I'm Back: A New House and a Short Hike to Annapolis Rocks

It has been a crazy end of summer and beginning of fall.  We attended the wedding of two dear friends on Long Island, attended training for Old Rag Mountain Stewards, and bought a house, we finally got back out into the woods out for a short trip with our friend from Horizontal Tread.  We were originally just going to hike the Appalachian Trail from Highway 40 up to the overlook, but our friend suggested bringing gear along and doing some rappelling   The weather was absolutely perfect:  70s and sunny.  It just doesn't get any better than that.  The hike up went pretty quickly, although I could definitely feel my month-long hiatus from the gym. We spent about three hours building anchors and rappelling off of the cliffs.  The scrambles back up a side gully were a good workout and nothing clears the head after several weeks of upheaval like an afternoon spent outside.

Pictures (click to enlarge):

 Getting ready to rappel off of Annapolis Rocks.

 Our friend from Horizontal Tread headed down the cliff face.

 A different kind of bootshot.

 Michael watching our friend reach the bottom.

 Ageratina altissima (White Snakeroot).

 Solidago caesia (Blue-Stemmed Goldenrod) - a sure sign of fall.

 A Turkey Vulture watches us set anchors.

 Aster divaricatus (White Wood Aster) - another sign of fall.

 Descending in the second place where we set up a rappel.

The trail on the way out, lined with Hay-Scented Ferns.

The house!  For the last seven years, we've lived in an amazing, supportive community. We all had each others' keys, had parties, helped each other out, and over time, built a family of people who started out as strangers.  All of a sudden, over the last three months, everyone scattered.  Jobs were found in other parts of the country and rents increased beyond what people could tolerate. We were in the latter category. We are sad to see the group break up.  We already miss the community we had (and don't think we won't be in touch, if you are reading this in Golden, Grand Rapids, near Trader Joe's, or on our old block), but we are looking forward to making the house ours and finding a new community here.