Appalachian Trail - Shenandoah National Park - Skyland to Rock Springs

I’m planning on posting some videos showing shelters and more importantly (to me) the springs.
It’s September 24th, National Public Lands Day AND Family Hiking Day. We decided to go to Shenandoah National Park to complete another tiny section of the Appalachian Trail. We entered the park at Thornton Gap and found that park entrance was FREE for this excellent day!! That saved us $20 for the vehicle. We quickly filled out a Backcountry Camping Permit and were on our way to the parking area at Little Stony Man, right next to Skyland. We ate a not-so-quick breakfast at the restaurant and then started hiking the AT north. It was our plan to hike north along the AT to see the overlook at Little Stony Man along with an interesting small body of water up on the cliffs. From there, we planned the loop trail around the Stony Man summit and to bag the peak at that location. The trails are heavily used on this section and very easy. This first section is great for visitors as a day hike that takes just a few hours. The distance from the parking lot to Little Stony Man is 1.0 miles, with the side trail to Stony Man, another 0.5 Miles, for a total of 3 miles out and back. There were a bunch of rock climbers rappelling at Little Stony Man that were interesting to watch. After this section, we proceeded to backtrack south and continue past Skyland to Rock Spring Hut. On the way, you pass some cool horse stables, where there is a soda machine ($2), a garbage can, and as odd as it seems, a smoking area with chairs and a buttmaster. The stables are 0.8 miles south of Skyland. Rock Spring Hut is 5.2 Miles from Skyland. The Rock Spring Hut area is excellent, with at least 5 tent sites in addition to the shelter. There is also a cabin there right down the hill for PATC member use.  The spring, although flowing, was a little sad. The PVC pipe had been dislodged and one needs to scoop to get any water. I put the diverter pipe back in and it was flowing pretty slowly, but usable. Fortunately, we refilled our water near the lower Hawksbill parking where the AT intersects a blue blaze to a very nice spring. This spring is 3.6 miles from Skyland. Of particular note on this hike was our first encounter with a wild bear.  There were a couple of them, one small and one larger, right at the blue blaze trail from the AT to Rock Spring Hut. They were very shy and bounded off while I filmed them. Right at the hut were large deer that congregated there in the evening. There were at least five that seemed to just hang out with the hikers. By nightfall, there were 4 people in the shelter and 4 of the 5 tent sites filed. There was also a family that wandered down to the PATC cabin. On the way out, we summited Hawksbill, the highest point in the park, which is adorned with a stone lookout area. Too bad it was foggy, the view must be amazing, as the view from Little Stony Man was excellent the day before.  Overall distance hiked on this trip was 12.5 miles.

A free permit is required to overnight in the park.  More information can be found here: https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/campbc.htm

Watch my other hiking videos:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdxYynz7DmRoLfGNWYRI5wsvPi-WJ_OIa

Appalachian Trail - Thornton Gap to Mary's Rock and Byrds Nest 3 Hut and Spring

I’m planning on posting some videos showing shelters and more importantly (to me) the springs.

I visited the Byrds Nest 3 Hut in the Northern end of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia this past weekend as part of a planning trip for a longer section hike. This shelter is located 3.2 miles south of the Thornton Gap parking lot on the Blue Ridge Parkway where US 211 crosses. There is a restroom and water at the parking lot.  The Byrds Nest 3 Hut is a non-standard 3 sided stone structure with an internal platform that can sleep approximately 8. There is a privy nearby at this location and a pole to hang food bags from. The spring is 0.3 miles down a moderate grade grassy service road and most of the way down to the Blue Ridge Parkway. The spring is very nice, concrete boxed with a pipe coming out. It was still running nicely with cold clear water despite recent drought conditions. Mary’s Rock is a moderate 1.7 mile hike south of the Thornton Gap parking lot. The trail is not too steep, but is a constant upward slope for the entire distance. This is a very nice overlook at the top of the mountain with great views for 180 degrees toward the north. You can see the Thornton Gap entrance gate from Mary’s Rock. The view is worth the hike.

A free permit is required to overnight in the park.  More information can be found here: https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/campbc.htm

Watch my other hiking videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdxYynz7DmRoLfGNWYRI5wsvPi-WJ_OIa

Appalachian Trail - Thornton Gap to Pass Mountain Hut and Spring

I’m planning on posting some videos showing shelters and more importantly (to me) the springs.

