Terrapin Mountain Loop - October 14, 2015

Terrapin Mountain is located on the eastern edge of Jefferson National Forest near Lynchburg. West and north of Terrapin Mountain is the Blue Ridge Parkway and Thunder Ridge Wilderness. Because of the Blue Ridge Parkway, Terrapin Mountain seems cut off from the rest of the National Forest. There is no direct access to Terrapin Mountain from the Parkway.

The only current trail map for the area south of the James River Face Wilderness is the National Geographic/Trails Illustrated map (Link). This map is getting a little old - copyright 2007, and it shows the Terrapin Mountain Trail as a simple out-and-back.  Not interesting enough to make the trip from Charlottesville. But when my friend Dave from the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club announced an RATC group hike he called the "Terrapin Mt - Reeds Creek Loop," I was on board. Dave lives nearby and knows these mountains really well, so I figured that he could take us on an interesting journey, even if it meant some bushwacking. No bushwacking necessary, though! There is a nice loop hike here on established trails and closed forest roads - the route just isn't found on the Trails Illustrated map.

This hike definitely falls within the blog's mission to uncover Virginia hikes not found anywhere else. Hardly anybody knows about this loop, and I couldn't find anything about it online. [Note: this hike has since shown up on a local trail site.] In order to complete this hike, I needed a local to show me the way. Here is a topo of the route (loads slow): Link. This is your best map option if you want to try this hike. The loop itself is in good shape; well maintained with only a couple of "scratch your head, wonder where you go next" points - those points are described and explained below.

Tough morning for one driver I passed on my way to the trailhead.
This was at the intersection of U.S. 501 and Va Rt. 122.

To get to the trailhead from Charlottesville, take U.S. 29 south past Amherst onto the Lynchburg Bypass, then exit at Rt. 130. Take Rt. 130 west about 20 miles to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Take the BRP south over the James River and get off at the U.S. 501 exit just after the river. Take a right on 501, south towards Big Island. You travel on 501 for only a couple of minutes (just like the BRP) before taking a right on Va 122. Pass by the sign for Big Island Elementary School after a couple of miles, then turn onto Rt. 814 at the white Tabernacle Church of God. Follow 814 until it ends at the trailhead. There was just enough room for our group's 4 vehicles.

Terrapin Mountain from the road.

Blurry photo shows what the parking area looks like.
It is just behind the "End Road Maintenance" sign.

A Boy Scout Eagle Project give us this kiosk,
with a map of the area.  Kiosk is just off of the parking area.
Nice job!

The trail starts out as an old woods road, passing a brand new kiosk with a Forest Service map of the area, which makes me think that the Forest Service is encouraging more recreational use for the area. A local Eagle Scout constructed the kiosk as his service project. At the 0.4 mile mark is a new trail sign. The loop ends here. You should go straight, towards the summit. This trail is steep here, ascending nearly a thousand feet in the first mile.

The first portion of the trail can be rugged and steep.

Near the one mile mark is a confusing spot. The trail appears to come to a T intersection, and both to the right and to the left the trail seems to become overgrown pretty quickly. Neither option looks correct because, actually, neither one is. You go to the left, but after about 10 feet you head back uphill.  This isn't obvious until you head to the left. Our entire group got a little turned around here, as folks rooted around for the correct route. My GPS told me where to go. After climbing a little further past this point, the trail levels off for a while and rides the mountain at about the same elevation before switchbacking and climbing some more.

At 1.4 miles a rocky spot on the right provides this wonderful view.

The payoff is a nice overlook, looking southwest towards the
Blue Ridge Parkway, Appalachian Trail, and James River Face Wilderness.

From here, you can make out the Blue Ridge Parkway as you gaze west and north at the Thunder Ridge Wilderness and James River Face Wilderness.  I could have stayed here all day!

Author gets in the way of a landscape with the
Blue Ridge Parkway faintly visible on the mountain in back.

After that, there are a couple of false summits before the ridge top trail reaches the real summit of Terrapin Mountain at the 2.8 mile mark after a 2250 foot elevation gain.

Beautiful autumn colors on the mountain.

The trail can drop fast at times.  

Just past the summit, the trail cuts to the right (another "not quite sure" moment) before opening up to another rock providing a view west.

Second overlook, looking WNW,
just after the summit of Terrapin Mountain.

The trail continues to drop, passing a strangely located and poorly positioned trail sign. You would think that the trail goes to the left or right at the sign, but no.  It keeps going straight.

This sign makes you think the trail turns here, but it goes straight.
It wasn't going to swivel into position, though Dave did try!

At about the 3.5 mile mark, the trail comes out at a road and a small field.  This is called "Camping Gap," and that road is open all the way to the valley. The road is also a portion of the Glenwood Horse Trail, a 60+ mile route that uses trails and woods roads to wind throughout this part of the National Forest. We could have followed this road to the right about a mile to find the Hunting Creek Trail, which would take us to the Appalachian Trail near the Thunder Ridge Wilderness.

The trail meets a forest road at Camping Gap.
Follow the road to the left for 200 yards to continue on the trail.

Instead, we took a left on the road, followed it about a hundred yards, and dropped down on the continuation of the Terrapin Mountain Trail at a point marked by a sign.

