18 of us had a wonderful ride. We got to see part the National Mall, the Metropolitan Branch Trail, the Georgetown Branch Trail and the Capital Crescent Trail. Nice to have some hikers in the group and a new person too.

This was a pluperfect June day for 12 Adventurers, highlighted by comfortable temperatures, low humidity and gentle zephyrs. Usually we hit the high ground in summer to avoid the heat, but this time we fled to the crest of Great North Mountain to escape the waterlogged valleys instead (not to mention the nine stream crossings in our original itinerary). Unfortunately, our trail must not have been well maintained lately, as much of it was choked by excessive vegetation that both slowed us down and facilitated the relocation aspirations of the resident ticks. All the trees in full leaf left us a little short in the vistas department, with the notable exception of the outstanding views both east and west from the powerline cut. The fair number of mountain laurel bushes in full bloom was partly counterbalanced by one large tree encroaching on the trail festooned with poison ivy. We carefully maneuvered ourselves around a tiny bird's nest with tinier nestlings. Having had a full day's quota of Nature, we finished with a trip to Pickle Bob's for soft ice cream treats.

What a beautiful day for a hike in Shenandoah National Park! As the four of us descended from Skyline Drive via the Rocky Mount Trail, we encountered beautiful mountain laurel blooms all along the way. We knew this hike was going to be particularly difficult both because of the elevation gain and the early summer heat. As we hiked we encountered frogs, cicadas, butterflies, and even a guinea fowl! We encountered various terrain and vegetation changes on this circuit hike, which made the hike well worth the break-taking ascent. As we sat and ate lunch we enjoyed some amazing views. After lunch we started our gut-wrenching climb to the top of Rocky Mount. We enjoyed the views from the summit and took a few picture, then started back down the trail. After reaching the base of the mountain by Gap Run, we started our final 2.2-mile ascent to conclude our long but rewarding day at Two Mile Overlook on Skyline Drive. All in all we had an amazing time on a hike that was every bit as strenuous as advertised.

A threat of heavy afternoon storms led our group of 12 to shorten our planned itinerary by a mile or so, a prudent step in light of the downpours which indeed swamped everything in the area after we were done. We were surprised by the overcast skies and occasional sprinkles that dominated the first half of our hike, but that was a blessing in disguise since it kept temperatures down to comfortable levels. We were also surprised that the mountain laurel was not yet in full bloom, though plenty of blossoms had emerged to make things pretty. We maintained a steady and easy pace all day, so that by the time we were done, few of us could believe that we had really just walked 8 or 9 miles.

We made it! We even did additional miles for extra credit. Well, not exactly. Fortunately John remembered that he had left the keys to his car at my house before we had gone very far on our bikes. It would have presented quite a logistical challenge had we arrived in Baltimore without the keys to the car that was to bring us home. John and I therefore logged a total of around 63 miles and Patrick had even more. The route we followed to Baltimore was pleasant, particularly the shady stretches, and traffic was generally light. The day was hot but as long as we kept moving the "apparent wind" kept us comfortable enough. We had a great celebratory meal at City Cafe in Baltimore. Thanks to John for volunteering his car to make this one-way ride possible, and thanks to Patrick for being a good sport about the unexpected extra miles he had to put it. I hope to lead this ride for Adventuring again.

"This is too great a day not to go hiking," Peter observed this gorgeous spring morning, and 10 other Adventurers agreed. Our schedule was thrown off a bit because our carpool to Shenandoah had to originate from Grosvenor-Strathmore instead of East Falls Church, thanks to Metro. After some discussion at the Milam Gap parking lot and no little trepidation from moi, we decided to go directly to Hoover Camp via the Mill Prong Trail and its interesting stream crossing, which proved to be no problem at all despite heavy recent rains. At the Brown House, we were enthusiastically welcomed by our favorite seasonal Shenandoah ranger, who very kindly told us "Memorial Day Weekend wouldn't be complete without a visit from Adventuring." After his always-interesting house tour and lunch on the Brown House porch, we visited the great little museum in the Prime Minister's Cabin next door. Our return leg started on the very swampy and muddy Laurel Prong Trail, more like a streambed today than a trail. We caught our breath after a tiring climb to Laurel Gap and then slabbed over to the Appalachian Trail. We went up and over Hazeltop for our final approach to Milam Gap, being overtaken by a grimly-determined AT thru-hiker en route. We ended our spectacular spring day with another fine dinner (and a little blackberry ice cream) at Big Meadows Lodge.

