Winter Hiking at Sky Meadows State Park, Virginia

by admin

Mid February, 2021, the last of the season’s snow fell in the mid-Atlantic region. I’d seen quite enough snow this winter, but since it’s weekend, I still decided to take on some hiking in the wild. This time, I picked Sky Meadows State Park in Virginia.

Fields

Unlike previous excursions this winter, I did this hike in wintery mix of freezing rain and snow. While the weather forecast indicated precipitation would start giving way to cloudy skies Saturday morning, I headed out at noon on February 13, with snowflaking still flying in the skies. While both Maryland and Virginia were promptly treating Interstate 495, the same couldn’t be said once I got onto US50, with portions of the road covered by black ice requiring very careful driving. Nonetheless, I made it to the park at 2pm and started my hike.

Car Front

Unfortunately, the freezing rain lasted longer than weather forecast so I made the drive in on-off drizzle. In addition, water splashed from cars in front turned out to be a bigger issue. Judging by the number of icicles on my car, it’s certainly not an easy journey for me to get here.

A brief note about Sky Meadows State Park, it’s mostly private farmland before being donated to the State in the 1970s to 90s. The mixture of landscape from forests along Appalachian Trail to meadows at its foothills was hard to find elsewhere around Washington DC.
Today, I would be hiking Whitehouse/Piedmont Overlook Loop Trail, the most popular in the park, located towards the west of US17. The park charged a $10-per-car fee for entry.

I opted to take the trail counter-clockwise, visiting the scenic overlooks first. Soon after leaving park office, the wide-open trail made its way through former farmland up the hill.
Here’s GPS tracking:

Trail

Twisted Trees

Halfway to Piedmont Overlook, these lone trees in the field with their twisted branches seemed like some wicked creatures from magic tales.

Distant Houses

Piedmont Overlook was only a short stroll away from trailhead, but it offered probably the best view of the day. It’s the place to soak in the breadth of the park, of its rolling meadows, once as farmland bordered by threads of trees, fading into distant horizon. The harsh winter cast down an achromatic landscape, hazed by the freezing rain that permeated the air. If not for the sound of distant traffic resonating through the depressingly low-lying clouds, the sight of such extensive but lifeless meadows would stir in me a sense of sorrow that I hadn’t felt for quite a long time.

Fields

After leaving Piedmont Overlook, the trail entered forests as it continued to climb uphill.

Trail

Opening in Forest
Room probably left for power lines that were never built.

Trail

Not long after that I reached Whitehouse Overlook, named for Charles Whitehouse as US ambassador to Laos and Thailand. Despite it’s higher in elevation, views here were much more obscured than previously at Piedmont Overlook.
On another note, probably due to higher elevation, most trees here were wearing rime ice. Unlike snow, rim ice could form on the tiniest of branches, giving the entire tree a crystal-looking overcoat and an alluring sight.

Tree with Rime Ice

Trail in Open Field

After Whitehouse Overlook, the trail entered an open field that seemed to be former farmland. Isolated trees were scattered around the field, wearing dazzling rime ice. 600m later, the trail joined Appalachian Trail into forests.

Trail
Appalachian Trail (left) to Harpers Ferry, Ambassador Whitehouse Trail (right) where I came from.

Trees with Rime Ice

Frozen Rain on Camera

The drizzling rain froze into a thin layer of ice on my camera. I was both glad and relieved that it made through this trip okay.

Trail

Appalachian Trail here, wide and well-maintained. The trees provided some shelter from the rain and wind. Despite the obvious snowshoe track, I didn’t think the snow’s thick enough to warrant snowshoes here.

Soon after that, the Appalachian Trail entered a smaller open field, where I was once again treated with the stunning sights of rime ice on trees.

Trees with Rime Ice

Rime Ice
It’s the thin layers of ice like this that were giving the trees a magical color of white.

Tree with Rime Ice

Trees with Rime Ice

Soon after that I left Appalachian Trail and followed the ridge trail downhill.

Trail

Along South Ridge Trail there’s an overlook. It’s just not the most exciting view of the day.

View from South Ridge Overlook

Frozen Rain on Backpack

Not just my camera, the rain seeped through my backpack’s fabric and froze it solid.

After leaving South Ridge Overlook, there’s a steep downhill section, the only part of today’s hike that required caution. Microspikes could come in handy here, but even without them I managed just fine.

Road
Leading to overnight campground.

Track

Must be an old farm access road. Now overnight campers must drive through this narrow road, which I would avoid if possible.

Farm
Park officials used portions of land for plant research, like this.

Distant Houses

With its farming history, some farm buildings were preserved at Sky Meadows State Park and visible along hiking trails (above). After getting back to my car, I paid them a quick visit.

Houses

Most houses were off public access, either due to COVID or winter or it nearing closing time. It seemed to me that the buildings were well-preserved, with exhibits around. One of them was converted to a decent public restroom, even with heating. (No reason to keep that closed though.)