June 15 -White Rock Falls Trail and Upper Sherando Lake

Andy Wilgruber wants to take a closer look

Twelve hikers and sweet dog, Bailey with owner, Leon Gorman  joined hike leader, Marit Gay, on a pleasant June day to hike the White Rock Falls Trail and the Upper Sherando Lake spur. Upon meeting at milepost 18.5 on the Blue Ridge Parkway it was decided to break up the hike into two sections, so as to allow those wanting a longer hike to continue down to Sherando Lake after the White Rock Falls loop.  We first began with a descent down White Rock Gap Trail to connect to Slacks Trail.  From here we continued on to the 4.7 mile White Rock Falls Trail.  The "White Rock" derives from the abundant quartz found in the area.  Views of  "The Priest" were also much admired.  Full streams made for  double cascading falls to entertain us during our leisurely lunch and "chubby chews" added a  sweet ending to the meal.  After lunch with continued on the trail making our way back to the parking lot.  A group of six waited for the remaining hikers and a very tired Bailey.  From here Marit, Michael, Karen, Kelly, Emily Berry, Brian Muszynski made their way down the White Rock Gap Trail to do a 5 mile out-and-back to Upper Sherando Lake.  Kayakers, fishermen, and families were also enjoying the lake once we got there.  A quick snack replenished our energy as we climbed back up the mountain to the parking area.  Seven members of the clan including Bill Holman and Iva Gillett met up at Bold Rock Cider House to enjoy end of the day refreshments.  Everyone seemed to have a good time and we were happy to be out in the woods on such a beautiful day!

Rich Bard, Lindsay Brown, Briana Taylor, Kelly O'Rourke, Karen Ramsey, Michael Seth

Flying McLeods-saving another trail June 8, 2013

reported by John Shannon

Today the goal for Flying McLeods trail crew was to save a trail section from vegetation overgrowth, something the crew has done a few times before in the Loft Mountain area. The section was south of the Loft Mountain amphitheater, which was had major overgrowth last summer when illness struck the overseer, and today, we performed a preemptive strike.

At Rockfish Gap entrance station, the ranger, whom I did not remember, asked if I was coming to do some work perhaps noticing my Flying McLeods shirt. After grabbing a weedeater from the new toolbox at Rockfish Gap, I faced the question of how many Ph.D.’s does it take to put a weed eater in a sedan. Finally I found something in “History of Trail Tool Transport” and loaded the tool as in previous years.

At the trailhead, I joined Mark Gatewood and Andy Willgruber and heard the prospect of rain may have discouraged a couple of others. Regular member Al Dahler for perhaps the first or second time in the history of the Flying McLeods did not show, because this multi-talented man was reviewing a 400 page manuscript. So the demographics of the group was the same as usual.

Mark Gatewood saved me some of my usual stumbling when I try to use weedeater, which happens at most once a year. We waited a while because rain was falling, but finally set out. Then the usual weed eater experience, it would not start (it had earlier) and finally Mark Gatewood used his touch to bring it to life. Mark cut one side of the trail and I cut the other. Andy used loppers to cut things too high for weedeaters and carried fuel. We used his saw to cut some the main stem of some enormous bittersweet which had killed a tree; I stopped at a number of trees during the day to cut smaller bittersweet vines to give the few trees near the trail a few more years life.

Later I had another inexperienced weed eater user problem, a blade broke while hitting rocks or solid wood, so a trip back to the trailhead to get more. Mark used a steel blade on his weedeater like some other experienced users. Then it was lunch time at an overlook. Because of the growth, and direction of travel, I did not know where we were on this piece of trail which I am used to seeing without summer growth, and coming the other way.

Andy then departed to see the condition of his own section of AT, and locate the mower he has used on Little Calf. On his way out, he experienced a benefit of beyond the call of duty trail maintenance at Loft Mountain, namely seeing a family of three bears.

Mark and I carried on south to clear the whole length of the trail. The southern half had less growth than the northern half. To save my back, we left the weedeaters hidden while we walked back to our vehicles and drove back to collect the weedeaters then Mark took all PATC tools back to the tool cache. I stayed a little while to rescue a trail side tree from strangulation by bittersweet, and also answered a few people’s questions about which trail to take. At McCormick Gap, I inspected a little of the Chapter’s AT section and noticed standard summer growth, no garlic mustard after the previous two pullings and no signs of the recent heavy rain.

Bettys Rock,Little Stony Man,Stony Man - June 1, 2013

Reported by Andy Willgruber

The day dawned clear and warm, with a high temperature of 90 predicted for Charlottesville. Fortunately, today's hike would occur at an elevation range between 3300--4000'. At that elevation and location, there was also a 40% chance of afternoon showers in the forecast.

Unbeknownst to the hikers who arrived at AHS, (John Shannon, Maynard and Joanne Davis, Kelly O'Rourke, Bev and Pete Fink, Briana Taylor) today's hike was a bit of an experiment. Andy's two goals were to avoid covering the same ground (out and back) and to attempt a hike the club had not done before. The hike leader had not actually walked all of this particular route. He was depending on accurate map reading and trail markers being where he hoped they would be. John confirmed the originality of the hike. The day would determine the advisability of firing this particular hike leader! We headed out in three vehicles for Crescent Rock Overlook.

