Day Hikes, Seven Bends State Park and Muse Vineyards, Woodstock, VA

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These two 2 mile hikes took place on Friday, February 10, 2023. Participants were Charlie Johnson, 23 members of the Shenandoah Take A Hike Group and myself.

I left Manassas, VA around 8:00 AM today, made a pit stop at the Royal Farms convenience store near Front Royal, VA and made it to the Muse Vineyards parking lot by 9:30 AM. Charlie called me shortly after I arrived and asked

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About 10 miles from here I spent a week with the Massarock Crew and helped build a section of the Massanutten Trail in 1996.

me to drive over to the adjacent Seven Bends State Park, so I did.

First, a bit of background. A few months ago Charlie met a gentleman that was associated with this group. They are all retirees that mostly live in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and hike within it and other nearby places. They have about 90 members, have been a group for about nine years and were started by three women. They have a group page on Facebook. Charlie asked if he could join them, went on a hike with them, asked if I would like to join, I said yes, I joined and now we would both be walking with this group today.

When I got to Seven Bends there were four or five members of this group just milling around. They wanted to hike some at this park before our scheduled hike around the Muse Vineyard at 11:30 AM. The two ladies took off ahead of us. Then Charlie, myself and a gentleman named Randy Cline (and yes, he is related to the late Patsy Cline), set off. We first walked the .9 mile Bass Bight Trail along the Shenandoah River. It dead ended at one point. So we hiked it back to a junction with the 1 mile Paw Paw Hollow Trail. This one was a tough up. There were two other ladies, Randy Cline, Charlie and myself. All the others got ahead of us since they were in shape. Charlie and I took our time going up the mountain. A lady from the group named Sue passed us when we got on top of the mountain. When we got to within .2 miles of the Reservoir Trail junction, we decided to turn around.

We walked back to our vehicles and proceeded to the Muse Vineyard parking lot. There were a number of people in that parking lot waiting to start the 2 mile hike around the vineyard. So we joined them and introduced ourselves. We then started the hike around 11:30 AM. There were 24 attendees for this hike. The weather was fantastic for the middle of February: Sunny and in the mid fifties. We walked around the vineyard. The leader, named Zelda, gave us a brief history of the area at one point.

Once we got around the upper vineyard the fun part awaited us. There was a swinging bridge that went over the Shenandoah River on the north side of the vineyard. I don't know that exact measurements of this bridge but it looked to be about 100 feet long and about forty feet high. There was a weight limit of three persons on this bridge. When it was my turn the two people behind me were right in back of me instead of spacing out. That made the bridge swing like crazy. It was scarry. But I made it. Then there were about eighty steps going up the side of a hill on the opposite side of the swinging bridgw to the road that lead to the state park and the vineyard. We then walked that road back to the vineyard and the group had a get together within the vineyard tasting room. They

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celebrated one of the group turning eighty and the other turning eighty-two. And they were very spry hikers. Charlie and I left after awhile and had lunch at the Tom's Brook, VA Arbys on I81, then went our separate ways home.

These were two very enjoyable hikes. The Shenandoah Take a Hike Group usually has two hikes a month and has a Facebook page. If the reader is interested in getting more information about this group, you can contact me about it.

Mike C

   Seven Bends State Park Sign.
   By Mike Calabrese

   Randy Cline & I.
   By Charlie Johnson

   From Paw Paw Hollow TR.
   By Mike Calabrese

   Muse Vineyards Tasting Room.
   By Mike Calabrese

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   Group pic pre vineyard hike.
   By Charlie Johnson

   Hiking through the vineyard.
   By Mike Calabrese

   Swinging bridge, Shenandoah RVR.
   By Mike Calabrese

   Trail Map, Seven Bends SP.
   By VA DCR

   Map of vineyard hike.
   By Google Maps

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