Last Fall Foilage Hike - Church Rock and Big Schloss (challenging, very scenic)

Let's do one last fall foliage hike! We'll do two mountains, both with great views, and we should catch the tail end of the foliage.

First, we'll climb Big Schloss, which has beautiful views of the mountains and valley. It's one of my fav hikes and some of the best views I've seen in the Mid Atlantic. The hike is 4.3 miles with 1053 ft of elevation gain, and should take about 2 hours. You can see the hike details at:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/west-virginia/big-schloss-via-wolf-gap-trail

Then we'll drive a little south and climb to Church Rock. This hike is 7.7 miles with 1817 ft of elevation gain, and should take about 3.5 hours. I've never done this hike but the views look equally impressive. You can see the details at:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/virginia/church-rock--2

Then we'll optionally stop for dinner at a nice casual Italian restaurant in Strasburg VA before we head back. With the stop for dinner, you should be back around 9 pm, and without the stop for dinner, 7:30 pm.

These hikes are challenging and are NOT FOR BEGINNERS. Please only RSVP if you hike or walk at least 6 miles per week at a faster pace, and are comfortable with steep climbs. The trails are rocky in places so hiking boots are recommended.

Note that this event is cross posted with the Fast and Fun Hikers meetup group. Hope you can join us!

UPDATES

The weather for Saturday is looking perfect. It will probably be about 50 and partly sunny to start our first hike, rising to the low 60's later in the day.

ITINERARY

8 am - Optional carpool from Laurel-Beltsville Senior Activity Center, 7120 Contee Rd, Laurel, MD

10:30 am - Big Schloss. Meet in the parking lot of the Wolf Gap Recreation Area, near Stones Throw Rd & Trout Run Rd, Wardensville, WV 26851 (GPS 38.92436,-78.68941 or https://maps.app.goo.gl/2yhHnEitPGvjuGdq6)

1:30 pm - Church Rock. We'll park as far up the access road as we can, as close to GPS 38.735394,-78.876344 or https://maps.app.goo.gl/HZP3wYPcz7k664JEA as we can get. There may be a gate closed about 1.25 miles from the end of the road, and if so, that's where we'll park. Note that the turn onto the access road is 0.3 miles after 20601 Runions Creek Rd, Broadway, VA 22815

6 pm'ish - Optional dinner at Castiglia's Italian Restaurant, 33820 Old Valley Pike, Strasburg, VA 22657

Note: YOU WILL LOSE SIGNAL NEAR THE TRAILHEADS. PROGRAM YOUR PHONE AND/OR DOWNLOAD THE MAP AND DIRECTIONS BEFORE YOU LEAVE YOUR HOUSE.

CAR POOLING

The "official" carpool location is at the Laurel-Beltsville Senior Activity Center. This facility is part of Prince George's County Parks and Recreation, and public parking is allowed.

Generally we all show up at the carpool location and figure out who's driving and who's riding. Note that you need to be prepared to drive unless you already know who you're riding with.

If you are arranging your own carpool, and if you have space in your car, please consider stopping at the Senior Activity Center at 8 am to see if anyone else needs a ride. We have more than 5 hours of driving (300 miles), so let's not take more cars than we need.

Note that the dinner after the hikes is optional. Please make sure you're on the same page as your driver.

Please also consider exchanging phone #'s with your driver in case you get separated. Note tho we will at times be in areas of low signal where your phone doesn't work, or where only txt messages work.

HIKING PACE

Because we have a large group, I don't expect everyone will be hiking at the same pace, so I suggest that you find one or more people who hike at your pace to buddy up with.

Before we start each hike, I'll announce a time that you should start heading back down the mountain to the cars, and the time when I expect we should all be back at the cars.

LUNCH

We have no plans to stop for lunch, so please bring stuff you can eat on the way, in the car, on the trail, or at the mountain tops.

If anyone has any questions, please try to ask them before Saturday morning. I'll be driving Saturday morning, and it might not be easy for me to respond to questions or comments.

I'm looking forward to our hikes, see you Saturday!

*** IMPORTANT ***

BY ATTENDING THIS EVENT, YOU AGREE TO THE LIABILITY WAIVER, INDEMNIFICATION, ASSUMPTION OF RISK, AND OTHER TERMS AND CONDITIONS (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Z39AGebAVz9c-3S4zf3tj4Eb7V9k3PrH/view) (revision 12/1/22). PLEASE READ THIS AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE RSVP'ING.