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Chimney Top along the Riprap Trail

I was down in Charlottesville to see Widespread Panic so with it being a beautiful late summer day I decided to hike a trail in the Southern tip of the Shenandoah National Forest.  I have hiked in the park numerous times before but never managed to make it down this far into the park.  After  quick search on the park website I decided on the Riprap Trail.  According to some reviews I read it has two rocky overlooks and further down the trail offers a swimming hole for anyone feeling really adventurous.

I left home with plenty of time to get down to the park for a nice long hike before I had to get to the Pavilion for the show.  The drive down took me through rural Virginia on mostly two lane roads which was really nice.  I had a cigar in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, mind you not at the same time I am driving after all, just enjoying the beautiful country side.  Several hours later was at the entrance of the Shenandoah National Park, in fact I drove past it the first time.  I knew it was coming up and I was looking for sign, I just missed it.

The park certainly was busy that day as I passed car after car coming down the road and every hiking area and pull over spot was almost filled with cars and people.  I was just hoping that I would be able to find a spot to park at the Riprap trail, my backup plan was to hit the next parking spot and just hike a different trail.  When I finally arrived the lot was full, but a few spaces still remained.

You hike a couple hundred feet on the Appalachian trail before taking a left for the Riprap trail.  When I passed a small group was sitting around the post marker enjoying an early breakfast.  From here the hike traveled slowly up the mountain side through the forest.  When I reached the first over look, Calvary Rocks, it over looked the valley leading down from the mountains to the flat planes to the west.  Maybe some of the pictures will do it justice, just check out my gallery on this hike.  I spent quite a bit of time here, it was peaceful.  The leaves were just starting to turn on some of the trees and the temperatures were great.  I swung my legs over the rock edge and ate some food even.  One thing I noticed here were a few spikes in the rocks, it appears people use this for rock climbing which is a good idea.  The rocks are any where form 20-30′ and very steep.  This certainly is not climbing El Capitan, but a moderate challenge for anyone just starting out.

view along the trail

The next over look at Chimney Rock I thought was less spectacular.  This one look out across the valley towards New Hope and the surrounding area.  Like usual haze obscured much of the view making visibility only a few miles.  Here the rock outcropping was not conducive to sitting which made the decision to not stay long much easier to make.

From this point on the trailed slowly snaked down the mountainside till it reached the valley and much flatter ground below.  The further I walked down I started to realize that I would eventually have to make my way backup the mountain.  Going down was pretty hard on my knees and going up is always a ball buster on my thighs.  Once down in the valley it snakes along a large creek/small river and offers many pools, a couple deep enough to going swimming in.  I didn’t swim this time but I could imagine how good it would feel in the middle of summer to reach the pool and do a little swimming.

At the bottom of the valley after several hours of hike and going about 4.5 miles I decided it was time to turn around and head back.  I certainly was not looking forward to the climb up the hill but I kept telling my self “left foot then your right, repeat.”  I noted the height at Chimney Rocks which was around 2800′ and I was at 1700′.  Ugh.  Even then I still had a couple hundred feet to go to reach the highest point on the trail around 3000′.

When I finally made it back to my truck I was tired as crap but I felt good.  I still had some time to kill before the show and the weather was nice so I lounged in the park.  I unpacked at the truck and went down to an over look and parked my truck.  I got into the bed of my truck and worked on photos from the hike while the sun slowly set behind me bathing the valley in a gold halo of light.  Very beautiful while I worked.

Some random states: I hiked 9.03 miles round trip, lowest point was 1693′ along the valley floor, highest point was 3000′ at the Appalachian/Riprap trail marker, took about 5 hours all told.  I soon realized at 9 miles I should have just continued and done the circuit instead of back tracking.  I would have hiked about a half mile more according to the mile markers and might have taken 20 more minutes.  This is not the first time I have back tracked when I should have just done the circuit.

loved the green moss on the rock

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I totally forgot to make a post about my recent, well over two months ago at this point, hike to Whiteoak Canyon in the Shenandoah National Forest.  Since my hikes early in the year to Prince William Forest in late winter and Pinckney Island while on vacation to Hilton Head, I have not been able to get out and enjoy the spring weather.  During spring the weather was not sure what it wanted to do.  Some days it was cold and other times it was mid-summer hot.  Once day it broke a record and reached temperatures over 90 degrees.  Throw in unpredictable rain and it made for a pretty bizarre spring.

