Sunset Hike in SNP

Yesterday my good friend Andrew lead a "Sunset Hike" in Shenandoah National Park! It was bit cloudy which interfered with the sunset a bit, however it was a great group and a great hike! We started the hike at Jenkins Gap and hiked about a mile up Compton Peak and then back. Compton Peak has an excellent view, although yesterday it was bit obscured by the clouds


The view to the northeast from Compton Peak.

The view to the Northwest (ish...) . The head at the bottom right of the picture belongs to Beryl, a hiker from our group.

Another view from Compton Peak - this time looking west.

Skyline Drive snaking through the mountains, as seen from above on the AT.



A view from the AT - not the greatest view - the haze obscures the mountains in the distance.

As we were hiking along the Appalachian Trail I saw these daffodils planted right off the trail! They were the only flowers I saw the whole hike, strange because daffodils aren't wild, so someone must have planted them here at some point....I wonder who? and why? and how long ago?

Eating dinner while watching the sunset from the Browntown Valley overlook. Our fearless leader and my good friend, Andrew, is the 3rd person back - 1st guy...the other two gals are Fran and Colleen two great folks I had the pleasure of sharing my car with for the trip to and from the park.

Beryl and two other ladies whose names I don't remember, eating dinner in the overlook.

Looking to the southwestish. Interestingly enough the camera seems to have added light to the picture as the day itself was much gloomier than the pictures suggest.

Another shot of the sunset.

And a 3rd shot of the sunset.

After we finished dinner, and started to get cold, we headed back in the dark, hiking along Skyline Drive. The clouds broke up a bit and allowed the nearly full moon to provide us with a great deal of light. Since it is still very much winter in the mountains, there was very little traffic on Skyline Drive after dark making it the perfect night to walk the road. We stopped in an overlook to listen to a woodcock (I think that's what it was) and even heard a distant cow....oh I mean cell phone! :)

It was lovely hike with great people! :)