breeze. We saw fog on the grass, on trees along our way. Due to fog sometimes we could not see the road clearly. Normally we can not look at the sun directly but that day because of the fog  we could see shape of the sun. We saw many cows and one deer on our way. We reached our hiking place around 7:32 am and parked our car on left side of the road. Then we went to the right side of the road and entered into the trail. There we have to look properly for trail road because it was almost covered with trees which was not easy to recognize. This trail was very narrow that one after another has to walk and not side by side. Slowly the trail started getting steep and wide as well. The trail was surrounded by many big trees and some kind of small flowers on both sides. Some of the trees were fallen on the trail, we went under them. Then after 20 minutes we reached another hightop mountain parking area on the skyline dr. On the other side of the road we have our trail. This trail was very nice and beautiful. The trees on both sides of that trail are almost connected and looks like an arch.

Few patches of the trail had very smooth and soft sand as though  it was like nature's carpet in the jungle. We saw many big rocks on either side of the trail. Then we walked the rocky patch for sometime. Gradually the trail was getting steep. We saw various different flowers and there was a pleasant smell in the air. We thought it was from some kind of trees or flowers. Then we reached two camping areas when we were almost near our first view point, but no campers were there even though it just looked like campground. Then we reached the first view pint, it was big and wide but it was almost covered with trees it was impossible to see the full view of the valley from there. So next went to second view point and we reached there around 9:25 am . It was spectacular and beautiful. We saw many mountains, valleys and clouds.  It was almost sunny but with very cool breeze. We liked the weather over there.We wished to live in such places. Then we had our breakfast around 9:35 am. After watching spectacular scenarios, we started to parking lot around 9:45 am. We were going down the steep, remembering all the things what we saw and talked  while we came through the same trail.

We sang so many song while we were going down. We were hoping that the amazing smell would come again. We crossed the second parking area and then we saw some people just started their hiking. Then we saw couple of people were doing the same hike. While they were crossing us they said that they saw a bear. We were so much excited about that bear. We had been checking all over the way we were going. Then suddenly after 10 minutes we saw really huge bear standing just to the right of our trail. I got a full glimpse  of the bear along with four legs and my wife saw only it's face, and we both took speed walk backwards from that big bear. We were frightened. My wife got almost freaked out. We did not expect the bear to be so huge and that too so close to the trail. It was almost like standing in front of us. Then after 5 minutes we decided to go forward and started our walk very very slow. We were checking all of our sides while we were going. We lost the bear and never saw it again. It might have went deep into the jungle. Then around 11:09 am we reached our car. We started to home around 11:12 am. We reached our home around 1:00 pm. This hike gave so many memorable moments. We saw many beautiful sceneries. We had a terrible moment with that bear. We enjoyed a lot. All is Well.

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Ragged Mountains

We had done hike to Ragged Mountains on 28th July 2019 . It is located in Charlettsville, Virginia State.

Hike Location:

Name: Ragged Mountains
Distance: 61 miles from Henrico (approx)
Total hiking distance: 6.1 miles
Elevation Gain: 980 ft
Hike Team: me and  my wife.

Hiking Experience:  We woke up around 4:45 am and packed our breakfast, water bags and started around 5:59 am. The hiking area is one hour distance from our home. On our way , we saw two horses one white and one is brown one.

After that when we were about to reach parking lot we saw two deers and one of those is baby deer with dots. We were surprised because it was the first time we saw deer with white spots outside of zoo. We reached the parking lot around 6:58 am. By the time we reached we were the only one in that parking lot.It was little sunny along with cold air. We started our hike around 7:05 am. The trail was nice and little narrow but it is enough for two people to walk side by side. Then it got steep, like we almost touch our knees to our chin. The trail is completely covered with rocks and trees's roots But that was not so bad after 12 minutes as we reached the flat trail. We saw many big and large trees and the half of the trail in this hike is covered with big roots of these trees. We got two wooden sticks for us which were quite helpful while walking along the trail. Then we saw reservoir ,it was so beautiful. After sometime we saw one statue of a man holding a big gun. The statue just looked like a real hunter. Then we saw the upper loop trail board and followed that way. After some time we crossed two big private houses. Then after a while of walking we reached bear statue. There were two bears, one of them is baby one. The statue is so beautiful.

It was almost like a real bear. Soon we saw one mile mark on a two person wooden bench and then we saw a lake to the right of the trail. The lake is very big and beautiful. Actually the hike was doing a big loop around the lake. We saw many fish in that lake and the water is glittering because of the sunlight. It was a beautiful scenery to watch. Sometimes the trail was getting narrow and after couple of yards hiking the trails becomes wide again. We then reached the eagle statue. It was spectacular like almost a real eagle holding fish in its beak. Behind the statue in 10 steps ahead we saw a small wooden bridge. Then the trail was little off from the lake into the woods but the lake can be seen throughout. We saw a big wooden bridge. After that we saw a fallen tree in the middle of the trail. We saw two mile mark on chair. The trail was so beautiful and the ambiance of the nature was very nice. Then we saw a owl statue and that was so perfect in sculpture. Then after a while the trail came little closer to the lake .We saw the little 3 mile chair. The trees were shining in the sunlight even the dead and fallen trees along with the woods, everything looked so pleasant. The green leaves were glowing like emerald stones in the sunlight at the same time the dried leaves were shining like ruby stones.

We saw a small stream and there was a small wooden log on the steam to cross it. We saw the 4 mile chair and had our breakfast around 9:35 am. Then we reached to the floating bridge. It was very big and so strong.The bridge was made connection to the other side of the trail. The lake was so beautiful on that bridge. After the bridge the trail was little slippery for few steps. Then we saw 5 mile chair ,then we saw 4 big  trees joined at trunk. All of them were very big and long. After sometime we saw 6 mile chair. The hike distance is 6.1 miles, but we walked for some more time, it was nearly 1 mile more. Then we came out from forest and we saw the reservoir and a big bridge, we took some pictures on the bridge. Some people were doing kayaking over there we saw many kayaking boats too. Slowly the climate was getting hot. And then we were little confused about the hiking trail. Then we went in wrong direction for a while after that we changed our direction to other side as we saw another parking area. There were two parking areas. From that parking area we saw the trail but we were not sure as the trail was so steep and leading into the woods. We did not know how to go for the other parking area where we parked our car.

We asked some kayaks about the correct way to another parking area. They said there are two way one way is the main road area which we took initially and came back and another one is to follow the steep trail and will take more time. Then we chose the main road one. While walking on main road we saw a trail towards our left into the forest and decided to take that. Soon after walking couple of steps we saw the trail splitting into two trails and felt like we already seen it before. Then we went through the trail(towards the right) and yes we already went through that trail when started our hike ,from there only we saw the reservoir. Then we recognized our trail and the way to parking area. So we happily went along that path. We saw the place where we got the wooden sticks and we threw back them there. After 10 minutes we reached the parking area around 10:55 am. We started to our home around 10:57 am. We liked this hike very much, we did a big loop around the beautiful lake and saw many statues. They were really nice sculptures and great art, they almost looked like the real ones. We started our hike in cold weather but after our hike was complete it was very hot. We reached our home around 12:11 pm. We had a great time with this hike and we collected lot of memorable moments. We enjoyed a lot.  All is Well.
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