2011 New Years Day Run to Flagpole Knob, George Washington National Forest

We met at Sheetz in Harrisonburg at 9 o'clock. We couldn't have asked for
better weather….not too cold and not raining. People who attended were:
- Alan & Melanie & Pugsley Staiman (member), F-350
- Chip Woods (member), TJ
- Dana Gramling & family, FJ
- Keith Robertson, Maureen, Garrett and Haden (member), JK
- Kofi Griffin and family (member), Pathfinder
- Rich Martinez (member), CJ
- Alex Melnichak, Ram pickup
- Eric Sosa (member) , TJ Unlimited
- KP Murphy (member), ??
- Garrett Wolthuis and Jason (member), JK

We headed up Union Springs Rd. into the GWNF. The roads were clear so it was
an easy ride. Once into the NF we began to encounter patches of snow/slush and
a little ice. On one minor uphill climb the black CJ-5 had all four wheels on
an ice patch and had to finally put it in 4-wheel drive to make it the few feet.
Some of the others noticed this little challenge as we continued up the road.
Eventually, the patches turned to near constant slush and ice; just enough to
keep the driver's attention.

     We continued along until we came to the first
mini-rock garden that a few in the group went up and down a couple of times. I
think this is where Maureen got behind the wheel. (did I get that right?)
The snow, slush and ice got a little deeper in places as we moved on towards
Flagpole Knob. Meandering on we came the next little rocky area that allowed
for some optional fun. A couple of folks in the group decided to have some fun
climbing up the little rock wall.  Koffe and his famkily had a snowball fight.

There was at least a little carnage…a broken antler! You have to ask Dana for details.

     Next stop was lunch at the big meadow. Luckily the weather held and the wind
was tolerable as we lined up for a group photo and the food was consumed. After
lunch we finished the Flagpole Knob section and took a little detour to the
lookout on Reddish Knob. The view was spectacular even with the gray skies.
From there was headed back to town and said our goodbyes.