Mountain Trip - Day Two - Grayson Highlands State Park and Mt. Jefferson

Welcome to Day Two of my weekend trip to the NC/VA mountains.

As you saw yesterday - the weather wasn't what we had expected with snow showers, cold temps and high winds.

The forecast said that Saturday and Sunday things would improve. So, Saturday morning we looked outside and saw that it was windy but hoped for the best and that things would clear off.

We ate breakfast, packed up and headed up the mountain towards Virginia's Grayson Highlands State Park.

I have heard so many people talk about this park in recent years and was totally excited to see it firsthand. There are wild ponies that roam along the trails in the park and you can hook up to the "AT", aka Appalachian Trail, here as well. The "AT" is said to be more beautiful in VA than in TN and NC so I was excited to see this as well.

As we drove it started to rain, sleet, and then snow! Again, we hoped for the best and decided that no matter what we were going to hike. We brought tons of layers and gear and figured we could do it!

Here's what we saw when we got there. Holy snow and wind!

We stopped at the Ranger station and we were told that the winds were 50mph hour along the upper trails but he told us that we would still be able to get up on the trail far enough to see the ponies. He also suggested a waterfall trail that runs below to get out us out of the wind. We decided that is what we would do then come back the next day and hike farther and get onto the "AT".

We put our boots on and drove towards the trailhead. Umm... thank GOD we drove my JEEP!

The snow and wind was unbelievable! Still - we were determined! We knew that there was a group of four guys that were on the trail. If they were going to do it so were we!
 

We both laughed at this sign!! As I took this picture the wind and snow were pummeling me! I thought HOLY bejesus I feel like I'm at a ski resort!

As we got down the trail it was pretty evident that we needed snow shoes or cross country skis for this adventure and 1/4 of a mile we turned around and decided to try again the next day.

I'm not going to lie. I was bummed as we drove out of the park. Would we get to hike in the park at all? Even, the next day? The weather was RIDICULOUS! I wasn't sure it would improve.
 
We headed back down to Jefferson and figured we would try and see if hiking Mount Jefferson would be an option. I took this photo the day before -- so, you don't see all the snow.
 

It was snowy but we were able to get our hike on here. The winds weren't nearly as bad as they were at Grayson mainly because it's a lower elevation and it's farther south.

You can see in the distance how bad it was. Snow and sleet.

Me, on Luther Rock. Again, you can see the dark clouds behind me.

We got in a good hike/workout and crossed our fingers that the next day would be better at Grayson Highlands.

Later in the evening we headed back out for dinner and to watch Final Four basketball. A Jr. League friend suggested Brick Stone in downtown West Jefferson.

I wasn't sure at first but it turned out to be great!

Come to find out -- they serve italian food prepared just like they do it in New York. Kelli is from NY so this thrilled her!

She even ordered a cannoli for dessert! I have to admit, it was good.

We met the owner who was super friendly and a friend of his who is a seasoned hiker and gave us all a list of trails to do in the area.

Afterwards we headed to bed and prayed for better weather the next day. We were going for round two at Grayson Highlands the next day.

Tune in tomorrow to see if we got to hike and see those, much talked about, wild ponies!