Tag Archives: Backpacking

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Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail – Jersey Hollow to Ohiopyle!

The Laurel Highlands Hiking Trail (LHHT) runs from Laurel Ridge State Park to Ohiopyle State Park in Pennsylvania. The elevation profile for the entire 70 – miles of the trail is fairly level, with the ends having elevation a bit more extreme, and miles 0 – 11 having the MOST extreme elevation changes of the entire trail.

So, guess where I initiated myself to the LHHT? 😁 Along with Queen V, who is up for all the adventures…better or worse.

Hiking the LHHT requires preplanning as one needs to reserve the shelters for overnight use. It will cost a small fee to reserve, but it is worth every bit! You can have the entire shelter to yourself! Each shelter has a fireplace, plenty of hooks to hang items, and even a place to put up a hammock. The shelter area includes a nice pit toilet with separate building for men/women, trash cans, a pump (non-potable water), and a wood splitting area stocked with firewood. If you are a backpacker, can you imagine such a glamping setup in the backcountry?!! I mean…you don’t have to pack out your trash! I dropped trash into the bin at least five times in the span of twelve hours just because I could!!

Planning this overnight backpacking trip back in April I reached out to my backpacker gal pals to see who wanted to go…seven of them were like HELL YEAH, SIGN ME UP! And I did, reserving two shelters for us. Reflecting on this now, I won’t reserve for everyone next time. Why? Because life intervened to a point where five of those who had signed up could not come along. The reservation system is easy to navigate and this trail is not as populated as say, the Appalachian Trail, so next time each can make their own reservation. Just makes it cleaner if they need to cancel.

Another hiking friend, Cathryn, wanted to go last minute which was great…because we had PLENTY of room! 😄 More importantly, neither Queen V or myself had hiked with Cathryn in a while and looked forward to reconnecting with her.

We met up at Ferncliff parking area in Ohiopyle, the southernmost trailhead for the LHHT at MILE 0, then I shuttled the three of us to Jersey Hollow parking area, MILE 11-ish. A trail kiosk, that had paper maps of the LHHT available, greeted us, and we each greedily snatched one. Honestly, you would have thought we’d won the lottery or something. Ka-ching! Seriously, though, having a paper map is a good idea for this trail as we did not have cell service for most of our trek back to Ohiopyle.

Storing our coveted maps, we started down the trail towards the Ohiopyle Shelter. What a fantasy land! A dense fog laden woods with large boulders covered with ferns and moss. Water dripped from the ends of the moss that hung over the sides of boulders. Add the reds and golds of trees and other foliage that have turned as Autumn enters…and ohhhhhhhh, such hobbit-like lushness!

Early fall foliage added so much value to this hike! And I was incredibly thankful for something to be thankful for as my knees took a beating on the downhill to the shelter. Good lord almighty, that was long, steep, downhill littered with little rolling rocks and acorns. Slow going and demoralizing! I was elated to see the shelter sign…but that elation was short lived as my head turned from the sign to the side trail. Only the top of the trail was visible! Down, down, down. My thought, my actual thought, as I stood there, almost paralyzed, was I should have packed more Ibuprofen! Then I put one foot in front of the other and went on down.

We thoroughly enjoyed our time at the Ohiopyle Shelter area. Arriving early-ish in the day, we had a lot of time to relax, set up camp, and eat. Queen V brought a Red Velvet moon pie that she shared with me and that sugar buzz was better than any ibuprofen! Later in the evening the ranger came up to check on permits. He asked us where the rest of the people on the reservation were and jokingly said, “Please tell me I don’t have to go looking for them!” In our chat with him, he asked where we had started, where we had parked cars…the usual stuff. When I told him we had a car parked at Jersey Hollow, he paused and looked up. Oh no, I thought, what is wrong with Jersey Hollow…”What? Is it not safe?” I asked. He replied, “no, not that, but overnight parking is not allowed there.” Oh crap … crap, crap, crap! “Are they going to tow my car?” This is my first question and all I can think is that I am going to pay this man any amount of money to drive me to Jersey Hollow so I can move my car!

He let me know the worst that would happen is IF the game warden checked the lot, then it would be a ticket, like a $5 ticket. *whew* crisis averted!!!

The rest of the evening was delightful. I had my tent set up in my shelter and stayed cozy all night. There were some aches and pains as I carefully navigated each move of my body, but otherwise good!

