[at-l] Trip report

["Gary Ticknor" <alugpt@fanniemae.com>]

Up Friday morning at 3:25 am, made two coffees and then off in under 10
minutes for the 4 1/2 hour drive from Fairfax to Pearisburg. It
showered intermittently all the way down. Arriving, I asked permission
at Wades Grocery to park for 2 nights, changed into boots and met Bill
G., my shuttle, who was 15 minutes early (bless him). Over to the Va 42
AT crossing in Sinking Creek Valley by 9:00, waved goodbye to Bill, and 
off I went.

It was overcast with an occasional shower as I went up past damp cows
through hot-fenced meadowland and started climbing Kelly knob. Laurel
Creek shelter is just above the confluence of two pretty little
rhododendron runs. I signed the register and started the
1000-foot-climb-in-nine-tenths-of-a-mile pull up to the knob. I passed
an abandoned farmhouse in a saddle near a spring along the way.  At the
top were hazy views of ridge after ridge west from the rocks. I watched
two hikers packing up their camp above the jumbled pillars of rock.

Next I hiked past the trail to the bog, climbed over the second knob
and down to the site of the fire tower at Rocky Gap - nothing now left
except some lumber salvaged to improvise seats at a fire ring. Then
down the disintegrating old access road to lunch at a cold spring at
the head of a run, and down in increasing humidity and temperatures to
Johns Creek. I crossed the road to War Spur Shelter, where I took a
half hour nap in the now 80 degree heat. I also found posted a card
with directions to Rusty's Hard Time Hollow - "Over 10,000 hikers have
visited".

Up, up, up Lone Pine peak, and I was now dragging. The 1900 foot climb
on top of the first 1600 feet was getting to me, and despite some
excellent rock stairwork by the Konnerock crew I took 2 hours to reach
the top. I decided it was now too late in the day to safely reach my
original goal of Bailey Gap Shelter, and I settled for the spring just
trail-north of Wind Rock.

I shared the spot with a northbound Fairfax County policeman from
Fredericksberg who had gotten on the trail in Stony Creek valley and
had suffered 4 blisters on the rocky treadway on Big Mountain. I no
sooner got the tent up and went down, without poncho, to the spring
when the thunderstorm hit, complete with hailstones the size of peas. I
dried off and cooked my ramen and pepper jack cheese from inside the
front of the tent, while watching him use his bark-burning Zip stove in
the rain. He seemed to do okay with it, During the inevitable trip
outside the tent in the middle of the night the stars were out as
bright as I had ever seen them.

Next morning I was up at 5:30, cooked oatmeal and coffee, donated some
duct tape to my camp mate's blisters and was on the trail at 6:55,
determined to make up the 5 miles skipped yesterday. After passing Wind
Rock (which was indeed windy) I found that the trail was just as rocky
as he had said it would be. Bailey Gap shelter when reached was
occupied by a sleeping camper, so I skipped signing the register and
took a break at the upper spring.

Halfway down to Stony Creek I met Yahtze, who had started from Springer
in early February, and crossing the Creek climbed sharp Sarton Ridge.
The cottages on the creek in Interior looked homey - I would certainly
love to own one. I reached Pine Swamp Branch Shelter and immediately
recognized the Trimpi design - I wonder at the generosity of this
family to donate shelters with such magnificent fireplaces. Now for my
last major climb of the trip - up 1500 foot Peters mountain.

What a difference grading makes. This time I just powered up the
mountain, surprising a small garter snake halfway up. The switchbacked
trail was almost a joy to climb - I never got winded. Before I knew it
I was at the Allegheny Trail junction.

Peters Mountain is a series of low knobs, 100 to 200 feet tall, with
good treadway and views through the leafless trees. Outstanding was
Symms Gap Meadow, with great views into the lush. blue-green West
Virginia plateau.  Felix had told me to look out for the beautiful
meadows on this stretch,

Soon after I met Arctic Sven, for whom I later mailed out this
message:

"...is alive and well and seemed very happy on Saturday, April 10th
when I passed him on Peters mountain. He had just resupplied in
Pearisburg and was cheerfully munching his way through an after-Easter
discounted bag of Kit-Kat bars. He said he departed Springer February
18th (I think) and had run into a foot of snow in the Smokies with 6'
drifts. He plans to resupply again in Daleville. He is a day behind
Yahtze and a half day ahead of Cook and Senator.  He had just taken a
day off in P-burg at the Hostel. He said family would be monitoring
this e-mail address and sends love."

Both Yahtze and Sven explained their early starts to having to complete
their hikes by mid-August to continue with education, in Sven's case
medical school.

I spent the night at the spring one mile north of Rice Field Shelter
having made a 20 mile day. Dinner was instant refried beans with Vienna
sausages - not bad, but more like chili than refried beans. Thanks to
JMayer, Nicole, Mike and others from this list who turned me on to
them. With a nightcap of 151 proof rum and a view of the Big Dipper (or
Orion with a turn of my head) I snuggled down...

...to awake at 4 am to a wind like a freight train roaring through the gap 
and the pitter-patter of rain on the tent fly. I woke up every half hour
after that hoping that the rain would stop, but finally at 6:45 gave up
and cooked an uninspiring powdered eggs Florentine with cheese (yuck,
but you have to experiment occasionally) from the tent, packed up
getting >>soaked<< in the process and waddled off south.

The storm was pouring rain at 45 degrees with gusting winds.
Visibility was about 50 feet. Going under the powerlines was the worst
- no respite from the wind. Rice Field Shelter looked great, but I couldn't 
see waking the sleeping hiker there and plowed on. After 2 hours I started
down off the ridge and the change was dramatic - less rain, more light,
and the fog started lifting. The rain was gone by the time I got down
to the New River bridge and my car, but the top of the ridges were
still completely covered in cloud.

All in all, a great trip - 40 more miles now to complete Virginia.

                                .....................
                                . Gary from Fairfax .
                                .....................



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