An Urban Boychick Takes on the Outdoors

Quarantine can make you a little stir crazy. In particular, I knew that I’d be absolutely stuck at home for the next two days while we have a minor home improvement job done, so I felt a strong urge to get out of my usual haunts and go somewhere different today. The problem is it was a really hot and sticky day. I didn’t feel like roasting myself out on the water, and I didn’t necessarily want to commit to a long bike ride. For a while I’ve been itching to go for a hike – an itch that only intensified recently when I came across the Japanese concept of “forest bathing”, which is sort of mindfully immersing yourself in the woods. Some friends of mine were performing at B Chord Brewery out in Bluemont (about 15 miles past Leesburg), so I decided to head out that way, figuring that if the timing worked out I would stop by and see their performance after my hike. I chose the Raven Rocks hike on the Appalachian Trail: about 5.5 miles round trip of very steep, rocky terrain, but with a rewar...