Shenandoah High Country

On Saturday, I put together another trip for the trail club, this one going north on the Appalachian Trail for almost 10 miles from Fishers Gap to the Little Stony Man parking area.  It was a companion hike to the one up to Milam's Gap two weeks ago.  We had a glorious day, and although I've now hiked most of the AT in Shenandoah National Park, I have to say that this is my favorite section.  We had not one, not two, but three (and even four) great viewpoints with short detours from the trail.  And we crossed the highest and second highest points in Shenandoah National Park, Hawksbill and Stony Man.  I've not double-checked this, but I suspect that these are the highest points on the AT between Virginia's Grayson Highlands and the Green Mountains in Vermont.

Despite the many grand views, my favorite sight was a micro-view point, these yellow lady slippers growing one foot from the trail.  I'd only seen them once before:

Here is the track of the hike.  We left three cars at the ending point to the north, and started from Fishers Gap in the south, which is about a mile north of Big Meadows.  Along the way, we detoured up Hawksbill (pink arrow) and Stony Man (purple arrow).

Here is the portion of the hike going up Stony Man (yellow arrow) and past Little Stony Man (blue arrow)

The day was warm and a little humid.  The views were nice but not crystal-clear, although they rarely are in Shenandoah.  Here is the view at the start across Fishers Gap.

Now and again during this hike, a short side trail off the AT would lead to a view, and at this one, a few of us stopped for a photo by Randy Wendell.

After several miles of hiking, mostly uphill, we reached the highest point in SNP, Hawksbill (4,050 feet) and asked someone to take a group photo of the 15 of us:

I also took the chance to get some photos of the views from this nice, open summit.

I always love being in the mountains when the mountain laurel is in bloom.  So pretty!

After some more hiking, and lunch, we detoured up Stony Man.  The high point just left of center is Hawksbill.

 More views from Stony Man.

My friend Doug on Stony Man

We came off the Stony Man summit, and got back on the AT.  In a while, we encountered a small bear about 100 feet off the trail.  He did not seem afraid of a group of 15 hikers.  The light was totally wrong - head in shadow, body in light - and I just could not get a good photo.  But it's the first bear that I've seen in a while, not counting the "green bear" in the Great Dismal Swamp, of course.

The views from Little Stony Man were great, too.  Only a few of us stopped there, but it was worth taking a few minutes out from hiking.

Man, what a great hike with a fun group of fellow hikers!  I think that everyone enjoyed this one.  I know that I did.