I was lagging behind.
The others were ready to continue down the trail.

The trail then follows a series of old woods roads that gradually drops in elevation until reaching a crossing at Reed Creek at the 5 mile mark. The portion of the loop between the Glenwood Horse Trail and the Reed Creek Crossing is not shown on the Trails Illustrated map. But it is a nice, gradual trail; easy to hike except for moving on a lot of fist sized rocks.

Stream crossing about half way through the hike.

The Reed Creek crossing is really only a little over half way on this hike, but because all of the excitement is over so it seems like later in the journey. The trail crosses back over Reed Creek a mile later, then follows an old woods road (labeled FR 3009 on the Trails Illustrated map) for 3.4 flat miles along the edge of the National Forest boundary before reconnecting with the original trail 0.4 miles from the parking area. No views, but a pleasant walk through the forest.

This entire loop is part of a trail run known as the Terrapin 50K, which is run in March. (Map.) One member of our hiking group, Steve, is a trail runner who has run this race. I am told that the race route goes left at the summit, missing the steep downhill before the second overlook but going instead through a very tight space between two rocks called the "fat man's misery" (Link). Personally, I'll take the overlook, but you can decide for yourself.

The RATC hiking group in general broke into a fast group and a slow group, and I did my best to keep up with the speedier hikers, despite a desire to stop and take photos. I think the slow group struggled, as the first three miles of this hike is a demanding climb. Keep that in mind if scheduling this hike. I liked the challenge, and hope to return here during another season to try the loop again.

Hike details:
PATC Difficulty Factor: 257.8
Total Distance: 9.6 miles 
Total Time: 4 hours, 38 minutes, including stops.
Steepest Uphill: from 0.3 miles to 0.9 miles; 23.2% average grade.  
Starting Elevation: 1286 ft.
Low Point: 1286 ft.

Highest Point: 3544 ft.

Difference: 2258 ft.

Total Altitude Gain: 3464 ft.

Check out my other blog postings here.

Bald Mountain Trail/Dowells Draft Trail Loop

The Wild Oak Trail, in the George Washington National Forest west of Staunton, is a 26 mile loop that is the hardest Virginia day hike I have ever taken.  There are a series of smaller loops out this way that include parts of the Wild Oak Trail.  These include:

Chestnut Ridge/Grooms Ridge loop
North River/Lookout Mountain loop
Ramsey's Draft Summit loop
Ramsey's Draft Trail/Bald Ridge loop

I took a different loop on Peak Leaves Weekend in October.  I really wanted to re-experience the toughest climb on the Wild Oak Trail, but didn't feel like sledding back down that same steep slope on newly fallen leaves.  So I ended up hiking a loop that took me south along the eastern boundary of Ramsey's Draft Wilderness, then back down to Braley Pond, across the Braley Pond Road, then north up Dowells Draft Trail and back down to my car.  Total elevation gain: 5635 feet.  Total Distance: 16.7 miles. Total hike time (including stops): 6 hours, 1 minute.  Topo map of hike: Link (Slow to Load.)

My starting point was at a small parking lot on Braley Pond Road, where the Wild Oak Trail crosses the road.  This spot is well marked with a large sign.  There is space for 3 or 4 vehicles here.  I headed west on the trail, which meant that I did not cross the road.

The trail starts up Dividing Ridge, an apt name for this land.  Though this is no Continental Divide, there is a divide here.  On your left as you climb is the headwaters of the Calfpasture River, which flows south into the James River, passing Lynchburg and Richmond before entering the Chesapeake Bay.  On your right is Mitchell Branch - a much stronger flow.  Mitchell Branch flows into White Oak Run, which becomes the North River, which flows into the East Branch of the Shenandoah, which combines with the Potomac at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia.  From there, it flows through Washington, DC before entering the Chesapeake Bay about 70 miles north of the James River.  Two raindrops on this trail potentially have very different paths to the ocean, via two separate large waterway drainages.

View southeast from the Bald Ridge Trail.

This section of the Wild Oak Trail is steep, climbing from 1960 feet to 3800 feet elevation over 2.5 miles. The first mile climbs at a reasonable 10% grade.  After about a mile-and-a-half into the hike, however, the trail ascends at around a 25% clip, and beginning at the two mile mark, the last quarter mile before the the trail tops the ridge is at a 31% grade.  This is a workout!

At the top of the ridge, the Wild Oak Trail takes a right next to a wildlife pond, at the 2.3 mile mark. I took a left onto the unmarked Bald Ridge Trail. The Bald Ridge Trail goes over Gordons Peak - at 3915 feet elevation this is the high point of the loop, about a half mile south on the ridge. From there, there are constant small elevation changes as the trail rides Bald Ridge. At the 4.5 mile mark, the trail drops off the ridge at a large rocky spot and then hugs the side of the mountain about 30 feet from the summit. This was a welcome relief on a windy October day, as the hike was much warmer when shielded from the wind.

The Bald Ridge Trail has occasional yellow diamonds nailed to trees
to help guide the hiker.  They are few and far between.

