Falling Backward

The intention is to keep this blog current.. so much for intentions. Normally as the summer crowds wane, so does the demand for our services... until this year. Between long days in the Blue Ridge, our work with a multitude of schools, companies and organizations, the Old Rag Mountain Steward program... our days are complete.

So with our website woefully out of date, gear needing cleaning, repair and stowage for the winter.. so much "real work" that needs to be done, we do what is most obvious..
We stay out as much as possible.. putting off the inevitable for some rainy / snowy day when no other activity can be justified... (Who am I kidding?)
Yesterday, we were up on the spine of Shenandoah with elements of DC city government... for those folks, it was definitely not business as usual! Beyond the 25 degree temperature difference, there was also SNOW... but just a dusting.... and a very good sign for us and our friends.. there was lots of roadside ice and a clear snotsicle off the old mans nose...

(the wonderfully miraculous thing about this time of year is the amount of contrast... just 3 ridges over into WV... within eyesight of mountaintops.. our good friend Chip Chase at Whitegrass was celebrating with a foot of new snow!.. Game on!)

Our college classes (Shepherd and Hood) canoeing and climbing are complete.. both wrapped up with spectacular field trips into the dazzling color...









And as Autumn wraps our world in still deeper shadows and the occasional chilly flurry. It all just keeps getting better and better!

Late summer sun always sets too soon.

This post is only about 3 weeks late.. which is pretty good, considering. This time of year is always very special. Just as the farmers and orchardists wrap up their growing season, we at Teamlink and Shenandoah Mountain Guides wrap up our robust summer programming.
No sooner does it wind down than we begin putting the schedule together for 2009.. and that's where we are now..

September's Washingtonian Magazine ran Bill and Mary Burnham's article on guided hiking in Shenandoah National Park.. The Overall Run waterfall described in the article is currently just a trickle.. but if you scroll down thru these posts, you can see what it looked like when the authors did the hike.

Our GWU Outdoor Leadership class had the chance to check out Overall up close and personal as we had another incredible mountain experience with these leaders of the TRAiLS program.




This is also the time of year when we try to wrap all of our rained out and re-scheduled programs be it climbing or paddling..
trying to take advantage of the late summer sun,
Only to find out just how weak it is as the evening comes earlier and earlier


.. of course the end of summer brings about the departure of our summer interns and staff. As they go back to school. We wish them the best on their learning adventures. We also look forward to hearing how they have been able to enrich their respective school's outdoor adventures.




As a last note, two of our summer staff, I'm particularly proud of are Drew and Jake. Besides being great climbers, paddlers and skiers, they are also pretty darn good collegiate athletes in soccer (at Lynchburg College in VA) and football(at McDaniel College in MD) respectively. The picture at left shows Jake after being invited to practice his kicking with Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover...wow.


Oh, they are also my sons...