Next morning the climb out of the shelter area was not as bad as anticipated and we were on our way once again! This trek was not as grueling as that downhill had been (Queen V’s opinion may differ 😏). It was a hard day, but not as soul crushing…except for the climb coming up to the MILE 5 marker. STEEP and the elevation on the profile did not match Queen V’s Garmin or how we felt! My strategy was to make sure to break when needed, drink lots of liquids to keep all my muscles well hydrated, and make a conscious effort to look up and enjoy the beauty that surrounded me. It worked!

Trudging back into Ohiopyle, we found lunch right on the trail at Falls City Pub & Restaurant. I downed two glasses of Pepsi before my meal of salmon wrap and onion rings arrived. That Pepsi hit the spot and the food was delicious! Full tummy and completely caffeinated and sugared up, I was in high spirits as Queen V shuttled me back to my car. On arrival, we all scanned for a parking ticket, and gave a unanimous whoop when one could not be found! 🙌🙌🙌

Twenty-ish hours later, I am still able to walk and all I have is love for the LHHT. So much so I am already planning the next section of the LHHT with Queen V.

One foot in front of the other, hike on!

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Meeting Up with the Southbound Niblings!

Thru-hiking the 2190 plus miles of the Appalachian Trail is a grand undertaking and surely a test of mind and body! Catnap and Sweet Tooth, my niblings, are completing a thru-hike this year. They started at Katahdin, in Maine, and are hiking south. I planned to meet up with them as soon as they came within range of my area. Last week they appeared on my radar! We were messaging back and forth and planned in advance to meet up on Sunday. The morning dawned bright and beautiful, a wonderful day to meet up with Catnap an Sweet Tooth, as they passed through Pine Grove Furnace State Park, approximately half-way on their southbound AT journey!

You might be asking yourself…what is a nibling? Nibling is a non-gendered term for niece/nephew. There are three great people in this story, who are all adult children of my siblings, and they all have different pronouns, so niblings it is!

The first nibling, Izzy, my nephew, had stayed overnight at my house. We were up early and headed out the door just in time for an 11:00 meet up. Pine Grove Furnace State Park is about a two hour drive from my house in western Maryland and it was great to have Izzy as company for the drive!

Reaching Pine Grove, we spotted and joyously celebrated with Catnap & Sweet Tooth (because of course they got there first)! They had toured the little AT Museum and highly recommended it for anyone who has not been to visit. As we talked, we walked. Right back to my car where the requested goodies were. Bananas and chocolate chip cookies were on the requested list…but I threw in some salmon jerky and powdered electrolytes, as well. Nothing was refused! …nom, nom, nom…😍

The Niblings

*Sidenote* – my hiking pal Queen V now volunteers on the weekend at the museum and is a GREAT person to tap for information regarding the trail!

Ok, back to the niblings! We all moved on over to the Pine Grove store for lunch. This is the home of the “half-gallon challenge” where some thru-hikers will eat a half gallon of ice cream. Catnap told us the evidence of this could be found at the first north bound shelter past Pine Grove. 😝 Interestingly, Catnap and Sweet Tooth abstained!

As we sat down, Catnap told us she had lost her wallet along the trail, so that was a point of concern. She had posted on the FarOut app. I assured her that things get found and told her about my friend, Roxanne, who had lost her phone a couple times along the trail and has gotten it back every time! I loved sitting there on the porch of the store listening to trail tails as they retold harrowing experiences of the crazy flooding in the northeast and the male hikers that had been dubbed the “dude bros”(not a complimentary term, fyi)! 😂I hated to wrap up lunch but it was getting late and these thru-hikers needed to hike! We made a plan for Izzy and me to drive up to the Michaux Road trail crossing and hike in to the half-way point sign to wait for Catnap & Sweet Tooth to CELEBRATE!!!

At the Michaux Road Crossing with Izzy
Easy and lovely walking along the AT to the Half-Way Point Sign

It was amazing to meet up and share part of their AT journey with them! The day after meeting up with them I received a message on Instagram, tell Catnap to check her dm, we found her wallet!!!!! The BEST kind of trail magic!

Sweet Tooth & Catnap!

Catnap & Sweet Tooth are now long gone and moving fast through the easier terrain south of the half-way point. They took 80 days to hike from Katahdin to Pine Grove and that was the hard part! I assured them they weren’t going to hit any of the big mountains for quite awhile, so picking up speed and miles per day is assured. Last I heard they hit a personal best of 28 miles! If you are on the trail, don’t blink or you might miss them!

