We're not dead yet.

Yeah, we're alive. In fact, the past two weeks have been particularly busy. I've hiked Old Rag again, and climbed on the summit block. We travelled to Memphis to see Ben, Shannon, Macey (Macy?, Macie?, May'C?), Mom, Dad, Joanna, and Janet, watch Ol' Bean'o graduate from OD school, and eat at Fat Larry's. We also got buried under a ton of rain.

So why haven't we updated? I can't find the camera with all the pictures of the trip on it. So, until I do, no pictures. Oops. Sorry.

Old Rag Mountain

Memorial Day Saturday we hiked Old Rag Mountain. Along with us came every youth from our church who wanted to come, and a few who were probably just pressured into it by their peers.



It was a hot, hazy day, typical of Virginia summers. The good side was no worries about needing to bring a jacket in case of rain or cold, the downside was the sweat. I brought a gallon of water in the form of two nalgene bottles and a 2 liter hydration system in my pack, which also included the first aid kit, (which we thankfully didn't need, except for a blister), lunch, and some snacks ( another nalgene of gorp, some jerky, red vines [red licorice], and a box of Good and Plenty). When we reached the summit, I had half a nalgene of water left. (I had given almost a liter out to others who didn't bring enough, like Tracy.)

The signature part of Old Rag is the fact that the summit is mainly bare rocks. The trail goes around, between, over, and underneath boulders and slabs. Most of the other mountains out here have limited views because they're just the top of a tree. Old Rag doesn't do that; it pumps out huge views the entire last mile before the summit. The payment for that, however, is the work getting over the rocks. The pictures won't show the hardest parts because, well, we needed both hands to get through them.