Mark and I celebrated our 21st anniversary on January 19th. We spent the Thursday evening of our actual anniversary at a rainy track meet of Nina’s, but then the next day we set out for a much anticipated hiking weekend. We wanted to cross Virginia’s Triple Crown off our list, and it definitely did not disappoint.
We drove down to the Roanoke area on Friday morning, and we hiked our first of the three hikes that day. Tinker Cliffs was just a fraction under the longest of the three. We were a little concerned that we’d be able to finish in daylight, but we pushed out pace and made it out and back in plenty of time. The hike was challenging for it’s long steady climbs, and once we made it to the summit the wind was crazy and super cold. The summit is a series of cliffs that are beautiful and give you a great view of the landscape for miles, but with the crazy wind, we didn’t stay too close to the edge of the cliffs for very long!
After finishing Tinker Cliffs, we were hungry and ready for a warm place to hang out, so we decided to check out Three Notch’D Brewery. The beverages were refreshing, the food was delicious, and the downtown part of Roanoke is really cute.
Day 2 started with a large coffee and a big breakfast, and we were off to McAfee Knob. The weather on this day was the best, and this was the most popular of the three hikes, so we saw quite a few other hikers out. The hike itself was very enjoyable. There wasn’t anything very technical or difficult other than just consistently making your way upward. It was the longest of the three hikes (by just a fraction to Tinker Cliffs).
The summit of McAfee Knob is absolutely beautiful. The rock outcropping is an iconic place to take in the landscape and snap a photo, and pictures don’t do justice to the view you have when you’re sitting out there on that rock. Even in January when the landscape is more stark, it’s just beautiful.
We visited Olde Salem Brewing Company in Salem after finshing McAfee Knob, then it was time for showers and dinner.
It was “Restaurant Week” in Roanoke while we were there, and a couple of the places we wanted to try were already completely booked out with reservations when we called over a week in advance, so we decided to try something a little more casual that wasn’t a part of Restaurant Week. Beamer’s 25 was a cute little bistro in Roanoke that payed tribue to the VT coach, Frank Beamer. The food was great, and it ended up being a great place for us to have a good meal and watch some playoff football.
The last of our three hikes was on Sunday which was forecased to be the worst weather day of the weekend. The temps were supposed to drop and a wintery mix was forecasted to come in. We dressed for cold and rain and after a good breakfast and a good coffee, headed off to Dragon’s Tooth. This was the shortest of our three hikes, but we both agreed that it was the most challenging of the three. It also has the most variety in terrain. It was a really pretty hike on the way up.
The last mile definitely lived up to the warning here. It consisted of challenging sections of steep rocks and scrambles. We were SO glad that the forecasted wintery mix had held off a bit. The air was damp, but at least it wasn’t freezing rain on us. That would have made the steep rock sections rather precarious.
The summit of Dragon’s Tooth was very rugged and very cool. It had a unique opening of interesting trees and the famous tooth-like rock formation at the top. After exploring around a bit at the top we made the trek back down and arrived at our car tired but very fulfilled. The three days of hiking was so much fun and having time to just hang out in between was a blast for us too. We left from Dragon’s Tooth for home and were glad to arrive home safely to the girls and pup (big shout out to my mom for hanging at our house with the girls and Cayenne for the weekend). It was definitely the best type of weekend, and we’re so grateful for the opportunity to get away for a few days and enjoy doing something we love together.
