Let it Snow!

After hiking solo in Shenandoah National Park on Monday, I was ready for a group hike, and joined the Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club Wednesday to hike in Bear Creek Lake State Park.  Sorry, no bears, unlike my Monday hiking adventure.  As we gathered at the meeting spot southwest of Richmond, we noted a few snow flakes drifting along.  And as we drove along, we soon were in a steady snowfall.  By the time we arrived at the park 45 minutes later, snow covered everything, and it was still coming down.  It was quite beautiful.

My inReach is not creating tracks correctly for some reason, but here is the location of the park (orange circle) west of Richmond:

We did two different loops - a morning loop of 4.8 miles, then we ate lunch, and then a 1.8 mile afternoon loop.  We mainly walked through deciduous forest, with some water views.  The snow was beautiful.

Our group of a dozen really enjoyed our hikes.

Having the snow turned what would have been a fairly routine hike into a winter wonderland.  I really enjoyed hiking here.

About an hour after starting our hike, the snow had stopped and even seemed to be melting a bit.

After a nice trail lunch under a park shelter - chilly but at least dry - we started the afternoon hike.  By that time, most of the snow had totally melted.  We walked by the spillway of the dam holding Bear Creek Lake back, then the lakes itself.  There were some nice campsites along the lake shore.

We also admired the work of the Civilian Conservation Corps and Work Progress Administration from the 1930's.  They actually built a lot of the infrastructure of the first six Virginia State Parks.

I really enjoyed hiking here, and will definitely get back here for more trips.