West Virginia Appalachian Trail Section

After completing the Maryland portion of the Appalachian Trail, I decided to go ahead and finish off West Virginia. I thought I was going to do it over three days, staying at the David Lesser Shelter and then further South at one of the campsites on the way to Snickers Gap. I got a very late start on Saturday, starting the hike after a great dinner at Harpers Ferry.  I left at 6:15 PM from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. It was dank and misty from the edge of Hurricane Mathew that had been pushing in from the South. It was dusk by the time I crossed the bridge, and spooky dark and misty throughout the hike to David Lesser. My Zebralight headlamp provided a good enough amount of light on the high end of its lowest setting. I could hardly see through the reflective fog and the rocks were slippery making the going very slow. It was 10:30PM by the time I reached the shelter. Fortunately there was room inside for me to flop down, which I did on my mattress with bag tossed on top. I had underestimated the distance of this section (misread the guide)…at almost 9 miles, I should have known it would be a long night hike. I took a quick trip down to the spring the next morning (0.25 miles) to get water. The spring was very good and easy to get water from. There are tent sites a short ways down the hill from the shelter and the shelter has a cool pavilion to cook at with a swing. The hike south from the shelter had a couple nice views. I decided to visit the Blackburn Trail Center on the way south and it was a VERY STEEP rock staircase down 0.2 miles to get there. The center is very nice, has picnic tables, water, privy, shower, and a hiker cabin. There is also a pay telephone (for those that use them these days) and an outlet to charge your electronics.  The caretaker was not around when I stopped by…it was very quiet…a great place to eat lunch.  
I had planned on stopping near the beginning of the roller coaster, but could not find a camp I liked near water…so I pressed on, and on, and on, and I finally just decided to finish the section out to VA7 where my car was parked in the commuter parking lot (very good parking). I ate dinner at the Horseshoe Curve Restaurant, which was a real throwback and a nice change of pace. The burgers were great. All in all, I hiked 20.3 miles in 24 hours (and slept 8 hours). I’ve never hiked that long a leg before and my legs and feet were sore from the rocks.  That being said, I want to keep going. 

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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

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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

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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

 
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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.