Old Rag

In January 2001 I decided to hike Old Rag in Shenandoah National Park. This was one of the 1st hikes I attempted in the park, since I’d just moved to the DC area in August of 2000. I was woefully unprepared for this hike. There is a 1.3 mile long rock scramble and it was more than I could handle. Not only that, but it was January and it was icy. Luckily for me a nice guy named Larry was hiking that day and he offered to let me “follow” him, and it was only because he helped me that I made it to the summit and down the the other side. I swore I was never going up there again, it just wasn’t my type of hike.

Back in January I drove past Old Rag on my way to and from a hike in Whiteoak Canyon and I started thinking. I’ve had a bunch of other hiking experiences involving rock scrambling – Maine, the Adirondacks, and I’ve recently lost about 70 lbs and have a whole different body.  I suddenly thought that not only was Old Rag in my league, but I might actually like it.  I decided to gather some friends to come with and hike Old Rag to celebrate my 38th birthday. 

Turned out that it was just my friend Harmony, my dad, and I, but that was just perfect!  We all met up Friday night at Big Meadows Campground Friday night! Harmony drove down from Ithaca, NY and my parents drove in from Williamsburg. 

In an effort to not have to sit in traffic for hours trying to get through Gainesville, I took a new route out to the park.  I stayed on 66 to the 2nd Marshall exit and took 647 (Crest Hill Road) south till it connected with 522 and took that to 211.  It was a great drive!  647 is definitely a back road – it’s very narrow and twisty, but there’s no traffic and there are great views of the mountains!  It’s my new “go to” route to get to Big Meadows from school.  I just need to figure out what I did right after I got off 66 that took me down the wrong road and led to a quick jaunt down a dirt road to connect to 647!

I arrived at the campground a little before 6 and Harmony pulled in about an hour later.  We had a yummy lasagna dinner! Mom had made the lasagna at home and we just had to re-heat it.  We ended up having to use my microwave because their generator wasn’t working!  After dinner dad made a campfire but the wood was very sparky and the fire wasn’t very warm, so we all got cold and gave up on campfire sitting and went to bed. 

It was a very cold night – lower 30s!  I mostly stayed warm in my sleeping back and two layers of long underwear!  Saturday morning was foggy and cold!  We were up early to get to the trailhead before the parking lot filled up (Old Rag is very popular).  We departed the campground at 7 am and made our way back down Skyline Drive to 211 and into Sperryville to get to the Old Rag Parking area.  The Ranger had told me it would take about 2 hours, but really it only took about an hour.  When we arrived there was still plenty of parking!  1st goal: Achieved!

It was cloudy, cold, and looked like it was going to rain.  I was hopeful that the clouds would lift.  At the campground it looked like the sun was trying to break through, but at the base of Old Rag, not so much. 

Even the Ranger wasn’t sure the clouds would break up!

We headed up the road, carrying more fleece and raingear than I ever thought I’d need in May!  The parking lot is .8 of mile from the trailhead so the 1st part is a road walk.  It’s a pretty road walk, but it’s still a road walk.  Soon though, we were at the official trailhead!

Up we go!

The 1st mile and a half are normal trail.  Just regular rocks and dirt and switchbacks.  There were lots of rocks in the woods and plenty of trillium!

 

As we gained elevation the views started and the sun started peaking out!

Soon we came to the rock scramble portion of the hike……

 

Dad navigating the 1st rock obstacle!

The last 1.3 miles to the summit was like Mother Nature’s jungle gym!  We went over, under and through all kinds of obstacles.  Some were easy – hopping from one rock to the next, or sitting and sliding down a rock face.  Others were more challenging and you had to use your hands to pull you up and over or take off your pack.  In all cases the rocks were big and you had to take your time!  In many places all the hikers helped each other and there as a definite sense of teamwork.  This was the part of the hike that made me cry 12 years ago, now though, I totally loved it!  It all kinda blurs together, but a few spots stand out…

There was a spot where you had to get up and over a big tall rock and the rock was in a crevice and there was a wall on one side.  The man in front of us slipped trying to get his leg over the rock, luckily he was holding on and he didn’t fall, but it scared Dad and I when we saw it.  Dad went next and he just climbed right over. 

In the picture you can see the rock that is just over Dad’s left shoulder – that’s the rock you had to get over.  There was really no room on the right because of the wall.  It was my turn and I was thinking about the guy who slipped and how easy Dad made it look, but when I got up there the rock was only up to my chin! I wasn’t sure how I was going to clear it.  Somehow I got my chest up on the rock and was laying on my stomach “Superman” style.  I wasn’t sure where I was going from there.  I started walking my legs along the wall and somehow got them all the way up and over.  It was not graceful, or pretty, but it was effective!

