submitted by Barbara Martin
Having a hiking challenge is always fun and inspiring and the Dirty Dozen Wilderness Hike Challenge certainly fit the bill. The Challenge, sponsored by the Southern Appalachian Office of the Wilderness Society and Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, was to hike 10 miles in 12 different wilderness areas in the Southeast United States from September 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015. The Challenge marked the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which established the Wilderness Preservation System and set aside an initial 9.1 million acres of wildlands.
I took on the Challenge in October, 2014. Living in Waynesboro, VA close to Shenandoah National Park, one of the wilderness areas, was an advantage since I’d already completed several 10 mile hikes there. Many PATC members joined me to complete other wilderness hikes: Clai Lange in St. Mary’s and the Priest Wilderness areas, Susanna Williams and Kelly O’Rourke in Ramsey’s Draft Wilderness and Marit Anderson on a backpacking trip (my first) in Dolly Sods Wilderness.
Anne Colgate and I went the distance to complete all 12 hikes. We ticked off wilderness areas close to us fairly quickly: James River Face, Thunder Ridge and Three Ridges. Sometime in August we faced the fact that we had four more wilderness areas to hike and none were close by. After some research and schedule juggling we decided on Rich Hole Wilderness, close to Covington, Virginia. We had little information on Rich Hole and searched for an hour to find the trail head. The first three miles of what we thought would be an easy hike, we encountered 16 stream crossings. Then we found ourselves pushing through 7 feet tall vegetation and brambles, barely able to discern the trail. Finally out of the weeds, so to speak, we walked on a clear trail until we again entered a sea of giant plants with no trail in sight. As we stood in this jungle wondering what to do next Anne said, “I think I hear something.” Having been warned of bears I was busy trying to plot our escape when Anne said, ”I think it’s a person.” We shouted out and waved out hiking poles overhead. A male voice yelled back, “Stay there and I’ll cut my way to you.” Our rescuer was Mark Miller, the maintainer of the trail, field director of the Virginia Wilderness Committee and author of Wild Virginia. Talk about serendipity!
After our very “wild” wilderness experience at Rich Hole I sought the advice of the hiker’s encyclopedia, Jeff Monroe, who won first prizes in the Challenge for hiking the most miles and the most wilderness areas. With Jeff’s invaluable information Anne and I decided to complete our Challenge by hiking three wilderness areas in the Roanoke/Blacksburg area: Peter’s Mountain, Brush Mountain East and Mountain Lake.
Although Anne and I didn’t win any prizes, we were proud to be among the 38 hikers out of the 565 registered to complete the Challenge. It was an adventure to be remembered!
Having a hiking challenge is always fun and inspiring and the Dirty Dozen Wilderness Hike Challenge certainly fit the bill. The Challenge, sponsored by the Southern Appalachian Office of the Wilderness Society and Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, was to hike 10 miles in 12 different wilderness areas in the Southeast United States from September 1, 2014 through September 30, 2015. The Challenge marked the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act, which established the Wilderness Preservation System and set aside an initial 9.1 million acres of wildlands.
I took on the Challenge in October, 2014. Living in Waynesboro, VA close to Shenandoah National Park, one of the wilderness areas, was an advantage since I’d already completed several 10 mile hikes there. Many PATC members joined me to complete other wilderness hikes: Clai Lange in St. Mary’s and the Priest Wilderness areas, Susanna Williams and Kelly O’Rourke in Ramsey’s Draft Wilderness and Marit Anderson on a backpacking trip (my first) in Dolly Sods Wilderness.
Anne Colgate and I went the distance to complete all 12 hikes. We ticked off wilderness areas close to us fairly quickly: James River Face, Thunder Ridge and Three Ridges. Sometime in August we faced the fact that we had four more wilderness areas to hike and none were close by. After some research and schedule juggling we decided on Rich Hole Wilderness, close to Covington, Virginia. We had little information on Rich Hole and searched for an hour to find the trail head. The first three miles of what we thought would be an easy hike, we encountered 16 stream crossings. Then we found ourselves pushing through 7 feet tall vegetation and brambles, barely able to discern the trail. Finally out of the weeds, so to speak, we walked on a clear trail until we again entered a sea of giant plants with no trail in sight. As we stood in this jungle wondering what to do next Anne said, “I think I hear something.” Having been warned of bears I was busy trying to plot our escape when Anne said, ”I think it’s a person.” We shouted out and waved out hiking poles overhead. A male voice yelled back, “Stay there and I’ll cut my way to you.” Our rescuer was Mark Miller, the maintainer of the trail, field director of the Virginia Wilderness Committee and author of Wild Virginia. Talk about serendipity!
After our very “wild” wilderness experience at Rich Hole I sought the advice of the hiker’s encyclopedia, Jeff Monroe, who won first prizes in the Challenge for hiking the most miles and the most wilderness areas. With Jeff’s invaluable information Anne and I decided to complete our Challenge by hiking three wilderness areas in the Roanoke/Blacksburg area: Peter’s Mountain, Brush Mountain East and Mountain Lake.
Although Anne and I didn’t win any prizes, we were proud to be among the 38 hikers out of the 565 registered to complete the Challenge. It was an adventure to be remembered!
** Editor's note: this article appears in the February 2016 issue of the PATC newsletter.
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| Barbara and Anne on their last hike in Mt. Lake Wilderness |
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| Ramseys Draft Wilderness |
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| Anne hiking in Rich Hole Wilderness |
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