Back to Maine

With weather all along the Mid-Atlantic AT, High Gear and I decided to head to Maine for the long weekend. Just past peak fall color down east so the forest is magnificent.

From the summit of Mt Madison

Clear and brisk!

Next phase begins!

The bald mountain in the background is Mt Washington, the highest peak in New England. (Ignore the bald peak in the foreground; that's just me.) :-)
Headed up the Auto Road to the summit. See 2010 for earlier pics from the top.

Pinnacle Rock

Took a break today in Pennsylvania to watch dozens of raptors flying around Pinnacle and Hawk Mountain.  They ride the drafts around the point and nest on the rocks below so it's a great vantage point to see the birds up close in flight from above and below but up close either way. The in-person view is spectacular but it is hard (for me at least) to get a good picture.
For those who are wondering,  I skipped north again after a few days of recovery from an infected foot. I go back to NYC soon to pick up my hiking partner for next week, so it made sen sense to stay near. Stay tuned for updates!

ATC Headquarters

The official halfway point on the trail is further north in Pennsylvania,  but the headquarters of the Appalachian Trail Conservancy is the more popular milestone marking the northern half of the trail from the southern half for most long distance hikers.

Raven Rocks

On the Virginia / West Virginia border only a few miles south of Harper's Ferry.

Secret X-Files projects?

One of the interesting things about northern Virginia is the trail runs alongside several high, barbed wire fenced, governmental facilities that are distinctly not open to the public. This one conducts conservation and breeding of endangered animals (cloning Saber tooth tigers or giant mastodons, maybe?). It's the Smithsonian National Zoological Park Research facilty. It used to be run by the US Army for breeding and training government mules among other projects...
Tomorrow takes me to Mount Weather, the FEMA Special Location that becomes the home of the federal government and the broadcast site for messages from the President over the Emergency Broadcast Network. Look it up on Wikipedia!

Exit

It's taken a few days but Shenandoah National Park is now fully to my south. Another week in northern Virginia and West Virginia then across the Potomac into Maryland. Stay tuned.

Pinnacle Mountain

Looking out over the Shenendoah Valley from Pinnacle Mountain.  Lots of humidity and haze today but use your imagination or plan your own trip in late fall or winter when the horizon stretches all the way across the valley.

Big Meadows Lodge

Today the AT brought us right beneath our window at the Big Meadows Lodge. Our room is about 200 feet behind us while we took this picture standing on the trail. This makes it closer to the trail than many shelters, and it includes air conditioning,  hot and unlimited showers (We still made it quick to preserve water.  Thanks for the reminder in the bathroom, Park Service!), fresh linens, soft beds, and hot meals prepared 3 times a day. Not a bad trailside experience if you're willing to pay.
Put another way for non-hikers, it's like staying at Disney's Wilderness Lodge but the wildlife outside your balcony window is actually wild and includes deer, bear, owls, racoons, skunks, squirrels, chipmunks, vultures,  hawks, and hikers!

Some views are better than others

Hightop Mountain in the morning clouds.

The rain stopped.

We got a break in the weather this afternoon, and the hiking/cycling went well. Started with a great downhill thrill ride on Skyline Drive.  I don't think our bikes had ever gone that fast!

Five minutes later...

Turns out the storm came through rather quickly and full of fury as soon as I posted our launch message! So we rather quickly changed plans, raced to restow the bikes and got back in the Jeep only soaked rather than submerged. We decided crashing our bikes in the rain careening down Skyline Drive wouldn't be the right way to start our trip. Pray for good weather soon!

Off to begin our hiking and cycling adventure!

We'll ride our bikes from our destination trailhead to our starting trailhead at Powell Gap today and slack pack back. Get the Jeep, retrieve the bikes, head to the lodge and repeat. Should be a great way to finish off the AT through Shenendoah.
The ranger just said a big storm might be coming tgrough, but today is a short day given our arrival late last night so we might as well get a few miles in...

Allentown Hiking Club Shelter

Stopping at the AHC shelter tonight after a drive from NYC and a relatively short hike. Too far to make it to the next shelter and the fog/rain make this dry and clean location a good place to stop. Kudos to the Allentown Hiking Club for building and keeping the shelter clean functional.
Back to Shenendoah later this month with Farsight, but knocking down a few miles here in the Keystone State for the next few days.

Black Rock Summit

Thousands of years ago, the Shenendoah Mountains were a huge cliff next to a beach! These giant sandstone rocks were probably tumbled down the cliff during the last ice age. Great info from a Park Service geologist I met at the top.

Saw Mill Run Overlook

Spent the night camping by a stream. Taking a short break at the overlook. The AT crosses Skyline Drive several times as it parallels the same course north through the national park.

In the clouds

Wet start today, but it's mostly drizzle and fog as I enter shenendoah national park.  Supposed to clear up by the evening.

The Search for America's Best Remodel 2014 | This Old House

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/m/yourtoh/remodel-contest/gallery?entry_id=537a533fbc5e7448f300ef1e&image_id=1

One of the places I stayed when I came through Cherokee and the Great Smokey Mountains on the AT has been fully restored and is one of the entries in the 2014 This Old House Search for America's Best Remodels. Check out the link above!

Solo hiker again

It was great to have company for a few days! But, duty and Indiana call and that leaves me moving north on my own. Tough day to miss though because within the first mile on the trail, I saw a turkey, a 4 foot black snake, and a bear cub. Momma Bear may have been near but I didn't see her. She was likely watching me...

Don't go too far to the right!

Full view of the woods

Just before the rain!

Thunderstorms and lightning...

In this case, not "very, very frightening" as the Queen song says, but it still got very, very wet! What would a trip hiking the Appalachian Trail be without a torrential downpour to turn the trail into a rapidly running stream?

What a back drop

View from Cedar Cliffs in Virginia

New hiking partner!

Happy to have him joining me for a few days.  We will finish up on the Blue Ridge and head into Shenandoah. No trail name yet, we'll see what happens...

At the top of Crabtree Falls

This was a spectacular sight that required using a blue blaze side trail off of the main AT. It was a bit longer distance but definitely worth the trip. Crabtree Falls was a constantly morphing massive waterfall.
I took this series a few days ago but I had been in the wilderness with no cell phone or data coverage. I'm posting now from Waynesboro, VA. In the next couple of days, I will move into Shenandoah National Park as the AT runs along Skyline Drive.

Near the middle of falls...

There is a great trail running for 1.7 miles right beside the falls. The falls are steep as you might expect so the trail has some switchbacks along the way.

And finally near the bottom...

Crabtree Falls were spectacular. They cascaded over 1400 feet for about a mile in a continously changing formation. I hope this series of blog posts gives you some sense of their scope. Definitely spectacular with the spring rains running from the peaks of The Priest wilderness.

Lunch in the sun

Enjoying some teriyaki jerky and an apricot Clif bar with some Gatorade on a rock surrounded by butterflies and a rushing, gushing mountain stream. Thanks to the super great support team in NYC for making this lunch possible!

Jennings Creek

Ready to start a new hiking season!

Test 1 2, testing 1 2

New phone, new hiking season. Stay tuned for updates coming soon...