There was one spot that made me want to wet my pants.  You had to step across a small crack in the rock and there wasn’t much space on the other side.  You had to step up and reach for the handhold and commit to your movement before your hand was on the rock.  It wasn’t a large step.  Even if you slipped, you weren’t gonna fall far.  The rock was grippy…   But it was still a leap of faith since you had no point of contact for a few seconds! When we got up there a guy was trying to get across and he was not having fun.  He stood there and 2nd guessed himself and hemmed and hawed about going for a few minutes before he just did it.  As soon as he got to the other side he said “that wasn’t hard!”  We discussed how this hike is more mental than physical and he headed off.  Now it was Dad’s turn.  He ended up taking off his pack and only hesitated a bit.  When it was my turn I just didn’t think about it.  I just stepped onto the rock and reached out to get the handhold when it was close and it was easy, I was however surprised by my stomach dropping into my knees, just like it might on a roller coaster, when I made it across!

I’m not sure Dad and Harmony enjoyed the rock scramble as much as I did (I admit the 1st time I was up there, I hated it was passion so the fact that they made it through without tears is very impressive!), but we all made it to the summit with minimal bloodshed and just a few bruises.

Me on the summit!

We hung out on the summit for about 30 minutes, eating lunch and taking pictures!  Another group came up and sat near us (Old Rag is very popular and it was crowded at the top!) and one of the gals said something about it being a great place to spend your birthday and I asked her if it was her birthday…her birthday was May 3!  We were both hiking Old Rag to celebrate! :-) 

(BTW: I took TONS of pictures of the views and the rocks and stuff, I’m not posting them all here but if you click HERE you can go to my album on Google+ and see them all!)

One of the perks of Old Rag vs Mountains in the Adirondacks is that it’s a loop hike and you go down via a “regular” trail and a fire road.  It’s a long way down – 5.2 miles, but it’s NOT back over the rocks!  We broke up the trip down with stops at both Byrd’s Nest #1 Day Use Shelter and Old Rag Day Use Shelter for snacks and bathroom breaks, but mostly it was just straight walking and chatting – on a long downhill like that you really need your friends to chat with! I’d remembered getting some great views of Old Rag from the Weakly Hollow Fire Road last time I was there and was looking forward to that, until I realized that the leaves are out now.  Boo.  I’ll have to walk up the fire road in January and get a picture of the mountain from there!

As you can see from the summit picture, the clouds broke up and we were blessed with crystal clear views all around!  I don’t remember the views from my hike 12 years ago, I think that’s how stressful it was for me because the views are quite impressive!  The temperature never warmed up much making it perfect hiking weather!

Spring is coming late to the Shenandoah Mountains!  In the valley the leaves are out on the trees, however as you climb (and descend) you travel through all stages of spring – yellow green leaves, tiny leaves, buds, no leaves at all! It was very cool! 

This picture is from the trip down and it’s looking at Robertson Mountain and it captures the stages of spring!

When we arrived at the parking lot Harmony was heading to Woodbridge and Dad and I were heading back up to Big Meadows!   When we were on the summit of Old Rag we could see some overlooks on Skyline Drive so on our way back Dad and I stopped at them all to get the view from there and see if we could see hikers on the summit (we couldn’t). 

When we arrived back at the campground we ate dinner, took a quick walk around the campground (you’d think I would have walked enough but I wanted to get my fitbit to 30,000 steps!), and hunkered down for another cold night!

Sunday morning I had a chance to practice for winter camping and figure out how to stay warm and entertained in the RV!  It’s actually kinda nice sitting in there with the curtains open so I can see and the furnace running!  Once the fog burned off Dad and I hiked up Hawksbill (the highest point in the park) and got a little turned around trying to get down – he had one plan, I had another, and we talked to someone who told us how to go but it wasn’t either of our plans! It all worked out, we just walked almost 4 miles rather than 2.  

I headed out later than I intended but still made it to Wegmans and home to unload and do some of the chores before I fell over from exhaustion!

RV ISSUES

A weekend trip wouldn’t be complete without a few RV issues. 

Fridge

At 4:30 AM on Saturday morning (30 minutes before my alarm was going to go off…grrr…) I woke up and an alarm in the RV was going off.  I knew it wasn’t the LP or the smoke detector so it took me a minute.  It was the fridge.  It was saying “no flame” meaning that it had tried to ignite the propane but failed.  hmmm…  It’s never happened that the flame went out, or didn’t ignite randomly.  It was very windy and I figured the wind did it and turned the fridge off. I turned on the hot water heater and that was fine so I figured it was a fridge issue rather than a propane issue. 

I turned the fridge back on when I got up and it was fine all day Saturday.  I turned it off before bed on Saturday night so it wouldn’t wake me up if it had a problem. Sunday morning through, it went off again.  I brought some food over from Mom and Dad’s coach and then left again for 5 mins and when I came back the fridge was beeping.  hmmm….

I am glad that I don’t have the fridge set to “auto” because then, in the absence of propane it would have switched to battery and drained the battery before I realized it!

