Turk Mountain

Last weekend our friend, Dao, came down to visit us from Washington DC. He had a B-school interview at Darden, so hopefully he will be joining us in Charlottesville next year. Dao is an outdorsy kind of guy (he's single too if anybody is interested!) so we decided we should take advantage of Charlottesville's close proximity to the montains, even though it was only 35 degress and cloudy.

Turk Mountain is in Shenandoah National Park. It is about 15 miles north of the south entrance to the park which is accesible by I-64 and Rt 250. A week pass for the park costs $10 and a year pass costs $30. There is a small parking area at about mile 95 for the Turk Mtn. trail. You start out across the road on the Appalacian Trail headed south, and then shortly dodge right onto the Turk Mtn. trail. The trail takes you down into a valley, and then up along a ridge to the summit of Turk Mountain. The hike is about a mile and a half to the top and is somewhat strenuous, but not too trecherous. At the summit there is a georgeous view of the Shenedoah Valley and all of the other Mountains nearby. The whole expedition took about 3 1/2 hours counting the drive from Charlottesville.