The Bald Ridge Trail itself is often hard to locate. It is blazed yellow intermittently at best. The trail itself is followed by looking for a slight dip in the ground, but this is sometimes tough to do when detouring around a downed tree or travelling through freshly fallen leaves. Fortunately, the trail follows the ridge top, and my GPS can give me a more accurate reading of whether the trail is to my left or my right than any map can do. Nevertheless, I do not recommend this trail for the novice hiker, due to the difficulty of getting to Bald Ridge and the remoteness of the area.

Sign shows trail intersection, with Bald Ridge Trail ascending
on the right.

After skirting by the summit of The Peak, the trail leaves the edge of Ramsey's Draft Wilderness and begins a gradual drop to Braley Pond. It passes an intersection with the Bridge Hollow Trail, which leads around The Peak down to Ramsey's Draft near the Wilderness Area's parking lot at Mountain House. Near this intersection is a large, dry campsite on a flat spot to the left of the trail, with a side trail to the campsite.

Braley Pond, from the west.

Another view of Braley Pond, looking back to the west.

On the way down, the Bald Ridge Trail rides ridges and edges around dry stream beds until it reaches a woods road shortly past the hike's 10 mile mark. At this point, it is a flat walk for nearly two miles, past Braley Pond (I went to the right and skirted the south shore), though the picnic area (with privies), and out the entrance road to the Braley Pond Road. A left here for only a quarter mile takes you over the bridge spanning Dowells Draft before crossing the road and re-entering the forest on a forest service dirt road around 11.6 miles into the hike, where the route begins climbing again.

Stay on this woods road. The Dowells Draft Trail, coming up from its southern trailhead on U.S. 250 across the road from the end of the Crawford Knob Trail, quietly merges into the road, then splits left just before the hike's 13 mile mark. Follow the trail (marked by a sign that says only "Trail") and gradually climb the western slope of Dowells Draft as the trail climbs Hankey Mountain on its way to the Wild Oak Trail.

Don't follow the dog!  The trail cuts off to the left.  See the sign?

This photo shows the sign a little closer.

The Dowells Draft Trail forks up here - visible because a sign points the other way.

I am not sure how much longer this sign will be here,
given the condition of its post.

The Wild Oak Trail is marked by a white "i"

After a couple of switchbacks, the Dowells Draft Trail comes to a fork at about the 14.5 mile mark. If you take the right trail, you will ascend to the summit of Hankey Mountain.  Take the left trail to return to the Braley Pond Road, where the car is parked for this loop. The trail drops at a pleasant 10% grade over nearly the next mile, and I thought I was done with uphills after I merged onto the Wild Oak Trail at about the 15.5 mile mark. I was wrong - there were three relatively brief uphills before the car, with the longest climbing at a 16% grade over a quarter-mile. Not a long climb in the bunch of them, but you feel it after 16+ miles of hiking. The downhill at the very end of the hike is most welcome.

Hike details:
PATC Difficulty Factor: 433.6
Total Distance: 16.7 miles 
Total Time: 6 hours, 01 minutes, including stops.
Steepest Uphill: from 2.0 miles to 2.25 miles; 30.0% average grade.  
Starting Elevation: 1954 ft.
Low Point: 1939 ft.

Highest Point: 3926 ft.

Difference: 1987 ft.

Total Altitude Gain: 5635 ft.

Check out my other blog postings here.

Knob Mountain/Jeremys Run Loop - SNP North, May & July 2015

Given a choice, I will not normally hike in the Shenandoah Northern District, as it is closest to the urban ring of DC. Choosing a holiday weekend was probably not the best time to head up that way, but I left early in the morning back on Memorial Day and did not find anyone in line ahead of me as I rolled into the entrance station on U.S. 211 between Culpepper and Luray.  Seeking a loop trail that I had never before attempted, I was also looking for something that would take me into the wilderness area of the Park and would provide a challenge.

I know other folks who had hiked the Jeremy's Run/Knob Mountain loop and said it was a nice hike, but I had never experienced it.  And, surprisingly, I didn't see anyone for the first 6 miles of my hike - over Knob Mountain.  And there were only a few folks along Jeremy's Run.

Topo Map of the hike: Link.

The hike starts and ends at the Elkwallow Picnic Area, which on Memorial Day had a good number of picnic tables filled with folks, even though the trails into the park were uncrowded.  The loop starts off taking the Appalachian Trail southbound, then turns onto the Jeremy's Run Trail and seamlessly enters into the designated wilderness area - no signs to tell you you are in wilderness.  The hardest part of the hike is the brief climb on the Knob Mountain Cutoff Trail, which takes you from the Jeremy's Run Trail to the Knob Mountain Trail. The Cutoff Trail doesn't show on earlier topo maps or on the 4th Edition of the PATC's Map 9, (c) 1948, and was clearly created to assist with this loop hike.

Difficulty lessens immediately upon turning onto the wonderfully mellow Knob Mountain Trail. In the Fourth Edition of Guide to Paths in the Blue Ridge (1950), the precursor to today's Appalachian Trail Guide to Shenandoah National Park, there is a brief description of today's Knob Mountain Trail.  Back in 1950, this route was "a combined fire road... and foot trail." The road ended just north of the Knob Mountain summit, and is marked to this day by a concrete post that would otherwise have no reason to exist - it isn't at the summit, and it isn't at a trail junction. The road was built by the CCC.  From the end of the road, a foot trail scaled the summit, a summit which, sixty-five years ago, "afford[ed] a 360-degree panorama and this is perhaps the most scenic crest line trail in this section of the Blue Ridge." Now that same summit is tree covered and lacks a summer view. I can't help but wonder what this part of the hike looked like, some 65 years ago.