My theory is that maybe it had something to do with the cold? 

LP Detector

I didn’t go back to sleep and finally turned the furnace on to warm things up so I could get dressed.  I ran the furnace for about 45 minutes and then got up to shave and get dressed.  I was in the shower, shaving my legs, when the LP detector began to wail.  WTF.  I hadn’t had the water on long, but the RV was closed up.  I opened the vent and the door and the alarm continued. I wrapped a towel around myself and headed out to open the back door.  I was standing in the RV, wearing only a towel, it was 33* outside at 5:45 am waiting for the LP detector to shut up.  After it was quiet, I closed the coach up and continued with my shave and got dressed with not further issues.  The LP detector goes off when I shower on Saturday mornings when I’m with Mom and Dad.  I can’t find any other pattern to it. 

House (coach) Battery

I noticed Saturday evening that the battery was a 1/3 so I ran the generator for almost an hour.  By Sun morning it was back down to 1/3?  I’ve never had to run the generator for a 2 night dry camping trip so I was confused by why it drained so fast.  I’m wondering if it wasn’t running the furnace?  I hope so…I’ll be sad if the battery is already losing it’s umph and needs to be replaced!

Greenbrier State Park

This weekend I took the RV out for the 1st trip of the season! I'd un-winterized last weekend and all went well so we ready to rock and roll!

I decided to head up into Maryland and check out Greenbrier State Park that was right by the AT. There were some points of interest along the AT there and it would be a good camping spot for future AT hikes!

I left right after school on Friday and promptly hit traffic heading into Leesburg. Google maps told me it would take me an hour and a half to get to the park. I left school at 3:15 and at 5:00 I'd just arrived in Frederick, still had about 30 mins to go and traffic was at a standstill on I-70 West, which was where I needed to go.

I decided to stop for dinner in Frederick. While I was sitting in traffic I'd discovered that there was a Baja Fresh in Frederick so I attempted to locate it. The map showed it right by a mall and th mall had lots of little shopping centers and restaurants around it so it showed promise, but after driving around a few times and having to turn around and navigate I decided to give up and go to Panera, which was even better because they have free wifi!

After a nice dinner, checking Facebook, email, and texting I headed back into traffic. On the way out of the shopping center I saw the Baja Fresh. Boo. At least I know exactly where it is for next time. I-70 was a parking lot so I decided to go straight to route 40 which was going to be a direct shot into the park. That was not an original idea. The exit for 40 west was inching along. Once off the highway though traffic thinned out and soon I was out in the country!

It was only about 20 minutes to the park, even though it felt like it was in the middle of nowhere! I didn't have a reservation but I still managed to get a great site with electricity for the night! I'd wanted electricity because it was supposed to go down into the 30s and my "stay warm" plan was to nuke my bed buddy and put it in the sleeping bag with me!

I got all parked up and plugged in by 7 so I had a solid hour before dark to check out the park! The first thing I discovered about the park was that there was a cell tower right across the street and I had full signal! I love the wilderness but I also love technology! I walked down to the lake and then took a trail to walk around it and back to the campground loops and then I walked the 2 most populated campground loops. Even chatted briefly with a man who was camping with his 2 rambunctious puppies in a van almost like mine!

I'd read that you can see Greenbriar Lake from Annapolis Rocks, which is where I was going to hike to, so I figured that the rock formation at the top of the mountain was Annapolis Rocks! I'm pretty sure I was right!

My site! I was in Cedars 41 - it was close to level (if your RV is short enough) and secluded and easy to back into!

Saturday morning I was up and out early! They lock the gate into the park from 10 pm - 8 am and I'd planned to be out by a little after 8 and was mostly successful! (They have some superior security at this park, not only do they lock the gate at night but you have to have a key code to get into the camping area! I've never seen a campground that you had to have code to get past the gate!)

There's a large parking area where the AT crosses Route 40, but I figured it would fill up quickly and I was right! I got there a little before 9 and there were already a bunch of cars! When I got back from my hike there were cars parked everywhere! But at least I wasn't parked in!

There is a spur trail that takes you to the AT - as you can tell from the pavement, double yellow line & guardrail this is deep in the wilderness! LOL!

This is right where the AT crosses I-70. I thought I'd been here before, but I must have been someplace else. It was still exciting to cross over the interstate! I've crossed I-66 while hiking the AT but you go under it, and it's the parking area so it's not like its really the trail.

The bridge!

View from the bridge, with the cell phone tower by the campground!

Sign on the bridge letting motorists know they were driving under the AT

Soon the AT turns into the woods and climbs high above the highway and you don't even know its there!

As I was leaving the parking lot three guys were getting ready for a backpacking trip. They soon caught up with me and we climbed the hill together. We were hiking at about the same pace so we struck up a conversation. They were all in their 40s and they've been backpacking together for over 25 years! They used to climb, but they don't anymore. They were fun to talk with and I was kinda sad when we got to the trail to Annapolis Rocks and they kept going!