I visited the Pass Mountain Hut in the Northern end of Shenandoah National Park in Virginia this past weekend as part of a planning trip for a longer section hike. This shelter is located 1.7 miles north of the Thornton Gap parking lot on the Blue Ridge Parkway where US 211 crosses. There is a restroom and water at the parking lot.  The Pass Mountain Hut is a fairly standard 3 sided structure with an internal mezzanine and can sleep approximately 10. There are two privies at this location, a pole to hang food bags from, AND a very cool (and large) bear locker to place food in. The spring was still running nicely with cold clear water despite recent drought conditions. There are also tent sites nearby.   

A free permit is required to overnight in the park.  More information can be found here: https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/campbc.htm

Watch my other hiking videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdxYynz7DmRoLfGNWYRI5wsvPi-WJ_OIa

Pokemon Go Invades Solomon’s Island Maryland

My daughter tricked me into taking the family down to Solomon’s Island in Southern Maryland to get an ice cream cone from a little place called Cone Island. Little did I know that on a hot, sweaty, 90 degree, 90% humidity, Wednesday night that there would be hundreds, possibly a thousand people sweating it out playing Pokemon Go. Needless to say, that was her master plan to catch a bunch of Pokemon….I was only the ‘enabler’ along for the ride. Here is a little video of what it looks like when everyone is consumed by a virtual game on a phone…

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Hike Up Mount Fuji (富士山 Fujisan) Japan 2016

This is our hike up Mount Fuji (富士山 Fujisan). We did this on July 5th, just after the official hiking season opened and used the Yoshida Trail starting at the Fuji-Subaru 5th station. We traveled from Tokyo on a JR train (Chūō Main Line Rapid Service) to Ōtsuki Station, and then to Kawaguchiko on the Fujikyu Railway service. This website provided particularly good instructions on how to do this and it was easy. 
http://chasingplaces.com/how-to-get-from-tokyo-to-kawaguchiko-mount-fuji-by-train-using-the-japan-rail-pass/
We actually got off a couple stops before Kawaguchiko Station, at Fuji Station, where the bus to the Fuji-Subaru Line 5th station originates.  If you wait until Kawaguchiko, the buses are crowded! http://www.japan-guide.com/bus/fuji.html

We started from the 5th station at about noon. The length of Yoshida trail is approximately 3.6 miles on the way up (4824’ gain) and 4.3 miles on the route down. Deceptively short!! The trail starts off very easy and is a wide volcanic ash path with bits of shade along the way.  By the time you get to the 6th station, about .9mi in, the trees have disappeared and the trail starts to ascend more steeply. DO NOT FORGET YOUR SUNSCREEN LIKE WE DID! Bring a lot of 100JPY coins, restroom use is 200JPY at each station. If you have a touristy Fuji walking stick, bring even more, as it takes 200-400JPY to get it branded at each station. Also, drinks get more expensive the higher you go, from 200JPY at the bottom to 500JPY near the top. As you approach the 7th station .6mi further, the trail starts to get very steep. We stayed at the Kamaiwa-kan hut at the 7th station (http://kamaiwakan.jpn.org/english/). It was easy to make a reservation online and was not too high up the trail. We got there late afternoon and rested until dinner at 6PM, then went to sleep until midnight when we continued our journey. A good headlamp is necessary and I’m glad I had my Zebralight with me. The trail is just relentless on the way up from the 7th station. By the time we got to the 8.5 station, it was time to watch the sun rise (4:20AM). The sun rises very early on Fuji!  I was also glad for the rest because my lungs could not get enough air for me to move very quickly. After sunrise, we continued to the summit. This was the most difficult part of the hike for me and I needed rest every few minutes. My legs were fine, I just could not get enough air, which caused dizziness and short periods of nausea. The Yoshida Trail summit (12267') was a welcome sight! Because we hiked so early in the season, the summit shops were still closed, as were portions of the crater circumference trail. I was told these open up after the 15th of July.  NO RESTROOM and NO WATER this time of year at the summit. I hiked around to the crater side of the buildings to see the crater, which was a spectacular sight.  I’d never seen the crater of a volcano before. The wind was howling at around 40mph and the temps were in the mid 30s…with the clouds blowing through, it was wicked cold. The trail back down is different from the way up and consists of mostly soft ash, which is hard to walk on…kind of like hiking on the beach.  My legs were dead by the time we got back to the 5th station bus 24hrs later.  This hike was definitely worth it for me, has spectacular views, and was the 1st time I’d hiked at any real altitude, let alone 12K feet.  One day  I plan to get to Everest base station…I need to do more cardio if I’m even going to step foot near that place!      

