My husband and I have been married for 3 years. Our anniversary was at the end of May, and so we decided to spend the long weekend at my uncle's vacation house in the Shenandoah Valley. In my still euphoric love-hiking state, I asked my husband if we could spend that weekend day hiking various trails around our little slice of heaven. He happily agreed, and we set off to do my favorite thing: shopping!
We determined that I would need a pair of hiking boots (Yay! Shoes!), and I eagerly started researching online to find the best pair. I found them. I fell in love with them. I showed them to my husband.
The Keen Targhee II Mid Hiking Women's boot. Perfect for protecting ankles from twists, nice looking (hey, it isn't pink..) and from what I'd read online very little (if at all) break in time. I was ready to go to
REI and buy them. My husband was not.
He's a very practical man, and often has to talk me out of jumping into things head first. I often talk him into jumping in head first. We balance each other well. In this instance, he was talking me off the ledge. While these boots are probably a fantastic boot, he convinced me to buy something less expense until we're sure that we really do, in fact, like hiking. So.. off we went to
Bass Pro. Can you tell I was feeling enthusiastic *insert snarky face, here*?
I don't personally have anything against Bass Pro, I just really, really don't enjoy going into that store. Mostly because of the dead animals staring at you, partly because it makes me uncomfortable to be around all that... manliness.. However, for my husband's sake, we went. I purchased a pair of hiking boots.
The RedHead McKinley Hikers for Ladies. I have to tell you, I was very sad that they weren't more stylish. However, I can tell you from four hikes, that they are very comfortable and I haven't had any blisters from them! So, while they might not be the
most attractive shoe in the world, they definitely serve their purpose well.
Next, we needed a day pack. I left hubs in charge of this, since he would most likely be carrying it. He and I are similar in our need to research everything before we buy, and after doing quite a bit of looking he settled on the REI Flash 18 Pack.
This pack was really great! It holds a lot of stuff, and as first time hikers we definitely over packed. The elastic down the front is awesome for using carabiner clips, and for clipping our dogs poopy bag dispenser to the pack (for convenient bag dispensing). There's a slot for a hydration bag, if you want to use that. We decided to take
Nalgene bottles instead, but for longer hikes I can definitely appreciate the convenience of a hydration bag.
We went to
Walmart and bought the few other things we thought we couldn't go hiking with out. A first aid kit, water purifying tablets, a waste shovel, ponchos, and a collapsible bowl for our pups to drink out of. Then, we loaded up our car with a weekend full of food, clothes, hiking gear, buckled the dogs in, and off we went to the Shenandoah Valley
The dogs weren't too thrilled with the long car ride, but when we finally got to The Hut, which is way more than a hut, I promise (Hey, I may like hiking, but I'm still
a girly girl), they ran around the yard like little crazy monsters. It was so incredible to see them in such a carefree state. We have a fenced-in yard, which I'm so grateful for, but being out in the middle of nowhere (ok, not nowhere, but 30 minutes to the closest Walmart!) and having the freedom to let the dogs just
be dogs was heart warming.
Saturday, after lounging around the first part of the morning, we headed out to see what adventures awaited us on the land surrounding The Hut. We packed lunches, laced up our hiking boots, harnessed the dogs, and off we went. We climbed up a part of the mountain (ok, so it was a large hill..) that is right behind The Hut, and found a beautiful view!
You can't see little Cocoa very well, but she's between hub's legs. We walked around the land for a few hours. Crossed a stream, hiked where there was no trail, which totally freaked me out (I was
for sure we were going to get lost) and then headed back to The Hut. After we ate, we promptly passed out for 2 hours. WOW hiking takes a lot out of you! We had so much fun hiking around though, and the dogs were loving life.
Later that day, we headed over to
North Mountain Vineyards. SO CUTE! They had free tastings for most of their wine selection, live music, and a great atmosphere! I really enjoyed their Apple Wine, yumm! After our tasting, we sat out on their porch listening to the music, and eating cheese and baguettes! It was a perfect afternoon for our anniversary!
The view from their porch
The next day, we decided to head over to Shenandoah National Park and hike Dickey Ridge. See a map of the trail
here. We ended up not reading the posts correctly and hiked to Mile Post 8 (about 3-3.5 miles from where we parked), which is where the trail intersects with Sky Line Drive (much further than intended). But it was all worth it for this view:
Where we stopped to eat lunch. This trail had a lot of up hill walking. It definitely challenged Hubs and I, and the dogs were totally zonked when we got into the car to head back. For my first real hike though, I loved every second of it. Plus my legs felt so toned afterwards! If you have never hiked before, and are not in great shape, I would recommend starting with some hikes that are mostly flat land, with little incline. I was amazed at how hard the incline was for me, and I'm not that out of shape. Even though the park was crowded, the trails were not, and we only came across a few groups of day hikers while we hiked. It took us about 4 hours to hike from the Dickey Ridge Visitors Center to Sky Line Drive and back.
A word to the hopefully wiser than us: The ticks were awful! Our poor pups had so many ticks on them, and they came back with terrible fleas. Bug spray that deters ticks is a definite must when hiking this trail, and if you're hiking with Fido be sure to bring some flea bath with you. Even though our dogs are on a flea preventative it took us a week to shake them, and we still have a pesky few that won't die. I found 3 ticks on me, 2 that day and 1 the next. Be sure to monitor the area where your ticks were found, to look for a rash. Lyme disease can be harmful if not treated. The girly side of me had a mini freak-out when I found the ticks on me, but luckily Hubs was there to save me from the icky things! I guess that's the price of hiking, huh? Maybe I'll find better ways to help prevent ticks from getting on me as we venture more into hiking.
Does anyone have any suggestions about fleas and ticks? I'd love to hear them or anything else that you'd like to add! Thanks for reading!
