Wolf Gap (WV) trip report

“After a relaxing 4 hour drive, I pulled into the campground at the Wolf Gap Recreation Area campground around 4pm Thursday. 8 out of the 9 sites were empty so I was able to pick a great location, and set up camp. I couldn't get a cell phone signal, so I drove 13 miles back to rt81 to call Yam and give her specific directions. I drove back to the campground and was pleasantly surprised to see Hog On Ice in one of the other campsites. He grabbed his "colorful" camp chair and walked up to my site while we waited for Yam.

Yam arrived around 7:30 just as HOI and I were getting the campfire restarted. We were so busy bee-esssing, we didn't notice the fire going out (woops). It was good seeing Yam again. Heck, it had to be at least 4 days since I last saw her. :o) We hung around the campfire for a few hours, enjoyed a few spirits, and then crashed for the night.

Friday morning, we shuttled HOI's car since he could only do a day hike with us. Around 9am, we crossed the road into West Virginia and headed up the Tibbet's Knob Trail. It's a steepish climb to Tibbet's Knob, and the view is usually worth it. Unfortunately, everything was socked in with fog and visibility was near nil. We descended from the Knob, enjoying a nice forest hike in the fog until we reached a state dirt road that would lead us to Long Mountain. After an uphill walk on the dirt road that seemed to take forever, we finally reached the Long Mountain Trail.

The Long Mountain Trail is a pleasant 8 mile (approx) forest walk with gentle rolling hills, several small stream crossings, and a few rocky sections that will test your boots and ankles. The trail ends where it crosses Wolf Gap Road, with a long and winding desecent that seemed to take as long as the dirt road climb. Right before the road, it crosses a 25' wide stream that really challenges rock hopping skills. Since HOI was just about done with his hiking for the weekend, he just trodded right through the stream, while Yam and I searched and searched for a decent spot to cross. We finally accepted that we would get wet and crossed where we started. Amazingly, we managed to stay fairly dry and succeeded rock hopping across.

HOI hung with us for a while before saying his goodbyes. It was very nice hiking with HOI. I had met him twice before on Mt Rogers trips, but this was the first time we actually hiked together. I was happy that he was able to join us for the day. After dinner, we sat around the campfire for a bit and crashed early. While the day's hike wouldn't be classified as a buttkicker, the 13 miles tired us out.

Saturday, we were hoping for better weather. It was still overcast but at least the fog was finally gone. Yam and I headed up the Half Moon Trail, which warmed us up very quickly on a cool morning. A note for future trips: there's a good area for camping where the Half Moon Trail meets the Bucktail Cut-off Trail. It's near a stream and there is a fire ring. We took the side trail to Half Moon Lookout where we FINALLY enjoyed a view. It was cloudy but the views were still nice. We also noticed some decent campsites up top but did not see any sign of water sources. A hunter we met on Friday did mention that there is a spring on the other side of Half Moon, near the top, but we didn't see it.

After taking a snack break, we headed back from Half Moon, and headed up towards Mill Mountain. We briefly hiked on the Tuscarora Trail (blue) before making the right turn onto the Mill Mountain Trail (orange). Yam and I both enjoyed this trail a lot, mostly a ridge walk with gentle hills. We came across several campsites, and although there wasn't much water up there, we did find a nice spring near one of them, about 1/3 of the way towards Big Schloss.

Speaking of Big Schloss, it was awesome! The views were really great up there, and there is even a few campsites right near the top. While on top, I looked down to see the interesting "appendage" that MarkO keeps talking about (see pics). The only downside was that there were a ton of people up there, being only 2 miles from Wolf Gap.

From Big Schloss, we continued on the Mill Mt Trail for 2 miles, that ended with a steep descent right into the Wolf Gap Campground. The campground was full with weekend campers, so it was good that we left a site "intact" on Thursday. The day's hike was 12 miles, so with a 25 mile weekend, we thought we deserved a better meal than campfood, so we drove to the Pizza Hut in Woodstock and enjoyed. :o) Once back in camp, we got a roaring fire going and relaxed with a few cocktails.

It rained most of the night, but let up in the morning for a bit which made camp break-down less painful. Yam and I said our goodbyes, and she headed south while I headed north. All in all, it was a very nice weekend even if we only saw the sun for 5 minutes. It was nice seeing HOI again, and it's always a pleasure getting together with my friend Yam. Yay.

Oh, Here's some pics. Next time, I gurantee blue sky.”

“awesome pics... great foliage.”

“nice TR and pics pennsy. I particularly like the pic of Yam taking a break on Half Moon. If she were drinking a coffee, that would be a perfect Folgers ad.

I have no idea why my messed up brain thought "Folgers ad".

yeah, anyway....sweet.”

“Nice report and pics! Not as nice as mine, but hey...”

“yeah, but I had better company than you. Pffffftttt!

LOL Ivygal! Maybe we can market something right here on TT.”

“Who needs blue skies? Your pics are great!”

“If I only knew you had a fire going I would've went on this trip. lol. You know I am just kidding. Great TR and great pics. It did look like this would be a great trip. I got to remember that one.

are you guys going to grayson this weekend??”

“Thanks Tara!

Gem - you'll get your chance. I can see going back there again, especially if there is a good weather forecast.

Mt Rogers is highly unlikely for me this time. :o(”

“Wow, we may have tall mountains out West, but our fall colors are pitiful compared to yours. I really enjoyed the forever views of the trees. One day, we'll come visit.”

“Alright!!

Too bad Gemini didn't get to see the Big Schlong on Big Schloss!!

Dang, 25 miles is a long two days.

The area does tend to get overrun with people on nice weekends.

Bruce, you saw HOI on Roaring Plains last October.
Maybe that trip is all a fog to you...>8^)”

“Wow. What a great trip out. I loved the colors! Even driving my 9 hour drive to WV was worth it, the fall foliage was everywhere!!

