Riprap Trail - July 14, 2012

New Adventures on a Familiar Hike

Reported by John Shannon

It’s summer and time for a hike with water: today, the pool on Riprap Trail. For reasons involving food, I shortened the route from 10 to 7 miles with car shuttle and was surprised that only John Brandt and Neil McKinney showed up. After I had backed out of my parking spot, last-minute arrival specialist Norman Beil drove in.

We got to Wildcat Ridge parking area earlier than expected and, uncharacteristically, Michael Seth arrived later than expected. Despite three Ph.D.s, we finally did our initial car shuttle and started hiking.

John Brandt and Michael Seth

On the way down, we had the normal great views of the Shenandoah Valley, which John Brandt photographed for a class project. At the classic swimming hole, I was the first into water. Neil also ventured in. Neil has worked in health care, so I was not surprised to see that he also does not believe in subjecting human bodies to thermal shock of quickly immersing a hot person in cold water. Then Michael Seth went in, and of course John went in, with a splash.

On the way up, we saw a little storm damage (none on the way down), and then met a family of three bears who live on Wildcat Ridge Trail. After two of us stopped to look and photograph the bears, the mother started walking toward us. Then four of us slowly and noisily moved up the trail. We stopped while a cub came down a tree. The bears finally walked away, and we moved on.

Michael and I recovered the car at Riprap while the others looked over the Piedmont with Norman’s binoculars, spotting buildings in Charlottesville. Our next adventure involved how much fuel was left when a car’s low fuel light comes on. My excuse for overlooking the low fuel was lots of recent trail work trips, and work. After some discussion, the decision was that with considerable downhill, we could reach Waynesboro, only to find that the first two pumps did not dispense fuel. The rest of our trip home proved uneventful.