Sugar Hollow-North Fork Moormans River Trail to Black Rock Gap - June 17, 2017

Marit Anderson, Pete Fink, Susanna Williams, Nancy Handly, CJ Woodburn, Bev Fink, Clair Cline, Dave Borszich (back) Marion Styles, Dennis Templeton, Gabriel Garretson, David Crowe (photographer- Bill Holman)

    
     Isn't it nice to sometimes take a hike that is only 25 minutes from Charlottesville? Thirteen hikers arrived at  Sugar Hollow Reservoir and proceeded to hike the North Fork Moorman's River Trail on a slightly overcast, muggy Saturday morning.  The lush forest  provided lots of shade and recent rains made for decent water levels for the swimming holes and river and stream crossings.  Always fun for hikers!
     All of the group proceeded  along the Moormans's River on the yellow blazed trail to Big Branch spur trail, headed by hike leader, Marit Anderson.  We stopped for a nice refreshment break of chocolate chip cookies to enjoy the two waterfalls.  Marion Styles took a dip, but could not entice anyone else to jump in. After the snack, Bill Holman led a group of four back to the parking area, rounding out the short hike to 5 miles.  The others continued on towards the Skyline Drive and Black Rock Gap on the North Fork Moorman's River Trail with Nancy Handly at sweep. Unfortunately Susanna had a small slip on a wet rock, so an ice pack and ace bandage were applied.  Dennis and Dave escorted back to their vehicle.  Later a report from her home let us know that all was well.  The rest of the group continued on to the North Fork Moorman's River Road and stopped for lunch by the water.  Gabriel returned back to the starting trail head at this point.  Five hikers proceeded to the Shenandoah National Park and AT marker at Black Rock Gap to do a high five.  Then they retraced their steps back to our original point making it an 11.9 mile hike with 1,398 ft ascent.  We saw lots of cool things today, including abandoned bus shacks, lots of wildflowers, numerous baby snakes, and marvelous mushrooms.  The skies stayed clear and we never had the thunderstorms predicted.  Yea!

Love those river crossings

Wading through can be easier than slippery stones

Marion the Mermaid

Cookie time

Lunch Bunch

Black Rock Gap on the Skyline Drive

submitted by Marit Anderson

Roaring Run Trail in Massanutten - June 3, 2017

submitted by Mike Seth and Iva Gillet

     Saturday was National Trails Day which we honored by hiking up one trail and cleaning up trash on another.  Joining hike leader Michael Seth were: Ron Stoltzfus, David Crowe, C.J. Woodburn, Debra Fisher, Barbara Martin, Susanna Williams, John Brandt, Marian Styles, Iva Gillet and Remi the Best Hiking Dog.  Meeting at Swift Run Gap at 9:30 we drove to Catherine Furnace where David, C.J. and Barbara were patiently waiting for us.  We took turns missing the unmarked forest road that led to it. At Furnace Mountain the crew hiked the four-mile, purple-blazed Roaring Run Trail to the top of Big Mountain -which is not that big; only 1600 feet climb just enough to get some exercise.  It was a new hike for everyone except the hike leader.  At the top we had lunch with sunny weather and in the upper 70s; there was a nice breeze and no one seemed in a hurry to get up and resume hiking.
     When we finally did, we had a short descent to the Massanutten Trail.  Although officially a PATC maintained trail, the Massanutten Trail at this point simply utilizes the Big Mountain forest road for nearly three miles.  This is where we got out our trash bags and started cleaning up.  And there was a lot of trash to pick up, especially beer bottles with Bud Light being the beverage of choice.  Strangely a number of the bottles were filled and unopened.  One of our crew had to be dissuaded from taking them home-"the beer inside will be fine" he argued.  The prize find was a toy rifle that CJ found. She looked like the chain gang warden with her whistle and BB gun. We filled eight or nine bags leaving them along the side of the road as we went.  Later Barbara and Ron drove back and picked the bags up.
     At Pitt Springs where the Massanutten Trail leaves the road we stopped our clean up and headed down a scenic section of the road that follows a cascading stream.  Debra and Remi were the only ones to take advantage of the many clear pools to soak in. Including all the road walk, but not the back and forth picking up trash, we hiked a little over 9 miles and were at our cars by 4:00. The non-trash bag pick up car went to the Dairy Queen in Elkton where we enjoyed frozen treats. Happy Trails!