View of Greenbriar Lake from Annapolis Rocks

After checking out the view at Annapolis Rocks I continued on up the trail to Black Rock Cliffs. The trail was a ridge walk so it was basically flat.

View from Black Rocks Cliff

I continued on up the trail to the Pogo Campsite which was about 1/2 way between Route 40 and the next road crossing so it was a good stopping point for the day, it was also about 4 miles from the parking area making for an 8 mile hike.

On the way back to the car I stopped at the Pine Knob Shelter.

The spur trail to the shelter had a lot of flowers, oddly enough it was the only place on the whole hike with flowers!

 

After a brief stop at the shelter to read the log (which didn't take long as it had just been replaced 2 days ago!) and pack out some trash that had been left there, I headed to the parking area.

I took the scenic route to get to I70 so I could see if the nearby rest area was the spot that I thought I'd been too. This allowed me another view if Annapolis Rocks! The rest area was not where I thought I'd been so I continued on toward home.

I decided to take Route 340 to Harper's Ferry rather than Route 15 through Leesburg since I really didn't want to go home and I'd never been that way. It was a nice drive and next time I might just take that way rather than fight traffic around Leesburg!

Since I was taking the scenic route I went ahead and made it the uber scenic route and went through Front Royal. Since it was only a few miles up the hill from Route 55 I decided to go check on the trillium at the Wildlife Management Area. They aren't quite to peak yet but there are a ton of trillium!

Finally made my way to Wegmans and then home! Beatiful day for our 1st trip of the season!

 

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Whitegrass & The Canaan Valley Wildlife Refuge

I’ve wanted to go to Whitegrass for years, but all the times I’ve tried there was no snow and the day I went to Blackwater Falls I was worried about time and didn’t drive the extra 10 miles to get there.   While we can’t get any snow in Northern Virginia, Canaan Valley has been blessed with a seemingly endless supply of snow and despite the calendar saying that it was late March, there was a lot of snow up in the mountains, with more on the way!  Since I’d decided against a Spring Break trip for a variety of reasons, I decided that I’d take another day trip West Virginia for some more snowshoeing. 

I took Roxy because I prefer driving the RV on long distances and she’d been sitting for about a month so I wanted to drive her.  It would also give me a chance to run the generator for it’s monthly “exercise”.   Luckily it’s real easy to gather the stuff I need for a day trip and Friday evening I had everything but my cooler packed.  I was up by 5:15 and on the road before 6:30 Saturday morning. 

This time I decided to take the more scenic route through Petersburg, Seneca Rocks, past Yokum’s – the location of last summer’s National Lampoon’s Redneck Vacation, and up and over the Eastern Continental Divide!

This was exciting because hopefully this summer I’ll drive up and over the Western Continental Divide!  I’m sure you drive over it going the other way too, but it’s isn’t marked like it is on US33.  This route was a lot more scenic and it didn’t take much longer.  I think it’s the better way to go if you are going to Canaan Valley Resort or Whitegrass because they are both on the southern end of Canaan Valley. 

I’ve become accustomed to heading out to snowshoe and not seeing any snow until I arrive at my snowshoeing destination and today was no exception.

This is just over the Tucker County line, about 10 miles (maybe less) from Canaan Valley.   No snow.  None. Zip. Zilch.

It was a little after 10 am when I arrived!

(yea, the picture is crappy b/c of the glare…that’s what happens when you aim and shoot without looking because you are driving!

I was a bit nervous about the road in because it was off the main highway, and those roads tend to not get plowed/treated.  I’d posted the question on the Whitegrass Facebook group and was assured that getting in and parking would be just fine, and it was!  I am glad I got there early though, if I’d been even an hour later, parking Roxy would have been a challenge.  I quickly sized up the parking area and found a place, on what I thought was the end of a row, where I could park Roxy and not take up too much space (one of the other options I’d had to park her later had 4 cars parked there…glad I didn’t park there, I would have taken up 4 spots!) and pulled in. 

As soon as I got out of the van I knew I was in the right place – a young couple was getting out of their truck and man immediately said “Nice Rig!!!”.  He asked a few questions, but mostly gazed at my van in amazement!  He and his wife have been married a week and are planning an RVing honeymoon this summer!  I knew I was among friends at Whitegrass!

After I paid my area use fee, got a map, and checked out the lodge, I was ready to set out!  The map was kinda hard to read at first, so I just set out to explore.  Many of the trails are groomed, which makes it great for skiiers, but harder on snowshoers.  Especially on a day like today where the snow was packed and icy.  It was hard to get off the trail enough to where I was sure I wasn’t tearing up the tracks for the skiiers. (snowshoes have large ice biters on the bottom and are rough around the edges, whereas skis are smooth) I quickly came upon a trail crossing! I couldn’t find the trail on my map but there was a sign on the tree..

