Annual Winter Solstice Hike, Damascus, Virginia

Several devotees mark the annual nadir of winter with a mountain hike into the darks of the Appalachian Trail. This almost ironic embracing of the bleakest of times is perhaps a means of coping with the seasonal shift. Throats bear a tinge of tightness as the depressing pall of winter creeps inexorably onward. Strange warbles from magnetic fields almost churn with every boot stepping in snow. These woods, lifeless, and shrouded in snow echo into a seeming infinity. The only sound: their party, feet and legs swishing in perambulation, the cadence of breathing and gasps marking time in a dirge-like mobile symphony. A stout hike into the lesser knowns might do the soul a bit of good, after all.



Various local cabins and outfitters serve as staging areas. Mount Rogers Outfitters Hostel, Between the Trails, B & D’s Rental, and others serve this intrepid lot. Dogs and men are fitted with packs and articles of Gore-Tex impregnated clothing, and staffs of telescopic aluminum or woods of selected trees. We shall not shave during this time. These small bands march on, breathing in the cold mountain air, expelling steaming chuffs in defiant plumes, chasing sunrise on the first full day of winter.