Intermezzo: West Virginia

Our biweekly get-away/meet-up took place in a yurt on a mountain in West Virginia this time.
We had been watching the weather forecast with some apprehension — the forecast was rain and temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit (less than 5 Celsius) during the day. But this was for the village down the mountain. Surely, it would be nice and sunny and warm higher up, right?



Unfortunately, no. It was indeed rainy and somewhat cold during the day, although we did not let that stop us from having a wonderful day. We drove around, took a brief walk in the mist around Spruce Knob Lake, and spent the afternoon cooking a hearty stew and drinking wine.



While we were enjoying our stew, it started snowing. Extremely beautiful, but the night was freezing cold! Fortunately, we had taken our own down duvets, so we were nice and cozy as long as we stayed in bed. Getting up at 6:30 in a yurt that was freezing cold despite the tiny little space heater was less pleasant...



The drive down the mountain was very exciting as well. It took about 30-40 minutes just to get to a paved road (although I guess paving is kind of irrelevant if it is covered by snow and ice). Luckily, trees that had fallen and blocked the road had already been cut and removed from the road by early-riser neighbors (I imagine that West Virginians have a gas powered chainsaw in the back of their truck just in case). It was so much fun, and the surroundings were really like a fairytale!

Day 4: Badener Hütte to Bonn Matreier Hütte

The next day the weather was beautiful. There was a clear snowline on the mountains, and the sky was as blue as it gets. (Note the Murmeltier in the picture above.)



We first went down about 500 m, before we had to go up to 2878 m.







Unsurprisingly there was still quite a bit of snow at this altitude.



In the previous hut we met an American family, who had done this hike in reverse the previous day. They were still smiling somehow, which was rather impressive!



And then we went down to the next hut.







In numbers: 4.48 h, 20.08 km, 896 m ascent, 868 m descent.

Day 3: Neue Prager Hütte to Badener Hütte

The next day the weather was even worse than the day before. Anke overheard the Hüttenwirt talking to the other group, and we knew today was going to be a strenuous hike even in good weather.



We decided to postpone our decision of going to the Badener Hütte or back down to the valley until the very last minute.



The road was slippery --- but also very beautiful!



The route went down, through the remains of a glacier...



... with some spectacular (and slippery) rocks.



We found a sheep that had fallen and broken one of its legs, and called the hut to make sure that the shepherd knew about it.



We also called the next hut, asking them what the conditions were on the other side of the mountain.



It was all good, they said, so we decided to go on...



... trying to find our way in through the snow.



So close...



... and yet still so far.



We made it to the highest point!





After that it was smooth sailing (more or less).











This day was an absolute awesome adventure!



In numbers: 4.51 h, 10.05 km, 948 m ascent, 976 m descent.

Day 2: St.Pöltner Hütte to Neue Prager Hütte

There was good news and bad news when we woke up. The good news: it was not raining. The bad news: it was snowing.



The bad news: we were not allowed to eat our own breakfast inside the hut (and it was snowy outside). The good news: our clothes were completely dry.



The sun came out for a little bit...



... but mostly it was snow all the way.



A long hike, under difficult circumstances. Still, we were not the only ones in the hut --- there was one more group, that was planning to do the same hike as we were planning to do the next day.



In numbers: 7:11 h, 14.79 km, 1374 m ascent, 1082 m descent.

Main Event: Day 1 to St. Pöltner Hütte

After one night in a pension in the valley, we went back up the mountains with Ellen and Christiaan. The weather was terrible, which made Christiaan smile, because he could wear his new raincoat.



The rest of us were not smiling...



... until we reached the hut, of course.



Christiaan brought his own game to play in the hut.

Even though the proprietor of the hut was a very unpleasant man, there was a wonderful Trockenraum, and we were looking forward to getting away from this hut in the morning with dry clothes.

In numbers: 2:55 h, 7.89 km, 1198 m ascent, 248 m descent.

Dystopian Intermezzo: Pokémon Go

Taken in Winchester, VA, where we also saw many protesters protesting abortion. Also, we slept in an Airbnb with a large "second amendment" drawing on a door, and wifi with the id "jesusrocks".