Snowshoe trail!  And the trail looked untouched!  Perfect!  Off I went, not worrying about tearing up the nicely groomed  ski trail! I quickly came to a little shelter that had a map in it and realized that I was heading away from most of the trails, so despite there being lots of “snowshoe trail” signs I decided to head back the way I’d come.  This time I noticed what looked to be a trail heading up the mountain.  It wasn’t on my map, it wasn’t marked, it hadn’t been traveled recently, but it really looked like a trail, so I headed up it!  I could still see the groomed trail so I knew I wasn’t too far off.  Soon I came to another groomed trail!  I continued up and soon came to another trail junction – this one, like all the main trails at Whitegrass was marked with a sign and a map of the mountain, with a “you are here” sticker, so you always know exactly where you are!

I opted to continue up.  When I got to the next trail junction, I was studying the map trying to decide where to do and a skiier came up behind me and said “You want to go to the right. It’s more scenic, you’ll see the waterfall.”  I’m not sure what made him think he knew what I wanted to do, but I decided I should take his advice, since I didn’t have another plan.  I headed off on the trail to the right, and he continued on up the other trail.   The trail to the waterfall wasn’t groomed and it was better for snowshoeing – maybe that’s why he suggested I go that way? 

I trekked past the small falls and up to another trail junction! Here I decided to keep on going up, thinking I’d go down a “black diamond” trail a little ways up.  The XC ski trails are rated just like downhill slopes and the black diamonds are the toughest.  I’ve never downhill skiied a black diamond so I was kinda excited to do one on snowshoes…even though it’s totally different! 

All the distances on the map were given in KM.  I wasn’t sure of the conversion of KM to miles, but I was quickly realizing that KM were shorter.  I was a lot further up the mountain than I had expected I’d be able to get!  I was considering going all the way to the top, but wasn’t sure.  My camera battery was dying faster than I’d anticipated and I wanted to eat lunch in the cafe.

For now though, I continued up, heading to the “Double Trouble” trail to get down.  Along the way I came to an awesome view of the lodge:

It’s kinda hard to see it down there…   The area that is now Whitegrass used to be a downhill ski area, they even used to have a lift!  Not anymore!  The only way to the top now is under your own steam!   I could see Roxy from here, so I had to zoom in to get a picture of her:

You can see that even right by the lodge the snow was patchy!

I continued up to Roundtop.

    

 

Roundtop is a flat spot at the top of one mountain, with more mountains rising around it! I continued to debate going all the way up, or heading back down for lunch and to charge my battery.  Since I didn’t know what time the cafe closed, I opted for lunch!  As I headed down I passed a guy I’d been talking to along the way and he was stunned that I wasn’t going all the way to the top, said it was really easy from there, I almost turned around, but decided if I did go to the top, I wanted pictures so I needed to charge my battery.  

The trip down was a lot of fun!  Usually I hate hiking downhill, but on snowshoes it’s lots of fun!  You can go faster because the snowshoes grip and the snow covers the obstacles that usually trip you! It’s a great workout of those “downhill muscles” that rarely see a lot of action!  On the way down I saw some tracks through the woods so deviated from the groomed trails and headed off through the woods! 

At the bottom I discovered I was parked in!  No worries, I wasn’t planning on going anywhere!

The lodge is a cozy place with woodstoves, mismatched furniture and huge picture windows!  The cafe serves up yummy real food for lunch!  I got a hummus panni and some yummy Spinach and Barely soup (although the edges of the “spinach” were quite curly, I suspect it was kale…even better! Any place that serves homemade soup with kale is my kind of place!).  All the food was fresh and real!  No hot dogs or chicken nuggets  here! :-) 

After lunch I headed back out!  I went up a very steep trail and then came to a groomed trail and kept heading up.  Soon though, I got to a side of the mountain that must get more sun that the rest because this was what I found:

This was the “good” part of the trail…there were huge patches where there was no snow at all!  Luckily I can walk on plain ground with my snowshoes so I didn’t have to take them off!  Soon I was back on a groomed trail and I found myself back at “Double Trouble”.  This is where I had come down earlier and right by Roundtop.  I decided that I was going to head up to the very top, Bald Knob Summit.   The sun was out and the air was warm, this meant the snow was getting very soft and very packable and it kept forming a solid snowball in the ice gripper on the bottom of my left snowshoe.  Due to the design of the snowshoe it’s a pain to get the snowball out.   I trekked up to the top and it was totally worth it!

I was almost at the summit when I saw this sign:

Were today’s conditions “wet” or “dry” – I could go either way!  I ended up going to the right, not sure what was on the left side. 

 

Blad Knob Summit – 4308’ (973 ft above the lodge!)

 

You can the chair lift for the Canaan Valley Resort.  They are already closed for the season and not taking advantage of this winter’s windfall. 

 

Views of the Canaan Valley!  You can see, there isn’t much snow down there!