We began the hike with a walk out to Bettys Rock. This view encompasses the two highest peaks in SNP. Looking south is Hawksbill (4050"); looking north is Stonyman(4010') and Skyland Resort. A short distance to the south is Crescent Rock. Before the park was established, guests from Skyland would have picnics here. The rock was often the scene of religious revivals, as well as Easter services. When the Drive was built, this overlook parking area was made extra large, so these activities could continue.

We resumed by heading north on the A.T. The trail was fairly level to start, with a gradual rise as we approached Skyland. Just east of the resort area, we turned on to the Furnace Spring Horse Trail. We descended down this cool and shady path, under a significant amount of still healthy hemlock trees, to the Skyland Fire Road. This was the road from Luray to Skyland before the Drive was built. A few steps down the road led to the start of the Passamaqouddy Trail. George Pollack(owner of Skyland) had this .8 mile
trail between Furnace Spring and Little Stony Man built in 1932.

While it was past prime spring wildflower time, we did note some interesting plants: Allegheny Stonecrop (Sedum) and Canada Mayflower(Maianthemum). Kelly pointed out the Alumroot (Heuchera). As we approached Little Stony Man cliffs, we came upon a father with two kids practicing their rock climbing. This activity helped determine our lunch spot. We decide on a rock outcrop beneath Little Stony Man. Here we would have essentially the same view, but could still observe the climbers progress up the cliffs for additional lunch entertainment. The town of Luray, Mary's Rock and sections of the Drive highlighted this view. Increasing overcast skies provided perfect lunch-time temperatures and John provided the perfect(and incredibly healthy) dessert.

We resumed our hike on the Passamaqouddy trail and quickly came to the A.T. We headed south and climbed to Little Stony Man Cliffs. We began to hear thunder and a light rain began. The rain intensified as we approached Stony Man and we decided to don our rain gear. Bev completely ripped off one of her rain jacket sleeves as she put hers on. She decided to stick with this look as she doggedly held on to her sleeve. Andy couldn't decide whether he liked Bev's "punk hiker" statement as is, or whether she ought to rip off the other one to match! When Bev insisted that she was going to sew the sleeve back on, Maynard felt it was time to take up a collection for Bev's new raincoat! With the hard rain and thunder, it was a unanimous decision to skip Stony Man summit.

The rain did eventually let up as we proceeded south on the A.T.  At the stables area on the south side of Skyland, we turned on to the Stables horse trail to cross over Skyline Drive to access the Limberlost Trail. Because of the rain and many horses, the horse trail's tread consisted of pulverized mud (and other ingredients). Pete felt his boots would never be quite the same!

While we PATC hikers would normally try to avoid a paved trail, the ADA Limberlost Trail was the perfect antidote for our footwear. The Mountain Laurel leaves were glistening in the post-shower sunlight. We came upon a mother with young children just a few feet from some deer. While not an unusual sight for us, the look of wonder on their faces was priceless!

The last turn of the day was upon us: the Crescent Rock Trail, which would take us back to the parking area. For the first time today, Andy sent his unwitting "hiking guinea pigs" on ahead, breathed a sigh of relief and took the "sweep" position to complete the day's hike.

Minebank-St Marys River Trails May 25, 2013

Reported by Marian Styles


Lady slipper

PATC Far North members

Today’s hike featured several special guests, among them PATC Far North Chapter hikers Ken Coelho and Leena Snellman. Leena and Ken now live in Toronto with Sam The Fabulous Hiking Dog, but Leena and Sam formerly lived in Charlottesville and were regular PATC hikers. Good thing the temperature had cooled down for the weekend because these northerners aren’t used to the heat.

Yes, we saw rhododendrons

Bleeding hearts

Former hiker David Carter, who threw us over for Saturday morning tennis, also made a special appearance. David kept track of how many stream crossings we made on the way back; I think it was 18!

Leena had asked for a hike featuring rhododendrons, which is why hike leader John Shannon chose today’s route, which started near the Fork Mountain Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. As we followed St. Marys River, we and saw lots and lots of about-to-bloom rhododendrons. We eventually saw enough opened flowers to satisfy Leena, and though the area was beautiful, it was going to be spectacular in a week or two.

Flower seekers

Rhododendrons about to open
were a common sight

We saw a lot of pretty wildflowers, most of which we could not identify, except for bleeding hearts and a couple of gorgeous pink lady’s slippers orchids.

After hiking about 4 miles, we stopped for lunch. Most of us wanted to do an out-and-back, so nearly everyone headed back the way we came—a climb of 1,100 feet. Meanwhile, John Brandt did the 10-mile loop past Green Pond to the Bald Mountain trail and still beat us back.





Flowers of the future: mountain
laurel

Learning what an IBU is in
this context

Lindsay Brown, Liz Lyons, Eileen Seaman, and John Brandt headed off for the Blue Ridge Brewery while John and David escorted me and my daredevil passengers (Debra Fisher, Ken, and Leena) to the nearest gas station.

One of the stream crossings

A picturesque area
even without flowers

If I hadn’t had my hands on the steering wheel, I would have been chewing my nails. My car’s gas gauge had hit empty upon pulling into the parking area this morning, and I wasn’t sure we would make it to a gas station without getting out of the car and pushing. It seemed like a LONG way to the first gas station, but we thankfully made it. As another person who has been in the same situation observed, when ridge hiking, it is a downhill, high mileage but worrying trip to the gas station on empty.

I vowed to check my gas gauge the next time I drive to a hike, and we joined the others at the brewery, where we sat outdoors to enjoy beer, dinner, or both.