Walking on, Walking on Broken Glass, She nandoah TR

“I had this past Wedensday off and felt like I needed one last adventure before the close of the year. I have had a Shenandoah National Park itch for a while and I have never been there in the winter before. I was going to go solo and there are many loop options in Shenandoah, but fortunately greenmonkee signed on last minute, to an already last minute trip.

The trip was interesting and quite an adventure, definitely full of surprises, beautiful scenery and some risks were taken, but we got out ok and lessons were learned.

Over all, it was one of the harder backpacking trips I have ever been on, but looking back it was quite rewarding and I'm glad to have gone. It was a pleasure to have greenmonkee along the way. That boy can trailrun, I mean hike!

I'll post a real trip report here either tonight or tomorrow. I'm still recovering and I am beat.
last edited: 12/22/05 8:39:21 PM”

“for now, here are the pictures I took. I know greenmonkee will have some to add too!”

“how many miles man?”

“It always amazes me how different that park looks in summer compared to winter.”

“It was 6:25 Tuesday night and I was wrapping up my doings at work. I had talked to greenmonkee a half hour earlier and he said he was closeby. I knew he'd be there in the parking lot waiting for me.

Earlier in the day was my office Christmas party, so I raided the fridge and took two club sandwhiches for the road. Sure enough, greenmonkee was in the parking lot waiting for me by his car. He was already donning his backcountry apparrel and we quickly loaded his gear into my car. I handed him a sandwich and went back inside to change into my gear.

Twenty minutes later, it was all interstate 83 south towards Baltimore. We were excited and rocking out to Supergrass pumping on the stereo. This was a mission, we both were looking for a backcountry adventure.

It didn't seem like it was long at all and we were getting off of interstate 66 and onto US 29 towards Warrenton, west of Washington. It was a very dark night. I noticed that much of snow had melted and was patchy at best. I wondered if we would have snow in the mountains for our hike.

We passed a sign southwest of Warrenton, VA that read "Blue Ridge Mountain Inn" and greenmonkee read it aloud. I could tell he was brimming with excitement. So was I, it had been sometime since I had been to Shenandoah National Park.

I had come up with a 21 mile loop that included a 10 miles stretch of the Appalachian Trail. The plan was to start from Skyline Drive near Skyland and then 6 miles down into Nicholson Hollow and camp by a waterfall on a branch of Hughes River. On Wedensday we would take some trails up and over some ridges and down into some that hollows that come off the main spine of the Blue Ridge. Finally we would get to the Appalachian Trail and then we would take that back to my car. It was an ambitious plan for this time of year, but it could have been done.

It was just before 10pm and we were passing through Sperryville, VA on US 211. I pointed out the turn to Old Rag Mountain to greenmonkee. He had never hiked in Shenandoah before, but he had been on Skyline drive once a few years back. Skyline Drive is a beautiful drive, but it is merely a teaser when it comes to the splendure that makes up the park. To be fully enjoyed, one has to venture into the backcountry. Looking over, I could see that he was all smiles.

The road turned to the west and we began the slow curvy ascent to Thorton Gap.
last edited: 12/22/05 9:15:33 PM”

“We finally arrived in Thorton Gap and turned onto the ramp up to Skyline Drive. When we got to the gate, there was a sign in the window, "Skyline drive closed due to winter conditions" . Looking out in front of us, a line of cones blocked entry onto Skyline Drive. It took a few seconds to register. I looked back at the sign and scratched my head. I then asked greenmonkee if Skyline drive was closed and he said yes. I couldn't believe it. This changed everything. What would we do? I never thought to call the park to check and see if the road would be open. This was the first lesson I learned on this trip.

While we were still sitting under the gate idling, I opened up the map of the park's central district. I remembered seeing some cars parked at a dark trailhead down along Rt 211 at the base of the mountain, near the entrance to the park. That trailhead was for Buck Ridge and Buck Hollow Trails. Both trails climbed 2000 feet to a parking area on Skyline Drive at a big trail junction with the Hazel Mountain Trail and the Spring Meadow Trail, both of which were part of my ultimate loop.

The Buck Ridge trail looked shorter and more direct, but it was really steep, where as the Buck Hollow trail was more gradual. we decided that we could climb the Blue Ridge Mountain by the Buck Hollow Trail and then take the Spring Meadow trail up to the Appalachian Trail and then hike over towards Mary's Rock and find a place to camp. This way we could complete salvage the loop, but we would be adding 7.5 miles to our hike. Even though it made our already ambitious hike even more ambitious, we both liked the idea and turned around and headed back down the mountain on 211 to the trailhead.

The trailhead was about 800 feet and not far from the 211 entrance to the park, it was pushing 11pm. It was very dark, but the weather didn't seem that cold. We quickly geared up and I decided to put on my snowshoes last minute, even though there wasn't much snow at the trailhead.

We started in and right away there was a big creek crossing and then another, both were easily rock hopped across. After the second creek crossing, I took off my snowshoes, the trail was well broken and they were not needed at this point.

Even with our headlamps on, it was very dark and it continued to get dark the further we penitrated into the hollow. Every now and then we heard noises coming from the woods, but we couldn't identify what they were coming from. The trail at the base of the hollow was fairly level, but after a mile or so, it began to climb pretty steeply. We could feel the air temperature getting cooler the higher we climbed.

The further into the hollow, the narrower the walls of the hollow became and the steeper the trail got. At one point, the half moon crested the ridge behind us and to our right and it was beautiful. It was very large and orange in color. As it got higher into the sky it turned brighter and helped light up the hollow.