The trip down was more fun than the trip up!  I found a few un-groomed trails and was able to deviate from the trail and go on fresh snow!

Most of the trip down was in the Canaan Valley Wildlife Refuge!

I’d decided I was going to cut through on the “Fern Gully” trail – a steeper and shorter way down than the “Three Mile” trail, and came to what I thought was the junction, however I saw this sign:

Experts only.  hmmmm.  I knew they were referring to expert skiiers.  Snowshoeing is different.  I decided to go for it!  It was very, very, steep!  I see why it was “experts” only!  I was glad I had traction and wasn’t sliding down!   I made it down with no issues!

I was almost back to the parking area and it was about 3:15, if I wasn’t parked in I would be ready to go, but what if I was parked in?  I could snowshoe more.  But I didn’t necessarily want to snowshoe more.  Decisions, decisions.  I ended up heading down, in hopes that someone had moved. 

When I got back to the RV I discovered that while the parking lot had cleared out a lot, the 4 cars that were making it impossible for me to get out, were still there.  I changed my clothes, got a snack, walked back into the lodge, hoping that when I was done with my “chores”, someone would have moved.  I then started wondering if maybe I was underestimating the van and maybe it *could* make it.   I was kinda seeing it as a challenge and I kinda wanted to try it, but failure was not an option and I really didn’t need to go anywhere (I’d wanted to leave by 5 at at the latest so I still had about an hour). 

Here’s what the situation looked like…

There are three cars here! The red van in the back is the one that is blocking me.  The other 2 are parked in what I thought was the road – guess not!

There is a red truck right next to me so I have to pull out (or back up, which I can’t do because of the red van in the other picture), I can’t pull out far enough to get around the red truck because of the 2 cars parked directly across from me… 

  If any one of the four cars moved, I’d be able to get out without a problem. 

Luckily for me, the owner of the red truck came up just as I was settling to read and wait! I jumped out to ask him if he could move his car if he wasn’t leaving (he had room to pull up a few feet), but he was leaving!  He pulled out and a few minutes later I was on my way!

Since it was only 4:15 I decided to take a reconnoitering spin through the Canaan Valley State Park’s campground to see what it was like for next time.  I was very impressed and was wishing I’d packed to spend the night.  They plow the campsites (as evidenced by the 5 ft mounds of snow at the end of each site), each site has electricity, most sites are pull-throughs (making it easy to come back after dark) and they have showers in the bathouse.   I’m gonna have to work out how to stay warm at night! I’m thinking I need an electric blanket or small ceramic heater – if I have electricity those things work great. 

I decided to take WV 93 to get home because it was more direct so I headed out through Canaan Valley and Davis.  When you go this way you get to see the HUGE windmills on the ridge!  I’d seen a windmill farm on the ridge in CA and there were hundreds of windmills and they looked smaller than these WV ones.  Here they have less than a 100 (I’d guess) but they are HUGE.  It’s probably because they are so close!  This time I knew I was going to see them so I was able to snap a picture as I drove by.

After a quick stop for dinner and generator exercise at my favorite “scenic overlook” outside of Moorfield, I headed on home after a great day in West Virginia! 

Snowshoeing

A few years ago I decided that I needed to own a pair of snowshoes.  Not really sure why I decided I needed them, but I did some research and found a “starter” pair of snowshoes at LLBean and decided to buy them.  I was a bit anxious that buying them was going to jinx us and we wouldn’t get any snow ever again.  The snowshoes arrived on a Wednesday.  By Thursday they were predicting a snowstorm for the weekend and by Saturday morning there was a historic 2ft of snow on the ground!  WOW!  I strapped on the snowshoes and set out to enjoy our windfall.   However, despite the snowshoes, I kept sinking in up to my mid-calf.  I struggled with it for awhile before giving up.  I attempted another snowshoe walk later in the day and it was the same thing.  I was sinking in and then trying to lift my foot up while it was attached to a 2.5 foot long snowshoe that was covered with snow.  It was not fun.  I took off the snowshoes and that was easier.  I tried one more time with the snowshoes the next morning and it still wasn’t much fun.  I sunk in on the deep snow and in the street, that wasn’t plowed, but packed down, I kept knocking the snowshoes together and almost tripping myself.  I put the snowshoes back in the box they came in and planned to send them back.  However, I never got around to sending them back.  

We really haven’t had snow since the big storms we had the winter I got the snowshoes.  It’s been 3 years.  So maybe I did jinx the snow!  This winter however, I decided I was going to try the snowshoes again.  I’ve lost almost 70lbs since I tried them last and was thinking that might have been part of the problem, that I was too heavy for them to work properly.  Of course, there is no snow to be found anywhere nearby.  I was going to go to West Virginia in January, but it rained the whole week before I was going to go and washed the snow away.  Finally, this weekend, there was enough snow and it was a 3 day weekend!  I was heading out!

