Rose River Falls

A few weeks ago Stuart came up for a weekend visit.  Even though it was January, it was a wonderful 63 degrees outside!  We thought we'd take advantage of the beautiful Virginia mountains and take a hike in Shenandoah National Park.  There's so many trails it's really hard to pick one, but I got lucky and chose just the perfect hike for our day: Rose River Falls.  It was a moderately difficult 4.5 mile trek.  Probably on a regular day it would be easy to moderate, but this day the prior week's snow had not yet melted and for most of the hike we got to trudge through it!  All the while with the 60 degree sun shining on us.  It was perfect.  And not to mention we got to follow a nice babbling stream most of the way.  Here is the hike in pictures (prior to new fancy camera, mind you!)

View of ... Staunton maybe?

Not terribly snowy at the start of the trail.

Two handsome guys at the top of a little rock climbing

You have no idea how big of a deal this is!  Winston's been afraid of water since we got him. Big accomplishment!

One of my favorite parts of the trail.  This bridge also marked the beginning of the real snow as we were on the shady side of the mountain.

Cute, I know =)  Winston's not really into pausing for pictures.

It's easier to get around fallen trees when you can just walk underneath them.

Picture doesn't do this one justice!

Sometimes it was a little difficult to tell where the trail was.  When all else failed we looked for footprints

Look at this little guy - ready for Spring!

Mini-falls. There was a much bigger one but my picture of it was not so great.

More mini-falls

We were pooped at the end of the trail!  Hiking through the snow is a bit like walking through sand sometimes.  We had lunch on the trail but a hungry gal has always got room for ... a chili dog!