Patterson Ridge and Frazier Discovery Trails

On November 21st, a Thursday, I went on the hike that I'd planned a few days before when we got iced in and hiked Ragged Mountain instead.  I tried to get a group together, but that is tough for a week day with only a few days notice.  In any event, one other person from the trail club told me that he wanted to go, so off we did.  Directly across the Skyline Drive from the Patterson Ridge Trail was the 1.2 mile Frazier Discovery Trail Loop, so we hiked that as well, for a total of about 8 miles or so.

Here is the track of the hikes.  Patterson Ridge is the long out and back heading northwest, and the Frazier Discovery Trail is the small loop to the southeast.  Our cars were parked at the yellow star.  Although one may think of a ridge as fairly level, the trail was actually almost all downhill on the way out uphill on the way back, descending and then ascending more than 1,600 feet.  The Frazier Discovery Trail gained over 400 feet on the way up, so the total elevation gains for the day was about 2,150 feet.

On the way along the Patterson Ridge Trail, we had partial views of Rockytop, where I had gone backpacking less than three weeks before.  It brought back good memories, and I regaled John with some of the tales from the trail, like the fresh bear scat near my tent, the big buck that jumped into the stream, and my stove not working after the first day.

We had lunch at Big Run along the Big Run Portal Trail.  It was such a beautiful spot.

After lunch, we got back on the trail and hiked uphill continually for just over three miles.  I am in much better shape than I was two months ago, and was able to hike without needing to rest every 10 seconds!

Although the Frazier Discovery Trail is short, it had some spectacular scenery once we climbed 450 feet and reached the Appalachian Trail:

See the notch in the middle?  That is the point where Big Run passes west through the mountains on its way to the Shenandoah River.  It is also the meeting point of two of my recent hikes:  Brown Mountain coming from the right and Rockytop Backpacking coming from the left.

This pretty doe finally ran when John came up with me, but until that point, she was cautiously wary buy not scared.

John on the ridge line.

Technically, we are along the Appalachian Trail here for a tenth of a mile or so, the same section that I'd hiked a couple of weeks ago with the Trail Club, heading north to Simmons Gap.

On the way down, we passed by this massive rock face.

What a great day to be in the mountains!  I felt blessed to have the ability to hike well, and on a Thursday to boot!  And now, I have finished every trail in the Big Run watershed of the park.