Wolf Gap, West Virginia

“Oh goodie ! ! !

You won't be sorry!”

“uh, are you coming on to pennsy??”

“Ha, only his hair dresser knows for sure!”

“hahahaha”

“Oh wait, he has no hair.”

“but he most certainly used to”

“Do a mapquest search for Wolf Gap, West Virginia.

Its 12 miles west of I-81 Woodstock, Va exit.”

“too far for just a weekender:

Total Est. Time: 4 hours, 43 minutes Total Est. Distance: 266.85 miles”

“Roger!”

“maybe one day you'll schedule somethin a bit CLOSER!”

“What town are you in?”

“Warminster, PA”

“A friend's mother just passed, so I will be taking off on Tuesday for the funeral. Now with Tuesday off, plus the other problems mentioned in my thread, I need to throw in the towel for this trip.

MarkO, you mentioned you are in Towson. I am in Parkville, maybe 7 minutes away from the (dumb/stupid/idiotic) Towson roundabout. If you want to hook up for a trip in the near future, give a yell. I'm going to go check out the other trips now and see what I can fit in.”

“Ok, techntrek.

I'll be headed to the mountains in mid-April for another hair-brained adventure.

The Memorial Day Weekend will be a three-nighter to somewhere in the West Virginia Highlands.

Summer Solstice there will be a sizable party going to Dolly Sods.”

“I'm in Rogers Forge and I walk to work at the unversity here.

Commuting is good!”

“Nice easy walk up York Rd. No parking or gas guzzling problems, great. My brother lives near Johns Hopkins and walks to work there. Wish I could do the same, but no chance with my 35-mile round trip.

I'm going to Dolly Sods over Memorial weekend (non-TT trip)... I'll check out the other offerings.”

“I don't walk on York Road, I go by the university stadium.”

“i'm going to wolf gap this coming weekend.”

“Didn't get to Wolf Gap this past weekend, but Wardensville is still there, despite WVaDOT's concentrated effort to wipe the surrounding countryside off the face of the Earth with Corridor H construction. Lost River Valley has been lost for good between Baker and Wardensville.

The cop sends his regards Mark. He said he only stops Swampland drivers - lets all the other states go.”

“What do you do Geo, put a "Wild, Wonderful" tag on the front of your car when you go to WVa?

Here in Swampland we have two tags.”

“Yeah, well, we'uns from West By God and Burbsylvania do have the advantage of having only one tag, so everybody thinks I'm one of them in both states.

Then there's that friendly hand wave. People think a lot of West Virginians know me when I take them out there.”

“How many fingers?”

“Whichever ones that aren't needed to hold onto the steering wheel.

Don't you ever look at the driver in the vehicles passing you on backcountry roads in Virginia and WVa? The natives all wave. Sometimes it's an entire hand, sometimes three or four fingers, sometimes just the index finger.”

“"Whichever ones that aren't needed to hold onto the steering wheel."

...or the beer bottle.”

“No no, you hold the beer bottle with one hand and the steering wheel with the other.”

“Otherwise you could just wave with your free hand.”

“Attention:

I can not get to Wolf Gap before 3:00 PM!!!

I can't snatch the kids from school until 11:30 AM.

My preference is to hike south from Wolf Gap and over Tibbet Knob on Friday.

That would put us somewhere on Long Mountain Friday night after a hike of about 5-6 miles.

The second night would be spent somewhere between Sandstone Spring(water source) and Big Schloss.”

“see you at 3.”

“OK!”

“I'm not sure if I can get Friday off, so I'll be a maybe until Thurs probably.

Do you know what the trail conditions are like? Should I bring crampons and/or snowshoes? Also, Mapquest took me to Wolf Gap Rec area but I reckon I'll need directions to the trailhead.

Meet time 3pm Friday?”

“Pennsy, somehow I doubt there will be ice........aaaayyyyeeeeeeeee!

The trail goes north/south through the Wolf Gap Rec Area.

