[MSCW list] Spur-of-the moment scouting drive on Monday - 4/27. It's a drive-to-hiking trip.

[Timothy Metzinger]

It turns out that Monday (4/27) is gonna be a free day for me, and the weather is going to be decent (cool in the morning but 70s later in the day).  So I'm going to take a day-long road trip to scout places where I may take the car group.  The focus is going to be on hiking - we had a good time doing Bear Fence Mountain in 2025.

I'm going to start by having breakfast at the Northside 29 Restaurant in Warrenton at 7:30 AM, and then head down 29 towards Charlottesville to take US250 to Afton where there is a trailhead to a tunnel through the Blue Ridge.  I'll hike through the tunnel to the west side, take pictures, then hike back to the car.

Then I'll get on the Skyline Drive northbound and exit at US33, and take that north (really west) torwards Harrisonburg, and through the George Washington National Forest to Shenandoah Mountain.  There's a trailhead there that takes me up the High Knob to a fire tower at the top where I should get a 360-degree view.

Then I'll head back towards Harrisonburg on US33 and join US11 northbound to Marshall, where I'll stop at the Southern Kitchen for some of their great fried chicken, and pie (of course).  After that, I'll take US211 east to Cooters, where I'll take the Fort Valley Road route northbound to VA55, stopping to leave a note at Jewell, the great mountainside home (it's too big to call a cabin) that we will pass during our annual 'go-fast' drive.

Once on VA55, I'll head home, probably getting home around 7:30 - 8:00 PM.  It'll be about 350 miles of driving, and 3-4 hours of hiking/dining.

If anyone wants to come along for the whole trip or just parts of it, drop me an e-mail (tim dot metzinger at outlook dot com)  and show up at Northside 29 at 7:30 on Monday.

I'll post a trip report later in the week.

Drive safely and HAVE FUN,

Timothy (Tim) Metzinger

Scenic Drive Coordinator – Mazda Sport Cars of Washington, DC

Current drive list - https://www.midatlanticscenicdrives.com/mscwdrives.html

Guide to our group drives – https://midatlanticscenicdrives.com/downloads/MSCW_Group_Drive_Guide.pdf

tim.metzinger at outlook.com<mailto:tim.metzinger at outlook.com>

703.963.3015