Big Schloss

“Cynthia and I met at a convenience store off I-81 and drove up to Wolf Gap Campground on Saturday. We set up in the campground, had a nice pasta lunch with canteloupe for dessert, then headed down the road to a roadcut in the Ordovician Martinsburg Formation to look for fossils.

Cynthia took to it right away and soon was picking up all kinds of fossils. The fossils in this bed are fragmented, but she found some trilobite heads, some nice little brachiopods, and what may have been gastropods. I found a few, but none I cared to keep. I took one trilobite fragment back to camp, hoping I could break it apart and find more. But the thing cracked the wrong way.

I made the dinner that night, and a blueberry buckwheat pancake breakfast the next morning. On Sunday we hiked up to Big Schloss, an outcropping in the Tuscarora Formation. The white sandstone/conglomerate is one of the major hard, ridge-forming formations in the Appalachians (same formation as Seneca Rocks and the crest of Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania).

The trail up is steep in parts, but we eventually came out on the ridge with some fine views into the Shenandoah Valley with Massanutten looming above it and the Blue Ridge showing in the haze in the distance.

We found some Allegheny serviceberry about ready to break out of its buds. We passed a dour group of Boy Scouts and wondered why they looked so grouchy. We found another group from the same troop at the junction with the trail up to Big Schloss. We learned that the first group was on a "Death March," explaining the dour looks. Apparently they were older scouts and on a high-intensity hike.

Big Schloss has almost 360-degree views. The rocks have steep drops on three sides. The views were limited by haze, but we still enjoyed what we could see.

There was a guy who had earlier passed us on top getting ready to rappel. He was doing it solo, and when we expressed concern, he said he does it all the time.

Back at camp, Cindy provided roast beef sandwiches for lunch, and then we broke camp. It was a pleasure, because Cindy gravitated to doing some things while I did others, and we had the cars packed in pretty good time.

We drove down to the convenience store to say our goodbyes.

I'm looking forward to our next hike together.”

“Sounds great, Geo. Fossil hunting is something that I have not done for a long time. I would love to do that in the future. Maybe we can put a trip like that together some time? That would be great. Glad you two had fun...”

“Great trip report, thanks.
I'm glad you have finially mended enough to go hiking.”

“LMAO about the Scouts, Geobeet!
Sounds like a very nice area to visit!”

“Very cool Geobeet. That's awesome you and Cynth (I think we should call her "Synth" for a new trailname) incorporated fossil hunting into y'alls hike. Just makes it even more of an adventure!

Lot's of shark teeth down here in Florida, BTW. I always hunted for them when I was a kid, and plan on doing it again soon.”

“Hey man, you found a mate at a convenience store?

Lucky dog!

Where's that store?

I first approached Big Schloss(castle/fortress) from the north in January '74.

Then I found out there was a shorter way to it the next year!

How was the campsite?

Sometimes its a bit trashy.”

“Wolf Gap is one cool place.

One of the many CCC-built sites in GW and Monongahela NF's.

Were the daffodils blooming?”

“Very nice geo”

“Yes Tom, the Daffs were out, although not all the way.

The person who had the campsite before us left some trash, but he also left a pile of firewood. That made it a lot easier to pick up the trash.

I think Cynthia has some ideas about a trail name, so when she posts I will let her speak for herself.

I started using Wolf Gap as a base camp for fossil trips. It's a fairly nice campground, and it's free. I also want to check out Hawk a bit farther north.

Schloss is German for castle.”

“Sounds like fun geo...... I was there 3 weeks ago and the snow was pretty deep still. Any left?

Explain to me where those fossils are?

Free? Isn't there an honor box there to put your payments in?”

“No fee. There is a registration board, but no fee and no honor box. Red Creek in the Mon has an honor box, and they come up and check on it several times a week.

The snow was all gone, but it was supposed to snow Sunday night. We are getting snow in Philly right now, but the weather radar shows rain in the Virginias.

Fossils are in a bank on the right hand side of the road a quarter of a mile below the campground on the WV side.

What is there is pretty much broken up. It looks to me like a pocket of body fragments - trilobite heads, brachiopod fragments (a few whole ones too), gastropods, and lots of crinoid column fragments. If you are beachcombing and come across a pocket of shell fragments busted up in the surf, that is about what this looks like.

The Martinsburg is upper Ordovician, more than 400 million years old. The Martinsburg, wherever it crops out, is a little below the Tuscarora sandstone.”

“There's a campsite up at the Schloss in a rocky hollow south of the little foot bridge.

Wolf Gap is nice, but can be like a wind tunnel at times.

Hawk is a decent site and free too.
But its down in a hole and the trip from Rt 55 is four miles of gravel road.

Another nice site is Bear Heaven near the headwaters of Otter Creek.
Bear Heaven has an honor box.
It is 2.5 miles from Rt 33.....FS 91(?) just west of Alpena Gap.”

“Yeah, we passed that site just south of the rocks. It looks nice. You have to carry your water though.

I've been meaning to check out Hawk. A Forest Service maintenance guy was talking to us about it. It's less used. He said the only time it fills up is the first weekend of deer season.

I've been to Bear Heaven. There are not a lot of sites there. When I was there it was raining and the campers looked soggy. My son's family and I were camped at Red Creek using the Tarp Mahal. I could have sold a few of those that day.”