From the summit, the trail "drops some 1,600 feet to Jeremys Run" over 3.3 miles of trail constructed in 1935 by the CCC - when the northern section of today's trail still accepted vehicles. Part way down next to the trail is a small walled spring, which was described in the 1950 guide. At the end of the Knob Mountain Trail, you will be at the low point in the hike, about 1000 feet elevation, and the furthest point from the starting trailhead. Climbing the Jeremys Run Trail, however, is much easier than going the opposite direction on the Knob Mountain Trail. While the KMT dropped at an average 12.6% grade, the Jeremy's Run Trail climbs at a consistent 3.6% over its first 4.5 miles, before becoming slightly steeper over its last 3/4 mile.

I passed by a campsite that was right on the stream known as Jeremys Run. I felt like I was intruding on these folks, who were out of their tent cooking breakfast not more than 100 feet from where I hiked, and right next to the river. But, I was on the trail and was not the person who chose a campsite so visible to passing hikers!  The entire loop took me 4 hours and 40 minutes, with 11 minutes stopped.  The trip was 12.8 miles long and ascended 2489 feet.

Later in the summer, I returned to complete the Knob Mountain Trail, hiking it again from the Matthews Arm Campground to the summit of Knob Mountain.  The trail starts at a road intersection near the campground.  There is a large wooden sign announcing the trailhead - not the usual concrete post.  I think this is because the old Knob Mountain road intersected with the present road about 100 feet from where the trail currently leaves the road.  Almost immediately, road and trail merge, heading for the summit of Knob Mountain, about 4.5 miles away.  If you are  looking for a pleasant, easy hike in a remote section of the park, this may be a good bet.  I saw more bears (2) than humans (0) on this hike.

Book Review: AMC's Best Day Hikes in the Shenandoah Valley

Every once in a while I go onto Amazon and look at the new and upcoming books on hiking, looking in particular to see if there is a new Virginia trail guide on the horizon.  That is how I came to order AMC's Best Day Hikes in the Shenandoah Valley: Four-Season Guide to 50 of the Best Trails From Harpers Ferry to Jefferson National Forest.  

The book is published by the Appalachian Mountain Club, a part of its "Best Day Hikes" series that focus on different parts of the club's membership footprint.  The AMC is a large and venerable Boston-based nonprofit trail club that maintains a majority of the trails in New Hampshire's White Mountains and runs the fantastic Trail Huts up that way.  The AMC also has chapters in New York City, Pennsylvania and Washington DC, which is, I suppose, how they came to be publishing a book on trails in Virginia.  Full disclosure: I am a member of the AMC.  But I am also a member of the Natural Bridge Appalachian Trail Club, and having an AMC guide to Virginia trails is a bit like having a NBATC guide to trails in New Jersey - it just doesn't seem to fit.  

The authors are out of the DC area, however, and are the organizers of a Meetup Group called the DC Ultralight Backpacking Group.  Full disclosure: I have signed up to receive DCUL meeting notices, but have not attained "Member" status (I am only an "Applicant") because I haven't been able to get away on one of their trips and prove that I am in shape to keep up with their other members on one of their bigger trips. (I am, but I respect them for placing the hurdle in place for the protection of the folks conducting their hikes.) These authors get out a lot - I am guessing they don't have families - and strike me as pretty knowledgeable folks.  I'd love to hike with them sometime to pick their brains about equipment.

They have put together a very nice book of hikes of varied difficulty that run the gamut geographically from Maryland to Roanoke.  There are nice photos, simple maps, and icons telling the reader whether the hike is dog friendly, kid friendly, includes waterfalls, and costs to park.  I wouldn't say that it touches on much that is new or unique, but a book on "best" day hikes probably isn't going to introduce a brand new "best" hike not described somewhere else.

I have minor quibbles - they only list one map option to purchase for each hike when many hikes can be found on multiple maps, for example.  The hikes described aren't actually IN the Shenandoah Valley as stated in the title - they are more along the valley.  And there is one hike where they get the name of one of the major trails wrong consistently throughout the narrative, but not so wrong you would get lost.

And I would have added a few hikes.  Like Jump Rock in Goshen and Big House Mountain in Lexington.  Fuller's Rocks near Glasgow has one of the top A.T. views in the state.  And the most popular day hike for new hikers in Central Virginia is Humpback Rocks on the northern edge of the Blue Ridge Parkway. But it is clear from the driving directions that the intended audience shares the authors' Northern Virginia home addresses, as directions often start with "From I-66..."  The hikes I list would be among the furthest from I-66.

As I stated, these are quibbles.  Overall, this is a nice guide produced by a couple of authors who really know where to hike and are clearly on the trail a lot.  And the book itself is a nice size - I have never been a fan of the "pocket sized" trail guides and this one is standard trade paperback size.  I would strongly recommend this guide to anyone new to the area or just starting to hike as a hobby.  It would have been nice to have in 1992, instead of the combination of other books I accessed to help get to know the state's wealth of trails.  Heck, this one should have a checklist at the end of the book, like the AMC's "White Mountain Guide" contains a checklist of 4000 foot peaks in New Hampshire. That way, the purchaser could record the dates and number of hikes completed.