After much debating I was determined to get out and hike somewhere, anywhere for an afternoon.  I couldn’t have picked a worse weekend to try and get outside, but with my busy schedule I can’t be to choosy.  I set out early Sunday morning for Old Rag and the weather was not looking good.  My house was suppose to get rain in the afternoon and the Shenandoah looked pretty clear all day.  I decided to take my chance and make the 2.5 hour drive regardless of the weather.  I figured it couldn’t be that bad and if things did turn south at least the drive would be nice.  The whole drive West the sky was filled with dark clouds and a cool breeze, but no rain.  As I passed Sperryville down 231 it started to drizzle and I was getting worried.  By the time I got to the parking lot for Old Rag there was a pretty steady rain and I decided to drive a further south to Whiteoak Canyon and try my luck there.  I was hoping that further South I drove the weather would be more cooperative.

When I arrived at Whiteoak Canyon, I was surprised to see a good number of people in the lot.  They, like me, were not going to let a little rain ruin their opportunity for a hike.  I was able to get a parking spot close to the trail head and started hiking soon after getting my gear organized.  I decided to travel extremely light this time just in case the heavens did decided to open up beyond an annoying drizzle.  This unfortunately meant most of my camera gear stayed in the truck, my 18-55 lens was all I brought.

nice view for lunch

The clouds never broke and the temperatures remained rather low all afternoon.  Fortunately the heaviest rain passed well north of my location so a mild drizzle was all I got.  I snapped a few photos and did a little adventuring near the lower waterfall.  There is a little creek that flows into the main body of water just before the waterfall.  I have passed it numerous times and finally decided to do a little explorer.  The creek leads into a small valley that is strewn with boulders of all imaginable sizes.  I did my best to climb up them, but eventually I gave up and tried climbing the steep raven walls.  This little adventure caused me a lot of trouble, I had numerous battle wounds when I finally got back to the main trail.

When I arrived at the waterfall I climbed to the top and enjoyed a packed lunch.  That last little hike up to the top of the waterfall is steep and took it out of me.  The cool temperatures allowed me to cool off while I ate my lunch and get a little entertainment.  I watch three guys climb down the side of the mountain from the top of the waterfall, instead of taking the trail.  The trail might be longer, but it certainly is safer then walking straight down the hill.

After enjoying the solitude for a while I made short work of the hike back to my truck.  The weather condition where certainly not ideal, but I needed to get outside so badly I didn’t care what the weather was like.  As I write this post it has been over two months to the day sense this hike and I am jonesing for another.  I will be traveling to Portsmouth, VA with a friend for MMW at the Norva Theatre followed the next day by Phish at nTelos Pavilion.  Hopefully I can squeeze a hike in between the shows.  If not, I know I will certainly have the time when I am up in Saratoga Springs, NY for a weekend filled with yet more Phish shows.

purple spring flowers

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I hiked Prince William Forest a few weeks ago, right after Spring officially began.  This weekend I thought I would head out to Shenandoah National Park to hike a longer trail and see what Spring looked like in the mountains.  Not surprisingly the parking lot was pretty darn full when I arrived.  Walking up to the park ranger house I had to ford a river, the water was flowing over top the tiny bridge leading to it.  Both on Thursday and Friday it rained in the area and all the creeks where filled with water and running quickly.  Before I even started my hike I was already wet.

blue spring flowers

When I got to the park ranger house I spoke with one of them about the trails.  I told him I was hiking Cedar Run Trail and he asked if I was doing the loop.  He had heard from other hikers that the creek crossing at the first falls on Cedar Run Trail were completely flooded and I would have to make a water crossing.  I was not going to hike the full 8.5 mile loop so a little water wouldn’t bother me.  I could not imagine how high the water level actually was until I got there, more on that later.

Starting the hike at the base of the mountain it quickly climbs the mountain in a rather narrow valley.  The whole way up I kept finding all these little flowers that had sprung up along the trail and this slowed my hike considerable.  Every time I would come across a patch of them I would have to stop and take some pictures.  Sometimes having to move off the trail to let others pass, there were a ton of people out enjoying the park on this beautiful day.

Cedar Run Falls

When I reached the first fall it was about 20′ tall and the pool at the base was completely flooded.  There was no dry way to cross the river, I mean creek.  The 5 or so people in front of me had already scouted out the area and came to the same conclusion.  The only way to get across was taking your shoes off and walking through the water.  This was not going to be a problem for me at all, I was actually looking forward to it.  But before I crossed I decided to hike up the side of the mountain and get in closer to the water fall.

