Another October Hike

We lucked out with the weather again in October, and managed to sneak in a second hike. This time, we decided to hike Mary's Rock. It's a few miles round trip with a pretty view, plus the trail starts right after you reach Skyline Drive, so it's really easy to get to.

A lot of the trail looks like this: a thin path through the trees, with a bit of a drop on one side.

There are some nice views here and there, though...

...and some cool plants to look at along the way.

A little bit more hiking later...

...we reached the summit. That's Skyline Drive and the entrance to Shenandoah National Park down there.

With the exception of a couple other people that came and went, Mark and I pretty much had the summit to ourselves.

It was a little cloudy, but the views were still great.

I always love the layers of the ridges.

When the layers fade out like this, it always reminds me of a three-layer Jello dessert that my mom would sometimes make when I was a kid. I don't know if they still sell it, but the colors of the layers of Jello would fade just like the colors of these ridges.

We eventually started making our way back to the car. The hike is an out-and-back, so you retrace your route right back to the start.

We were getting pretty close to the end of the hike when I started to hear some noises off the side of the trail. We were almost back to the parking lot when we rounded the last corner and saw...

...this. The noises turned out to be a bear scratching its back on a utility pole.

After a couple seconds, it turned and saw us. I'll tell you what, it's an interesting feeling when you lock eyes with a nearby bear! It started wandering back into the woods off to the side, and we booked it to the parking lot. It had definitely been an interesting hike!