The biggest question for me in reviewing this book, however, isn't the quality of the hike descriptions.  The biggest question is can a book like this cover its production costs?  I used to have a career as a publisher of legal treatises - books for attorneys and judges on niche subjects of the law.  I wasn't the head of the company, but my title was literally, "Publisher."  I thought up ideas for books that might make money for my company, and acquired authors and prodded them to follow through with their commitments, then worked with the marketing department to promote the new title. Sometimes, a potential author came to me and tried to convince me that s/he was the best person to write about the subject. Being an author for my company provided a boost in that author's career, as others in the profession would see the author as an "expert" in that field.

I don't work for that company anymore, but I don't get a sense that anyone publishes many new legal treatises these days.  What killed the legal treatise acquisition biz was simple: The Internet.  Lawyers were no longer willing to spend money on treatise subscriptions when they could do the research themselves on the net.  The internet didn't totally kill off our sales, just enough to make it a lot bigger gamble to publish new titles because margins became much slimmer.  There are still some dinosaurs out there who will buy print, but their numbers are way down compared to back in 1999.

I assert that there are a lot of parallels in the trail book industry.  

An example is a book by Karin Wuertz-Schaefer called "Hiking Virginia's National Forests." This is a nice little book concentrating on trails in several areas in Virginia's two national forests. It was probably my first "favorite" hiking guide when I started hiking in Virginia back in 1992. The book was first published in 1977, and by 1989 it was in its 4th edition. The 5th edition was published in 1994. The 6th edition came out in 1998. The 7th edition sold starting in 2001. Every 3 or 4 years a new edition would pop out like clockwork. But there have been no revisions since 2001. I would think that a book that merited seven previous editions would not suddenly sell so poorly that they would drop the title. This book was making money for its publisher, but then it stopped being worth the effort.

I don't know the inside story - maybe the author simply decided to quit writing revisions, but this is not an isolated case. I could bore you with many other examples, but will give you just one more major example. Leonard Atkins' book, "50 Hikes in Northern Virginia," another staple in my library, was revised 6 years after its inception, then revised again 6 years after that.  Its Fourth Edition surprisingly came out this year, but the publisher waited 11 years since the previous revision. The latest edition has a radically different cover and a slightly altered title (though it still says "Fourth Edition"), and maybe this is to entice a purchaser who has bought a previous edition. I think these examples clearly show that it has become much harder in the past 15 years to make money publishing print trail guides (the exception is the series of books covering the Appalachian Trail, mile for mile, which continue to be revised as needed).

The AMC is a nonprofit, and that might make a difference in deciding whether to publish a new title, but my experience with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club is that a nonprofit does not want to publish titles that lose them money. Volunteers advocating for a new or revised title - books and maps - have to be able to justify the costs of printing.  I don't imagine AMC is any different.

The internet means that there are other ways to get this information.  The local website "Hiking Upward" is a great resource - you can search hikes by location and ability, read reviews from other hikers, and when you center on a hike, you can print out the description and a map of the area - all for free. Is there a sufficient market for an $18.95 retail book when there are great resources out there for free? (I bought it for $13.10 on Amazon, and it is now selling for $12.96 on the same website - less than the "member discount" offered to me as an AMC member to purchase this book.) I will buy the book to see what experiences these authors impart in the pages of the book and to see what they consider to be the "best day hikes." I am not sure that the casual hiker will do the same anymore.

Then again, I still subscribe to a print newspaper. Every morning. Maybe I am the dinosaur.


Note: I purchased this guide with my own funds. You should, too. Save the entire industry by continuing to purchase trail guides!

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Cranberry Wilderness, West Virginia - July 2015

The weather forecasters told me that Friday, July 10 would present the best weather day of a questionable weather week, with only a "passing thunderstorm" in the forecast.  I hate July’s typical daily Central Virginia forecast: "highs in the 90s and humid, with a 40% chance of afternoon storms." In other words, "we don’t really know what’s going to happen, except that it won’t be comfortable."

I was on the road by 6AM with breakfast in hand and Gracie the Fabulous Hiking Dog in back, intent on a bucket list hike that required everything to work perfectly.  Three hours on the road, four hours on the trail, then three hours return would allow me to achieve my first ever hike in West Virginia’s Cranberry Wilderness and be back before 5 PM. 

I made it to the trailhead by about 9, arriving at a point where there was literally a hole in the forest with a trail going in.  I had driven from sunny skies into the clouds as I climbed up into the Cranberry area. The Cranberry forest was so thick that it looked like a curtain covered the forest, and I entered into an opening. 

At the trailhead, there is a hole in the forest, taking you inside the curtain.

Whenever I researched the Cranberry Wilderness in the past, I would come across descriptions of the area as having vegetation unlike the rest of the Mid-Atlantic and more like the Adirondacks or New Hampshire’s White Mountains.  I discounted such accounts, but was amazed when I started hiking here – it reminded me exactly of hiking at lower elevations of the White Mountains.  The forest looked just the same!  Unfortunately the skies started opening up and I was brushing my way through wet Red Cedar and magnolia.  I was wet immediately at the start of my hike, and it wasn’t worth donning my rain gear.  This also reminded me of the Whites – one very wet week in particular hiking from Franconia Notch to Mt. Washington.