Love you Catnap & Sweet Tooth! Hike on! ❤

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Weekend Do-over Needed ASAP!

Currently immersed in Teacher Week…or “administrator week” as my partner, who is also a teacher, called it this morning. 😏 So…after a day of attending professional development sessions that our admin thought might be useful, I am cooked. The last session was on health and wellness … I skipped it … for my health and wellness! 🤣 Time to exit the building and start home. My commute was spent reminiscing on a quick overnight trip I led for Trail Dames last weekend along the Appalachian Trail.

This was truly a quick, low mileage, backpacking trip giving us the opportunity to relax and unwind. Another teacher, besides me, came along and I bet she is also holding the weekend close this week as she prepares for her incoming 5th graders!

We started at the Appalachian Trail crossing on Rt. 233 near Caledonia State Park. A very small pull off with space for two cars. We had a group of five, so only one car and one spot needed. I crossed my fingers that no one would block the car in overnight (no one did).

A jolly bunch of Dames we were as we started down the trail just after 8:00 AM. The last of the cool air was dissipating as we started the climb to Chimney Rock. The change in temperature as the sun rose above the ridge was palpable. Ohhh, it was going to be a hot day! Many a break was taken as we plowed uphill to the overlook. Mostly in the shade, the trail takes a gentle uphill path, but when temps rise into the upper 80s and humidity increases without bound, it is a butt-kicker!

Chimney Rock has a lovely view, but you have to climb to the top of the rocks for it. One Dame was a little fearful of the climb so she stayed down in the shade eating her lunch. By the end, however, fear of missing out overtook the fear of the climb! And while she did not go ALL the way to the top, she did push her own boundaries and got close! 🎉 That is what Trail Dames is all about…providing a safe space for women to get out there and try things…climb that mountain, cross the creek, camp, backpack, and have a great time!

The descent to Tumbling Run Shelter was as long as anticipated. When I arrived at the shelter, there was already someone there with a big tent (like a car camping tent) set up by the creek and music blaring. Ohhhhh nooooo, I had wondered about weekend party campers since this shelter area is close to a road crossing. Hoping this would not be a loud night, and ignoring the camper, I turned away from the creek and headed back to check out the group camp site.

Amazing site!!! We quickly set up while exclaiming our sheer delight at this site. Six nice tent pads, picnic table, benches, and firepit. It was better than a lot of car camping sites I’ve seen!

We lounged around the site all afternoon. Absolutely wonderful! In the later afternoon, we had a visit from Kurt, who is a member of the family that maintains the shelter area, and has maintained it since 1991. He gave us the history of Tumbling Run Shelter, how he and his family keep the weekend party campers away, and how the creation of the beautiful group site came to be! What a treat to have him take the time to chat with us!

Once he had left, I headed up to the shelter/privy and noticed that the camper with the music blaring was gone, along with the big tent. Much applause for Kurt!!

Kurt also made sure we knew storms were forecasted (we knew) …and sure enough right about 11:00 pm the wind whipped up, lightning lit up the forest, and thunder rolled through the mountains. We were never in the bullseye, just a good ole storm! It stopped before dawn giving a nice dry pack up and walk out. 🙌

The sunbeams through the raindrop laden trees was a perfectly magical sendoff.

But, yeah, I could go for a do-over right now! 🥾🥾Hike on!

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The Blogging “Gap” Year…Ha!

August 2022 was my last post. That is kind of tough to say aloud. By the way, “aloud” is one of my good starting words on Wordle. 😀 Anyway…I am calling this embarrassing pause my gap year.

Did I stop hiking? No.

Did I stop leading hikes? No.

Did I lose motivation for writing? Well, sort of…I still write in my journal, but it is mostly bulleted lists or drawings or a few sentences here and there. Case in point, my last entry in my journal was “June 30 – July 1: Led a backpack to kick off July 4th weekend with Trail Dames” and I put a Shenandoah National Park sticker next to the entry. Unacceptable! Not a fail, but definitely D-level submission! 😂 I did better on Instagram and made a Reel…oooooo fancy! And here is a pic of some of us at the Rock Spring Hut. FYI…the spring is WAY downhill, but it is an amazing spring…lovely water source!

