This is a short, relatively easy mountain day hike with a some excellent views, a good workout, and nice trail.
It took me four hours car-door-to-car door. It was about three hours of walking, to complete this roughly 6 mile round-trip hike.
In hindsight, for me, this was a more-fun-less-challenging hike than the “direct route” to the Sky Meadows State Park overlooks, the Sky Meadows Piedmont trail. If nothing else, there’s just more hiking “stuff” than you get from walking up the meadow at Sky Meadows. There’s: running brooks, hilltops (and so some downhill sections), a varied landscape.
But in addition to a lower average slope and much more variety with this route, you get a lot better views from the top of the mountain. By this I mean that with the Sky Meadows Piedmont trail, the view is all behind you, as you walk. But with this longer approach, you get a lot of nice views as you walk, before you even get to the overlooks. E.g., your classic pipeline cut, from this hike:
The hike
Start from the parking lot/trail head just north of U.S. 50, at Ashby Gap. That is, on the other side of U.S. 50 from your destination, Sky Meadows State Park.
Take the short blue-blazed trail from the parking lot down to the Appalachian Trail, and turn left.
This takes you down to Route 50. Cross.
After you cross 50, and walk alongside it for a bit, then do the long uphill slog to the top of the mountain. The grade isn’t bad. I recollect that I did this without stopping.
I also recollect that the thrill of trudging uphill ran out long before the uphill did.
But the grade was moderate enough that I could, in effect, pick a slow pace and keep going. Just breathe hard. By contrast, the other access to the overlooks — via the Sky Meadows State Park Piedmont trail — is short steep climb, during which I run out of breath and stop a few times. As do most, I think. Or at least, would like to think.
Most of the trail is pleasant walking, with only the occasional rocky bits.
You cross into Sky Meadows State Park in about 1.5 miles or so. At that point, just follow the signs to the Whitehouse overlook. You pick up the Ambassador Whitehouse trail in the middle of a large open area.
That takes you down to the Ambassador Whitehouse overlook. (At least, I think that’s the current designation.) This land is not part of the state park, but is owned by some sort of environmental trust. The odd tableau, behind the wire fencing, that (as of this writing) you cannot access, appears to be mainly a paean to the founders of that trust.)
From there, continue on the Ambassador Whitehouse trail, then follow the signs to the Piedmont overlook:
If you want more exercise, walk down this hill to the visitors center. It’s a stiff walk down, and a stiffer hike back up. Or just turn around and hike back to your car. (Or, any of several color-blazed trails in Sky Meadows park will take you back up to the Appalachian Trail. I vaguely recall that anything that says “Ridge” will do that. As long as you turn right (north) when you get to the Appalachian Trail (blazed white), you’ll get back to Ashby Gap.)
The hiker
The weather forecast called for rain showers moving in around 11 AM. Then rain for the rest of the week. If I wanted to take a hike this week, I needed a short hike, plus an early start, in order to be back at the car by 11 AM. To avoid the rain.
My wife mentioned Sky Meadows State Park, for a nice short hike. Lovely hikes there, but the 8 AM park opening time makes for an awkward trip. Instead, I parked at the Appalachian Trail (AT) access, just the other side of Route 50 from Sky Meadows, and walked to the “top” of Sky Meadows, from there, via the AT.
This allowed me to start as early as I pleased. Which plays to my strengths as an old guy, as I wake up early. In any case, I left Vienna VA well before dawn (about 5:15 AM). There was an orange-colored full moon, just setting, with enough cloud cover to make it look smokey. Nice. But consistent with rain in the forecast.
I-66 West was fast but orderly traffic. I did my best to fit in with the pack. By Gainesville, traffic density had moderated.
Once you veer off I-66 — at 17 North, to Paris (via Delaplane) — things get downright picturesque. On this trip, dawn was breaking, the clouds were rosy, the shadowed pastoral landscape had foggy pastures and creeks. And cows. Lots of cows, at one point.
The whole thing looked like something out of a children’s picture book. But I was driving. So I have no photos. This is not a good road, but it’s a scenic drive.
In any case, I parked at the trail head around 6:15 AM. Got back four hours later, around 10:15 AM. The return hike goes about half an hour faster than the outbound hike, owing to its being mostly gentle downhill.
Can my joints take the abuse?
The big question for me is whether my leg joints can take the stress of mountain hiking. To that end, I’m (quite rationally) eating an ounce of hydrolyzed collagen a day (the equivalent of about a half-gallon of Jell-O every day, protein wise. Same aminos either way. I want the glycine.)
On the morning of the day after this last hike, I think I can say that providing an abundant supply of the amino acids needed for building collagen helps the post-hike joint recovery process. I spend less time, in less joint pain, than I did with earlier hikes.
But it’s not clear that it’s smart to keep this up. My hip and knee joints still hurt, some, from this hike. They just hurt less, and so seem to have recovered faster, than before I started eating an ounce of collagen-based protein powder per day. If nothing else, I’m sure I have problems (e.g., old injuries) that no about of collagen will fix. All this walking can’t be doing those any good.
All I can say, for sure, is that I now pass my “ADL test” — I can perform the normal activities of daily living without making old-man noises about my joint pains. Not so much as an oof when I stand up.
But maybe I could have done that just by taking a big dose of ibuprofen after each hike. Maybe, as with use of NSAIDs to mask the damage, maybe all I’m doing is putting a smile on my face, as I wear my joints out faster.
I think the constant jolting of mounting hiking is unambiguously good for the leg and foot bones. It’s just what they need to prompt them to stay strong. Bones like to be stressed, so they say. But joints? Joints wear out. It’s just a question of how fast.
But I do like to hike. In Virginia. In the spring. For a whole lot of different reasons.
All said and done, I think I’d best do this while I still can. And let the long run take care of itself.