This is an incredibly lush area.

The North-South Trail in Cranberry Wilderness seems to be one of the favorite trails in this large wilderness.  I decided to take this trail from the Highlands Scenic Road to the Tumbling Rock Trail, then back. The trail sign told me that this would be 5 miles each way.  My GPS ended up totaling a little longer – 10.7 miles for the hike.  My experience in West Virginia is that trails are seldom kept up, especially in wilderness areas.  There just aren't enough volunteers out this way.  So picking a major trail meant that I was less likely to find myself on a nonexistent path.

There are constantly varying views.

Despite its relative popularity, the North-South Trail was still seriously overgrown.  I was pushing myself through heavy brush almost from the start, then the trail would open up for a while and dry out, then I would be back in the heavy brush.  The trail itself was dry some of the time, but much of the trail was worn into a channel, spawning a series of pools, brown from tannin off of the trees, ankle deep.  And on the return trip, in a driving rain, the water was deeper than on the way out. 

Several large campsites along the North-South Trail,
though groups are limited to 10 hikers in the wilderness.

Cloudy, rainy conditions made for some dark hiking.
No sunscreen needed here.

We turned around at the intersection of the Tumbling Rock Trail and the
North-South Trail.

Back at the trailhead, it was still pouring.

Interesting conditions on Interstate 64 on the return.

There were no vistas on this hike, but that didn’t keep it from being a wondrous place to visit.  Green was everywhere and the views changed constantly.  I can see why this is a popular place to backpack - I barely scratched the surface of this place - but backpackers need to be prepared for wet conditions.

Virginia Wilderness Triumverate - July 5, 2015

An early start on Sunday, July 5^th eventually brought me to 3 different wilderness areas in one day, as I continue to add to my totals for the year as part of the Dirty Dozen Wilderness Hike Challenge. Total mileages hiked, 12.0 miles. Total miles driven, 317 miles.

Brush Mountain Wilderness

A pre-dawn rising had me arriving at Caldwell Fields in the Jefferson National Forest at 8:15 on July 5^th, 3 hours and 165 miles from home. Early sunrises are great!

I parked at Caldwell Fields, on the edge of the Brush Mountain Wilderness, a relatively new wilderness (2009) that is one of the smaller wilderness tracts in Virginia – at 4707 acres, it is the 16^th largest of the 24 Virginia wilderness areas. It is very close to the Virginia Tech campus.

Descriptions of this wilderness I had found online indicated that the slopes of Brush Mountain are very steep and rugged, and there are no trails inside the wilderness boundaries.  July is probably not the best time of year to visit a Virginia wilderness without trails, as the undergrowth could be thick and prickly, but I had never before visited this wilderness, so it was worth a shot.  Without any trails, there isn't a trailhead for hikers into the wilderness.  I figured Caldwell Fields was the best access point.

View of Brush Mountain from the Caldwell Fields parking lot.

Caldwell Fields is a recreation area in the Jefferson National Forest and is an unsettling place to visit. Back in August, 2009, two Virginia Tech students were murdered there. They were high school sweethearts, found the next day by a guy walking his dog. The murder has never been solved.  Link.  Caldwell Fields has a picnic area with one table, and a couple of group campsites. There is a privy next to one of the campsites.

Stream alongside of Caldwell Fields is the boundary for Brush Mtn Wilderness.
Notice the wilderness boundary sign on the tree.

I waded through high wet grass in the field down slope from the parking area and ducked into the forest before coming upon a stream with wilderness boundary signs on the other side.  I was already soaked at this point! Once under forest cover and inside the wilderness, however, the going was much easier. I headed south over flat ground and passed  several small campsites in the woods. 

View back to the parking lot from the top of the cliff.

Beyond those campsites was a 100 foot cliff. Eyeing the cliff, I saw an area that I could climb. Figuring I could have a nice view at the top, I scaled the steep ascent, switchbacking where I could in order to keep my ascent at a barely manageable 42% grade. On the top of the ridge, I got that view and more. At the top was a hunter or game trail. I figured I would follow the trail until it petered out or until the terrain became too steep to continue. The mountain never became as steep as my initial encounter, with the upper half averaging a 27% grade. I followed that trail all the way to the top of the mountain and crossed the southern boundary of the wilderness, coming out on an old woods road along the mountain crest. Along the way, I spied several shotgun shell casings, a couple of water bottles, and a deflated Mylar balloon – all evidence that I hadn’t completely escaped the civilized world.

View of Brush Mountain from along the trail.
Not a lot of views on this hike.

After wandering a little ways down the woods road, I returned to the same trail, taking that back to my car. Though I was feeling pretty good about myself for crossing a wilderness area with no established trails, I did not want to risk hiking a different ridge and finding a cliff that I couldn’t descend. The hike was only 2.8 miles total in the wilderness, as this trail went straight up the mountain. But there was great satisfaction in crossing the entire wilderness without the benefit of an established trail. I won’t be back to finish the entire 10 miles for this challenge – there is too little time and too many other places to explore – but I count this wilderness as one my bigger accomplishments in the challenge.

