{"id":779,"date":"2014-08-20T04:57:54","date_gmt":"2014-08-20T11:57:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/?p=779"},"modified":"2014-09-02T17:56:45","modified_gmt":"2014-09-03T00:56:45","slug":"hike-a-mountain-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/?p=779","title":{"rendered":"Hike a Mountain – Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since the Skyline Parkway runs along the top of the mountain, it makes for reverse hiking, meaning climb down the mountain and back up. \u00a0My trail was no different, and I began my descent on Cedar Run, a 3 mile trail that follows a creek. \u00a0The White Oak Canyon trail has its own shorter trail, which seemed to be the popular choice (and 2-3 miles shorter). \u00a0I would\u2019ve ordinarily done that hike, but the rangers insisted that this loop was the proper way to see the trail.<\/p>\n

\"Cedar<\/a>

Cedar Falls (the first of the two)<\/p><\/div>\n

The first waterfall I came across in Cedar Falls had a nice slope that people could slide down into its pool. \u00a0I knew I only had time to enjoy one swim, and I was set on finding a cliff jumping area that some passing hikers gave me the scoop on. \u00a0The first waterfall is where I spoke with Howard.<\/p>\n

\"Howard,<\/a>

Howard, a local hiker, who I met at the first falls<\/p><\/div>\n

Howard, a local hiker, had just finished his waterfall session and spoke of his friends\u2019 success; one a producer for Wes Anderson\u2019s Grand Budapest Hotel, one an art collector with a museum in Potomac, MD. \u00a0Unfamiliar with the sculptor, he described the experience of walking into the walls of what sound like a Richard Serra piece – high steel curves that lead you into his intended space (which he described as awkward).<\/p>\n

\"Area<\/a>

Area above the cliff jumping ledge (lower on Cedar Falls)<\/p><\/div>\n

Not much further down the trail, my ears were tickled by the sounds of deep splashes – the sound after jumping from a high spot. \u00a0Once I made it to the clearing, I found two groups of teenagers diving and flipping from the fifteen foot rock edge into the deep, freshwater pool below.<\/p>\n

\"Whit<\/a>

Whit and Kaylyn on Cedar Run trail, Shenandoah.<\/p><\/div>\n

After all the fun of cliff jumping, I had to get back on the trail if I was going to make it most of the way before dark. \u00a0Shortly after, I met Whit and his granddaughter, Kaylyn, leaving the swimming hole in the same direction.<\/p>\n

I needed to get my bearings on my location, so I asked Whit if he knew how far ahead the connecting path would be. \u00a0I had assumed I was much further on my hike than I had been! \u00a0His first reaction was to tell me to turn around and go back the way I came (I think it was 5:30pm at this point), since there was no way I\u2019d make it out the other side before dark.<\/p>\n

I mentioned that I packed my headlamp, and he politely modified his advice in case I had taken offense. \u00a0\u201cYou look pretty gamey. \u00a0If you packed your headlamp you should go for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve never heard someone use \u201cgamey\u201d to describe a person, but in bear country, it\u2019s a compliment. \u00a0Whit mentioned the notoriety of hike up the falls \u201cbreaking backpackers,\u201d so I was mentally preparing for the hardship to come.<\/p>\n

Photos and details of the rest of the experience to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the Skyline Parkway runs along the top of the mountain, it makes for reverse hiking, meaning climb down the mountain and back up. \u00a0My trail was no different, and I began my descent on Cedar Run, a 3 mile trail that follows a creek. \u00a0The White Oak Canyon trail has its own shorter trail, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[226],"tags":[255,254,240,244,242,246,253,252,234,235,243,251,245,237,239,236,250,249,247,248,241,238],"class_list":["post-779","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-down-south","tag-bear","tag-bill","tag-canyon","tag-cedar","tag-cliff","tag-falls","tag-hawks","tag-hawksbill","tag-hike","tag-hiking","tag-jump","tag-line","tag-lower","tag-mountain","tag-oak","tag-shenandoah","tag-sky","tag-skyline","tag-upper","tag-virginia","tag-waterfall","tag-white"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=779"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":864,"href":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/779\/revisions\/864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mikelberman.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}