Raven Rock Hike
It was one of those beautiful perfect days, I couldn’t have asked for a better day to hike. The temperature was hovering around 68F (~20C), the breeze was just right and the sun seemed brighter that usual but not harsh. A quick note about these photos…the night before, I had been doing some astro photography had changed my White Balance (WB) setting for proper exposure for night shots. I forgot to switch it back to my normal daylight settings and the photos turned a hue of blue, which oddly enough I ended up loving the way they looked!
This is the first trail I’ve ever been done that crossed two states and also a part of the Appalachian Trail (AT) which is approximately 2,181 miles (3,510 km). I hiked a stretch of the AT that leads to an overlook called Ravens Rock in West Virginia, which is only about 6 miles (9.8km). There were numerous hikers on this trail and very few places to park the car. The trail starts out snaking through the trees and remains that way throughout the hike until you get to Raven Rock portion of the trail. For once I actually agree with HikingUpward.com that Raven Rock hike is a 3 / 5 difficulty, and I might add this is a very rocky trail.
There were two stream crossings on this trail and Tito made himself right at home in the cool water.
Raven Rock Hike Trail Profile
Total Distance: 9.76 km (6.1 mi)
Total Time: 3:41:26
Moving Time: 1:56:43
Average Speed: 2.65 km/h (1.6 mi/h)
Average Moving Speed: 5.02 km/h (3.1 mi/h)
Max Speed: 12.11 km/h (7.5 mi/h)
Min Elevation: 230 m (755 ft)
Max Elevation: 358 m (1173 ft)
Elevation Gain: 758 m (2487 ft)
Max Grade: 0 %
Min Grade: 0 %
Recorded: Sat Apr 30 10:48:50 EDT 2011
Activity type: – Trail Hiking
As you can see from this trail profile, the hike was quite challenging in terms of hills and ridges.
Another stream crossing, I find it difficult to snap photos without Tito being in the frame sometimes. He has this uncanny ability to always walk right in the shot even though I’ve made sure he’s behind me.
Virginia to West Virginia state line
The views at Raven Rock! But the end of the trail…for me.
There was about 10 people at Raven Rock enjoying the amazing weather and a few people climbing the rock face.
I just noticed on this photo that Tito is wearing a Canadian collar. He was not pleased with the pace again today, he was very energetic and kept walking way ahead of me. It was very difficult footing in many parts of the hike and he made sure he let me know I was walking way too slowly again.
On our way home from Raven Rock, we stopped by this quaint little town called Bluemont to pick up some homemade apple pie and locally made ice cream. I should have taken a photo of the little store we stopped at, but I didn’t have my camera on me. Bluemont is one of those little towns that was forgotten by time and at its peak, it had a population of just 200 people. It was quite refreshing to walk around the small town with Tito and as always he attracts more attention than a dog should be allowed.