“The rainy morning gave way to partly cloudy skies as I headed north on I-81 to meet Geobeet at the convenience store. We arrived within minutes of each other. As we drove along peaceful country roads on the way to Wolf Gap Campground, I could feel the stresses of daily life release off the back of neck. Back to the woods; back to spending time in a way that made sense.

After lunch, we headed out to hunt fossils, something I had never experienced. These 400 million-year-old little buggers are really cute, with interesting shapes and textures. As I broke open the rocks, I felt lucky to be the one to find them and set them free again. Geobeet, a seasoned fossil hunter, didn’t find anything he felt was worth keeping. But I took home several examples of these darling little critters.

We relaxed at camp for the rest of afternoon, constantly babbling about this and that. Geobeet knows a thing or two about car camping. He has enough camping gear to rival the 10th Mountain Division, including an American flag and an Army flag, which he flew from the edge of the campsite.

As evening arrived, he popped open a bottle of champagne and we listened to exotic African music. By campfire light and lantern, Geobeet prepared a fabulous gourmet meal of marinated and grilled lamp chops, asparagus, potatoes and anise salad with mint and mandarin oranges. Be wary of entering into a campground cook-off with this guy! You wouldn’t stand a chance!

As I feel asleep that night, I had visions of fossils dancing in my head.

For breakfast, we ate another scrumptious meal a la Geobeet of buckwheat pancakes with fresh blueberries, West Virginia maple syrup and sausage. With full bellies, we hiked up to the top of Big Schloss. The steep hike to the ridge was taxing, to say the least. When we finally reached the ridge, we were rewarded with a beautiful view of the valley and a birdsong performance by several chickadees.

After a couple more miles, we reached the top of Big Schloss. We resting on the warm rocks for a bit and took in the view. Sitting on the huge outcrop of Tuscarora Sandstone, Geobeet looked about as happy as a brachiopod in the mud. As you know, he loves rocks.”

“Ah, listening to Motown and sippin' Mad Dog!

At Bear Heaven, west of the picnic area, is a huge jumble of rocks.
Before the timber thieves got there it must have been a city of bears.
I reckon the bears became dinner for the woodhicks about 100 years ago.”

“When the campground is being used, I'll bet the bears come back.

No Motown, and the only mad dog was me.”

“Sounds great, Cynthia. Bu8t, I am taking that challenge about the cook off very seriously. As you know, we will be deep in the throes of one in and around June 20th. Watch out, baby!!!


Glad you guys had a good time...”

“You're on! (paging through gourmet recipe book, looking for "Put Treebeard to Shame.")”

“Come on, Geo. Put up your ducks!”

“Forget it. Duck's too greasy...”

“Well, you said "exotic African music"..”

“Duck? Yuck!”

“I'm making ribs, Geo!”

“Best you can hope for with those ribs is a tie!”

“Ha! Spoken with a defeatist attitude already. Bet you a trip to the pound these will knock your dingus in the dirt...”

“Whatever the hell that means...

lol”

“The pound? Been there; done that!”

“Maple and I will sit back and sip on spirits while the two of you duck it out at the cook-off. Oh, and you have to watch the kids too!

Gotta warn ya Treebeard, this guy can cook!”

“Nobody, and I mean nobody, makes better bone sucking ribs than I! That's it, I am throwing in my hat on this cook-off. Watch out you two!”

“I am looking forward to meeting you and the family on a hike someday, hopefully on the Sods!”

“YEEHAH! This is getting better...”

“From another thread:

"how do you know maple isn't treebeard and she is cooking his ribs, remember 90% of the time she post under treebeards name"
Ewker
02:23:02 PM
04/07/03”

“He/She can't answer that one!”

“Ok, Geo. Give me some spelling words...Bring it on”

“You’re going to need an impartial taste tester. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm”

“Put up your ducks!
Run for your livers!”

“My ducks are up. I won't run for my liver! That tree dude is going down!”

“Tiiiiiiimmmmmmmbbbbbbber!”

“Swine! You are soon to be Geo-Beaten...”

“Yeah, yeah, tell it to the parking judge!”

“They towed his car too...”

“Everybody must get towed!”

“They'll tow when you try to be so good

They'll tow you when they said they would

They'll tow when you're trying to go home

They'll tow you when you're left all alone...”

“I thought this was a booze thread ?!?

These 400 million-year-old little buggers are really cute

- Lookout Geo, She's fallin' for ya!

HEY PENNSY - How come you never served me Champagne and Lamb Chops with African music?

hmm, now I'm hungry... gotta check the fridge...”

“and Treebeard would not feel so all alone...

everybody must get towed!!!

Oops, almost forget, nice trip reports! Pictures??????”

“...."Geobeet prepared a fabulous gourmet meal of marinated and grilled lamp chops, asparagus, potatoes and anise salad with mint and mandarin oranges".....


Anybody other than me get the feeling Ol' Geo's putting the moves on Cynthia?
Go for it dawg.”

“Lamp chops? Must have been a little tough!”

“Ribs, schmibbs!

I guess I'll have to do chicken.

No!
I'm not gonna DO the chicken!

Oooooo, the Sods!
That's about six weeks away!”

“WE will see you on the Sods.......end of May.

I am lookin' forward meeting you and that Geo guy.”

“Don't choke it, TT. Nobody in my family will eat it...”