Start: Elkwallow
End: Beahm's Gap
Today's miles: 5.1
Total (cumulative) AT miles: 21
Time: 4hrs
I'm bad about blogging in a timely manner. I was so wiped on Sunday, and Monday was slamming at work. So I'm finally trying to blog while the hike is still fresh.
We had already decided to do a shorter leg, since the next possible shuttle point was 8.3 miles from Elkwallow. We thought that was a little ambitious, so we settled on the 5.1 and decided it was a good leg to take the pups since it was a shorter leg than usual. See, Rosie is quite the handful when hiking and takes so much of my energy, so I usually leave her at home for our hikes. I tend to lose my temper with her when I'm tired and sore (which I regret), so it's better for both of us if she stays home. But we thought we'd give it a try on this shorter leg. It was also Trigger's first hike. He's Jen & Kenny's little dog. He's been working his way up to a real hike, and this was his first one. It won't be his last, but I think his next one will be quite a bit shorter. :) The little guy crapped out about 4 miles into the hike. We cajoled, called and carried him the rest of the way.
I actually arrived at Beahm's Gap ahead of Jen, which was a first. We have moved so far south, it's become closer for me to come in through the Thornton Gap entrance station. Rosie and I got there sometime around 7am or so. There are no cool overlooks between Thornton Gap and Beahm's, so no awesome sunrise shots. Jen arrived about 10minutes later, long enough for me to sneak down the embankment and seek fellowship with nature and start to get Rosie all geared up. It was cold, so I had to get her jacket on her. We also got Trigger a nifty jacket, especially since Kenny was fussing about it being too cold. Once Jen got there, we transferred the gear and pups to Jen's Yaris and headed up to Elkwallow to start the hike.
We started out of Elkwallow at 7:37am. Temps were around 32deg or so. I had checked the elevation profiles beforehand, so I knew we had a climb (Neighbor Mtn.) towards the end near Byrd's Nest #4, but what I failed to notice is that we had to climb up out of Elkwallow to start. It kicked our butts! But nothing else to do but suck it up and climb. Once we hit the ridge line, it was pretty easy going. Lots of good campsites along the ridge. Nothing particularly pretty this time of year. It wasn't until we got closer to Byrd's Nest that we climbed up Neighbor Mountain, and got into some nice laurel stands. Those will be pretty come springtime...which I guess is coming up very soon. Nothing is budding yet in Shenandoah, but hopefully soon.
Coming down Neighbor Mountain towards Beahm's Gap is when Trigger decided he was done. We managed to coax him a little bit, but shortly we had to give up. Jen carried for a spell, then I gave her my one trekking pole and I carried Trigger the rest of the way. Luckily, it was only about another 1/2 mile or so to the end. On the way down, we found a cool rock for me to climb and keep up the tradition. I didn't make it to the top. There was a shrub in the way and it wasn't worth the risk. Plus I had to get back down. But we had fun and got some pics.
Once we got to the Escape, we fed the pups a good lunch, and we ate ours. Then, I had the idea to make a run for a fountain soda since we were so close to Thornton Gap. We asked Siri, but she isn't always accurate or helpful. We decided to head west to Luray. Siri said there was good stuff headed west on Rt. 211, plus we'd never really checked it out, so we went west. We found a Subway very shortly, got our fountain sodas, and then headed back to Skyline. We did our obligatory post-hike nature drive. We found lots and lots of deer, some robins & crows, and a little bit of snow. No bears, but still a good time!
We plan on skipping this coming weekend. After all, there are more things we need to do other than hike the AT in Shenandoah. We're thinking if spring cooperates, we may do a one or two night backpack for our next leg. The time change is coming up this weekend, which means sunset will get pushed back to 7pm or so. More daylight to hike! Byrd's Nest #3 has been converted from day-use to an overnight shelter. We'll figure it out later. I'm looking forward to a "me" weekend anyway.
101 - 21 = 80 miles left to go! That's nice progress!!
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