With blogging, I kept saying “maybe I’ll write about the next hike” over and over and the blog just sat here waiting for me to notice it again. And today, I did!

To inspire myself, I actually Googled “why I should write” … yep, this is where I am. 🤦‍♀️

And I thought about it. The more I thought about writing about hiking I kept coming back to two comments I got from Dames who came along the backpacking trip I led this weekend.

  1. “This trip surpassed my hopes! It was wonderful and I enjoyed every moment. Thanks to Kylena for organizing it and to each and every one of you for sharing your stories and your backpacking knowledge“
  2. “What an amazing trip! Thanks for welcoming me so warmly into this group. I loved getting to know my fellow adventurous Dames. A huge thanks to Kylena for her mad organization skills that made this trip a reality and for encouraging me to attend.”

If I were reading my blog, what would I want to take away? This blog holds stories of hikes and people that have shared the trail with me along the way. Now, I feel a need to level up and be, oh, I don’t know…more entertaining and inspiring. To assist in some small way in making the outdoors more enticing and welcoming for everyone. I want everyone feel like Queen V looks standing atop Little Stony Man cliffs (also from this weekend)!

Hard truth – when I start actually thinking about writing, instead of just doing the thing, anxiety and procrastination set in. To be honest, thinking does me in EVERY time. If I start thinking about doing something, it becomes thinking forEVER and I never get to the doing of the thing. 🤯

So, fuck it, I’m writing. I am going to set a schedule, because I love schedules, and when my Google calendar tells me it is time to write, perfection be damned, I am going to write!

And for all of you who “think” your way right out of hiking, or walking, or just going outside…I personally challenge you to stand up and do the thing. Get up, open the door, take a step, then one step more.

🥾🥾

Hike on!

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AT – VA: U.S. 60 to Tye River

Return to section hiking! Return to the big mountains in Virginia!

First, it is a tragedy that the only time teachers, like me, get to go on vacation is during the hot-ass summer. It is beastly hiking weather, but here we are!

In Mother Nature’s favor, it was blissfully not hot for most of our weekend and I gave thanks many times over for that. But hiking up 2000 feet after driving 3.5 hours to meet my hiking gal pals, including Akela with her trusty hike-tastic mini-van, then taking said van another 45 minutes down the road to the trailhead, was a hard day’s work.

I was excited! It has been a while since we had all hiked together. I was ready for a weekend of releasing all the toxic crap that has been weighing me down. Yes, a complete reset would do. So, up the mountain we plodded leaving Long Mountain Wayside behind. WAIT…is that what the mountain was called…Long Mountain? That would be on point!

On the way up I pulled my motivation from first day excitement. That was about to completely deplete when we stumbled onto Cole (Cold) Mountain. Oh my goodness…total replenishment!!!!!!!!!! Those views, that meadow, the wildflowers! Oh! Oh! Oh! What a treasure!

After that it was all downhill, literally speaking, not figuratively! 😏 We camped at Hog Camp Gap, a lovely meadow with old apple trees and oak trees. The water source was excellent and not many campers on Friday night which surprised and delighted me! Honestly, that whole dig a cat hole thing to go to the bathroom can be a little tricky in a crowded camp. Yeah, I know you can feel me here! 😀 😀

The next day we started with a climb out of the gap and it was up and down all day! This section does not mess around!

There were more rewards for our hard work …and blessed trail creators, thank you for the interspersed moments of pure trail bliss along this trek! The wildflowers were in bloom, gentle cool breezes lifted the stray hair out of my eyes, and the buzz of bees was the white noise I didn’t know I needed.

We pulled into the Seeley-Woodworth shelter early. I found a nice spot under an oak tree and proceeded to put up the tent, get water, and cook dinner…and 2:30 pm! The spring here is still flowing and we didn’t have any trouble gathering water regardless of our type of filter.

There was a boisterous group of college age folks…and I am guessing they were in an outdoor club as there were many of them. We had passed them earlier, spotting them on top of a huge boulder, and I thought, “awe, look at them out here laughing, loving, and enjoying life!” They finally pooped out around 11 pm like a bunch of worn out puppies. They were a cute bunch and I found them quite amusing…until I passed a bowl with remains of the their food in it right beside the trail the next morning as we hiked out. Little feckers! Be Bear AWARE!!

Day 3 started with another gorgeous meadow walk with views for miles. Then it was up, up, up to Spy Rock…and no picture I took does that place justice! You need to hike up there yourself!!