What a beautiful day for a hike in the Shenandoah River State Park! There were 13 individuals hiking, including two newcomers and four dogs. This was a hike to be remembered not for the notorious name but for the fact that the 17-year cicadas were out in full force in this park! This really should have been aptly called the Great Cicada Hike because of the shear volume of them that we saw and the racket that they produced. It was similar to a low motor sound of an appliance. On this hike we ate lunch at the vista overlooking the Shenandoah River. It was just one amazing day for a hike sans the ticks. This time of year there are ticks everywhere so during our breaks I made sure that everyone checked for ticks. In the end everyone got a little sun and had a great hike, and even our four-legged furry hikers were happy!

Five riders donned their wind breakers for a ride across the Potomac on a picture-perfect sunny spring day. Two Adventurers took the 26 mile route, while three opted for the 18 mile ride.

As we embarked on this hike on the Appalachian Trail, we looked at the horizon, saw the clouds and prayed that we would not get any rain. What we got instead was an overcast day with limited views; and even though we wandered a little off track from our original hike plan, we had an amazing time doing it! This was a small group of Adventurers mainly because of the forecast of rain. I was happy to see two new people in the group, as well as some familiar faces. As we hiked the AT we enjoyed the various sights and rock formations. The view from the vista was limited, but seeing the fog roll by was just as beautiful. During the hike we passed our turn-off point and continued on the AT and then backtracked to pick back up on our original path. We had originally decided that we were not going to do the winery; and because of the length we had already done, I opted not to do the Bears Den portion of the hike. All in all it was still a great hike even with the weather and our inadvertent hike plan change.

The weather was kind of icky for mid-May, but at least none of the predicted showers hit us and temperatures were mild. The seven other Adventurers got more than they bargained for as I interlaced tales from the Civil War with lots of my own personal history growing up in the Silver Spring/Fort Stevens area. Interpretive stops included Acorn Park (site of the original Silver Spring), Jesup Blair Park (where I spent my summer days as a kid), the scene of the so-called "DC Snipers'" only murder in DC, the old Walter Reed grounds, Battleground Cemetery, and Fort Stevens itself. A couple of our crew bailed out as we headed into Rock Creek Park to lunch at the Miller Cabin. Our trek up Rock Creek Park was delightful since none of us had ever been on that scenic stretch of the Valley Trail before, most of it right next to the Creek. We returned to Silver Spring Metro just before 2, on schedule.

This was not the day for most to hike as the weather was awful and the traffic to get to our location was absolutely miserable. Yet not only did the non-fair weather hikers show up and hiked with me in the rain, we had an amazing time! One thing that is just amazing about hiking in the rain is the amplification of the sounds and colors. Somehow the sound of the rain falling on the canopy above, dropping from the leaves to the rocks, and tapping on one's rain gear is so calming. Add with how the rain seems to enhance the color of everything around that it touches. The green in the trees and the ferns all around was just breath-taking. We came across a very shy but colorful turtle that was crossing our path. After I moved him to safety, he stated that I could have one picture to post, although it could not be a head shot as he and his agent were working on a film deal with Grumpy the Cat! All in all it was a great hike to do in the rain!

Seven Adventurers and/or Chrysalians, plus one Lucky dog, participated in this very full day-long tour of Chancellorsville just after the battle's sesquicentennial. The day was sunny and rather April-like, sometimes cool and breezy, other times quite warm. Despite the previous evening's downpours, the air was still choked with pollen, leaving most of us hacking, sneezing, wheezing, etc. It was certainly a good day for bugs, including ticks and the first sightings of still-silent cicadas from the newly-emerging brood. We covered a lot of ground, both by driving and by hiking the three major hiking trails within the battlefield. We finished with dinner at the Blarney Stone, our favorite Irish pub in downtown Fredericksburg.

It was trilliums we wanted and boy did we get them! This showy white flower that fades to pink was in abundance once the nine of us ascended to the Appalachian Trail. Leah was the first to spot a patch of them, but after a while you couldn't miss them no matter where you looked. This is not to say there weren't other pretty flowers along the trails such as rue anemone, violets, star chickweed, and wild geranium, but the trilliums stole the show. At one point I feared that some of our group who had gotten ahead of me had gone down the wrong trail, so a special thanks to Mary for taking off her pack and running down the trail to make sure no one had gone astray! Prior to the hike I had hounded everyone to make sure they had purchased their daily access permits from Virginia. I had also taken the precaution of applying for a special use permit from Virginia in case the size of our group exceeded 11. So I was a little miffed that there didn't appear to be any state officials enforcing the rules at the Wildlife Management Area where we hiked. Oh well, better safe than sorry. I finished the hike by harvesting leaves from ubiquitous but invasive and unwelcome garlic mustard plants. I plan to sauté them in some olive oil with some garlic, balsamic vinegar, and water. The Post's Urban Jungle column assures me that sautéing the leaves greatly reduces the cyanide level in the leaves. Hope it's right!

