A "Candlelight Dinner" Atop Hawksbill Mountain

A superb day for a hike in the Blue Ridge

The invitation sounded cool right from the start. A hike that included a "candlelight dinner" at the summit _ complete with tablecloth. Who could turn that down?

So, on Saturday, we joined Mike Darzi and his wonderfully named hiking group _ Wandering Soles _ for a sojourn to the top of Hawksbill Mountain, near the Skyline Drive in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Near the summit

Part of the hike was on the Appalachian Trial, and we must have stopped at a half-dozen overlooks, taking endless photos. At one such stop we broke out the "appetizers," with each hiker contributing something from his/her native area. (Being from rural North Carolina, I brought black-eyed peas and hominy corn. Not as exciting nor as delicious as the Polish crepes.)

It was windy at the summit, so it was hard to keep the candle lit. And it was too cloudy to see a sunset. But we put down the tablecloth and enjoyed a great feast and plenty of good company.  We hiked down in the dark, using our headlamps to find the way, and we stopped at the Skyland resort for a well-deserved hot chocolate. (It was quite cool for August.)

Since I'm always telling you to visit my website (http://myhikingvacations.com), I should do a good turn in return and tell you to click onto Wandering Soles (http://www.meetup.com/WanderingSoles). Mike is very good at cooking up adventure, pardon the pun.  


You can see more photos on our Facebook page: 
https://www.facebook.com/pages/MyHikingVacations/147404999999

See you on the trails. 
Joseph

Lots of great views of the Shenandoah Valley.