Trail on descent of Bear Den Mountain

I would love to tour the Southland in a traveling minstrel show

Day 68, Rockfish Gap to Campsite at Mile 876.9

Saturday, June 17, 2017

The next few days will be spent walking through Shenandoah National Park. Stick’s friend from Missouri, Mike, will be joining us for this section.

This can’t help but be an eventful, special section of the trail for Stick and me.

For Mike, though, I expect it will be a bittersweet hike that conjures many memories. He hiked through Shenandoah with his brother about 35 years ago. Then four years ago his brother died suddenly and unexpectedly.

Weather Partly cloudy with a slight breeze; high temperature in mid 80s
Trail Conditions Easy grade, mostly smooth and well-maintained
Today's Miles 15.0 miles
Trip Miles 876.9 miles

The first national parks, Yellowstone, Sequoia, Yosemite, and Mount Ranier, were all in the West. Sen. Henry D. Flood of Virginia proposed legislation in 1901 to create a national park in the East, for which the location just happened to be in his state. The idea didn’t go far, but it didn’t completely go away.

A plan began to gain traction in the 1920s, and by the time Herbert Hoover became president it was finally being seriously considered. Hoover and his wife owned a weekend retreat cabin here and supported the idea. It wasn’t until 1935, however, during President Franklin Roosevelt’s first term of office, when the park was officially established.

Quality Inn in Waynesboro

The Quality Inn in Waynesboro offered a free breakfast, so we made sure to take advantage of that this morning. Several other hikers were also there doing the same.

The breakfast offerings included biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, yogurt, fresh fruit, and cereal.

The man with the yellow truck who picked us up yesterday arrived shortly after we finished breakfast, but he said he was booked up for shuttles.

Stick called a local hiker hostel, which also provides shuttles, and arranged for a ride back to Rockfish Gap.

When we were dropped off at the trailhead, a kind man there offered us some donuts.

Rockfish Gap

It was foggy at Rockfish Gap, but this is a common occurrence. Fog sensors and a warning system have been installed to warn motorists on Interstate 64, which we crossed as we began our hike.

Rockfish Gap is a wind gap, a geologic feature defined as a gap between two mountains where water once flowed, but now is dry.

Registering at Shenandoah National Park

Soon after re-entering the forest, we reached a registration kiosk. We were required to fill out a form and carry a copy of it with us. This was similar to the registration form required for Great Smoky Mountains National Park, except here the registration was free.

Foggy climb

Entering the park, the trail began a long but gradual climb of about 1000 feet, roughly running parallel to Skyline Drive.

Just as portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway do, Skyline Drive follows a path originally planned for the Appalachian Trail. We will cross the road many times for the next few days.

McCormick Gap

Starting at Rockfish Gap, the trail and the road stretch north on a narrow ribbon of land.

To understand why more land wasn't set aside for the park on the southern end, you only have to look east of McCormick Gap. An apple orchard was located near here, where a prized variety called "Albemarle Pippins” was grown.

A story is told about how Queen Victoria was presented a gift of several dozen of these apples. She became so fond of them that for decades apples were sent to Britain duty free. The orchard became known as Royal Orchard.

Because of the popularity of the apples, when the federal government began attempting to purchase land for Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive, the orchard was considered too valuable, so only a sliver of land was acquired to connect from Rockfish Gap to the main section of the park.

trail maintainers

At McCormick Gap we met three men who were preparing to do some trail maintenance work. Don, Kevin and Brennan said they were members of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, the club that maintains this and most of the trail through this part of Virginia.

Trail maintainer's license plates

Even if Don hadn’t told us he was a trail maintainer, it would have been obvious by his license plate.

Returning to the forest

After a nice chat with the three men, we continued on our way up the mountain. It wasn’t a difficult climb. By now it was just past 10 a.m., and normally low-hanging clouds would have lifted, but today they hung around.

Thick grass

A long, flat section of the trail took us through a meadow that had grown thick with tall grass.

As strange as this might seem, I fear sections of trail like this. I fear them because I know they are a good habitat for ticks.

Ticks are trouble. They are extremely small. They can easily attach themselves to humans undetected.

Once a tick has grabbbed onto a human it will crawl to a warm and comfortable spot where it can burrow in, cut a hole in the human's skin, and begin to feed by extracting blood. If the tick is infected with pathogens, it can transmit them to its host.

The pathogens can cause a long and troublesome list of symptoms, starting with a rash, neck stiffness, headache, nausea, weakness, muscle or joint pain, and a fever. And that's just for starters. Symptoms can progressively get worse.