Very good Mount Fuji hiking information: http://www.garyjwolff.com/climbing-mt-fuji.html
http://www.yamanashi-kankou.jp/kokuritsukoen/en/miryoku/hiking/course1.html

 
Watch my other hiking videos:
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Appalachian Trail Maryland I70 to POGO Memorial Campsite

This was another short hike to clean up some of my Appalachian Trail miles in Maryland.  It was a great weekend and parking was tight at the I70/US40 parking lot.  I’m glad we got there early, before 0830. The lot was already packed!! Our plan for the day was to hike from I70 past Pine Knob Shelter, Annapolis Rocks, Black Rock, and stay overnight at POGO Memorial Campsite. The trail was relatively easy for the 1st 0.8 miles, after which it ascended up to the ridge at a moderate slope where it leveled off again.  The trail is wide and easy to traverse in this section.  Annapolis Rocks is a beautiful overlook and worth the day hike for that alone.  There are 11 tent sites at Annapolis Rocks, 2 Privies, and a great spring.  Also on site is a caretaker to keep things organized.  It’s a pretty crowded location. After we stopped by there, we continued to Black Rocks another mile or so up the trail.  It is also a great overlook, and much less crowded.  At about 3.9 miles along the Appalachian Trail is POGO Memorial Campsite.  The area is a little deceptive.  We met up with a PATC ridge-runner who was doing a site assessment to determine usage. The obvious camp area west and down of the AT is not an official site and they were moving people from there up the hill to the formal camp area.  There is also a monster fire ring right on the trail that is also illegal and will be removed. East and up is the correct campsite with Privy and all.  There are a dozen or so tent areas, some worse than others, only a couple I’d call really nice. Many rocks and uneven ground make it hard to set up.  There are a couple cool fire rings with rock lounge seats. From the main AT in the North/West side trail, there is a pretty good spring a couple hundred feet away. POGO offers water and privy, but no food hang, picnic tables, or other amenities. It’s a pretty primitive site. At 2 in the afternoon on a Saturday, it was empty. By 5PM it was full. There is a lot of traffic on the main AT coming up from the side trail to visit the cliffs. Most of this traffic has no idea this campsite is here, which is good for the hikers.  The last section we have to complete in MD is from POGO to Raven Rock.  We hope to finish that soon.

Pen Mar Park to Raven Rock Shelter and Devil's Racecourse

 

Did a little more of the AT this weekend as we ‘connect the dots’ with the goal of eventually seeing the whole thing.  Starting to look at doing longer and longer sections and then most likely a through. Total hike distance in, out, and around: 12.0 miles. 

Footage of the Devil’s Racecourse starts at 9:30

Footage of the Spring starts at 6:53

We had a great time with this one and it has a little of everything (easy flat walking, rocky ascents/descents, great views, nice shelter, and weird natural formations).  

This is a moderate day hike for those that are not used to hiking or a pretty simple in-and-out if you camp overnight like we did. From the parking at Pen Mar Park, Raven Run Shelter is about 4.7 miles away. The trail starts off very easy on the way south out of the park. At around 2.4 miles, the trail proceeds steeply up a very rocky section for about 0.8 miles. This section, although not long, is pretty tiring…especially on the way back down. On the way to the shelter, you pass High Rock, which is a blue blazed side trail that goes to a very nice (although graffiti covered) overlook. As you approach the shelter, it is 0.1 miles down a blue blaze trail on the right, and the spring is located 0.3 miles in the opposite direction down near where the old Devil’s Racecourse Shelter (now removed) used to be. The trip to get water from the shelter is a little long and steep, but the water is very good!  Just past the spring, the trail continues unmarked about 0.2 miles to a really weird rock formation that covers the Little Antietam Creek. This is called the Devil’s Racecourse.  I thought it was definitely worth seeing, certainly as much as the many views from peaks available along the AT in Maryland.

Also met “Drips” (Julia), “Clammy - 2013” (Collin), and Stu, who stopped by the Raven Rock Shelter in the evening with some outstanding trail magic (hiked a grill in with burgers). As it should be, totally unexpected, and very well received by the 6 through hikers spending the night. Great people and great company for the evening. Also ran into a familiar face from the Flip Flop Festival preparing for his SOBO from Maine in a couple weeks.   

Link to Pen Mar Park: https://www.washco-md.net/parks_facilities/p-PenMarPark.shtm

Address: 14600 Pen Mar/High Rock Road, Cascade, MD 21719

To get an overnight parking pass for the lot outside the park, contact the park office at: 240-313-2700, or email: ccasey@washco-md.net

Provide them with your cell phone number, vehicle make, model, color, license plate#, and dates the vehicle will be there overnight.

Watch my other hiking videos:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdxYynz7DmRoLfGNWYRI5wsvPi-WJ_OIa