Took a 17 mile hike on Tuesday to break away from work

I was pretty stressed out by one patent application at work on Monday, so I decided to escape at the last minute and signed up this hike.I was luck to pick this 64F sunny day to hike. Most of the Tuesday hikers are retirees who enjoy a healthy life style.

Doubletop - Camp Hoover - Big Meadows (PACT Map 10), the Doubletop Mtn. trail over Doubletop was steep and down the 4WD Trail to the Rapidan Fire Road. Going through Camp Hoover for lunch.

We returned to the cars using Dark Hollow Falls Trail, Rose River Fire Rd., Stony Mtn. Trail, Rapidan Fire Road, and Upper Dark Hollow Trail. (17.1 mi, 3560 ft gain)

DC weekend farmer's market

My impression of DC was all about museums, bars, theaters, concerts, and parking tickets. This was my first time walking around Adams Morgan to shop at the farmers market after a Church's Sunday service, and enjoyed soups under the warm sun at a circle.






The sermon was about dealing daily challenge with welcoming attitude regardless of setbacks and feeling of powerless. "Want what you have, Be who you are, and Do what you can" can lead to a happy and productive life.

House sitting at a friend's property in Leesburg, Virginia

She has one parrot, one dog, one donkey, two horses, and nine goats. I enjoyed the animals and the sunny weather on her deck.

Cross Country Skiing in White Glass, WV

I took the trip with a meetup group to Whitegrass for a day of learning cross country skiing and then hiked on the second day. The snow was just enough to twisted my angle

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Oh, no! Old Rag Summit covered with ice?

What was I thinking? Woke up 3 am to meet carpool at 4 am then hike over ice/snow in the dawn? Even I worm microspikes and used hiking poles, the rocky surface covered with ice/snow was still challenging for me (and I really wanted to skip the hike from the get-go in the20sF). http://www.meetup.com/dc-backpackers/events/91694982/

Since I could not walk on the rocks on the Old Rag Summit under such conditions, I cut short my participation of this Training/Endurance Hike #4(24.6 Mi/8200 Ft Gain) into 16 mi/3500 Ft Gain. I feel sorry that I could not break my personal elevation gain per day via this hike. I am not a snow hiker, so I will wait for an opportunity in a warmer season.

I did quite a few long hikes with the Washington Backpacker Group, but never backpacked with them in the DC area.

- Austin Mt / Big Run / Doyles River / JonesRun / Furnace Mt - 19 miles Jun 5, 2011

- Old Rag and Robertson Mountain (Strenuous13.2 mile hike) Jan 29, 2012

- Catlett Mountain - SNP, Virginia(15miles) 2,010-2,500 ft elevation gain Mar 4, 2012

-  AT Section STRENUOUS LONG DISTANCE DAY HIKE# 3 Ashby Gap-Compton Gap 25.66 mile Mar 11, 2012

- Presi Training Hike: Austin/Furnace - JonesRun/Doyles River hike(19.9 Mile) Apr 1, 2012

- Doubletop and Jones Mountain, SNP, ~21mi,~6000ft gain May 20, 2012

- Little Devils Stairs and Mt Marshall - 22miles Dec 2, 2012

- Second Season - Training/Endurance Hike #3- 20.9 Miles/5850 Ft Elevation Gain Dec 15, 2012

National Philharmonic: Handel's Messiah

Music Center at Strathmore was as nice as before since I visited it years ago. I was happy to see my world traveler friend there to enjoy conversation and .a holiday concert

My Single Female World Traveling Life Style

My solo-travel world adventures began in Fall 2011, when I took a three-month leave from work and travelling Argentina/Chile/ Colombia/Ecuador/Peru to experience Latin American life style. http://southamericajt.blogspot.com/

I recently got back to Washington DC on 11/20/2012 from my 2.5 month trip to Taiwan/China/Vietnam/Cambodia/Thailand/Nepal/India during September to November 2012. My trip highlights include (1) hiking for 7 days in Annapurna Sanctuary, Nepal, (2) visiting the Halong Bay near Hanoi and a virgin cave in central Vietnam; (3) experiencing cultural shocks in Delhi, India; (4) being victimized by a gem scam in Bangkok, Thailand, and (5) attending 23-yr college classmate reunion in Taipei, Taiwan. Here is my updated blog for your casual reading. http://asiajt.blogspot.com/

I continue learning the art of solo travel such as doing things safely as a single female, finding travel pals in vehicles and terminals, making local friends on the go, etc. I invest in real estate and work part-time 9 month each year to fund my trips. I used local transportation and hostels instead of taking tours, I found pals to negotiate as a group for discounts, etc., so to contain my budget to less than $1,000 USD a month including all expenses. Other people deploy strategies such as working via the internet or remotely, finding jobs abroad, etc., to realize their own overseas life style. Stop giving yourselves excuses like it is too scary, too expensive, I don’t speak the language, etc. If you reallywant to do it, you will find a way to do it. For example, after staying in South America for three months, I still speak about 20 words of Spanish. Simply google online you will find many wandering soles like me living the way we want.

Enjoy a prosperous 2013. See you around the world soon.

NSO POPS: New York Voices Concert at Kennedy Center

I enjoyed the Grammy-winning vocal ensemble New York Voices, a Santa Claus, and the charming conductor  Randall Craig Fleischer. The conductor engaged the audience to clap their ahnds and sing along some Christmas songs.

The most entertaining hike I took

I hiked these trails (White Oak/Hawksbill Summit/Cedar Run) many times as different combinations with the same tails or in conjunction with other trails. The 12-m Early Morning Day Hike contained some things unique: one hiker did a wall backflip upon a shelter along the AT near the Hawksbill Summit (the hignest point of SNP), and two hikers dived into 40 F water.

 

Little Devils Stairs and Mt Marshall - 22 miles

I took a few long hikes in 2011-2012. Most of the time hikers are too busy to take photos, including this time. It was not easy to take a long hike after traveling in Asia for 2.5 duing which only hiked once.

Hike with 007

Right after I got back from Asia, I felt a need to stretch my legs since I only hiked once in Nepal in the 2.5 months. I took the 8.5m Strenuous  hike at the George Washington National Forest covering Duncan Knob with A Rock Scramble On Massanutten Mountain.  I did not like the rock scrambles, because a lot of them were loner than me.  You can see me at the right cornor of the photo.

I run into my hiking pal again who works at the UK Embassy in DC, and joked about his job and my coming office party with a James Bond theme. I will figure out how to dress and act in the party. It was a fun and fast hike.