End: Gravel Springs Gap
Today's miles: 5.5
Total (cumulative) AT miles: 9.6
Time: 4.5 hrs
Wow! What an awesome day! Jen and I almost bailed on hiking today. I'm so glad we didn't!! The forecast called for a 30% chance of rain starting at 11:00am, and steadily increasing to 70% by late afternoon. The temps were forecast for mid-30's. We originally had planned to hike from Jenkins Gap all the way to Little Hogback parking lot for a total of 7.1 miles. It was a little ambitious. Since rain was in the forecast, we decided to shorten it to 5.5 miles and stop at Gravel Springs. We figured we could finish before the weather hit. The plan was to meet at Gravel Springs at 7:30am, using an early start to get an early finish. The sunrise coming into the park was beautiful. I was a few minutes late. I had to stop and take pics of the sunrise. :) From Gravel Springs, we left the Escape and hopped in Jen's car to shuttle back to Jenkins Gap to start our hike. Based on the weather forecast, I added a rain poncho and rain pants to my daypack. I know ponchos may not be "cool looking", but they are practical. Rain protection that converts to a tarp in a package slightly larger than a can of soda. Sweet!
The hike started out with a small climb, but nothing major. At the Hogwallow Gap saddle, Jen kept hearing something. We would quiet and listen, but then...nothing. About then, I realized we were being watched! There were at least three deer watching us just off the trail to our left. We tried to take pictures, but all we had were little pocket cameras and they just couldn't do the job. But it was great to just stand there and watch them. The deer were a bit spunky today. I think they liked the weather that was coming their way. Shortly after that, I had to seek fellowship with nature, then we ran across an old stone foundation. Not sure what it was, I'll have to do some research. About 50 yards from the foundation, we found what I think was an old spring house hole. I'll see what I can find out about it.
We eventually crossed over Skyline Drive and started the slow but steady ascent of North Marshall mountain. Just when we thought we were about to summit....nope....false summit...again. Finally, after about 5 or 6 false summits, we finally reached the actual summit. Truthfully, the summit itself was uneventful. I had to use my PATC map app on my iPhone to confirm we had actually topped out. The blue dot in the app told me we were on the summit. I think that is a good trail name contender, "Blue Dot". :)
On the south side descent of North Marshall, we kept finding small social trails to rocky overlooks. After about 3 or 4 of these, we came to the last one. I stood out as far as I dared (vertigo) and looked north and the light bulb went on. I had been wondering for quite some time about a row of rock formations that you can see from Skyline Drive. Now I realized I not only was standing on said rock formation, but had hiked across the top of it! Wow!! Now every time I drive by, I can look up and point and say, "I was up there!" :))
We finished the descent of North Marshall, crossed Skyline Drive back to the western side, and then climbed up South Marshall. The south sister wasn't nearly as difficult as the north sister. But the south sister had some great views to the west. More posing, more pictures, and more awesome scenery. We finally arrived at Gravel Springs Gap and the Escape around 12:30pm. We were both surprised we didn't do better on the time. I was thinking we could make it by 11:00am. Pssssh! Way off! But...we did have a bit more elevation changes to deal with this time. I calculated this hike and the previous hike ('cause I'm a data analyst and it's what I do) and figured we have been averaging about 1.22 miles per hour. Pretty slow, but we like to explore, take pictures and blue-blaze a lot. It's not a race, it's a journey!
The forecasted rain hadn't materialized (yet), so we decided to take the Escape and drive south on Skyline for picture taking. The problem was that all the critters were snuggling down in anticipation of the bad weather. We got as far as Jewell Hollow overlook, when I noticed it was spitting snow!?! Just as we were about to continue south, the flakes got real big, real fast. We agreed we'd better play it safe and bail. It wasn't just the weather, but we were afraid they might close Skyline Drive and we wouldn't be able to get back to Jen's car. On the way back north, the snow got worse and worse. There were even places where it was just starting to stick to the road. We knew we had made the right decision. The only wildlife we saw the entire time was one red-belly woodpecker, and a deer we named "Toni" because she was kicking her heels up and playing in the snow. We finally made it out of the park by 3pm. The lower elevations were just getting rain, but snow was threatening. I'm glad we bailed, since Jen was driving to outrun the snow that was bearing down on Martinsburg. We both made it home safe.
91.4 miles of adventures still to come!!
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