About 1.5 mile south is Tibbet Knob and 2 miles north is Big Schloss.

We begin and end at the gap.”

“The weather is lookin' like:

Friday--partly cloudy

Saturday--partly cloudy

Sunday--partly sunny

The temperatures should be, highs in the 50's and lows around freezing.

These mountains are in the rain shadow and are relatively dry.

The West Virginia Highlands get all the precipitation.”

“i have procured a copy of map f. going south over tibbet knob then north on long mountain trail. are we taking the bucktail cutoff trail to half moon from the north end of long mountain trail or are we bushwacking from the long mountain trail down across trout run and then up to half moon?”

“Uh, its been about twenty years since I've been on Long Mountain.

I seem to recall bushwacking along the mountain top and don't remember a trail up there.

Either way we cross Trout Run and then up to Half Moon Lookout.

I'll have to dig up my own Map F.

After Tibbet Knob there is some forest road walking and we wack our way onto Long Mountain.”

“my map shows a long mountain trail from the forest road over to the western end of bucktail cutoff trail (which leads to half moon). the long mountain trail doesn't appear to follow the ridgeline but more along the west side of it.”

“Ah yes!

There is a dirt road west of the ridge.

I've walked up to the west side and then over.

The ridge top is wider with tall trees on the southern part and it gets narrow and rocky to the north.

We can pretty much decide when we get there.”

“FYI Guys, there was no snow or ice this past weekend. I have no idea what's happening down there today. You might check weather.com, typing in Wardensville, WV for the location.”

“The weather looks good.

......partly cloudy with highs about 50 and lows at freezing or just below.

I'm sure there is no kinda snow pack.

That area doesn't get much snow normally.”

“Like I said Mark, none on the ground last weekend. Just a few stray patches. You could run into a patch or two, but should be able to get through or around it.”

“I can't stand to miss a trip to WV but I have to. I just started back to school and I'm really busy, and in the last week and a half I've drove to and from Alabama and to and from the top of Michigan--I don't think I can stand anymore driving. Is very tempting though.”

“The trail goes north/south through the Wolf Gap Rec Area.

How big is this area and what's the name of the trail? I don't have a trail map so I could sure use some help finding the trailhead.”

“pull into the parking lot at the wolf gap rec area. park by my car. say hello to me and away we'll go. by the looks of the map, the trail from there to the south is the tibbet knob trail. the trail from there to the north is the mill mountain trail. i'll scan that section of my map and post a link to it pennsy.

looking at the map, if you miss the rec area, you drive right through the center of trout run valley. we will be hiking the mountains on both sides with a drop down into it to cross the road. you take 42 out of woodstock to 675. turn right on 675 (wolf gap road) and that takes you past the rec area parking. it will be on the right and appears to be right by the road.”

“Cool, thanks Mister B! I couldn't help myself thinking about another rec area, Mt Rogers RA, with the many roads and trailheads that go through it.

I'm leaving for Maine early next Wednesday, but I really want to make this trip. Hopefully, I can get Fri off and pre prepare for the Maine trip somewhat so I can do this.”

“here you go. hope you can make it.”

“the orientation is a little funny. i wasn't paying much attention to that when i scanned it. wolf gap is at the upper left along the road (red/white line). that is 675. with the way it comes up when you click on it, the top is approximately southwest direction.”

“Thanks! That should be a big help. I'm sure I'll find you now. Just wave some fruitcake and I won't miss you for sure.

Mark said 3 oclock. Is that the time you'll be there also? I should know for sure by tomorrow night if I can make it but I'd say it's looking good.”

“i will probably get there a bit earlier than that and hike around or drive around for a while, or take a nap, or sit in my car and drink beer.”

“Wolf Gap Rec Area is at the top of the mountain. Drive past the first road to the right, which goes into the campground, to the second right, which is the parking lot. There is a pit toilet there if needed. Pump water is always rusty, so take along drinking water.”

“I should add that those directions apply after you enter the campground/rec area.”

“thanks geo.”