Appalachian Trail - Compton Gap to Gravel Springs - Columnar Jointing Formation

This hike is in the northern most section of Shenandoah National Park and ascends Compton Peak where there is a unique rock formation called Columnar Jointing. I’ve included some links below describing the formation. The hike to visit the formation is 2.4 miles round trip and has 835 feet of elevation gain to hike. The parking is very good at mile marker 10.5 and the hike well worth it just to visit the rock formation. The hike guide can be found here:  https://www.nps.gov/shen/upload/Compton-Gap-Trail-Map.pdf

We ended up hiking all the way to Gravel Springs Hut to stay the night. There were three section hikers there working on their 1000+ miles with tons of interesting stories and also a Scout troop doing some training hikes for a larger hike later in the year. It was fun to trade stories with the section hikers. I’ll just post a link to the video of the shelter from the other day (Friday) as it looks exactly the same as then… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68do2KuxCjs

On the way back, we decided to track down a spring that is listed in some of the guides on Hogwallow Flat. We blew right by it on our way in and wished we had seen it because it was hot and we drank up all our water. The water at Ginger Spring at Tom Floyd Wayside Shelter is also pretty sad, so this spring may be one that people are counting on finding!  After paying close attention along the way, we found a suspicious looking rock pile that did turn out to be the spring. The spring is at the end of the video for those interested in just that part.
Hogwallow Spring coordinates: N38° 47.042' W78° 11.629'
Compton Spring Coordinates: N38° 48.966' W78° 10.632'

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columnar_jointing
https://www.nps.gov/shen/learn/nature/greenstone.htm
A paper way more technical about the subject: https://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1265/report.pdf
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Gravel Springs Hut and Spring - Appalachian Trail - Shenandoah National Park

Took a quick run down to the Gravel Springs Hut to check it out along with the water source / spring and tent sites in preparation for a longer weekend hike where we'll be passing by, but not staying at, this shelter. The Gravel Springs Hut is an easy 0.2 mile walk down a gentle grade from a great parking at Gravel Springs Gap. It's a little close to the parking and from the looks of the area is heavily used. The spring appeared to be running strong and is a stone boxed type with a sandy bottom. The tent sites are up the hill from the privy and are on the smallish side in a rock field. There are a handful of them of various sizes. No fair making fun of my umbrella!

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Music “Dawn's Battle (Instrumental)” by Ivan Chew (c) 2016
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Appalachian Trail VA - Ashby Gap to Manassas Gap - Dick's Dome and Whiskey Hollow Shelters

Continuing my section hike of the Appalachian Trail Southbound, I decided to pick up where I left off at the parking at 601 near I50 and continue through Sky Meadows State Park to Dick’s Dome Shelter, the new Whiskey Hollow Shelter at the same location, and through to Manassas Gap Shelter. This leaves a small section between Jim and Molly Denton and the roadside parking at US 522 left for me to complete in this area. The trail up to Sky Meadows, although not rough, is a constant ascent for 2.8 miles with an elevation gain of almost 1000’. Once up top, the rest of the trail to Manassas Gap is fairly mild. Sky Meadows State Park has wonderful smooth trails that are easy to hike. There are some views up top in the meadows before getting back into the woods. Once past Dick’s Dome, the trail gets pretty dull. Dick’s Dome shelter was really cool. I kind of like it even though it gets a bad rap online. The new Whiskey Hollow Shelter just uphill is super nice, although tent spots are sparse. I would have hiked back to stay there once I hit Manassas Gap, except it was really crowded and did not want to risk a bad after dark arrival. There appears to be ample water from the nearby brook and there is a little bridge that crosses the water. North a little way is a tent site in the southern section of Sky Meadows. Although a nice site, there does not appear to be a privy nearby and the spring on the trail is just a trickle. The trail between Dick’s Dome and Manassas gap is non-eventful. There is great water a Manassas Gap shelter and the tent sites, although few, are nice. I used my larger winter White Cloud 6500 for this hike and it was way too big. I need to use my smaller 3400 for these hikes. This hike was about 11 miles each way (in and out) making my distance hikes for the weekend 22 miles. 😊

This is the video from when I hiked north to Manassas Gap Shelter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHusL...

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Maryland High Point Hoye-Crest - Backbone Mountain - Our Lady of the Pines Tiny Church

Spent the day (mostly driving) way up North to Backbone Mountain and Hoye-Crest, the tallest point in Maryland! This 2.6 mile round trip, 600’ascent, is pretty easy, although very muddy at the bottom. Parking is easy and labeled on the side of the road and the trail is marked well too. The woods on the North side of the trail near the bottom have been harvested, so it looks a bit of a mess right now. Near the top is an interesting boundary marker between MD and WV. I would not like to have been the one to carry that thing up there! The peak is nice, with a bench, sign-in log, and a nice view. There are a couple geocaches up there too. Both are pretty easy to find if you use the hints. I’ll tell you, on the one at the summit, work it from the WV side!! On the way home, we stopped at "Our Lady Of The Pines" Catholic church. This church has the honor of being the smallest tiny church in the lower 48. Right next to it is the "World's Smallest Mailing Office," the tiny post office serving the community of Silver Lake. What was very welcome was the not so tiny outhouse out back, which I assure you, is functioning well….and a geocache right behind too!
https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/G...
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_...

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Mount Davis PA - Pennsylvania High Point Peakbagging

Did a quick peakbagging run - PA. Nice site, easy to drive to and park. Lots of nice little trails, interesting signage, and a cool tower.

Tom Floyd Wayside Shelter - Appalachian Trail VA 601 to Shenandoah National Park

Continued my SOBO journey today (10 Feb 2017) and decided to try and visit the north end of Shenandoah National Park and park at Compton Gap. Trouble was, today that section of Blue Ridge Parkway was closed due to ice. Instead, I parked at the tiny parking area at VA601. VA601 is a little one lane gravel road that has a trail head called Harmony Hollow. There is a short uphill blue blaze to the Appalachian Trail. Once on the AT, it was a short hike to the Tom Floyd Wayside Shelter. There is a spring nearby and several tent sites. The shelter itself is a little small, sleeping maybe 6. Ginger Spring is a drippy puddle with a sandy bottom. I’ve seen worse, but this one is reported to be unreliable. It was flowing today. After visiting the shelter I continued on to the Shenandoah National Park boundary kiosk. There were plenty of Backcountry Camping permits in the metal bin. 

Spring at Jim and Molly Denton Shelter - Appalachian Trail VA

Missed this on my last overnight. I approached the shelter from the north in frigid cold and dwindling light with light snow. Previous footprints led me to the shelter a bit early on a "shortcut trail". 100' more and there is good signage and the spring!