A Solo Expedition

I had an opportunity to create a one of a kind, unique experience as a content creator by vlog beautiful parts of the Shenandoah to Appalachian mountains. How I took the opportunity to create something so amazing from videos of my journey. Sit back and take in some of the amazing pictures as I tell you about this journey of being on a solo expedition.

The itinerary

July 10-12 was our annual district conference for the Shenandoah District for Pastors and laity in Roanoke, Virginia. That same week my wife was with her family spending time at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The planning for this trip was even better as the week before I was on stream talking about the upcoming trip with the chat. One thing I love to do is to have meet and greets with people in the community. The air BnB in Lynchburg, Virginia was book for after conference for two days and could not change the date, Fabian is not only a viewer and supporter, but we are good friends. Since it was vacation time for me and was in no rush to head home, I figure take a drive to Ashville, North Carolina so I added that as one of the stops then Saturday on my way home I would visit Timothy Walters and would do Liberty Church Online Live from Concord, North Carolina.

What am I going to do?

I knew there were several places that wanted to go check out on this journey that included hiking the Roanoke Star (Never did this), Hiking Sharp Top (Hiked 20 years ago in college), Hike to the monogram on Liberty Mountain, visit the film location of Dirty Dancing at Lake Lure North Carolina, go to Looking Glass Waterfall (45 minutes south of Ashville), do a live broadcast of Liberty Church Online from Concord, North Carolina. This is one of the best travel itinerary I put together. Lets say I was not bored

Roanoke Star aka Mill Mountain Trail 3.7 miles estimated time to complete 1hr 54 min.; however my time to complete it was 2 hr. 30 min. This hiking was a lot of going uphill which I did not prepare enough for this trip. I had only brought water and no proteins. The temperature when I hiked it was 90 degrees same when finished. There was lots of shade along the trail which was also well marked, by the time I hiked further up the mountain there were lots of rocks along the path, so my recommendations is to where proper shoes. The reason it took me so long to get to the top was because of taking lots of rest and some filming.

The view from the top is amazing as you can see a few pictures looking down on Roanoke then the famous star which you can see from below. You have lots of different options when visiting the star such as drive right up to it, hike, walk, run, and even bike.

Sharp Top Bedford, Virginia Blue Ridge Parkway 3.3 miles time to complete 2hr 15min; however my time to complete it was almost 3 hours. Several factors lead to my time being longer than projected. 1st reason I turned off the All Trail App at the top of the mountain, 2nd taking pictures and videos for my vlog, 3rd I waited over an hour for transportation that was suppose to come pick people up if they did not feel like walking down the mountain. I now regret I should of kept it on for the remaining time.

This was the most challenging hikes I have ever done and especially since I have not hiked this in over 20 years, so I was definitely very rusty. I met several older families that just zip right through me as if the trail was nothing. I have found this awesome app called The All Trails App which has been very helpful to me as I hike up and down these mountains. The All trails app had said this hike was moderate, but I give it hard ranking. Your calf muscles definitely got a workout. The from the top was at an elevation of 3800 feet where the views was just breathtaking. Hiking this trail there were a lot roots sticking up and even a do not feed the bears if you happen to come across any on the trail. Below I have a few pictures highlighting the view from the top.

Lesson I learned from hiking the Roanoke Star was to bring snacks that had protein and lots of water. People often ask me why I hike alone and recommend that I bring someone with me while hiking especially if anything happens to me on the trails. The mountain hiking trails have found many people going hiking, biking, or running alone on most trails. Lots of people have wondered why I chose to hike in order to lose weight. I am one who sets there eyes on a goal and would love to pursue to despite being called crazy. The pictures below represents different stages in life that we go through to get to the top.

First, you have to start somewhere and if you put your mind to it you will eventually succeed, but there will be obstacles in your way. Do not give up on the goals you have set before yourself.

Liberty Mountain monogram hiking trail Lynchburg, Virginia 2.6 mile look that takes about 1hr 16 minutes to complete. I end up hiking 1.2 miles with a time of 45 minutes, not sure if I turned all trails app off or not with an elevation of 200ft. After two days of some of the gruesome hike along with blisters on my feet, this was quite nice. I stayed on the road leading to monogram instead of taking any major trails as I was trying to recover from all the hiking I had did.

There is a story about the LU monogram you might not know of, When I attended Liberty University from 2003-2008 the school itself had about 5,000 enrolled at the time. Liberty had done some research that most college towns had something that would stand out to say this is my school. Texas has the tower, BYU had their logo imprinted on the mountain, the list could go on. The city was against this idea for a long time not wanted to be associated with a Christian University that surrounded itself with all the baggage that came with a popular or unpopular university. However, the cities economic side began to grow and a small town university became a city which college students spent money in there business. It is a short hiking trail that is popular with students and the public.

One of the highlights of my visit with the LU campus is seeing how big the campus gets, so I make it intentional to visit the campus at least 5-10 times a year whether to study or visit people. At the top of the hiking trail there is a gazebo and memorial where Jerry Falwell prayed over the mountain of Liberty University and that they will be able to compete with those of BYU and Notre Dame. Jerry Falwell prayed over every student that came on campus. I am not sure if there are campus like Liberty University has a place to reflect on where the logo is at the top to see the campus. Check out the slideshow and let me know what you think.

This concludes three more hiking trails that were fun to tackle, who knows where we are going on the next hiking adventure. What trails do you recommend I should check out? The total hiking distance was almost 10 miles hike up the mountain.