Wander: Hawksbill Summit at Shenandoah NP and Barboursville Ruins

I took a day off to make a long birthday weekend for myself, and headed for my happy place: the mountains! My main goal was to hike the Hawksbill Summit Trail, to reach the highest point of Shenandoah National Park. It was a beautiful and crisp day, the first full day of fall, so I also added a couple shorter trails: Lewis Mountain Trail and Stony Man Trail. As a bonus, I made a sunrise stop on the way to check out the Barboursville Ruins. Come along!

Destination: Kayaking Swift Creek Lake at Pocahontas State Park, VA

I enjoyed kayaking when we lived in Florida, but I haven’t done much of that since moving to Virginia. So recently I got myself a new kayak (more on that in a bit), and hope to use it a lot more in the near future! Today I loaded it up for a wander to Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield VA, about 20 minutes from home. I hit the waters of Swift Creek Lake for a lovely morning paddle. Come along!