I wanted to get some shots of the water fall looking down to the pool with the flowing creek in the back ground.  My hike up was a little treacherous once I started.  There were plenty of rocks but they had all been heaved up and just sat on loose dirt, making for a slippery climb.  After making my way up I cut across towards the top of the fall and got some good shots of the rushing water.  The sound was intense and peaceful in a way.  It was not the “quite” kind of peaceful, more of the “nature” kind of peace.  I sat on one of the rocks that over looked a section of the fall while I composed my shots and just relaxed.  When I was finished I checked further up the creek sense I was already here and there was not a better spot to cross.  So I slide down the hill and crossed the creek at the pool.  The flow of the water was manageable, the rocks were not to slippery, I never lost my footing once.  The only problem was the temperature of the water, it was COLD!  After 20 seconds I couldn’t wait to get out and warm my feet.

Now on the other side of the creek I put my shoes on and continued my hike.  It became much stepper of a hike but when I made it to the second water fall it was well worth the effort.  As I topped a small hill I could see two distinct falls in front of me.  The first was about 25′ tall and 20′ wide, the second was much narrower but easily 40′ tall.  I was determined to explore further both falls and get as close to each as I could.

a splash of color

For the first fall in this series I had to slide down the hill off the beaten path to the base of the wall.  Here there were some rocks perfectly situated in the middle of the pool at the back.  Very carefully I made my way over to the rock to snap some shots, but quickly.  The water was rushing down so fast and the wind blowing spray made taking pictures a little difficult.  But I quickly snapped some shots and moved to a safer spot for the rest of my shots.  Next it was a hike up the steep hill and onto the next fall in this series.

Here I was able to get close to the edge without much difficultly, so I decided to take a break and enjoy some lunch with the roaring sound of the water fall in the back ground.  I spent quite a bit of time sitting on the rocks over looking the falls, all in my quest to relax.  At this fall there was no way to make it down to the base, no extreme climbing this time.  After my break I hiked a little further up the trail and decided to I needed to turn around.  Not that it was getting late, but I know myself to well and it would take a couple hours to get back down the mountain, stopping all the time to photos.  I was also going to take the Cedar Run Link Trail which hooks up with the Whiteoak Canyon Trail to extend my hike just a little further.

On my way down I did find some more opportunities to take pictures and to chat with some other hikers.  I ran into a couple that was camping in the park.  They had been hiking for 6 hours and were looking for a flat spot to setup camp.  They asked if any flat spots were around and unfortunately I didn’t know of any, I think the only good places are at the top of the mountain and the bottom of the mountain.  It is to narrow and steep to find any meaningful flat areas.

Back down the trail I took my turn onto the Cedar Run Link Trail for some more hiking.  This turned into a wet and muddy trail.  The heavy rain fall turned large sections of the trail into mini-creeks, something I was getting tired of at this point.  When I got to the end of the link and onto the Whiteoak Canyon Trail there was another swollen creek crossing.  At least for this one I didn’t have to take my shoes off and wade into the water.  Even with the high water there were rocks evenly spaced across the 20′ creek that provided perfect stepping stones to get across.

really?

Once I made it across it was a short easy hike back to my truck.  I was happy to be back by this point.  I wanted nothing more than to take my hiking boots off and smoke a cigar on the drive home.  Fortunately my Smartwool socks kept my feed dry even though my boots were water logged.  It was a great hike and I look forward to coming back when the weather gets a little warmer.  I would like to swim around in some of the pools on a hot summer day, maybe even slide down or jump off the falls even.

PS: I wish I could say this was the only piece of trash I saw on the trail, but then I would be lying.  Why do people think its ok to leave trash in a national park?  To lazy to hike it out, come on.  When I see stuff like this it really pisses me off.

summit of Old Rag

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So it’s the weekend after Christmas and the weather outside was perfect.  The sun was shinning, no rain in the forecast, and the temperatures was in the low 60′s.  What a perfect opportunity to get one last hike in before the end of the year and one last use out of my 2008 National Park Pass.  So I packed my hiking bag and headed out to my local stomping ground, Old Rag Mountain, for a day hike.

I was able to arrive at the overflow lot around 10am.  By this time all the early morning fog had burned off, but the trail was still very muddy.  For several days it had rained on and off.  I could deal with the muddy trail, that’s what hiking boots are for.  What I was concerned about was the wet rocks.  I didn’t think there would be any ice since the temperatures had not fallen below freezing for almost a week.  Nevertheless it would still be a dicey hike up the mountain.

