Shenandoah Hiking Trip - Part 1 of 3

The following is a travel log of my hiking trip in the Shenandoah National Park, in Virginia.

Part 1 of 3

Day 0 - Wednesday April 18 2007

I woke up at 0600 and ate the usual granola for breakfast and then jumped into the shower. Next, I headed into the office to check a couple of overnight item and took the O-train to the airport. My mid-morning flight to Newark, NJ was delayed due to weather. At noon, the Continental flight left Ottawa bound for Newark. The Embraer jet was able to cover the distance south quickly but, I still missed my connecting flight to Baltimore. I was relieved when the agent in Ottawa booked me on a later flight just in case the connections didn't work out. My late arrival in Newark gave me a bit of a layover to explore the airport and to have a leisurely lunch. I spent much of the afternoon reading the Wall Street Journal and glancing at the New York skyline from across the Hudson River. The Empire State building was visible and I could make out the World Financial Center building and get a feel for how omnipresent the Twin Towers must have appeared. My flight for Maryland left Newark during the late afternoon and Jason met me at the airport. We went to Jason's office and planned out our hiking route. We came up with a meal plan for our five day hike and then drove up REI to buy some more food and gear. Most of our food would be boil-in-a-bag freeze dried meals which were light and nutritious. I bought a REI travel coffee mug and some Clif bars and was able to make use of my REI dividend from last year. The REI store we visited was up in Timmonium. On our way back, we stopped in at Charm City Swing's newest dancing venue and arrived just as the final song of the night was played. Drats, I missed my chance to show Jason and Emily how much my dancing had improved. Our next stop was Safeway to buy the groceries for the trip. The store closes at midnight which allowed us to shop during the silent hours. We bought pita, packages of tuna and salmon, fig newtons, packaged oatmeal, a block of cheese and hand sanitizer. We forgot one thing which at the time seemed trivial but would eventually become a lifesaver. It was suntan lotion. Our final stop of the day was the hotel and after a shower I bedded down for the night.

Day 1 - Thursday April 19 2007

I was up at 0600 and after a shower, I headed down to check my email and then to eat a cooked breakfast. There was a bus tour from New Jersey and they were puzzled by the scrambled eggs. They were apparently Maryland-style and looked like egg pancakes. The breakfast room was dominated by older folks walking around with gauze eye patches. They were convalescing after cataract surgery. Jason met me at 0730 and we headed back to his place to assemble and pack the gear for our expedition. By early morning, we had most of our gear assembled. Jason left for a medical appointment. I made myself a cup of tea and was able to use Heather's laptop to further catch up on my email. This was really really great. While waiting for Jason I had an AIM session with my brother, Richard, and we had a discussion about some proposed changes to his website. We headed back to Jason office to photocopy some pages from a Shenandoah Hiking guide (AFalcon Guide - Hiking Shenandoah National Park - 3rd Edition Bert and Jane Gildart). Once the trail pages were photocopied we stapled into booklets which would prove very useful when navigating along the trails. We headed back to Jason place and did the final packing and loaded up his car shortly thereafter. Our expedition had finally started. Our drive south from Baltimore was a quick one along the freeway and after three hours of driving we reached the park office. While driving south we listened to swing music on Jason's Ipod and talked about swing dancing. To our surprise, the park office was closed for the day. The conditions at the time were overcast and a light spitting drizzle. It was so quiet. Jason filled out our hiking permit and started our trek along Skyline Drive, which cuts the park into two sections. As we were gaining elevation the fog started to roll in which made for an eerie drive. There were a plethora of deer that were foraging along the road. One had to have a keen and eager eye to avoid them. The tree along Skyline Drive were weird. A recent batch of freezing rain had caused most of the deciduous tree to have their tops splinter off. We reached the Rockytop trailhead late in the afternoon. Just as we were getting ready to embark we met an old guy hiking down the Appalachian trail carrying an old frame backpack. We took some picture and then headed down the old fire road (530pm). (Getting ready to go...) (Starting the hike...) We descended the old fire road and then upon reaching the first cement marker we started our hike on the Shenandoah National Trail. We hiked for two hours arriving at the 3.7 mile cement trail marker at 742pm. We were in luck as there was some flat areas were the trail marker. I cracked open the Celebration Mix and we celebrated our hike to this point. We setup the two tents under a splitting drizzle and then set about preparing the meals. Jason fired up the jetboil and he had hot water in short order. Our two pouch meals were prepared quickly and eagerly consumed. For dessert, we had freeze-dried smores which were yummy. As dusk started to set in the temperature started to drop and up came the humidity. Jason and I put on our winter hats as a way of combating the elements. We were in a loosing battle. We would need all our strength for a long day ahead. We hit the sack early.

Day 2 - Friday April 20 2007

Overnight the weather systems had changed and we were greeted by a warm sunrise. Just at the sun was rising, I took this picture. I really enjoyed spending some time watching the sun rise over valley as it was relaxing, quiet and peacefully. Once again Jason fired up the Jetboil and we had hot oatmeal for breakfast. We started to shed layers of clothing while eating breakfast. I took a early morning picture while we still had our layers on, Jason, and Chris. Once all our gear was packed and we started down the trail by 0900. At this point, we continued our climb up and over Rocky Top mountain . The view along the range was good. The environs were interesting as an accidental fire ten years ago had burnt off most of the trees and despite the regrowth much of the trail was scared by charred trees and stumps. It took a couple of switchbacks before we reached the base of the mountain. At the base we took a quick stretch break. In the background we heard something promising, the hissing sound of rushing water. As we continued further down the trail we reached a river and replenished our Nalgene and Dromedary bags. At around 1300, just as we were heading up a pass, we stopped for lunch. It was packaged salmon/tuna on pita, with avocados. While eating some fig newtons, Jason remarked that we had forgotten the block of cheese. Would it survive the additional days of sitting in the car? I think we ate our lunch on Brown Mountain - Rocky Mountain. During the day we made good hiking progress and decided to keep with our original hiking route and not to rely on our Plan B. I was really pleased with the progress we covered in our first day. Along the way we found some great mountain top campsite and Jason did some bouldering. (Climb on ) (On top ) Over the day we had gained some elevation. We made frequent stops along the trail to cool off. Our campsite for the night was along a river. After a leisurely supper we chatted next to some large logs that gave us lumbar support. Saturday would be along long day so again we bedded down early again.