Finally!

I can't really say why I haven't been hiking much this year.  Maybe I needed a break.  Maybe I didn't want to be out and about in the cold weather.  Maybe I got lazy.  Anyhow, I decided that it was time to head for the mountains, and last Friday, I did just that for two days and 19 miles of hiking.  I went on a circuit hike in the Jones Mountain area of Shenandoah National Park.  Spring is well underway here in Richmond, but barely at all anywhere I hiked on this trek.

The high point was about 3,500 feet, and I camped about 1,500 feet along the Staunton River - a beautiful mountain stream.  Here is a map showing the general location:

And here is my track.  I started and ended at Bootens Gap (red star) and hiked a general counter-clockwise direction.  The short purple arrow shows the location of Bear Church Rock, another one of my hikes.  And north of the little blue box at the top of the map is Camp Hoover, another favorite place to hike.  I camped at the purple star on the lower right.

I headed north on the Appalachian Trail, then headed north on the Laurel Prong Trail, which goes to Camp Hoover.  After about 1.5 miles total, I reached the short Cat Knob Trail, with Cat Knob looming above.  The next half mile is quite steep.

Once cresting Cat Knob, then next 4 or 5 miles is along the Jones Mountain Trail, a lot of up and down for a while.  The forest was very quiet.  Now and again, I would hear a chipmunk squeak or see a gray squirrel, or hear a downy woodpecker or eastern towhee call.  But usually, it was just the sound of my footsteps along the trail.  The woods are wide open, and I could see for hundreds of yards through them.  I hoped to see a turkey or deer or bear, but no such luck.  In fact, I have not seen a bear in the mountains since my very close encounter almost two years ago, and since I bought a container of bear spray to carry when I hike solo.

On Jones Mountain, I actually came upon a tiny stand of living eastern hemlock.  The wooly adelgid, an invasive insect from East Asia introduced to the USA in 1951 near Richmond, Virginia has devastated these magnificent trees.

I thought that this tree was pretty interesting.  I wonder what it would tell you about its long life if it could?

A month or two ago, a huge windstorm came through the park.  It took down trees all over the place.  It would have been a terrifying, and dangerous, time to be hiking or camping up here.  The trail crews, which I take if are mostly volunteers from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club, has done a magnificent job clearing the trails.  Can you imagine hiking all these rugged miles carrying a chain saw?

After a total of about five miles, I came to Bear Church Rock with its wonderful views.  Other than mountain laurel, there is nothing green to be seen from here yet.  The wind was blasting here at probably 25 knots, so I just stayed a minute or so.  In fact, this is a day where one could not get comfortable.  No matter what I wore, I was always too cold or too warm - just one of those days.

Once I passed Bear Church Rock, I was hiking on new trails.  In fact, of my 19 miles of hiking, nearly 7 miles were on new trails for me, so my total trails hiked in SNP is now up to about 200 of its miles.  Not far along, I saw a tree used by woodpeckers - pileated, I would guess ...

... and a tiny and welcome sign of spring.

From here, the trail dropped steeply for the next few miles.  I detoured nearly a half mile each way to look at the locked Jones Mountain Cabin (Potomac ATC).  It would be cool to stay here some time, and actually sleep indoors with a fire going.

A couple miles from the cabin, I located my camping spot near the Staunton River.  Near this time, I saw the only other humans on the trail - two trail runners and a dog.  They had come from an access point a couple of miles to the east.  After setting up camp and hanging my bear bag, it was time to filter water from the nearby stream.

I'd carried an extra pot and ingredients to make a rather gourmet meal - Mediterranean pasta.  Here are the ingredients,

pasta on the boil,

 and the final result.  It actually was quite good.

When you are backpacking, every ounce counts.  You don't want to carry something unless it is worth the weight.  Well, for Christmas, Mary gave me this backpacking chair from Cripple Creek, and this was my first time to use it.  And trust me, it is worth the weight!  It keeps you off the cold, damp ground and supports your back.  I loved it!

I slept very well, and was awoken about 6:30 by a Phoebe urgently calling: "Phoebe!!! Phoebe!!! Phoe-ber-ee!!! Phoebe!!!"  I had a leisurely breakfast of oatmeal and Irish Breakfast Tea, packed up, and started hiking 9.5 miles out, mostly uphill.  Along the way, there were more signs of spring at these lower elevations of 1,500 - 2,000 feet:

The first few miles were along the beautiful Staunton River, a magical stream.

I ran into my first human of the day, a volunteer from PATC doing trail work with a machete.  We chatted for a while, and I thanked him.  He had parked his jeep on the Fork Mountain Fire Road, which was my next trail.

After a mile or so on the fire road, I encountered a couple hiking down from Cat Knob.  We chatted about the four major tree blockages that they had run into on that short trail.  They were 10 miles away from completing all 513 trail miles in the park!  (I still have over 300 to go).  The ten miles will take them four days, because each area is a short trail that they need to hike into a good distance.  That is the nature of completing that quest: the "Shenandoah 500."

Speaking of blocked trails, I encountered two major roadblocks hiking down the Fork Mountain Trail  They were not easy to get around.

Soon enough, I reached Laurel Prong - more signs of spring: skunk cabbage:

crossed the stream,

and took a lunch break.  Camp Hoover is only about a mile from this spot, but I still had several miles uphill left, so I got to it after eating, and reached my car about 3:30.  It had taken me 6.75 hours to hike the 9.5 miles out, including some breaks to take pictures, eat, and chat with people.  Not a meteoric pace, but I am trying to hike into shape, it was mostly uphill, and I was carrying about a 35 pound pack.  I am glad I did this hike.  It was good to camp out, see the mountains, and get a gauge of my general hiking condition.  I have a long hike coming up in less than a month, and have a long way to get ready for it.  This was a start.