On my way up I quickly shed my light jacket I was wearing, never having to put it back on.  The temperatures quickly rose and the wind never became a problem.  At one point on the trail up there was a noticeable temperature change.  The wind was blowing hard down the mountain and was about 15 degrees warmer.  If I stepped back just 10′ it got cooler again, very bizarre.

fellow hikers

After a short hike in the mud it was time for the rock scramble to the summit.  I was a little worried about slick rocks, this is not a place you want to slip and fall.  You could literally fall off the mountain to a not so soft landing.  But the chance of death certainly added to the thrill of climbing up the mountain this time.  With a more perraless hike I got a few more cuts and my camera took a few good knocks from slipping.  But never once did I completely loose my balance.  I even lost a lens cap at one point crawling around the rocks.  Fortunately when I was about to leave the summit a guys comes walking up with it in hand.  I couldn’t thank that guy enough for finding it and returning it.

When I reached the summit this time there were a lot of people, so finding some solitude would be pretty hard this time around.  I am starting to think I have to come up in a rain or snow storm for no one to be here.  Thankfully there were far fewer people this time around and I could find a spot to rest and eat lunch.  I took a spot on the rocks facing towards Robertson Mountain which I hiked just a few weeks earlier.  For what it was it was a peaceful lunch on a perfect day for hiking.  I spent a long time at the summit exploring and taking as many pictures as I could.  This was my first opportunity to use my 75-300mm lens on this mountain.  Even though the scenery was the same, I was getting a completely different perspective with my new lens.

rotten tree

I spent enough time on the summit so I headed down the fire road back to the parking lot.  I love this part of the hike.  It might be longer this way back to the car, but certainly easier.  There are no rocks to climb over or squeeze through and the grade is very manageable.  Certainly easier on my knees going this way.  I also like the walk through the forest once you have reached the valley.  You are surrounded by a ton of trees that just envelope you in nature, even more so in summer and fall.

Once I got back to my truck it was off to home.  A short drive back with a stop at the grocery store for dinner that night and my day was complete.  I love hiking that section of the Shenandoah, it’s just beautiful.

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I know its the middle of December.  So not only is it the middle of a shortened shopping season, but it’s COLD as crap outside.  The whole shopping thing I didn’t mind about, I would much rather be outside than shopping any day.  As for the cold I just purchased a new North Face Amplitude three season jacket and was looking forward to doing some torture testing on this piece of equipment.  So I didn’t want it to be just cold, the high for Saturday was in the mid-forties, I wanted it to be really cold.  And that means a trip to the mountains.

Robertson Mnt trail marker

I decided to head to my local mountain range in the Shenandoah National Park for an afternoon hike up a mountain.  I didn’t want to do Old Rag this time, but I did picked a mountain in the same general area.  I decided on Robertson Mountain which is the next mountain over from Old Rag.  With it being the same height I knew it would be a challenge hiking up.

When I arrived at the mountain I was surprised to see about a dozen cars in the over flow lot, so much for getting a parking spot close to the trail head.  I figured with the cold and being around Christmas fewer people would be willing to hike up the mountain, boy was I wrong.  One of the people I ran into while hiking commented on seeing me.  He was surprised to see someone else out hiking on such a perfect day.

snow atop Robertson Mountain

After almost a mile hike to the park entrance I started down the Weakley Hollow fire road till I got to the Robertson Mountain Trail head.  I passed it on my last circuit hike of Old Rag and thought it would be a good alternative hike to Old Rag.  Hiking up Robertson Mountain was almost straight up, definitely a steeper climb than Old Rag.  It was disheartening every time I would look up the trail.  Then when I looked behind me the trail just disappeared after 30′ or so.  Once above 3,000′ or so there was snow on the ground.  Just a light dusting, but snow non the less.  This high up the mountain it never melted.

About 2:30 hours after starting my hike I made it to the summit of Robertson Mountain.  Just off the trail was an obvious overlook spot that I walked to.  I couldn’t wait to see what the view was like and I wanted to sit and take a break for a while.  When I found the clearing the view was spectacular.  On my right side across the valley was Sky Line Drive and to the left I was eye level with the summit of Old Rag.  It was great to see that mountain for a different view.  Nothing but rocks jetting out with little vegetation.  I got a much better idea of just how bare the top of that mountain is.

I spent about 30 minutes just sitting on the rocks looking out.  I was the only person up there so it was very peaceful and quite.  The only sounds were a couple of black crows squawking every now and then and the rustle of the trees from the driving wind.  Eating my lunch I solved all the problems of the world in the peace and tranquility.  Unfortunately by the time I got down to the bottom of the mountain all the problems returned.  Ugh, my work is never done.

Another great hike.  I wouldn’t mind hiking up once when there is a few inches of snow on the ground.  Have not only the top of the mountain but the entire valley covered in a fresh white blanket of snow.  That would make for some great pictures.

summit of Robertson Mountain