November 2. Appalachian Trail from Big Meadows Lodge south to Milam Gap; Mill Prong Trail to Camp Rapidan; back via Mill Prong Horse Trail and Rapidan Fire Road to Big Meadows. 8.5 miles. Shenandoah National Park, in our limited experience so far, continues to offer great loop hikes. This one, begun at 2 p.m. after the drive from Roanoke, and thereby accomplished in a mild race against the waning daylight, was full of the offerings of the park: AT miles, stream-side strolls, historic spots and invigorating climbs. Not to mention coming upon, at the end, the great meadow across from Big Meadows Lodge. Camp Rapidan, the retreat of President Hoover, offers a glimpse of the rusticity of the '20s and '30s, when simple wood structures and furniture served even the president. Although the scope of the camp--more than a dozen buildings--was reduced by 1963 razings to just the three remaining, the site is still noteworthy for those structures and the map and remnants of the rest of the original 164-acre site. The walk back from the camp was marked by a strong ascent along the Mill Prong Horse Trail. The Rapidan Fire Road is significantly gentler and yields, soon enough, to paths through the 119-acre big meadow, which as evening drew down, was amply populated by deer and by people taking photos of them. One added beauty of this hike: We set out not knowing quite where we'd go, and ended up with a perfect loop, a compliment to both the pace and the creativity of The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All.
November 3. Appalachian Trail from Big Meadows Lodge to Hawksbill Gap. 4.8 miles. Meadow Spring Trail to AT to Mary's Rock; AT south to Little Stony Man parking area. 7.4 miles. With travel logistics dictating that The Day Hiker and I travel in separate cars, she suggested that we take advantage of the situation by planting a car (duh) and thereby doubling the miles we could do on the Applachian Trail--being able to walk in one direction rather than going out and back. The day's first foray was over a stretch from Big Meadows northward to Hawksbill Gap. The Day Hiker outpaced even her usual self on this relatively flat and gentle-bedded 4.8-mile section undertaken without packs, as she led us to completion in 90 minutes--an average of about 19 minutes per miles (in contrast to our usual 23-24). The afternoon hike was a bit more strenuous, especially at the beginning, with the 1.4-mile, 800-foot climb up the Meadow Spring Trail and the AT to Mary's Rock, where we ate lunch. The rest of the hike was the 6 miles from Mary's Rock on the AT to the Little Stony Man parking area; this stretch of trail is generally moderate, with a few ups and downs but a lot of ridge walking as well.
November 10. Carvins Cove Trails and 'shwhacking. About 10 miles. The trail system around Roanoke's municipal water supply have been upgraded with spiffy signs since we were last there, with trail names labeled with black diamonds and blue squares (for the cyclists, of course); the even niftier addition would be distances. We headed out of the parking lot off of Va. 740 and straight up the Hi-Dee Ho Trail, on which The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All was soon taunting me from the next switchback up as she hustled up the 900-foot climb to the ridge of Brushy Mountain, where the forest road wanders along and just east of the ridge line. We hung a right on the Hemlock Tunnel and descended precipitously before climbing back up a bit on Kerncliff and then up the slaty hillside to a knob looking out over pretty much everything, including Carvins Cove, McAfee Knob, the back of Tinker Cliffs and the ridge where the AT runs between Tinker Cliffs and Hay Rock. From lunch at the high, windy and cold point, we bushwhacked down the west slope of the knob and the mountainside toward the water. (Bushwhacking is the sole aspect of hiking where the not-greatest-day hiker gets some measure of revenge on she who is The Greatest; Gail has never done a bushwhack she hasn't whined about every step, complete with questioning the common sense, judgment and character of the person who--once or twice a daggone year--makes her do it.) At the drought-widened banks of the reservoir, The Day Hiker's tone turned on a dime, as here were tiny clam shells and other previously-underwater things, which are a delight--on any beach--to her. We walked about a mile along the shore and then took the Comet's Trail and Tuck-A-Way back toward 740, on which we walked the .9 to the parking lot. Overall, a terrific and made-up-as-we-went day of hiking.
November 18. Andy Layne Trail to Appalachian Trail to Tinker Cliffs and back. 7.2 miles. A perfect hike on a perfect fall day, with lots of leaf color still around, temps in the low 50s and enough sun to keep the air comfortable for our newly found rock-chairback lunch spot along the cliffs. You can begin to tell how many times we've done this hike when The Day Hiker, just shy of the last stile as you head up, pauses to gesture at the bare ground to ask if I know what will appear on that spot come spring. To my "Well, um, no," she replies immediately and girlishly triumphant: "Trout lilies and toothwort!" With the trail in good use on this day, we decided, as mentioned, not to sit in the usual spot--only a few feet from a blaze on the first major outcrop--and instead went on a little, to a point a bit farther off the trail and with a nice two-level seating arrangement, to allow for leaning back while eating, looking out over the Catwaba valley and the Alleghenies beyond, enjoying the sun and breeze and generally reveling in the great and pervasive pleasures of climbing a mountain and – especially – having-climbed-it.
November 23. Appalachian Trail to McAfee Knob and back. 7.4 miles. A cold day-after-Thanksgiving and the parking lot along Va. 311 on Catawba Mountain was packed with cars. And up and down the trail were couples and families walking off some of the T-Day feast on a crystal clear day, with the vista from the mountain top extra sharp. We ate, for a change, away from the Catawba Valley overlook and instead tucked ourselves away from the wind on a ledge looking southeastward toward across the Roanoke airport, into downtown and beyond to little Mill Mountain.
November 29. Blue Ridge Parkway Humpback Gap Parking area (MP 6) to AT past Paul Wolfe Shelter to Lowe cabin chimney, back to Humpback Rocks and down Humpback Rocks Trail. 12.5 miles. This walk, begun just before noon and concluded precisely as the sun set, completed our miles northward from Roanoke to Rockfish Gap, where the AT crosses I-64. The Day Hiker was in rare form even for her, especially as she dragged me from the Wolfe Shelter to Humpback Rocks – 5.6 miles that is nearly all uphill – in exactly two hours, a 21.5-minutes-per-mile pace (with packs) that not only took me to my speed limit, but also assured we'd be out of the woods before dark. Lunch at the Wolfe Shelter was warm and sunny on this cool and breezy day, as the shelter faces perfectly south to at once receive the sun and block the westerly wind. As is so often the case along this part of the trail, the relatively modest elevations – rarely exceeding 3,000 feet – yield views far beyond what would be expected.
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