Up the Staunton River Valley

Not three months ago, I cruised up The Priest from the Tye River Valley, a climb of 3,100 feet in about 4 miles, and while I didn't sprint up the mountain, I hiked steadily and never once felt the need to stop to catch my breath.  But that was then, this was now.  Yesterday, I joined six others for a hike over Bear Church Rock (elevation about 2,800 feet) from the Staunton River (elevation about 900 feet.)  I felt fine for the first 2.7 miles, although I was too warm from three layers and heavy gloves despite the lower than 20 degrees F temperature.  I removed a damp shirt, removed my hat, and started the final uphill climb of about 1,000 feet in 1.2 miles.  And I could feel myself struggling, bringing up the rear.  Was it the less than challenging hiking of the last couple of months? Two to three weeks the last part of December with a bad cold?  Just an off day?  Well, I'm not sure, but I felt like, while I could complete the hike, I would slow the group down.  So I told the hike leader that I would be hiking back 1.2 miles to the junction of the Jones Mountain and Staunton River Trails, and wait for them there, or possibly from there, I would hike west bound on the Staunton River Trail and meet them as they completed the loop part of this "lollipop" hike.  We had lunch together about 11:00 and then they hit the trail at 11:20 and I reversed direction.  It was cold and windy on the mountain, and I was back to all my layers, my hat, and heavy gloves.  I'd last hiked here in April, on a backpacking trip, so the trails were familiar to me, although I did pick up a new 1.8 miles towards my SNP 500 goal.

Here is a kind of funky looking track for the hike:

Some explanations - the parking area is at the blue star (lower right).  The part of the hike I did is the blue trackline (with one exception).  Bear Church Rock is at the red circle.  From there, I back-tracked down the Jones Mountain Trail, and the rest of the group headed west towards The Sag (orange track and directional arrow).  See the blue track heading north that I highlighted in purple?  Well, that is a mystery.  I never walked that.  It would have meant fording the river and bushwacking up the side of a steep mountain.  My inReach thinks that I did it, but I absolutely did not.  The full hike was about 13.3 miles. I hiked about 10.4 miles.  From Bear Church Rock, the group would have to hike 6.7 miles to get to our meeting point, just 1.2 miles for me back down the trail.  Since they left at 11:20, I was thinking I would see them again about 2:45.

Here is our group at the trailhead:

This is the lovely Staunton River along the first part of the hike.

The view from Bear Church Rock is always amazing.  Old Rag is visible in the distant a little bit to the right of center.  We had climbed 1,900 feet to get there and covered 3.9 miles.

After I headed back down, my strategy was to wear all of my layers but to hike slowly.  Therefore, I would generate enough heat to keep warm and slowly dry my very damp shirt.  Once I got back to the Staunton River Trail, it was about noon.  How would I spend the next several hours?  Well, I started out by sitting in the faint sun.  I was fairly warm despite temperatures in the low 20's.  I studied the map.  I recalculated how far the group had to go and how far the total hike would be.  I arrived at 13.3 miles, which is longer than I had believed the hike to be.  I looked for animals and listened for birds.  But the mountains in winter were very quiet.  I was up there outside for 9.5 hours.  In that time, I saw a downy woodpecker, a short-tailed shrew, and three deer.  I heard a Carolina wren, a chickadee, a pileated woodpecker, a raven, and several downy woodpeckers.  That's it!  I had some snacks and ate those to help generate some heat.  I'd not packed my stove, figuring that I would not be able to use it and keep up with the group.  I sure wished that I had had it.  A couple of mugs of hot tea would have been fantastic.  When I started to get too cool, I would take a short and slow walk.

Eventually, I decided to hike west along the trail and meet them maybe a mile up.  I calculated that they would get to that point about 2:20, so about 1:30, I started hiking that way.  Along the way, I had to cross some minor streams, sometimes armored in ice.

After about 0.8 miles, I came to a major crossing of the river.  It was a little after 2:00.  My shirt was finally just about dry.  I decided that it was pointless trying to cross and maybe fall in, since I didn't have to.  It was a pretty spot, so I waited there.

Every few minutes to the river, I would walk back down the trail for two minutes and then turn around and walk back.  So that kept me warm (a mug of hot tea would have worked better).  By 2:30, no one had shown up.  So I repeated that routine until about 3:00, then decided to walk back down to the meeting spot.  Once I got there, I walked around a bit and then found a very comfortable spot to sit, a flattened log with a tree behind it for back support.  I also got my headlamp out and put the batteries in, because I was beginning to think that we would be finishing the hike in the dark.  I'd no sooner sat down and put my back against the tree when, presto, there they were!  I was glad to see them and to know that they were all okay, and that we could get moving - in daylight!

The hike back from there was very easy, all downhill, losing about 900 feet over 2.7 miles, all along the river with its winter beauty.

It was a fun hike.  While I was disappointed to not do the full hike, I still got in 10+ miles of walking in the mountains and plenty of fresh air.  I also think I made the right call in turning back and waiting.  But the new year is here, and it is time to start getting back into hiking shape.  This trip, and being over my long cold, is a good start.

Also, there are some trails up here I've never hiked, so a return trip - perhaps an overnight in warmer and leafier weather - will be in the cards.