After a Friday with lots of hiking and some drinking, we made Saturday a day for some hiking and lots of drinking. We ate a hearty Best Western breakfast of microwaveable biscuits and old fruit, then set out in the direction of Skyline Drive. Our plan was to drive through the remaining southern portion of the park, do a simple, non-sweat-inducing hike, then “distillery-hop” around the Charlottesville area.
It was a beautiful late-October/near-peak foliage Saturday, so the leaf-seekers were out in droves. Every overlook was littered with them, and since we had a bit of a late start, we zipped past for the most part. We did stop once or twice to get some nice “trees matching the lane markings” photos.
Autumn in Shenandoah National Park
Our goal for the weekend was to do a hike in each “district” of the park. Compton Peak and Bearfence Mountain (on Friday) were in the northern and central districts, respectively, so we chose Blackrock Summit (mile marker 84.8) as our southern district hike. Since we were mostly dressed for wine tasting later, it made sense to do an easier hike, too, which this one was.
The hike ascends from a parking lot and temporarily abuts the Appalachian Trail, then flattens out onto grassier ground. You come to a crossroads and turn towards the summit, which is basically a tumbledown formation of lichen-encrusted boulders. This area is ripe for exploring, but we didn’t have much time and April was a bit spooked by the sign warning of “snake danger”. There were several spur trails radiating from this area (including the AT), so if we ever came back I’d want to do it more justice.
Blackrock Summit
I was planning on following the Terps-Wisconsin game during the day, too. When we got out of the car, the game had just started, so it was 0-0. By the time we got back, it was already 17-0 Wisconsin (they would go on to lose 52-7). I love Maryland, but I’m happy to enjoy a nice outing in ACC country when they go on the road against a Big Ten powerhouse. Our next stop was the ACC stronghold of Charlottesville, anyway, so we set out in that direction.
Our plan was to have lunch at Blue Mountain Brewery, then hit up a nearby winery and cidery to complete the “-ery” trifecta. We finally descended from the mountains and came upon the brewery, which was unexpectedly packed to the gills with people and cars. They even had employees directing traffic in the parking lot. I asked one of them if there was some kind of event going on, but he said it was “just a regular Saturday”.
The brewery was sprawling, encompassing several dining rooms, bars, and outdoor seating areas. Despite the amount of space and the fact that it was past normal lunch hour (2 PM), there was a 30-45 minute wait to be seated. “Eff that”, we said, and so we staked out one of the bars for open seats. Eventually we pounced on a high-top table and waited for service. This place seemed like it was suffering from a severe staff shortage. So when a waiter finally came around, I felt jussssst a little bad when I asked for the 10-glass sampler of every single one of their beers.
Blue Mountain Brewery
The beer was good and the food, while not particularly great, was hunger-sating. We were ten samples in with beer, but we still had wine and cider samples to go. Our next stop was Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards, a short 20-minute drive to the east. This place was also packed. So much so that we had to park several hundred yards from the barn-like building and walk up a large hill to get there. Charlottesville is a bit of a douche factory, but there was no denying the class and rustic charm of the place. They were setting up for a wedding, and April joked that we should get divorced so that she could get remarried there. It’s good to have dreams.
Pippin Hill Farm & Vineyards
We went to the wine bar in the large dining room, strangely noticing many well-behaved children eating from cheese and charcuterie platters. Pippin Hill makes eight different wines (four red, four white), so we got two four-pour tasting flights that encompassed everything. We ended up going home with a bottle of “Red Pump”.
It was around 3:45 and the cidery that we wanted to go to, Castle Hill, was closing at 5, so we had to race around the periphery of Charlottesville to make it there in time. Castle Hill, like Pippin Hill, was also based out of a barn and was also preparing for a wedding. It was not very crowded, so the atmosphere was more relaxed and we could actually chat with the bartenders. We each got a seven-pour tasting flight, which gave you a sip of each of their hard ciders. They mostly had spacey names like “Celestial”, “Terrestrial”, “Gravity”, and “Levity”, but there was also a misfit named “Black Twig”. We brought home a bottle of “Serendipity”.
April at Castle Hill Cidery
At this point, it was time to make the long journey back to Baltimore. Like usual, Northern Virginia traffic doesn’t make it easy on you (even on a Saturday night) but we eventually made it through. It sucks, but you gotta deal with it if you want to get to these great spots in Virginia.
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