After a little more than an our and three miles later, we reached Skyline drive. It was definitely a lot cooler up on Skyline drive. A sign gave us the elevation, 2804 and greenmonkee adjusted the altimiter on his watch. After some searching, we found the Spring Meadow Trail. This trail was hardly broken compared to the Buck Hollow trail, but except for a pair of footprints that broke through the icy snow here and there.

There was a lot of snow on the mountain. As we increased our altitude, so increased the snow level. I am guessing that there was around 8" of snow and it was glazed with ice an inch thick. Most of the time the ice supported our weight, every now and then we broke through. The ice decreased progress though and made walking very slick.

We turned onto the Spring Meadow Trail and it was close to a mile up to the AT and it climbed another 700 feet. It was very pretty though. The moon was now high in the sky and its light was reflecting off the snow and creating sillouettes with the trees and rock formations. I was very taken by the night scenery.

We finally reached the AT and then turned right towards Mary's Rock, which was still a half mile away. We thought about camping up at Mary's Rock, but once we got up on the ridge and into some exposure, we realized the wind was blowing pretty hard and owned a bitey chill. About 3 tenths of a mile from Mary's Rock, we could a small cove that protected us from the wind for the most part and offered a flat place to camp.

It was 1am and we quickly set up camp and it didn't take long 'til we started to feel exactly how cold it was. NOAA predicted it would be in the low teens in the higher elevations of Shenandoah and that felt fairy accurate. The windchill though, made it feel even colder.

We both had an enertia meal and for an early morning dinner :). We got some 24 ounce cans of beer along the way, but since it was so cold, I decided save them for later. Besides, mine was completely frozen.

We chatted for a little while and then fell asleep. I slept pretty warm and cozy. Greenmonkee said he got really cold around 4am. I remember hearing him shuffling around. We planned to get up early and to be hiking before 7 and possibly see the sunrise from Mary's Rock, but I slept soundly until 745. It didn't take long to eat breakfast and pack and before long, we were back on the AT, heading north to Mary's Rock, which wasn't far from camp at all. There were a couple overlooks along the way and we stopped, but the real show was Mary's Rock. That is once of the best views I have had the pleasure to see in Shenandoah and it pretty much offers a 360 degree view. It sort of reminded me of Charlie's Bunion.

We soaked up the view at Mary's Rock and then turned around and started back south on the Appalachian Trail, I was hoping to be on Old Stoney Man around lunch time.

We dropped down off of Mary's Rock and into a shallow Gap, where we found a large group of college kids camping in a dayuse only byrd's nest shelter. They even had a rip roaring fire going and fires are not allowed anymore. I considered scolding them for camping in the shelter and having a fire, but I decided not to, besides, they were friendlies. We chatted with them for a little, they were surprised to see us out there hiking. Their plans were also altered by the closing of Skyline Drive.

As soon as you pass the shelter, the trail takes a gradual climb out of the gap and up towards the Pinnacle (of Shenandoah, not to be confused with the PA Pinnacle). The higher we got, the icier the trees were and it was lovely to see them glistening in the morning sun. The trail was loaded with broken ice that had fallen off the tree limbs. When you stepped on it, it felt and sounded like walking on broken glass.”

“That byrds nest doesn't offer much shelter, but I guess there is a fireplace in there.”

“as far as I know there is no problem having a fire at that shelter and as for camping - well if you don't get caught you don't pay the fine - with the reductions in staffing that shelter rarely gets patrolled - check the road that leads to the shelter - you can usually tell if the rangers have driven up to it lately

wrt the ice from the trees - I was up on Hightop a few days ago when that ice was coming down - very pretty in the sunshine but the dang stuff hurt like heck when it hit you on the way down - some of the pieces were six inches long by about two inches in diameter - most were smaller but it still was like hiking through a rain fall of ice cubes at times
last edited: 12/23/05 6:22:09 AM”

“I have more TR to write, I'll try and get the rest up today.”

“Great TR and Pictures so far EnS!! I look forward to the rest.”

“Great report ENS, last time I was at Byrds Nest the fireplace was bricked in. And of course it's signed 'no camping, no fires'.
HOI is right though, there is very little ranger activity away from the Skyline drive.
The only Rangers I ever see when backpacking there are on the road.”

“which Byrd's nest leadfoot? - the only one I know that has had the fireplace bricked up is the one on Hawksbill, the other three are still OK for fires unless that has changed recently”

“Nice!!”

“Awesome so far ENS, That's one hell of a night hike!”

“ENS you lucky rascal, if only East Texas had hills like that.....................”

“Nice trip, Nature Boy!!

(check your e-mail)”

“HOI, you're right, it was the Hawksbill shelter I was thinking of.

That was a heck of a climb you guys did, ENS, it's a grunt in broad daylight.


Weather looks good for a hike tomorrow...”

“i like this one the best

http://community.webshots.com/photo/527158449/527169236sejoxG


thanks for the TR ENS”

“BTW chappy, notice that since it's a webshots photo, i only posted the link to the pic. :D”

“Just got back from VT last night. Awsome pics and the TR is great so far. Where's the rest? I havn't even started mine yet or developed my pics. I'll try to get on it ASAP.

Slacker, I'll be in touch soon to do the exchange. Thanks again.”

“No prob GM, talk to you soon....”

“I wanted to check with you before I finished it. We had quite an adventure, made some mistakes, but got through unscathed. Looking forward to your report and your photos as well.”

“oh man, I just spent a few hours rewriting the trip report and I really liked what I had written and I hit post and for some reason, it didn't take. What a major bummer! :( I'm going to bed.”

“Write them up on Word or Wordpad and then paste em'.”