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All summer Owen and I have been talking about this trip. We started talking about backpacking during our many spring and summer hikes. He was taking in 6 mile hikes without too much difficulty and seemed to really be having fun "getting out there". The anticipation for this hike grew quite a bit and Owen was clearly jealous when I finally set out on my first couple of trips without him. But I explained that it was necessary in order for me to be a bit more comfortable with the gear before I ventured out with him.
So, he waited for this a lot longer than he'd have liked and we ended up going out on a bitterly cold weekend, but in the final analysis I think we had an awesome adventure together and neither of us can wait until we can do it again.
For our hike plan, we did our research and came up with an overnight hike outlined in Day and Overnight Hikes in Shenandoah National Park. We deviated from the book in that we extended the first day out about a mile, to camp in a great spot near Piney River. And we probably went a little further on the second day before pitching our tent, only because there really wasn't an abundance of great spots where the author had suggested. The end effect was to more evenly distribute the miles and I think we came up with a great little two night hike plan.
Start: Hull School Trail at Piney River
End: Pole Bridge Link Trail at Piney River
Miles: 3.9
Start: Pole Bridge Link Trail at Piney River
End: Thornton River Trail Parking Area
Miles: 5.4
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This is a nice overview map showing the general vicinity of our hike
within SNP. It also gives you a better sense of scale for the area
which we covered.
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This map was scanned from the PATC Appalachian Trail MAP 9, SNP North District. These are some of the nicest maps you can get of the SNP area. Though they are scaled only at 1:64000, they highlight the AT particularly well, including all of the shelters but also including other trails within SNP, locations of springs, huts, Skyline Drive mileage markers, etc. I have highlighted on this map the planned route for our trip. |
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This map was created using National Geographic Topo! software. It's
a great piece of software. If you happen to already own it, you
can download the TPO file for this hike. The trail outlined on this map was created after we returned using tracking data from my GPS (although there were a few spots where I filled in by hand because the GPS was off). This map also pinpoints significant stream crossings, trail intersections, and spots where we camped, all using readings taken from the GPS during our hike. Trail Intersection Abbreviations:
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This is an elevation profile showing the ascents and descents.
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It sure is cold. Yep, very cold. Damn it's cold. That was about the extent of thought I was able to generate as I awoke that second day. I suppose the cerebral juices were gelled. But reluctantly I crawled out of my warm and cozy sleeping bag and began to prepare breakfast. But first I got Owen stirred up and encouraged him to also get out and join me ... this would prove an unfortunate mistake, but this trip was all about learning lessons.
The temperature reading on my standard thermometer, attached to my bag, was about 25 degrees or so. Tried to get a reading from the GPS but the LCD was responding poorly in the cold and the thermometer and barometer weren't working at all. The underside of the fly was coated with frost, as was the ground ... it was cold! And we had a lot to do before heading out. This was the problem. It took a long time to make breakfast (I cooked pancakes) and tear down camp ... and during most of that time Owen was sitting still and getting really cold, particularly his feet ... we were both wearing our regular hiking boots, not insulated ones. Within the hour he was quite miserable and wanting to go home. I don't think he appreciated how much we would warm up once we got moving, but I agreed unequivocally to head back to the car. We would still be leaving after an absolutely incredible adventure. However, when we finally got all packed up and departed camp, heading back to the trail, he announced that he would like to keep going. So on we went and ultimately this would be a good decision ... with lessons learned and a few adjustments accordingly.
Soon after we began we got within the vicinity of the Bolen Cemetery. As we approached we started spooking each other out ... with long silent pauses on the trail followed by the inevitable scampering of some small animal ... but the closer we got to the cemetery these small animals had grown into ghosts. And the closer we got the more crooked and eerie the trees appeared. Finally, we reached the cemetery and approached the gate. It really wasn't as spooky as we had expected. While many of the markers date to the early 1900's they are all well maintained and some even look quite new. Owen spent some time reading the gravestones and noting how many children were buried there ... so we talked about pioneer life and the benefits that we all have today thanks to modern medicine, vitamins, sanitation, cheap and easy power, etc. Before we left we took time to note the plaque with the poem Why the Mountains are Blue. It really hits home and makes you question your right to be out there enjoying this particular wilderness.
We broke for lunch at Four-Way, a popular intersection of several trails, including the Little Devil's Stairs trail. Little Devil's Stairs is a trail that follows a cascading stream with plenty of small waterfalls. It is frequented by many day-hikers and we chatted with quite a few of them. Owen commented multiple times how wonderfully nice everyone was out on the trails. I agreed and felt immensely proud of him for noticing. We then left our packs for a bit and walked down to explore the waterfalls. The hike down and back was steep and so we didn't stay long or go far, just enough to romp by some small falls . We also took a couple of pictures of the ice sickles to prove just how cold it was!
Departing Four-Way we had a short hike to our planned second night camping spot. After only about 30 minutes we started looking around for a suitable site. The area really didn't look very suitable, despite what the guide book had said, so we kept walking and kept looking. We eventually came to an area where there were many small water ways right along the trail, sometimes crossing back and forth. The water ways were being kept at bay with some small walls of carefully aligned rocks. We finally saw an area that looked promising near Piney River. It was a perfect spot, had clearly been camped before, and was right near a beautiful little waterfall that sounded just lovely ... perfect sounds to lull us to sleep. We set up camp and then went off to explore the river. We had a great time, racing sticks down the water, making boats of leaves carrying small rock passengers. It was truly great ... father and son, together in the woods and just thoroughly enjoying every moment. It was simply beautiful to watch Owen investigating nature and just generally enjoying being outside ... being with me, being together.