Back to bears…I spotted one on our way up to The Priest. I loved that! No pics, but what a beautiful site! 🐻

Of course, I would’ve missed the bear if that hill had been easy. Third day on the elevation profile looked not so bad. In reality, it was a “head-down, one foot in front of the other, every woman for herself” kind of day. 😂 A very long uphill to the Priest. The “processional” it was dubbed by one of my hiking companions. 😄 and Whew…the heat and humidity was on. We arrived at the shelter and had just enough time to get our tents up before it started raining. Not a deluge of rain, but always nice to be able to stay mostly dry while backpacking! The camp area is a fairy landscape and goes back forever. A mossy creek, rhododendron bushes, big boulders, and fog rolling through periodically created a magical space.

Summary of day 3: I fail at photos, but win at persistence and sheer grit. 🥵 No privy at The Priest and water source is low, but scoopable…if you use a pump you won’t have any issues. If you scoop, you should be fine, as well, as there are some small pools.

The last day we hiked up for a little bit, inhaling and exhaling deeply at the Priest summit as we were above a sea of active morning fog with sun rise lending some extra sparkle.

Then, back on the trail, it was down. And down. And down. I really wanted to ask Akela how much farther (long before it made any sense to do so). 😄 So, I held it in until my feet and thighs were screaming, ASK HER YOU IDIOT! 😂😂😂 I asked. She asked if I wanted the truth.

.

.

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Nice one Akela…real smooth. 😂

Answer – 0.4 miles more…I pushed on. I did it. I can still walk today. Huzzah! Hike on!

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Weekend with the Dames!

Before the pandemic, I would organize an annual winter backpacking trip for the Maryland Trail Dames. We would hike to the Ed Garvey Shelter on the Appalachian Trail, set up camp, then continue to Weverton the next day.

After missing out on this fun event for two years, I was delighted to put this up on the hiking board for January 2022. The Dames were excited to shiver together once again! 😄

But bad weather intervened…fast forward to an early Spring shiver, instead! I was secretly pleased to not be camping out in January. It was 17 degrees one year and even with good layers it was still cold! Especially when nature’s calls at 2:00 AM! 🥶

This weekend we had delightful weather…praise!!! We met at Gathland State Park around noon. I know, I know…I was really taking a gamble with parking at that time of day. I crossed my fingers and went with it. Happy to report we all found a parking space. I was grateful!

It was a lovely hike to the shelter. We had a few newbies with us, but I only got asked once “do you know how much further until we get to the shelter?” I call that a win!

We were surprised there were already several folks at the shelter when we arrived. And with complete disregard for hiker etiquette, they had put up tents on both the first and second level of the shelter. Ergh. We were tenting and had no need of the shelter. However, that whole tent in the shelter is a big no…especially at a shelter like Ed Garvey, which is pretty popular all year round.

It looks like a flat site…right?

Sure enough, it was a mob scene on Saturday night. I am glad we had gotten there early enough to pick the better tent sites. Some folks camped down along the trail as all sites were gone when they rolled in later in the evening.

***better = still slanted, but I managed to stay on my sleeping pad all night***

About 4:00 AM we got rain, just on and off, nothing much. It continued while we packed up and hiked out. Just a few drops, not enough to make us or our gear wet. Thankful is an understatement. Some of our newbies had gotten cold overnight…rain on top of that could have made an uncomfortable hike into a truly miserable one for them. 😕

It was great to get back to backpacking with the Dames. Looking forward to planning more fun adventures for this group! Hike on!

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Good people make a Good life!

As I start this post the Beatles song “with a little help from my friends” is rolling inside my head. This year, more than any before, I am appreciating friendship. The people in my life who I look forward to being with, laughing with, and sharing with. Each inspires me in little ways that enrich my moments spent plodding through life. And plod I do!

So, this is an appreciation post for all the people who are still hanging with me here in the Spring of 2022.