Vining Tract/Mutton Hollow District Trail Maintenance and Hike - May 20, 2017

     We had a great turnout of volunteers for the May 20 trail maintenance and hike at the Vining Tract- Mutton Hollow District trails in Greene County, VA.  Marit Anderson (hike leader) and Bill Holman (Mutton Hollow District Manager) headed up the day with Iva Gillet (and pooch, Remy) also assisting.  The group of fourteen folks included the three leaders and the following volunteers: Lisa and Kyle Lampe (and beagle, Maxwell), Hunter and Meghan Cloud, David Crowe, CJ Woodburn, Jeanne Siler, Taylor Putney, Dave Borszich, Michael Seth, and Mark Perschel.
     The industrious group divided into four teams - Marit, CJ, and David inspecting/removing blow downs/clipping vegetation along  5 miles of trails starting along trails of Boundary East to Boundary West, Mutton Top Trail, Cliff Trail, CCC Road West, Matties Run Loop,  and Vining Trail. Iva, Taylor, and Jeanne started from the southeast side down the Wineberry Trail to Conley Morris Trail, Orion Trail then Vining Trail to Matties Run, and ending at the CCC Road West, also doing inspection, removing blow downs, and clipping vegetation with an accumulation of nearly 5 miles of hiking and over 1,000 feet of ascent, similar to Marit's group.
     Lisa, Kyle, Meghan, Hunter, Michael, and Dave trimmed vegetation on the CCC Road East and Conley Road.  Bill and Mark made the last grouping and were responsible for chainsawing the large blow downs throughout the tract.

David and his new Corona saw at work

Dave helps cut the overhanging limbs and vines

David and CJ at one of the many viewpoints

CJ, Iva, and Jeanne -clippers extraordinaire

     At 12:45 pm the groups stopped for lunch and chocolate chip cookies at Andy's Overlook. Since the work along the roads was mostly complete, four members of that team headed for home, and the remaining two joined Marit's crew.  The volunteers continued to trim, cut, saw, and clip until 4 pm when Happy Hour was officially proclaimed.  Everyone rejoined at the Butternut Cabin, the overseer cabin, for cold beer and other refreshments.  Bill, Iva, Marit, Mark, Jeanne, CJ, and David spent the night at the cabin, enjoying a shared camp meal and a night in the cool Shenandoah Mountains. Thanks so much to all the wonderful volunteers- much was accomplished to clear the trails for all those coming to the cabins of Vining Tract. Thank you...thank you!

submitted by Marit Anderson

Pete's Cave, North Mountain Trail - May 13, 2017

 submitted  by Jeanne Siler

     Until last weekend, I would have declared that river trails were my favorite. Now they vie for top honors with ridge trails. But then I’ll sing the praises of any hike that boasts of flat land. Blame it on my growing up in Ohio.
     In any case, on Saturday, May 13, PATC hikers recently found their way to the Longdale Furnace exit from I-64, just west of Lexington, and from there up a twisting gravel road (Rt. 770) to a trailhead that runs along the ridgeline of North Mountain. The stunningly clear and cool day and the fine views both right and left of the trail combined to keep camera shutters clicking and the compliments coming. “Hiking Upward” and at least one guidebook go so far as to declare this hike “Rockbridge County’s finest trail.”
     They made the hike an out-and-back, with a turnaround at Pete’s Cave for a total of close to seven miles total, or for the Fitbit wearers, upwards of 18,000 steps.
     To be fair, Pete’s Cave is more a refuge made of tumbled rocks than an actual cave, but the rock outcroppings just beyond proved to be a great location for lunch and provided fine views west toward the Allegheny mountains. Being a ridge trail, we had already benefited from several overlooks at the beginning of the hike that revealed expansive views to the east. In that direction, given the afternoon’s blue skies, we could see the peaks VMI cadets call “Big House” and “Little House,” as well as the eastern end of the Short Hills.
     As is often the case, our band of ten quickly spread out accordingly to differently paced legs, with hike leaders Andre Meyer and Barbara Martin out in front. Marit Anderson explained the merits of the Appalachian Trail itself to our newest hikers from the University of Virginia’s Graduate School of Engineering. Iranian twin brothers Mehrdad and Farzad Dijazi proved to be able to keep up with the best of us, leaving Iva Gillet to walk and talk with Mark Perschel (aka Mark Trail) and catch up on recent tall tales from Peru. (Perschel, Anderson, Meyer and Martin all were less than a week returned from guided hikes to Machu Picchu and Peru’s significantly higher elevations than our 3,200 or so feet of height along the North Mountain.) Jeanne Siler and Rudy Karsch ambled along as well, followed by Bill Holman in his favored position as sweep.
     Without major changes in verticality, hikers were free to comment on the massive fields of invasive garlic mustard—too widespread to even think of uprooting—the mountain laurel just about to pop everywhere, and how GPS coordinates have practically made bearing trees obsolete. We saw lots of flutter-bys and heard some daytime spring peepers near a vernal pond—those ephemeral shallow bodies of water in the woods that fill up with spring rains, but disappear by summertime.
     Being social creatures as well as outdoor enthusiasts, most of the original group followed Andre to his nearby mountainside bungalow for a hearty late afternoon potluck, complete with birthday cake, ice cream and party favors for the ever-maturing Mr. Holman.