Adventure: Mary's Rock

Not only am I going out of my jurisdiction here, this is probably the largest assembly of Team Crash that will ever appear here!

Not too far from the metro area of Washington DC are the famous Shenandoah Mountains. Protected by a National Park, this scenic ridge offers some of the East Coast's best vistas; from simple pull-offs on paved roads to long distance boot-killers like Old Rag Mountain. On more of a middle-of-the-road kind of journey is the hike to Mary's Rock, a mountain peak with a stone precipice offering great views of the beautiful valleys below. The hike has a lot of elevation gain over two miles, so its no particularly long but it is a bit strenuous. But any challenge is worth it for those lofty views.

The medium challenge, high reward combination of Mary's Rock lured me in while I was spending my spring break in Virginia. After a weekend of Penguins hockey in the Capitol with Bilo, Monty, and Scooter, the boys dropped me off in Front Royal where I rendezvoused with a massive contingent of the ROC (Recreational Outdoor Club) from Clarion University. It was a well-choreographed-- albeit somewhat complicated-- plan, allowing me to meet up with long time Team Crash sidekicks like Ox, Mary, and Ber-Ber, who even brought my Jeep, Roxie, with them. Hell, even Sandy the Dog was there. They were counting on me to guide them to a hike or two, so after converging on their camp and many long rounds of Uno around the campfire, I obliged.

And with that, we were off to Mary's Rock!

After the jump, many pictures of the platoon I guided up the mountain, my buggered up eyeball, and, of course, fantastic mountain-top views from Mary's Rock...