OF course I need to include my partner here. But she is a private person…so I won’t say much except that life would not be as fun without her. She is also a teacher and there is no one else who gets my shizzle like she does. She also swings a mean hammer and paint brush. House renovations would go much slower and be a LOT more expensive without her mechanical prowess! ❤ ❤ ❤

No particular order of importance…but I need to put D in Damascus in here because this post would not be happening without her. Over the last few years, she has become a wonderful photographer and decided to start her own blog to showcase her photos. She has no idea how this has inspired me to get back to writing…but here we are! D is also my go-to colleague at work when everything feels like it is falling apart, so that is a bonus! I post one of her lovely photos here … so please ooooo and ahhhhhh over it for at least thirty seconds! 🙂

You can find more of D’s work over at https://dyagodich.wixsite.com/photos

And then there are my Dames…what would I do without my hiking gals?

Queen V brings her jokes, her exasperation with hills, and keeps me in stitches on every hike I take with her. She is a treasure. I can text her “hey, I found an unmarked trail …want to check it out?” and she ALWAYS says yes. She almost always bitches about it while we bushwhack through some unforeseen truly terrible trail…but she shows up and has fun…I think. Anyway, she also has just the right advice when it is needed. Level headed, she kindly points out all sides of an issue while I rant…and rant…until I manage to slow down enough hear her. Then I’m like “yeah, that makes sense…” The perfect friend to take hiking down the trails! 😀

Queen V and me on the Long Pond Trail in Green Ridge SF

There are so many good people in my hiking life…I certainly could not list them all. I wish I could, but it would take many lifetimes to do so. And so many I have not yet had the opportunity to reconnect with in 2022.

A few more photos that have frozen an amazing moment in time for me. Moments filled with pure joy shared with friends on the trail. Oh, how I look forward to getting back to regular hiking life this year! Hike on! 🙂

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AT – VA: James River VA501 to Long Mtn Wayside VA60

Well…this was a post COVID shutdown shock to my system! 😀

After driving down for a little over three hours from Frederick, MD, and another two hours placing cars, we hit the trail while the hot afternoon sun beat down on us. The parking lot at VA501 was easy to find and I was happy to exit the hot pavement and enter the just as hot, but at least shady, woods!

Day 1 we hiked in to the Johns Hollow Shelter. Blessed with a fine running stream, I took a good amount of time refreshing myself before cooking dinner. The shelter is in a delightful location with several almost level places to put a tent. Except, of course, for the place I put mine! But I was exhausted and fell asleep quickly.

View from my slanty tentsite

As usual, I awoke a few hours later after darkness had closed in on the forest. Since morning would not wait for certain things, I finally, after debating for at least 20 minutes, had to commit to getting out of my tent.

Okay, okay…I’m up, I’m out…oh, wow, it is really, really dark.

I made my way across to the privy and happened to look up. There was a perfect crescent moon shining down. It was framed by the upper most branches and leaves of several trees…perfectly timed…well done Mother Nature!

Once back in my tent, I could not fall back to sleep and tossed, turned, and created a ton of noise from my sleeping pad which has not become less noisy with wear FYI. Finally getting into a somewhat decent position I started to doze off. It must have been early…like 2 am…a yip, then a yowl, then a whole orchestrated sonata sung by a local coyote group. Beautiful!

The view from the creek

I know you will find this surprising, but I did not wake up refreshed and ready for a 9 mile day.

Day 2 was an up, up, up day. We climbed about 2000 feet up. It was our first climb and we got up while the sun was still low in the sky and breezes were frequent. With proper breaks here and there we made it to the top without any terrible memories burning in my memory. A beautiful view awaited us!

About halfway up the mountain there was a payoff!

We stopped at Salt Log Gap for a sit-down break. I got just two things to say…1. Someone said there was a spring. If that is true it is so far downhill that you’d be nuts to go looking for it. 2. Careful of the stinging nettles, but if you do get swiped try hand sanitizer on it. That worked wonders on the areas where I was attacked!

The second mountain of the day…ugh. Bluff Mountain is no bluff! The trail went up the sunny side of the mountain and it was a hot afternoon sun. Several thousand breaks later we rounded a corner to find the memorial for Ottie Cline Powell, an almost 5-year old boy who wandered away from his school in November 1890, got lost, then died on Bluff Mountain. His remains were found by a hunter in April 1891. This choked me up and I cannot get this kid out of my head even now. Poor, poor baby. 😦

Summit of Bluff Mountain

I was so glad to get to the Punchbowl Shelter. Such a pretty sight with a pond filled with chatty bullfrogs. 🙂 I went about setting up my tent, minding my own business, when the black flies descended. Oh my gawd, this was awful. Like on level with chiggers awful. I got so many bites. 😦 Bug spray didn’t phase those little suckers one bit. I capped off Day 2 with three ibuprofen and a benadryl.