All the places with snow were about 3 hours away, so I was hoping to spend the night, however the overnight low in Canaan Valley WV was forecast to be 9*.  Considering that I was freezing when I was sleeping in the RV over Christmas and it was a balmy 37*, I decided that 9* was just right out.  I decided that I’d rather spend my evening driving back home than trying to entertain myself and stay warm in the RV.  When it’s warm the evenings are nice – you can sit outside and read or I blog, or check out the campground.  But when it’s cold there’s not much to do.  The RV will stay warm as long as I run the heater, but as soon as it turns off the RV gets cold quick.  It was going to use a lot of propane to keep the RV warm enough when it was 9* outside.  I’m going to have to concede that RVing is just not a winter activity, as much as I enjoy winter activities, I’m gonna have to make them day trips!

I was up at 5:00 and out the door by 6:30.  This is my usual weekday schedule so it wasn’t a big deal.  I made a quick stop in Moorefield, WV and made it to Blackwater Falls State Park in Davis, WV by 10:15!  Many people weren’t even out of bed yet and I was 3 hours from home, standing in a winter wonderland, ready to seize the snow!  :-)

Going in there was no snow at all until I got to the top of the mountain, but even then there wasn’t much.  Then I arrived in Davis.  Davis is right on the edge of Canaan Valley, where they get a ton of snow every year.  All the sudden there was a lot of snow!  I think Canaan Valley is the Promised Land for snow enthusiasts! 

There was enough snow and snow removal chemicals to get the RV flithy:

Before I started the drive back home I took a windex wipe to the back window so I could see!

The road into the park was snow covered and inside the park the trees were covered, the ground was covered!  It was amazing! I drove around the the lake area and broke out the snowshoes.  I noticed immediately how much better they were working!  I trekked across the field – sinking in a little but staying mostly on the surface of the snow.   When I got into the woods I discovered that I could walk “off trail” as the snow covered all the logs, rocks, sticks, leaves etc and made a clear path for me!  I stayed near the trail – they were well marked with blazes – but off the trail because I didn’t want to mess it up for skiiers. 

     

2 views from the 1st set of trails I snowshoed.  That field was huge and full of untouched snow!

I have no idea how deep the snow was, however, I tripped myself a few times and did a face plant into the snow and always landed in powder!  Never stirred up dirt and leaves or anything buried so I’m guessing there was at least 6-8 inches, maybe more in spots.   This picnic table in the campground gives an idea, but I think there was more:

 

I trekked around the lake area, covering all the trails as well as some off trail routes that I invented, in about an hour and half.  I decided to head back to the RV and drive around to the lodge.  I’d looked up a trail map on the computer and was remembering that there were a ton of trails over there, but I needed a map!  (yes, I committed a cardinal sin of hiking…I headed out without a map! By the lake it was ok – I knew where the road was at all times and there were plenty of bail out options – including following my own tracks, which were distinctive and there weren’t any other tracks, back to the RV!). 

After securing a map and taking a bit of break – snowshoeing was hard work – I headed out again for part 2.  The trail head was supposed to be right across the road from the lodge, but I didn’t see it.  I saw what looked like footprints so I decided to follow them.  Turns out they were deer prints, but I trekked up into the woods following them anyway.  I couldn’t find a trail anywhere, but just snowshoeing around in the woods was fun!  If there wasn’t snow or if I wasn’t wearing snowshoes, I wouldn’t have been able to traverse the woods, but with the snowshoes it was easy!  I continued in the general direction of the trail, figuring I’d find it eventually, even if I didn’t, I was within sight of the road so I knew I wasn’t going to get lost. 

I did find the trail rather quickly, so that was good.  The only catch was that the trail was narrow, with trees and rocks and stuff on both sides making it hard for me to not tear it up and make it harder for the skiiers.  Where I could I took off into the woods, staying near the trail though.  The terrain over here was different too – bigger trees, more rocks, more hills.  I definitely did it right because the trails by the lake were easier and it was a good place to start to get my feet wet and then move on to the harder trails! 

                 

 

 

There were a ton of trails in the lodge/cabin/sledding hill area!  None were all that long, but that’s ok, because snowshoeing/skiing is slower than walking and takes more energy so you don’t go as far.  When I was at Blackwater Falls before I was looking at the trails from a hiking point of view and didn’t think they were all that exciting.  I wasn’t going to get too excited about a mile long trail.  But when you are snowshoeing things change and now I think Blackwater Falls is the perfect place for snowshoeing!

I did a “lollipop” loop from the trail I was on that was about a mile around.  At the beginning I saw a few other people, mostly skiiers, but some sledders.  There weren’t that many people which surprised me, it was a holiday weekend and there was snow, it was also very cold, maybe that scared people off?   On the way back I decided to take a different trail back to the lodge.  This trail said that it wasn’t suitable for skiing.  I thought it would be ok for me because I wasn’t skiing and I’d already traversed terrain that wasn’t suitable for skiing.

