The House of Payne

On Saturday, Johnny, Roxie and I took a 7 mile round trip hike along the Appalachian Trail in Botetourt County just north of Roanoke. We chose it from a list of local hikes on roanoke.com. It was called the AT Baby Hike (as in it was just a small chunk of the entire 2,100 mile trail), and was classified as “short” and “easy.” Haha! Johnny’s still hurting from the hike! It was physically strenuous, but absolutely gorgeous! We were supposed to hike 3.9 miles from the parking area along Route 11 to a shelter on the trail to have a picnic lunch. After 3.5 miles, we were famished and exhausted, so we just parked it in the dead leaves along the trail and ate, then headed back down. The entire miles took us about 5 hours to complete, and although it was tough for us, it really was awesome!

The first part of the trail behind us, then...

A stile going over a fence! - made us feel like real hikers!

Looking along a grassy hill with an AT directional post pointing us in the right direction.

Looking down the hill...

Hiking Paynes!

3.5 miles up - eating lunch (finally).

Even Roxie was tired!

Devoring my sandwhich.

Near the top and going down - looking out at the Blue Ridge.

About a mile away from our car.

Looking up at the mountain we had just hiked.

Johnny happy to be almost done with the hike!

Trail signs along the road.

Walking on a rickity bridge over a creek.

Another "bridge."

Last strenuous part - up that humongous hill!

Heading towards the car - finally!

Oh, and by the way, click here to enter for a chance to win a free jar of Barney Butter! Good stuff, indeed! I love me some almond butter!

Posted on March 24th, 2009 by Hollie
Filed under: Hollie and Johnny, Life, Roxie, Weight Loss