I am loving my new tent…Big Agnus Tiger Wall UL2. The pond is in the background.

We TRIED to get out earlier on day 3 so we were done hiking earlier due to the heat. A group of five…we did try! And maybe we were out a little earlier??? Anyway, the day’s elevation looked decent and I was optimistically promoting a day that would allow our fired up muscles a day to recover somewhat. Hahahaaaaa 😀

Love this! A boost in the middle of hot exhausting day

The elevation wasn’t bad in comparison, but it still managed to get at me. The heat and humidity was suffocating and I could smell rain. Picking up speed around the Lynchburg Reservoir, yessss! This was good, this was easy!

Rounded a corner…Oh for Christ’s sake. What horse of the Apocalypse are we on now?

A monumental disaster of epic proportions lay before us. A tangle of huge blowdowns over a ravine. Every woman for herself! I decided to crawl under and through it dragging my pack behind me. It worked!

Feeling superior, I temporarily forgot that this was a miserable hike and plodded on down the trail happily the victor. 😀 There was even an congratulatory creek with rushing cool water about a mile after. Huzzah!

The day got long again and my feet were screaming with every step once we reached the bridge across Brown Mountain Creek near the shelter. I wasn’t the only one having physical turmoil and we were glad to be done for the day.

Brown Mountain Creek

The Brown Mountain Creek area is fabulously wild and gorgeous. In the early 1900s, a community of African American sharecroppers lived here. I looked and found evidence of homes long since abandoned. I am surprised and disappointed that there is no roadside history sign about this community at VA60. I went Googling for information once I got home and found “Brown Mountain Creek – Before the AT”.

I settled in for the night, best sleep on the whole trip under a big old oak tree. I had some quite disturbing lucid dreams about little Ottie. I woke up suddenly during one of those dreams to a lightning bug blinking his light as he passed my tent…a good sign. I got up and looked out ….ohhhhhhh…*sharp inhale*…the lightning bugs! I was mesmerized, and after the dreams I had, a little emotional.

The last day was a short hike out to VA60. Sitting in my tent, early in the morning, while the lightning bugs were still blinking, I wrote:

“I am humbled by these mountains. Blisters on my heels burn with every step. Black fly bites have formed hard spherical mounds that itch like the dickens. Stinging nettles brushed my legs with a touch that was anything but gentle. My COVID shutdown body is tired and demoralized. Another day my mountains.”

Now healing, beer in hand, and looking forward to another day…Hike on!

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AT – VA Dripping Rock to Rockfish Gap

Backpacking with my gal pals last weekend! How is it to know these women, these outrageous trail bitches who understand this is not a frivolous hobby? We understand each other in a deep way even our life partners don’t get. We see the desire burning in each other’s heart for the outdoors, for the forest, for walking in and not having to walk out right away. Hiking and backpacking is something we do because it is what makes us whole! and it is what makes us reasonable human beings in all the other areas of our lives.

With that in mind, we all piled into Akela’s minivan, WHICH HOLDS ALL SEVEN OF US AND OUR GEAR!! Headed south to Dripping Rock, one of us has forgotten her cell phone…turn around, back to Rockfish Gap…OKAY, now we headed for Dripping Rock … for real! 😀

A sunny, but very chilly morning, at 20 degrees! Thankfully, climbing first thing. It is a lovely stretch of trail up the mountain. Some of us hike a little faster, some a little slower, … all of us hike with optimism, smiles, and support for one another.

The views at the top were amazing, of course! We stopped for lunch at the highest point of our hike. A nice break on the sun splashed rocks until the sun went on hiatus and the wind decided to pick up and play chicken with us. Okay, okay, we are going, seriously! Gloves and hats back on! Ladies, someone has an issue with letting us soak in the sun!

We felt good as we started down towards Paul C. Wolfe Shelter. Golden leaves covered our path in spots as we hiked one way, then the next, zigzagging down the mountain on a kazillion switchbacks. A big nice trail for the most part!

It was a great day filled late Autumn forest magic. A gust of wind showered us with leaves, a beam of sunlight warmed us for a few minutes, a deer silently sneaked a peek at us, and birds called out to each other as we passed. I arrived at the shelter free of all regular life stuff. No place but here, no time but now.

