Bull Run Mountain Hiking Trip 2

This morning a small group of friends (Tyler, Kane, Nathan, and Courtney) and myself head out to hike and explore the Bull Run Mountains. Of course Tyler and I have already trekked through these mountains, but there were some sites that we had not seen the first time through. Also there is a geocache here that we missed out on the first time through. 

As today is a Thursday we had the trail all to ourselves, so I was not surprised that when we got to the parking area we were the only ones there other than the construction workers that are there. From the parking are we hiked on the road (1 mile) all the way to where the East End Trail (1.25 miles) starts. We followed that trail all the way to its end when it meets the Mountain Road (1.2 miles). At the Mountain Road we decided to take the trail all the way to where it ends (.5 miles), and we discovered a gate that leads to a private property. Since we did not want to trespass we just turned around, and headed westward till we reached the intersection of Chestnut Ridge Trail (1 mile). Once we got to the intersection to the Quarry Trail (1.1 miles) we discovered a old Civil War trench that was currently being explored by men with metal detectors, and a family graveyard of the people that used to live here. 

As soon as we had our fill of exploring the war site and graveyard we continued on with our journey, but on the way back Courtney found a turtle who quickly became our hiking trip's mascot. Then we took the Quarry Trail (1.1 miles) back to Catlett's Branch Trail (.25 miles) so we could show the guys the old fallen tree that was heavily marked by other hikers. Afterwards we trekked back on Catlett's Branch Trail (.25 miles) all the way to Ridge Loop Trail (.75 miles) that we followed to the summit. 

The time that we reached the summit was 1:30 PM, and we started the hike around 9:30 AM. So basically it took us four hours to reach the summit, and the best part was that we enjoyed every single second of it. Unfortunately the previous statement is not entirely correct for one of our group. Kane had a harsh time on the climb to the summit, and I regret to inform that he says that he always wanted to climb a mountain, but now that he has done it he does not want to ever do it again. 

After we refueled with lunch and water we remained at the peak for almost an hour admiring the view, enjoying the perch that we stole from some hawks or vultures. I really could not tell what they were but they looked like vultures to me, but Tyler insisted that they were hawks. My plan is to research which bird is better known to inhabit the area.

On our climb down we took the Chestnut Ridge Trail (2.3 miles) then Fern Hollow Trail (1.12 miles). We showed the guy the old ruins of a house, the old mill, and the icehouse. Then we closed out the day by recording our whole adventure by answering the questions on the "Au Naturel Experience" geocache, and marking it a complete. 

It was a fun day, and I can not wait till our next adventure!