The hike on Friday was crazy foggy! Although it made for poor viewing, it was still really fun to hike in. Kept the temps down, that's for sure!

Saturday was a fun hike, too. I loved Big Schloss, although I had that horrible fear of jumping off the rock for no particular reason. The views that day were spectacular, and the colors were a treat again.

It was great to see Pennsy again (of course) and really wonderful to meet HOI!!!

gem, baume, and marko, wish you coulda joined us. i really enjoyed that area and wouldn't mind finding something near there to check out in the future.
as for my pics, they'll be a while. dial up is sllllllllllllowwwwwwwwwwww.”

“Ok. It took like 30 minutes to upload these 5...I'm bored w/ waiting for them, so here's the first pics, I'll add more later. : )

Wolf Gap
last edited: 10/24/04 9:37:20 PM”

“Yikes, what did you do? Everything is purple! Oh, I bet you just finished watching the Vikings game on tape. Yeesh.
last edited: 10/24/04 10:22:44 PM”

“Nice TR and Pictures. Yeah, we needed the sun up in NY this weekend to break BackSlacker's rain curse and, oh yeah, to taunt EarthNSky with about bailing out on what was quite possibly the best weather we had all year...

Anywhoo, sounds like y'all had a blast. Perhaps I'll be able to go check out that area sometime next year...”

“Dang Yamityville, I'm sorry I missed ya.
WTF...horrible fear of jumping off The Rock for no particular reason???
(Is this girl a bit nutty?)

Many years ago I crept out onto the rocks at Tibbet Knob awakened by the urge to tinkle in the middle of a January night.

It was about 18* and windy with a full moon illuminating all of Trout Run Valley.

I could see Big Schloss like a great grey fortress three miles north of me.

Sixty seconds of that and my face was frozen, so back in the sack I went under a tarp in the relative shelter of the mountain laurel.”

“Great report and pics! Yam's critter was cute! And why are ya killin' leaves, yammy?
LOL...”

“Cute??

I thought it was kinda scary!”

“Hey guys, great pics and TR! I wish I could have joined you. Maybe next time. How was that drive, Yam?”

“Great area. Big Schloss is great, but only when there aren't crowds of people there. Wolf Gap is a favorite base camp for fossil hunts. Tibbets Knob is on my short list whenever both my legs heal.”

“marko,
it's this weird thing i have (my dad has it too, and some other people i've talked to) where i have this crazy desire to jump from high places. it's creepy and it freaks me out. i'm not suicidal, i just get these urges to see what would happen if i did jump. i hate it. ANYWAY, too bad you didn't make it again. since you planned the trip!! : )”

“WHO planned the trip?
*sigh* I get no respect.”

“i'm with you yam. i think like that about jumping sometimes too. not that i want to jump, just wondering what it would be like if i did. it only happens when i'm on the edge of something.....or up in a tree....

i did bungee jump before. you would think that would satisfiy the curiosity but i still think like that.
last edited: 10/25/04 9:33:27 PM”

“I get the desire to jump off a cliff everytime I hike with MarkO.”

“baume! yes! like from ski lift chairs or cliff edges or high bridges over rivers...there's gotta be a name for that psycho thought process. Artex had said he read an article about it somewhere, but, of course, he can't remember the name of it. I guess we're just doomed to live this way forever. : (

ah Pennsy, I just thought Marko had planned it cuz he'd emailed all the route info to you and I in the beginning, but you know what--you did bunches of work, too!”

“Dang right!

I gave him my map and "suggested" the route.

Don't jump.........before you give me some of your gear!”

“Nice Trip, great views on "half moon"!
moohahahaha

My favorite pics are; "yam, killin a leaf, or somethin" and "map confusion"
- Elite trailtalkers, I tells ya!

so no pictures of nobody slugging yam? What kind of trip was that?”

“well Capn you were not there to do the deed so pbbttthhh.”

“yeah, BOO, i save all the sluggin' for you. :)”

“I'm savin' all my sluggin'


for yew-eh-ewww!!!”

“Oh yeah,
And a group shot would have been nice!

Sheesh! What did that Peensy have on his mind? (you too HOI!)”

“you're so demanding, BOO. maybe you shoulda just come and taken a shot and then left again. yeah. and sang me a sonet, too.”

“Yamster - hows the new jobbie? Whatcha gonna be for halloweenie?”

“Whatcha gonna be for halloweenie?”
embear
12:37:37 PM
10/26/04

That's a loaded question!”

“Great trip report and pictures. It looked a little damp out there. A campfire was certainly in order. YAM I guess we will have to tie a rope around you if you ever make it out to the west coast and the Sierra. (There are way to many places to jump)”

“yep - I imagine that Kendall's Katwalk would be a real problem for someone with that issue”

“"All My Sluggin'"

That sounds like a Beatles song.

yamity, will you ever return?”

“When MarkO bailed, he lost all trip planning creds. Sorry MarkO, you must have missed the auction last year that Tarabull won. All my gear has been willed to her. (note to self: do NOT turn back on TB.)

Boo Boo - no one got slugged, but we did slug down a few brewskies. Does that count?

Yammy, you're posting during the day? Wow, that didn't take long. :o)”

“Great TR and pics everyone.

Yam and baume, add me to your list of sickos. I kept thinking of the same thing when we were hiking the Knife Edge on Katahdin this summer.”

“hey pennsy, i'm starting slow on posting...just during lunch. heh heh

hey embear!! i really wanna go as YOU for halloween, but it's gonna be tough to be perfection. : )”

“WLD--make that 4 ropes. you just never know, one might break. ; )”

“especially with Yam around. She already told me that she'd cut MY rope.”