This is an outstanding 14.5 mile loop hike that takes you from the parking at Reeds Gap South along the Appalachian Trail through the Three Ridges Wilderness and then back via the blue blazed Mau-Har Trail along Campbell Creek. The return via the Mau-Har Trail is very difficult at the top (North) end as you work your way back to the Maupin Field Shelter. Both the Maupin Field Shelter and the Harpers Creek Shelter have outstanding water and tent sites. The privies are only soso concrete vault type and stink a bit. They were still moderately clean given the heavy use this time of year. There are a number of nice views along the Three Ridges and the Mau-Har Trail is beautiful with lots of small waterfalls.
3:21 Three Ridges Wilderness 4:00 Bee Mountain 5:16 Unmarked Spring 6:07 Hanging Rock Overlook 8:14 Rocks! 9:14 Harpers Creek Shelter 11:45 Mau-Har Trail 12:51 Campbell Creek Campsite 15:13 Maupin Field Shelter 17:05 “Rocket Man” and “Mountain Goat”
I also went back and slack packed the portion of trail skipped last week from VA56 at the Tye River North up to the intersection with the Mau-Har Trail. This is a 1.7 mile out and back that is uphill with about 1100’ elevation gain. There are plenty of switchbacks and it is not hard. There is nothing of significance (other than the bridge at the Tye River) to view.
This was one of those hikes where I spent no time preparing and just got out and hiked. I had another commitment fall through and had a weekend to spare, so what better to do than get a few more miles on the Appalachian Trail. As I get farther from my home in Maryland, these section hike trips get a little more difficult (more driving, less hiking). This one was no exception. After just completing a section on the PA/NJ border, I figured I’d go south again and try to set a southern point to connect up with where I left off outside Shenandoah National Park. I was looking for good parking, water, and the potential to cross paths with other hikers. I was getting a late start on Saturday and knew I would not be hiking until after 5:30PM. The parking at VA56 below “The Priest” met my needs. I did a quick scan of google maps and saw that the walking directions were only 2.8 miles (way off from reality as I found later).
The parking at VA56 is excellent, with plenty of room for a dozen cars or so and easy access to the trail. The parking is at AT mile 833.2. I took a quick walk North to grab some photos of the cool suspension bridge and then began hiking South. I quickly noticed there were a lot of switchbacks and that the mountain in the distance was pretty tall…very tall in fact. At 0.9 Miles there are two pretty nice stream crossings with small waterfalls. At About 1.2 miles South of the parking is an outstanding waterfall that parallels the trail for a while and then crosses. This is Cripple Creek. Get your cameras ready. From this point, there is about 2200’ more elevation gain and 36 switchbacks before you get to The Priest shelter. At about 4.3 miles into the hike, you reach the ridge with a number of outstanding views and tons of places to “Cowboy Camp”. The Priest Shelter is 4.7 miles from the parking. It is all uphill and is moderately difficult. It’s a long way up. The shelter is just soso but the tent sites are good. The water source was flowing heavily after all the rain we had been getting. There is no bear box or pole (hang your own). The privy was buzzing with flies, so I stayed away.. ☹
This was a 10.3 mile hike in total for me, covering a wee 4.8 miles of the AT, leaving me a roughly 30 mile section to fill in. 😊
This was filmed entirely on my iPhone 6 and edited with Wondershare Filmora.
Filmed on my iPhone 6 @ 240fps 1080P - good stuff! I thought that Fruit y the Foot would make a cool fire starter...so I tried it...why not? It's something I eat on the trail and figured it would be fun to do with the long wax paper it comes bonded to. LoL...the paper burns great. The "Fruit" - not so much!
Tried my hand at some B-Roll in the style of Peter McKinnon and R Cody Wanner that Michael Feyrer Jr. featured on his channel. I went a little overboard on this vid, but did have some fun. I need to figure out how to work in the technique to my normal editing style/format and content.
This was an unusual hike because we had 5 YouTube channels all taking video during the trip. Please visit the other channels collaborating on this hike and see what they thought! I’ll fill in the details of the hike in this section in more detail toward the end of the week!
Also be sure to check out Micah Pexa's channel. We ran across him during the hike and he is an AT Thru Hiker who is raising awareness for the fight against human trafficking: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUe5DnPuJ_yekZaw3CHbOMw
Thanks for watching! Don’t forget to Like and Subscribe!
This ended up being an 18 mile hike to finally finish hiking all the segments of the AT in the Shenandoah National Park that I had missed. I did this in three phases: 1) I parked at McCormick Gap (poor parking) and hiked 6.5 miles round trip down to the South Kiosk and back. There were a couple interesting rock formations, a wimpy spring, and no real views along this section of trail. Once I completed this section, I drove up to Turk Gap and parked there to continue my hike. 2) 3:58 - Turk Gap to Calf Mountain Shelter and back is about 10.2 miles. There are a couple nice views and a ton of tent sites along this section of trail. There is very little water on this section and only one of the tent sites had a stream nearby. The power lines you walk under were very noisy, probably the noisiest ones I’ve ever heard. Saw some bears at 7:31 that were very close to the trail. I did not notice them until I was right on top of them. The tent sites are actually quite nice and there were a lot of through hikers using this as their stop. I was here in the winter and I moved on because things were a bit shabby and I was alone. This time was much better. That being said, the privy gets a D+. It is so over used it leaks a river of excrement juice out the bottom…kinda gross. 3) 11:07 - After hiking back to Turk the next day, I swung around to the dead Howard Johnson's parking lot at Rockfish Gap and hiked the short 0.5 miles to the Kiosk and back. Overall it was a good weekend!!
This was one of the Summer Distance races that Southern Maryland Sailing Association organizes on the middle Chesapeake Bay. This race was the Smith Point Race, a 42 mile out and back from the mouth of the Patuxent River to a channel marker South of the Potomac River, and back. The wind was light and variable much of the day with a number of nearby storm cells depleting the wind. Later in the day, the wind finally filled in from the South and we were able to make good time back to the finish. A storm cell came through right at the finish and we got very wet! All in all, it was a nice day of sailing! Results here: http://www.smsa.com/Race/2018/Results/SmithPoint2018.htm SMSA Website: http://www.smsa.com/
This is a pretty boring section of the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park in my opinion, offering few views, no water features, and no water other than at the hut. Starting at the Turk Gap parking at Skyline Drive mile post 94.1, I followed the AT North for approximately 8.8 miles, stayed at Blackrock hut and returned. Blackrock hut is nondescript and has an unreliable water source. Distance hiked this weekend was 17.8 miles. Approximately 4.1 miles North of Turk Gap, there are several nice tent sites (legal). There is no water at the tent sites.