As the weather turns warmer and the grass grows taller, ticks become a greater concern.

I mentioned yesterday that even though we had already picked up all of the food we needed to get us through the park, we made a grocery stop at Kroger. The reason I wanted to stop there was to pick up a can of Off insect repellent.

I had been carrying insect repellent, but decided to be more proactive in defending against ticks. Now I can spray down my legs and ankles a couple times a day for an extra layer of protection.

Seeing the thick grass today made me glad I did.

communication towers on Bear Den Mountain

When we neared the top of Bear Den Mountain, a set of communication towers came into view. They are said to be used by the Virginia state police.

Seeing communication towers is nothing new or unusual. What was unusual on Bear Den Mountain was what we found just a few feet away from the towers.

Tractor seats on Bear Den Mountain

It was a set of five tractor seats that were mounted in a semi-circle. There was no view from here, so it seemed odd that they would be here.

The trail maintainers we talked to earlier mentioned we should look for them. What they didn’t say was an explanation of why they are here.

It turns out the seats were here before this land became part of the national park. The previous owners of the land had put them here, along with some benches that no longer exist, to provide a spot to visit and enjoy the views.

Over time, trees have grown up to eliminate the views.

Leaving Bear Den Mountain

Leaving the mountain, we headed toward Beagle Gap and Calf Mountain.

Low clouds over Little Calf Mountain

At 11:30 we reached Little Calf Mountain, which lies just below Calf Mountain. The mountain seemed to act as a roadblock for clouds, as they appeared to be jammed up against the mountain.

Power line cut

On the other side of Calf Mountain, the sky was much clearer.

A couple of springs and a shelter were located on the other side. The shelter was too far off the trail to be a good place to stop, but the springs were right on the trail.

I loaded up with three liters at one of the springs because there weren’t going to be any good spots to refill for a while. I stayed behind at the spring for a few extra minutes, while Mike and Stick continued on.

Entering wider part of Shenandoah National Park

Shortly after 1 p.m. the trail left the narrow ribbon of land it shared with Skyline Drive and entered the more substantial portion of land that makes up the national park.

Near here I met up with three of my favorite hiker friends.

RedEye

The first was RedEye. She was slackpacking southbound with her father, who had traveled from Canada to be with her for a few days.

Dory

Next was Dory. She was followed a short distance behind by Splat.

Splat

Splat and Dory were also walking south, with a plan to meet up with Mama Splat each evening for the next few days.

Clearing skies

All day long the sky looked as though it would rain. Finally by 3 p.m. it began to clear, making certain the rain would not materialize.

Sawmill Run

The trail crossed Skyline Drive a couple more times this afternoon. The first was at Sawmill Run.

As I crossed the road, I saw three men walk out of the forest on the other side of the road. They were carrying a child’s plastic wading pool.

This startling sight became more easy to understand when I saw the vehicle they were walking toward. It had a Mississippi State University emblem on it. I figured out they were researchers. The pool was likely used to hold some kind of aquatic life, perhaps to count or study it.

By this time I still had three hours to go, which I enjoyed walking by myself. I hadn’t seen Stick and Mike since we began our descent of Calf Mountain.

We had agreed to stop at a spot on the trail identified in a comment posted in the Guthook app. It described a tent site a half mile past Wildcat Ridge Trail junction.

Because of this I knew that a short time after passing the trail junction I should be looking for the campsite. I expected to see Stick and Mike there, already set up and perhaps eating dinner.

Instead, what I found was Mike and Stick walking down the trail and looking around, unsure if they were in the right spot. They had already walked past the tent site.

Fortunately, I caught them before they got too far and redirected them to where the campsite was. It was a small spot not far from the trail, but there were a few good places to pitch tents.

Campsite

After we had finished setting up and were getting ready to prepare dinner, a hiker named Pippi arrived. I had met her a few days ago, but had only talked to her briefly.

She set up her hammock nearby, then joined us for dinner.

This had been a good day of hiking, and a good day of being with friends and making a new one.

The farther I hike, the more people I meet and get to know. I don’t often hike together with others. They come and go, hike at different paces, and I’m never sure when I will run into them again.

But now my hike is beginning to feel like I’m traveling in a pack, in a cluster of friends.

Getting to know others and spend time with them is becoming the best part of my hike. I would like for every day to be like this.

I would love to tour the Southland
In a traveling minstrel show
Yes, I'd love to tour the Southland
In a traveling minstrel show
Yes, I'm dying to be a star and make them laugh
Sound just like a record on the phonograph
Those days are gone forever
Over a long time ago, oh yeah

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