They are talking about a mid-winter hike

I've been in touch with my hiking team recently - they have started pushing for a hike soon. It has been a while; our last hike together was Signal Knob in early summer. We also did Duncan Knob Hollow in the spring.

There are a couple of options, and whether we choose it for this hike or not, Strickler Knob in the GWNF is one I am very interested in doing. I've included a photo here of the Knob from the Storybook Trail overlook, taken on Thanksgiving weekend.

I've wanted to do this hike for sometime, it is one of five or six prominent summits on the Massanutten ridge, and I would like to check all of those off my "list." Howard, at Appalachian Outdoors Adventures, talks about this route with high regard, and called it to my attention when the review first appeared on Hiking Upward (http://www.hikingupward.com/GWNF/StricklerKnob/).

That site does rate it as a rigorous hike - so it may not be our first of the year. Some of the fallbacks are:

1. Mary's Rock in the SNP
2. Ivy Creek in the SNP
3. Duncan Knob via Scotthorn Gap in GWNF
4. Kennedy Peak in GWNF

All of these involve ascents but they range in distance from 3 miles to 10 miles. We'll see what the guys are up for and their timeframes. Hopefully we can pull this off by mid-February.