I got my tent up and had dinner as the forest went dark. The moon was almost full giving me all the happy vibes. 🙂

A couple of dads and their sons were camped at the shelter. “NO worries about bears tonight”, I thought, as those boys ran up and down each side of the creek having the time of their lives.

I crawled into my tent, broke open some ‘hothands’ to warm up my tootsies and my sleeping bag, then fell promptly to sleep…at 7:00 pm. Woohoo! Hiker midnight!

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Morning now nigh…Dang, it is always a tough time getting out of the bag on a cold morning!! Deep breath and up I was. Packing up warms you up, so move, move, move! And, oh crap, I have to filter water…oh, but what a nice view I had!!

Hot oatmeal warmed my insides and coffee made me a little more coherent, then it was down the trail we went. It was much warmer on Sunday morning and with temps climbing we were soon plenty warm. The trail had some disaster blow downs which gave us an aerobic edge to our hike. We were shedding layers like crazy! “Lost&Found” had to do an extensive striptease on the trail since she needed to get her long johns off…if that would have been me, I know a fricken entire boy scout group would have appeared! Luckily, she got it done without any such embarrassment!

We spent several minutes at the Lowe cemetery. Akela suggested that it would be a good cleanup project. I have to agree. A tree had fallen over a few graves in the back of the cemetery.

Next stop was Mayo Homestead…a very nice place it must have been with that big fireplace! I can imagine riding a horse up to the cabin and seeing smoke drifting up out of the chimney. A promise of freshly baked bread or other delight waiting for me!

Along the last stretch we met ‘Walking Spirit’, a south bound thru hiker. He was sitting by a nicely flowing spring, enjoying his break. That is what is great about solo hiking. You hike, you break, you eat, you sleep, all without needing to check in with anyone. On the flip side, you get to an amazing view or beautiful tree and you want to share the awe with someone, but all you have is you.

I love solo, but my trail gals…awwwww yeah… that’s my heart!

Hike on!

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AT – VA Dripping Rock to VA56 Tye River

Three Ridges Wilderness has been on my radar for some time now. I finally got the opportunity to hike this section Friday through Sunday of 2019 Memorial Day Weekend with the Maryland Trail Dames.

We met at the VA56 trail head parking lot, then shuttled to Dripping Rock.

Weather was optimal!

We headed south and were soon embracing a wonderful overlook without having done much work to get there.

Let’s just say we got our dessert first. I knew there had to payback, and soon enough we were rock hopping…at least the elevation was decent. Luckily, we ran out of rocks after crossing the Blue Ridge Parkway at 3 Ridges Mountain overlook. We were ready for a break!

Is that the infamous Priest in the background?

On to Reids Gap…easy, then Maupin Shelter…not so easy! All the beautiful blooming things kept me distracted and finally found myself in a lovely campsite at Maupin!

We met Fun Guy and Legacy at the shelter. Legacy is thru-hiking…Fun Guy is just running around in the woods for six months. He likes to hunt for mushrooms…hence “FunGuy”…ha, haha, …So much quirkiness on the trail!

We actually saw a ton of thru-hikers on our trek.

Next morning we made it a leisurely start. We relaxed, had our breakfast, no worries since it was only about 6 miles to Harper Creek Shelter.


OH.MY.GAWD.

Where in the world did all the rocks come from??? Am I back in Pennsylvania? That 6 miles felt like 10!!!

More great views, rhododendron, and lots of wildflowers.

We found a great spot for lunch and stretching at the summit. Thank goodness! 😂

Coming down 2000 feet to the shelter was much worse than going up!

We were all very happy to stumble into Harper Creek after a hard day hiking! Luckily, we were there earlier than most and got a good camping spot.

A roll of thunder brought an early end to our celebration! Up went my tent as fast as I could go! Once it was up, I threw my junk in, then dove in after it!

Big, big, big storm. Lots of heavy rain.

I leaned back onto my side in a very warm tent. I could nap this one out.

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Splat. What the…?

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Plop. Oh shieeeeet. The Big Angus has decided that now is a good time to let the seals pull away from the zipper on the fly.

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*sigh*

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Splash. *put folded up bandanna over head and ignore*

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*Zzzzzzzzzzzz*

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Next morning, perfect! I mean besides packing up a wet tent…cause that pretty much sucked!

The trail down to the Tye River was easy peasy. 😃 No rocks!

We deserved that nice bit! Hike on!