Hiking to Blackrock Shelter

 In addition to the three mountain hikes that I described in my last post, I had one more final mountain hike in 2020.  This one was one that I led for the Old Dominion Appalachian Trail Club, and was on December 10.  There were 10 people that joined for the hike.  With the pandemic, we can no longer car pool the 100 mile or so to the trailhead, which is too bad.  We all gathered at Brown's Gap, parked the cars, and started hiking south on the Appalachian Trail to the Blackrock Shelter.  It was about 3.6 miles to the shelter each way.

The highlights of the hike were the great views at Black Rocks, and also seeing the shelter for the first time.  Made me want to camp out!  Here are some pictures, starting with one of the group taking a break on the AT:

Panoramic view from the Black Rocks:

From there, we hiked to the shelter, which had a nice new bear box.  Beats hanging one's food, trust me.

Here is some of the group chatting at the shelter.

Lunch break at Blackrock Shelter.

We turned around and hiked the steady climb back to Blackrock, and got to enjoy the views again.

Amanda and I climbed to the top of the Black Rocks.  It was harder than it looked, and some of the rocks had a sheen of ice which meant for extra caution.  Here I am at the top.

A beautiful day in the mountains with a good group of people!  What could be better?  Well, hopefully, 2021!  In my next post, I will summarize a few hikes from late in the year that were not in the mountains.