Sunday, June 18, 2017
As I was planning this thru-hike, I decided I should begin walking north in early March. There was a risk in leaving that early, as snowstorms can hit the Smokies at any time in that month.
My thought for leaving that early, though, was to get as far north as possible before warm weather set in. Hot weather wears me out.
My doctor had a different idea, and told me I needed hernia-repair surgery. It went well, but the recovery time was 30 days. I wasn’t able to start my hike until April 3.
| Weather | Partly cloudy with a slight breeze; high temperature in mid 80s |
| Trail Conditions | Easy grade, mostly smooth and well-maintained, except for side trail to Loft Mountain Wayside |
| Today's Miles | 18.9 miles |
| Trip Miles | 895.8 miles |
The last several days have seen temperatures rise to the mid to upper 80s. That’s plenty hot when you’re hauling yourself up and down mountains, but I realize it's not been as warm as it can get in the South.
I feared temperatures would soar into the mid 90s before I got out of the South. That hasn’t happened yet, but I also have about two more weeks of hiking before I reach the Mason-Dixon Line.
It helps to get an early start while the morning air is still cool. For us today, 7:30 was about as early as we could get going.
Stick, Mike and I left together. We didn’t see any sign of Pippi before we left.
One of the unique features of the trail in Shenandoah National Park is the style of trail markers. In most sections of the trail you’ll find the markers are wooden signs mounted to trees or wooden posts. Here, the markers are concrete posts, about four feet tall, with a metal band around the top embossed with information about the trail.
These markers are nearly impervious to weather, but they are annoying to hikers. In order to read the information you have to walk to within a couple feet to make out what is written in the raised letters on the metal strap. Even at that distance they are difficult to read.
There aren’t many trails that criss-cross the Appalachian Trail. I haven’t kept count, but it seems as though the trail intersects with Skyline Drive more frequently than it does other trails.
I’m sure that’s not true, but nevertheless, we never completely get away from the road.
Just before 11 a.m. we stopped for water at Blackrock Hut. This was our first opportunity to get water since we left our dry camp. I was able to ration the extra water I collected late yesterday until now, but just barely.
Water has been mostly plentiful in Virginia, but it is still necessary to be aware of the distances between sources.
In Shenandoah, water is always available at hiker shelters. Here in the park, those are called huts, though they are no different than shelters outside the park. They’re called huts to avoid confusion with the park’s picnic shelters.
At this hut, we met Uncle and Opie, who have been hiking together, but will be separating soon. Opie is going northbound and is the nephew of Uncle, who is going southbound once they split.
Leaving the shelter, I stopped to talk to a trail maintainer and his friend. They too were feeling the heat today.
The shelter was about halfway up a steep climb to a bare spot of jumbled boulders called Blackrock.
The rock pile was so large and jagged, it looked as though this was a construction site. It wasn’t of course. It was just a natural geologic feature.
Though the views were nice here, there was no breeze, and without the shelter of trees the sun made it too uncomfortably hot to stay for long.
The trail continue on a much more gradual descent than the ascent had been, and made more crossings of Skyline Drive.
Though still annoying, the crossings opened the forest canopy to the sky, which allowed me to see building storm clouds in the distance.
That prompted me to check my phone to see if I had cell service, and seeing that I did, to check the weather radar. It appeared the storm was staying on a path east of here, so I was hopeful we would not get wet.
If the weather looked like it would be stormy, we had an option to camp at Loft Mountain Campground, but that would mean an early stop for the day.
With greater confidence in the weather, we decided to push on and make a dinner stop at Loft Mountain Wayside.
The downside of this plan was, well, a trail that went straight down. We had to follow a steep and weathered side trail for more than a half-a-mile to get to the wayside, which was located in a valley between two ridges.
Along the way, I got a phone call from my older son, Logan, who called to wish me happy Father’s Day. Minutes later, younger son Landon attempted to call, but by now I was farther down the mountain and the cell signal was poor, so we had a hard time keeping a connection. I told him I would call him back when I got back up to the top of the ridge.
Pippi was already at the wayside. She managed to beat us there. Brook was also there. It was nice to be able to get off the trail for an hour or so, relax, talk to friends, and order food.
The primary attractions at the Shenandoah waysides are cheeseburgers, fries, and blackberry shakes. I enjoyed all of them so much, I was tempted to purchase another round, or at minimum, another milkshake. In the end, I decided that fluids and electrolytes were what I needed most, and settled instead on a Gatorade.
A brief heavy rain fell while we were eating inside at the wayside. When it stopped, Stick and Mike continued to chat with Brook while I walked outside.
Two young Mennonite women pulled up in a noisy old car, got out, and offered me a chocolate chip cookie. You can’t beat trail magic that comes to you.
After making the steep return trip back to the AT, I reached a ledge that gave a nice view of nearby mountains and valleys, and I called Landon back.
There were other views along this section of the trail, which I stopped occasionally to enjoy. It was getting late, but we thought we would be able to stop at a campsite near a creek. Uncle had told us about it.
Unfortunately, we never found it, so we continued on to our alternate destination, Pinefield Hut.
After lingering at one more view, I headed to the shelter, not arriving until 8:30 p.m.
The first thing I did was filter a lot of water and guzzle much of it.
Did I mention it has been hot lately?
Creature comfort goals, they only numb my soul
And make it hard for me to see
(Ah ah ah) ah thoughts all seem to stray to places far away
I need a change of scenery
Ta ta ta ta, ta ta ta ta
Ta ta ta ta, ta ta ta ta
Another pleasant valley Sunday
Charcoal burning everywhere
Another pleasant valley Sunday
Here in status symbol land
Another pleasant valley Sunday (a pleasant valley Sunday)
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