A delightfully crisp, bright morning and a cloudless sky saluted 16 Adventurers to begin the day at the Sugarloaf Mountain trailhead. Strong sunbeams warmed the air very quickly as we conquered numerous undulating hills, leaping across a few spring runoff-fed brooks and dodging the thick mud. We found many photogenic signs of spring, including colorful azaleas. We lunched noonish at the White Rocks, which opened to a beautiful panorama of the Piedmont between our Monadnock and the Catoctin Mountains. After lunch, we descended quickly down the mountain, only to climb back up again until we arrived back at the parking lot. After a short rest, most of us resolved to confront the steep climb up the stairs to the 1,282-foot summit. When we reached the top, our feelings of accomplishment quickly morphed into a happy laziness brought on by the cloudless beautiful day. The farmland below materialized in bright colors, almost appearing in high definition. On our ride back to town, some Adventurers in the carpool were treated to a ride in the country in a convertible with the top down. What a way to end a perfect spring day!

This was a hike full of surprises. We dozen Adventurers should have known we were in for something out of the ordinary when a tree came crashing down just after we began. This was followed by a confused Trip Leader getting us temporarily lost and by a languid black snake that made an exit that would have made Tallulah Bankhead proud. In between these episodes, we enjoyed playing on the natural jungle gym known as Wolf Rock and eating lunch while taking in the spectacular views from Chimney Rock. When we arrived at the base of our steepest climb, Cat Rock, half our group decided that they had experienced enough of Nature for one day and made their way back to the cars. The other half began the climb just as the forecast 20% chance of rain suddenly became 100%. We trekked on anyway and when we reached Cat Rock itself, we didn’t let a few very wet boulders stop us from scrambling our way to the summit. We finished the hike exhausted and wet. Three of us then made our way to the Cozy Restaurant in nearby Thurmont for a well-deserved all-you-can-eat buffet, where a middle-aged woman made a very blatant pass at one of our (male) hikers. It was an appropriately weird ending to a day of surprises.

A sunny, almost cloudless day greeted 27 Adventurers who attended our annual Spring outing to the National Arboretum, a 446-acre green enclave in the middle of Northeast D.C. Despite a late start due to a road closure and massive traffic tie-up on New York Avenue, the group finally assembled and headed off to Mount Hamilton to pay homage to the seasonal azalea display, established in the 1940s by the Arboretum's first director, the bachelor Benjamin Y. Morrison. After taking in the view of downtown D.C. from the mountain, our large group trekked to the eastern edge of the park to view the dogwood and other flowering trees, the Asian garden and pagoda, the Fern Valley, and finally the iconic National Capitol columns. A convivial lunch followed at a little-known picnic area behind the gift shop, attended by almost the same number who started. A great day for newcomers and veterans alike to become reacquainted with this often overlooked Washington treasure.

In Adventuring's first joint outing with Montgomery Men, 13 hikers trekked 10 miles around Lakes Frank and Needwood in the upper reaches of Rock Creek Regional Park. We started at the park surrounding Lake Frank, which surprisingly was largely empty of other outdoor revelers even though the weather that spring day was gorgeous. While circling Lake Frank, we managed to cross two streams without anyone getting wet. When we came upon another stream crossing at Lake Needwood next door, all 13 of us decided to cross it, even though there was an option for going around it; and again, marvelous to report, no one fell in. We stayed dry all the way until we reached Rockville's Mi Rancho, where we joined a number of the more sedentary members of Montgomery Men for margaritas and dinner. Here the drinks were generous and the fattening dinner was especially satisfying for our lucky 13 who had trekked the full 10 miles.

What an amazing day for a hike in the woods. We started out with six Adventurers, supplemented by one latecomer who caught up with us along the way. We decided to take the Orange Trail first, then head to Calvert Cliffs Beach via the Red Trail. This was the first time hiking with the group by some, so we took the time to take in the beautiful sights and to get to know each other. We found teachable moments along the way to discuss trail safety and how the trails were blazed. The day was cool and the sun was bright with clear skies. The trails were muddy after our recent rains, which we all seemed to enjoy. We ate lunch on the beach while watching the amazing views of the cliffs and the calm waters of Chesapeake Bay. After lunch we spent time walking along the beach looking for artifacts. Unfortunately we did not find any ancient sharks teeth, but we did come across an amazing artifact of fossilized rock, which we left on the beach! Once we finished our hunt on the beach we headed back onto the trails, where we passed a beaver dam, witnessed a snake having a quick meal, and saw many birds. All in all it was an absolutely beautiful day on the beach, and the mud did not seem to bother anyone at all!