Wilderness boundary and hunter trail as seen from the south/upper elevations of the wilderness.

Somebody must come up to enjoy the view pretty regularly!

Woods road on the crest of Brush Mountain.

Brush Mountain East Wilderness

Five miles up the road from Brush Mountain Wilderness is the Brush Mountain East Wilderness.  This wilderness is also new, added to the system in 2009. And it is even smaller than Brush Mountain Wilderness – at 3700 acres, it is only the 20^th largest wilderness area of Virginia’s 24 reserves.  But I would estimate conservatively that Brush Mountain East receives 25 times as many hikers as Brush Mountain, because of the single trail traversing Brush Mountain East. That trail is the Appalachian Trail.

Wilderness Sign Selfie.

I had previously hiked this part of the A.T. as part of a small hiking group led by the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club, so I knew what to expect. From the south, the A.T. crosses several bridges recently rebuilt by the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club before entering the wilderness. The first mile of this hike is exceptionally pretty, if somewhat circuitous. After that point, the trail ascends the mountain in earnest, switchbacking occasionally to maintain a pretty constant 12% ascent (compared to the 27% grade I had hiked earlier that morning). After 3 miles I exited the wilderness and came to the same woods road that formed the southern boundary of the Brush Mountain Wilderness. The A.T. uses this woods road for several miles, traversing the edge of the wilderness, before re-entering the wilderness as it descends off of the mountain. I planned to access the A.T. from the road on both ends of the wilderness to achieve 10 miles in the wilderness.

I continued on the woods road to the Audie Murphy Monument. Though located just outside the wilderness, it seemed un-American to be hiking on Independence Day weekend and not stop to honor one of America’s great heroes, at a site near where he crashed his plane ending his life, back in 1971. 

Audie Murphy Monument Selfie.

On the way back, I stopped and talked with a small group of teenage hikers and their guides. They were from a camp called "Wilderness Adventure at Eagle Landing" and were nearing the end of a 4 day backpacking trip that had taken them past Dragon's Tooth, among several landmarks. I was impressed with the group, and the smiles on the boys' faces. Maybe I need to push my scouts for longer trips.

Near the end of this hike, just outside of the wilderness on my way back to the car, I came across an interesting problem. On the longest of a series of bridges crossing Craig Creek, in the middle, was a large black snake enjoying some sun. Black snakes aren’t poisonous. In fact, they are beneficial by controlling rodent populations. But I didn’t think I could reason with Gracie the Fabulous Hiking Dog on this point. I leashed GTFHD tightly and kept the snake away with hiking sticks as we carefully crossed the bridge. I am not sure that GTFHD knew why I was suddenly holding her tight, or why I breathed a sigh of relief after crossing. But this wasn’t the last bridge issue I would experience this day.

Gracie the Fabulous Hiking Dog eyes a black snake halfway across the bridge.

My original plan was to ascend the mountain on the A.T. heading northbound, visit the memorial on the top of the mountain, descend back down the mountain on the same route, then drive north to the next road crossing and reenter the wilderness to complete my 10 miles hiking southbound. (Every wilderness under the challenge should have 10 miles hiked, and, though others claim it as "wilderness miles" under this challenge, walking on the ridge road is outside the wilderness boundary.) But plans don’t always turn out. After completing the southern portion, I drove to the northern parking area only to discover that I would have to either ford a stream in my car or drive over the stream on a rickety bridge with a sign saying “Private Bridge.” There was a really terrible worst case scenario getting to the northern trailhead, one that I chose not to risk.

So I ended up hiking six miles in Brush Mountain East this day (8.2 miles total on this part of my day) and decided to check out Barbours Creek Wilderness on my drive home. Kind of on the way home. Not really on the way to anything.

 

Barbours Creek Wilderness

I had never hiked Barbours Creek Wilderness and really didn’t know what to expect. But it made a good “Plan B” when my original hike plan at Brush Mountain East fell victim to difficult trailhead access. Interestingly, the wilderness.net website makes no mention of trails in Barbours Creek Wilderness, but my go-to bible of information on Virginia wilderness areas, "Wild Virginia: A Guide to Thirty Roadless Recreation Areas Including Shenandoah National Park" by Steven Carroll and Mark Miller, states that there is a single trail through the wilderness.  

Wilderness Sign Selfie

So I negotiated a series of back roads to find myself at the Lipes Branch Trail’s parking lot trailhead. Fortunately it was signed at the road and there was an information kiosk in the parking lot – though all the information had been stripped off of the kiosk. Heading up the trail, there was a new wilderness sign (shown above), but the trouble began soon after. I had brought a pair of loppers with me, just in case. They were in use right away to cut back on overgrowth. But after only 1/10^th of a mile, the trail was totally overrun by a tsunami of Stinging Nettle. Stinging Nettle thrives in wet areas and grows to shoulder length by this point in July. My loppers weren’t going to help me get through that, and I have lost enough wars with Stinging Nettle on hikes in the past to know that continuing forward would not be a lot of fun. So even though I know that the trail would leave the nettle once it starts ascending the mountain, a sea of nettle had me turn around.

This IS the trail, and those plants bite.

