First Day Hike: The Great Neighborhood I Trail Cooking

When we were planning our move to West Virginia at the start of 2025, Kirk often said he hoped I wouldn’t hate the summers there.

I had been to the state twice in the cold of winter, but didn’t quite understand how cold it would/could be. It’s a frigid winter this year. Not deep and snowy. It is very cold, with winds blowing across the valley, from the Allegheny to the Blue Ridge Mountains. It never seems to stop either.

Some days I look outside and wonder: how did the men in the Civil War “winter over” in Winchester, Virginia, without freezing to death? Or Washington’s Continental Army crossing the Delaware in 1776, where many of the men were shoeless and didn’t have overcoats. Deep thoughts for sure.

I am adapting, as always, but some days you look outside and say….no.

I woke up to a National Weather Service alert as a fast-moving storm swept across Appalachia around 4 am. The temperature dropped 10 degrees instantly.We got the edge of the squall.

As the sun rose this morning in the Shenandoah Valley, near the Blue Ridge Mountains, I posted a Ring capture on Facebook:

As The Sun Rises

So, as I contemplated, I didn’t want to find enough clothing to go outside and hike far from the house, because it was beautiful out, but the winds said maybe not. My bones don’t like the deep cold the way I used to be able to handle it, even 10 years ago. The fun of getting ancient, eh? There are days I can feel the start of arthritis in the arm I destroyed a year and a half ago, when it is cold out.

So my First Day Hike of 2026 became the Great Neighborhood. We have plenty of roads to walk, or if bored, an open field.

And what is a First Day Hike? It is getting out on the first day of each year, clearing the lungs, enjoying the weather, and starting each year on a positive note. Most years, we would get out; some were interrupted by snow or storms in the PNW. Long ago, we used to go snowshoeing instead.

But this year? With the wind chill factor and ice, it was a walk in the neighborhood.

I bundled up in my thickest Carhartt jacket and gloves, and by the time we got home, my nose was freezing. Note: Find your face mask for the outdoors, I said to myself.

I’ll take what I get, though—blue skies and sun. No rain.