It was a nice trail, but I see why they didn’t want you skiing on it.  It was narrow, windy, lots of rocks, a few blowdowns you had to climb over or go under (more challenging when your feet are 2.5 ft longer than normal!). 

             

And then I came to this:

Stairs. 

On snowshoes. 

I almost took the snowshoes off, but decided I could do it with them on.  And I did.  It wasn’t easy, but I did it!

I was rewarded with a view of a cool waterfall:

Then it was back to the RV.  It was 3:00 and I was ready for a break from snowshoeing.  I would have liked to have taken a break and then go out again before it got dark, but I was worried about navigating the mountains after dark.  Not so much because of the driving, but because of the cold and the fact that coming in the roads were wet and I was worried about black ice after dark.   I had two mountains to contend with, the one that I climbed to get to the valley (Canaan Valley is the highest valley east of the Mississippi) and the one that I came down to get into WV.  It was the downhill one I was most worried about and that one was 1st!

I took a few minutes to change – one of the many perks of traveling in a RV – and get a snack before I departed.  When I got back to the RV I was hot and sweaty from snowshoeing, but soon I started to get cold.  At that point I knew I was making the right choice in going home, I knew that once I stopped snowshoeing just sitting in the RV trying to keep warm to read or watch TV was going to be miserable.  Better to leave on a high note!

The roads inside the park were in bad shape – snow covered, not salted or cindered or anything.   The road leading out out of the lodge had a small incline and as I pulled up I had to stop to look for oncoming traffic and when I tried to go, the van was stuck.  When I gave it some fuel, it didn’t move and a warning light on the dash flashed on.  It was a triangle with and exclamation mark in it.  At the time I thought Roxy was showing me her sarcastic side…”warning: you are stuck”, because I wasn’t going to be able to figure that out on my own.  I wasn’t sure how to problem solve this one.  I started by backing up and trying to get some more momentum going before I hit the slippery spot, but I got stuck again.  I tried just giving it a lot of fuel, but it wouldn’t budge.  I then decided to try the other exit, maybe it was on less of a hill or had less ice.  This involved backing up all the way to where I could turn back into the parking lot.  This was great back up practice since I really didn’t want to land in a snowdrift!  I pulled around to the other exit and it was better – it wasn’t a hard turn and it was downhill so at least I had gravity on my side.  I probably would have had it no problem if I hadn’t had to stop for another car.  When I tried to go again I got stuck for a second and then the warning light flashed on but the van kept moving.  It got stuck a little again before I made it to my side of the road, again I saw the warning light, but controlled forward motion continued.  I was on my way, despite the death grip on the steering wheel.  I was very glad when I exited the park and hit the cleared and dry main roads!

Later when I got home I pulled out the owner’s manual to see what the light meant and I’m glad I did.  It wasn’t the OS light that I thought it was, Roxy was not being sarcastic with me.  Turns out the van has a traction system that engages when one tire gets stuck and transfers power to help you get unstuck.  The light comes on to let you know that conditions are such that you need to change your driving.  Smart.  I should have expected something like this from a German vehicle – they get some serious snow out there in the Alps! I’m sure that’s what was happening the 2nd attempt to get out of the parking lot – the light was on but I kept moving.  I guess the 1st spot was just too much even for the traction assist – either that or I wasn’t using it right!  Now I just need some snow here so I can go out to an icy parking lot and test it so I know how the system works. 

I made it to Moorefield by 4:30 and stopped in a rest area for about a 1/2 hour to run the generator and heat my soup for dinner.  Then headed out up the final mountain and back into VA.  I  made it to 81 before it got dark and was home a little before 8.  I’m so excited that I was able to go so far away and still have a full day and get home early!  If I hadn’t been worried about deteriorating conditions on the mountains (which I didn’t need to worry about, I bet it would have been fine) I could have gotten in another hour or two of snowshoeing. 

I also kinda solved another issue I was having.  The radio in the RV is about the only thing in the whole coach that isn’t top of the line.  In fact it’s bottom of the barrel cheap.  The speakers are great, but the CD player skips more than it plays correctly.  I’d brought the computer with me, thinking I could play music right from iTunes like I do at home.  I set the computer up on the floor of the passenger side and it worked great!  I could hear the music over the engine noise (I can’t hear the speaker on the phone over the engine) and it wasn’t tinny like the iPod speaker I tried when I first got the RV.  One glitch is that I can’t control it while I’m driving.  I have to commit to a playlist and stick to it until I stop.  This was perfect for navigating mountains in WV, I didn’t want to be distracted by fiddling with the radio!  This system might buy me some time in getting the radio replaced!

The RV is a great day trip vehicle, but it’s not good for winter camping!  I leave you with a picture of the inside after I got done…everything was wet and needed space to dry and there was no place to walk!