This is a wilderness area to be explored at another time, after the frost slays the evil nettles.  I will put this on my list for winter hiking but will not return here as a part of the Wilderness challenge.  Ironic – my hikes this day included several miles through a trail-less wilderness, but only 1000 feet in another wilderness on an established trail.

Near the trailhead is a remote campground called The Pines.  I drove the loops to the campsites, hoping that a side trail to the Lipes Branch Trail might present itself. No luck. The Pines had 4 campers scattered among its 10 spots. The campground itself looked pretty tired - it is clear that Jefferson National Forest is not putting much investment into this property. It is really remote! But it has a couple of privies and some garbage cans. There is a pump for water. And each site has a picnic table. There is no charge with this campground.

Ramsey's Draft Wilderness - June 2015

For my 14th wilderness in the Dirty Dozen Wilderness Hike Challenge, I returned to my first wilderness.  And, like all first loves, I have a great fondness for Ramsey's Draft Wilderness.  I hiked RDW extensively when I first moved to Virginia because it reminded me of the state I came from - Maine. 

From the moment you step out of the car and onto the trail, you are in a different place, a wilder place.  And despite having hiked it many times in the last two decades, it still holds secrets that bring me back. At least one person hiked here recently and never came back - the reward is now $25,000 for information on his whereabouts (Link).  There are actually, incredibly, claims of sasquatch activity here (Link). The forest service has managed this area since 1935, basically as a wilderness area.  There are still trails in this wilderness I have never hiked, and former trails I want to find, found on old maps that are no longer printed.

RDW selfie with Gracie The Fabulous Hiking Dog.
Note that I am wearing Crocks...

It is a bittersweet love affair I have with RDW.  I could not hike here for a good ten year period while the hemlocks died here.  When I first hiked it in the early 1990's, there were parts that were dark and primordial thanks to the hemlocks.  The hemlocks made RDW an amazing place to be, with true "old growth" trees all around.  Some of these trees were estimated to be 500 years old (photo).  They are mostly gone now, toppled over thanks to the Woolly Adelgid.

I started coming back about five years ago. When I was a new boy scout leader, the first place I took the troop backpacking was Ramsey's Draft Wilderness. (Link.) That same year, I came out here several times with members of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club who live in the Shenandoah Valley to help rehabilitate trails littered with the fallen hemlocks. (Link.) It helped me learn the details of the place, the different seasons and their effects on the trail, and when the RDW can be dangerous.  I know where to look for the invasive Garlic Mustard, where to wonder at the largest Yellow Poplar I have ever seen (amazingly, right next to the old roadbed that used to traverse this valley), and where to find the Stinging Nettle (basically, everywhere off trail).

I come back not often enough.  There are many options for hikers from Central Virginia.  RDW is far from the Appalachian Trail, and I had been concentrating on hiking as much of the AT in Virginia as I could.  Other places beckoned.  I forget how much I love the place until I return.  And on a cool, rainy June day (the best weather in June for hiking, IMO), I returned here with my two favorite hiking partners - Gracie the Fabulous Hiking Dog, and Marit, the toughest hiker I know.

Marit and I ringed the ridges that form the RDW border back in 2010 on an 18+ mile day hike (Link), racing the daylight in November.  Today, we had lower goals and more daylight.  I had one section of trail never completed in this wilderness, a part of the Ramseys Draft Trail which connects the far northern end of the valley with the ridge trail near its north end, at Hiner Spring.  We would approach this trail segment from the south, optimizing our wilderness miles since the rim trails dip in and out of the wilderness boundary and are accessed by trails from outside the wilderness.

Marit shows how to properly cross Ramsey's Draft - wading through the water.

Hiking the Ramseys valley and expecting to stay dry is a sure recipe for heartache and failure.  The trail crosses the stream many times - sometimes for no apparent reason!  Marit and I attacked the quest the same way - we were going to wade through the water from the start. Marit brought old trail runners for the job, while I hiked in Crocs without socks. I brought regular shoes, in case the Crocs became too uncomfortable or the water was especially easy to cross, but I did not change into them until we returned to the car.

Stream crossings are constant.  Dogs are continually hydrated.

The stream was a nice level for this time of year - not the raging torrent it can be some years.  When water levels are high, this can be a dangerous hike. And when it is icy, the stream is no fun to fall into. Early June is one of my favorite times to come here because the water feels great and the Stinging Nettle can be overwhelming by the end of the month. (See this link for more on Stinging Nettle and my miserable experience on the nearby Benson Run Trail, about 5 miles from this spot: Link.)

We hiked through periods of rain, causing us to change into and out of our rain gear. But the wettest time was on the "new" trail section I described earlier, heading up to Hiner Spring.  We never made it to the top because the trail was so overgrown and we were soaked from pushing through the vegetation. (I am coming back with some loppers!) We turned around at exactly Noon and were back at the car by 2:49. We totaled 11.4 miles, of which 10.2 miles were within the wilderness boundaries - though it seems like wilderness immediately, the boundary isn't actually crossed until you come to the wilderness sign.

Hike Details
PATC Difficulty Factor 297.0
Total Altitude Gain 3876 feet
Total Distance 11.4
Lowest point 2250 feet above sea level
Highest Point 3838 feet above sea level
Time 5 hours, 38 minutes  

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