And then in one of those perfect moments, both of us filled with excitement - him excited with leaf boats, me excited with his excitement - we raced to the waters edge to see whose design would sink first ... and then he slipped. Disaster! Low thirty temps and getting colder, sun working its way down ... low twenties to come ... and I had a wet son on my hands! We quickly went back to camp and started trying to work out a plan. His boots were wet, socks soaked, pants wet up to the shins. We got him out of his cloths, his pants were frozen within 10 minutes. His fleece pants weren't too bad, but too damp to wear and his long johns were also too wet to wear. So, he donned my fleece pants, we wrapped his boots in a stuff sack and placed them in the bottom of his sleeping bag (to keep them from freezing). His fleece pants and long underwear we put into his pillow stuff sack and hoped they would dry by morning. We then read some stories and called it a night.
Winter camping is interesting because it gets dark so early that you end
up doing a lot of sleeping. I was wide awake by about 5am, but it was still
too dark and too cold to get moving. I had kept my GPS in my sleeping bag to
keep it warm as it was too cold the previous morning for it to operate. So I
turned it on and took a reading of the internal temperature of my bag ... a
comfortable 72 degrees. Hmmm ... stay in the warm bag, or get out and make
breakfast. Not too hard to figure out what I did. Two hours later I would
take the temperature outside, after the sun was up for an hour or so and
find the temperate was a chilly 22 degrees!
Anyway, because Owen had such a tough time the first morning, I decided to
keep him in his bag while I got everything packed up and read to go. Instead
of taking the time to cook breakfast I decided to just give him a Clif bar.
As nice as hot cocoa would have been I thought it would be even better for
him to simply get moving as quickly as possible.
To my surprise, all of his clothing was now dry. Even his pants which hung
outside all night, and which had been frozen the night before, were now
seeming dry. I suppose the water simply froze up and fell off. So, with
everything ready to go, he jumped out of his bag, I tore down the tent and
packed it up and we were off. Doing it this was was so much better ... Owen
had not a single complaint and within no time we were both heating up and
taking off layers.
Not long after we started hiking we reached the Appalachian Trail. This was
a great milestone as we talk and dream about long distance hiking on the AT
a lot. Each time we come upon it or hike short sections of it we do so with
reverence. Owen likes following the white blazes and
taking opportunities to
photograph ourselves in their presence, as if some of energy of the
thousands of thruhikers who have passed by them might some how be shared
with us.
We meandered along the trail, taking our time, goofing off, playing hiking
games, and then I came to an abrupt stop. No more then 60 yards off was a
black bear and she was right on the line of the trail. She had yet notices
us ... she was too busy eating and whatever she was chomping on was very
loud. There wasn't a sound in the forest except this loud crunching like a
steel shovel being thrust into gravel, and the quickening beat or our own
hearts. I quickly scanned the area and noticed a second smaller bear, must
be a cub. This could get dangerous if we aren't careful, I thought. So we
started whistling, and singing and we walked a little farther along the
trail. We were now about 40 yards off and the trail appeared to continue in
their direction, so we stopped. Finally she noticed us, eyed us up and then
went back to munching. This was not an easily deterred bear, so I yelled
louder and waved my arms. The mom scampered a bit and then I noticed a
third bear descending from
the trees (on closer inspection of
this photo I think
there are two cubs in the trees ... but not sure now if this was a forth
cub or at some point the cub on the ground went up). But these bears weren't
going anywhere. So, with map and compass in hand, we figured they'd won the
right of way and we'd have to just go around. Luckily it turned out that we
weren't far from Skyline Drive.
We were a little extra cautious the rest of the way (at least I was ... Owen
wasn't scared in the least). We began the last big push up to the ridgeline
that runs west of Skyline and East of Jeremey's Run. By the time we got to
the top I could tell that Owen was beat. He had reached his limit ... but at
least he was still enjoying it ... and the rest was easy coasting to the
car.
It was such a feeling of accomplishment when we finally reached the
end of the trail. Owen
was beaming. I could tell how proud he was of himself and I can't even
express how much more so I was of him. We shared a few celebratory
high-fives and then gladly removed our packs and settled into the car. I
took the long way out, driving North for the remainder of Skyline Drive,
enjoying the beautiful
vistas. We
stopped at a few and then began the journey home as Owen gradually fell
asleep. An hour later we stopped for lunch ... when he stepped out of the
car he looked like an old man, hunched over, gradually extending his back
and stepping with weary strides he declared "Daddy, something's wrong". I
think this was the first time he ever felt his muscles ache and tighten up.
I just laughed, patted him on his back and said "Yeah ... doesn't it feel
great?"
It's barely been a month since our adventure but I think it has left a great impression upon him. He worked on a journal of his own and put together a complete presentation of the trip for school. This was part of his deal with his teacher for missing a day of school for the trip. In talking with her after his presentation she remarked how enthused he was about the whole experience, save for the cold. He continues to talk of our summer of hiking, our backpacking trip, and looks fondly towards the spring when we can do it more (hopefully we will do some dayhikes before then). My daughter has seen this and is now again talking positively about doing some camping. As for me, I can hardly wait to start planning the next trip and to continue being amazed by nature and instilling in my children the sense of awe for the everyday world around them.
