Mr. & Mrs. Link

With ski season over, the Links were getting restless in Columbia.  So we hit the road with our annual pass to Shenandoah National Park and knocked off two more hikes from our book.  It was a beautiful spring day – upper 50s  and sunny.  When we went hiking last fall, it was cool to see how fall reached the upper altitudes faster than the valley.  Spring is no different.  Along Skyline Drive, it was still winter – no buds even on the trees.  But you could look down into the valley and see spring creeping up the hillsides.

Dark Hollow Falls is a short, strenuous hike in the middle of the park.  It’s identified in the book as the busiest hike in the Park, and considering how the park was empty but the trail was still crowded, I’m not surprised.  The falls are nice, and for the hike, probably the best pay-off for the effort.  The Cedar Run White Oak Canyon falls are better, but a lot harder to get to.

After the falls, we drove five miles to the next trail head.  It was a familiar location.  The starting point for Hawksbill Peak is the same as the starting point for White Oak Canyon, except instead of going down to the east, you go up to the west.  At 4,050 feet, it’s the highest point in Shenandoah, with a commanding view of, among other things, Old Rag Mountain.

The hike was longer, and only moderately strenuous.  The peak itself can be reached by 4-5 different trails, so it was rather crowded.  We spent the first half of the hike on the Appalachian Trail where we came across a single backpacker.  But then we hooked onto the Salamander Trail and had the place to ourselves.  There were several good lookouts along the trail that we had completely to ourselves.

From one such nook, we were lucky to see a peregrine falcon – the fastest animal on the planet.  Of the wildlife we’ve seen in Shenandoah, bears are the most common (seriously), then deer, squirrels and millipedes.  The peregrine falcon is probably the best sighting because of how rare it is.  Turns out, there’s a nesting pair on the Hawksbill Cliffs just off the summit, so sightings around the peak aren’t that rare.  But still, it’s not a sure thing.

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