{"id":5364,"date":"2021-02-13T22:59:01","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T14:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/?p=5364"},"modified":"2021-07-28T09:57:08","modified_gmt":"2021-07-28T01:57:08","slug":"20210213sky-meadow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.huangyizhou.com\/index.php\/2021\/02\/13\/20210213sky-meadow\/","title":{"rendered":"Winter Hiking at Sky Meadows State Park, Virginia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mid February, 2021, the last of the season\u2019s snow fell in the mid-Atlantic region. I\u2019d seen quite enough snow this winter, but since it\u2019s weekend, I still decided to take on some hiking in the wild. This time, I picked Sky Meadows State Park in Virginia.<\/p>\n

\"Fields\"<\/a>

<\/br>Fields<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Car<\/a>

<\/br>Car Front<\/br><\/p>\n

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\u2019s certainly not an easy journey for me to get here.<\/div>\n

<\/p><\/div>\n

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.
\nToday, 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.<\/p>\n

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.
\nHere’s GPS tracking:
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