A Brief Respite From Winter

BRP gates closed at Rt. 610 

 

Saturday (January 12) was forecast to be a rare and fine winter day with a high temperature possibly in the 70's so it seemed like a good time to go check on the trail to the Shelter, especially since there had been ice on the trees around Christmas which could mean tree debris on the trail. The trip started out foggy, but by the time we got to Afton Mountain, it was sunny and the only fog to be seen was hanging on distant mountain tops. As we came off I-64 and up the ramp to the BRP, there seemed to be a lot of parked cars along the road and then the reason became quickly apparent - the BRP was closed, as was the Skyline Drive.  That's what happens when you don't call the 'road closure' numbers first! This situation was not a trip-killer, but getting where we wanted to go just got a whole lot harder.

 

To get to the tool shed when the BRP is closed, you can pick up 610 at Rockfish Gap and follow it about 4.5 miles to where there is a crossover between the Parkway and 610. There is some room for cars to park, as long as the gates or the road are not blocked, especially since the roads could reopen during the day while we were on the trail.  From the gates at 610, it is at least 1.5 miles to the Visitor's Center (VC) and the tool shed.  When we got to the BRP/610 intersection, there were a few cars already parked there as well and folks were hiking the road to get to HB Rocks. It's a long uphill walk to the VC - the good news is that going back to the car, the trip is almost all downhill ... nice when you're tired. There was some snow still along the side of the Parkway and some slushy slick places on the pavement so we could see why the parkway, with it's shaded curves, might still be closed for icy spots. It was definitely a 'warm' morning and combined with an almost all uphill hike to the VC as the sun was reflecting off the pavement and shining in our faces, it didn't take long to work up a good sweat.

 

It felt very strange on such a beautiful, sunny, warm day to see the Visitor's Center and later, the Humpback Rocks Parking Lot, totally deserted. At the tool shed, we added some sun screen and then picked up a small pick mattox and set of loppers to supplement our own tools we always carry on maintaining trips. From there, we continued on to the Humpback Rocks Parking Lot, picked up the blue blaze to the AT and headed for the shelter.



Within the first minute on the trail, we came across this item lying smack dab in the middle of the treadway. It looks like part of a deer jawbone, probably a leftover from hunting season which ended last weekend. No telling how it got there although several scenarios involving dogs or foxes, perhaps a coyote come to mind.

 

We didn't get very far up the hill and we could see there was going to be ice damage to clean up - nothing too bad, just lots of small and medium branches on the trail. There was a stepover that we were able to move and another small tree drooping right over the tread - a small pruning saw made quick work of the tree and the trail was clear.

 

We passed the last (and most northern) Albright Loop sign and made the turn on to the AT to head down to the shelter and after a few minutes, we came across a tree down that we could not move or saw - the sawyers will have to get this one. We were able to clear some small branches that were in the way, but this is a true 'step-over' situation and it won't be a problem until the sawyer crew can get it cut off the trail.

 

This is Section 4 and when the leaves are out, it's mostly a green tunnel, but I really do think winter is the best time to appreciate the beauty of this part of the AT. There are some nice cliffs .... the ones south of the 'overlook'  have a lot of moss on them which is quite pretty. The ones north of the overlook appear to be long gray walls. In the pictures below, the two on the left are south of the overlook, the two on the right are north.

 

We were keeping an eye out for small projects we could work into the day's hike and we found a place in the trail where a tree had uprooted and left a hole partially into the trail tread. This was not a new blowdown and the original repairs had deteriorated to the point that if a hiker stepped on the edge of the hole, or even in it, they would probably be dealing with a turned ankle at a minimum. After clearing most of the leaves and debris out of the hole, it was 'rocked up' and the tread was extended to the inside, enough to give hikers plenty of room and a very solid tread to walk on.


In November, there was a huge tree that had fallen directly in the trail and we were anxious to see the site. If you want to see the original story and see pictures of the sawyer/crew working on the tree, you can go to the November crew report:  A Tale of Two Difficult Trees. The crew that day had a lot of territory to cover - they got the AT open, tried to move the root end of the giant tree, but even with some extra help, couldn't get it off the trail so they re-routed the trail on the upper side of the tree before they had to move on. When we finally got to that spot on the trail, it looked like some hikers were going around the lower end, probably because the re-route was very narrow and hard to see. There were two pieces of root sticking out in the narrow space between a big rock and the tree roots where hikers had to walk and we thought if we cut these projecting pieces off, it would open things up a bit. Here are the before and after pictures of the root trimming that we did:


A chainsaw would have made short work of this, however there were rocks and dirt in the roots and it would have ruined the saw chain so a handsaw was the only way to do it safely. Once we got the sawing done (the upper piece was really, really hard wood!), I worked on junking up the down hill side and Lori worked on widening the tread past the rock/tree narrowing. There was a small tree stump and its roots making the footing tricky so she got that all straightened out with the loppers and pick mattox. You can see our work in the pictures: Left - junked up downhill side for north bound hikers. All hikers have to go through just below the black rock visible on the right edge of the picture; Center - gap opened up somewhat, you can see where we sawed off wood on the left, rock on the right; Right - tread opened up to get around this 'monster' and this is looking south.



By this time, it was almost 2:00 and we were getting really hungry so we packed up the tools and continued on to the shelter.  For whatever reason, we could hear the water in Mill Creek from further away than normal and it seemed like quite a while before we actually had the shelter in view. Here's the first view of the shelter that we had while still up on the AT. You just don't get this view in the summer so this picture really illustrates how beautiful hiking in the winter can be. Mill Creek is running along in the foreground.

 

 



The water was up a bit, enough that we used the high-water step stones to get across. You can see them in the picture below and the second picture is looking down Mill Creek from the stones .... we usually cross on smaller rocks just below the 'pool' of water.

 

We spent a very relaxing hour eating lunch and enjoying such a rare and beautiful day in January. It had been a 'short-sleeve' day since we first started hiking up the BRP and the slight breeze that happened now and then felt pretty good. Of course, if you make a trip to the shelter, it's always fun to read the shelter register ...... there were more than a few references to hearing coyotes, a couple of references to the "bold" shelter mice, and an entry about a pair of Patagonia boxers that were being dried out and accidentally got set on fire .... I'm sure that was quite a scene! It was also great to see an entry from some 'old friends' of the maintainers on January 13 - a couple that met in the club, married on Cedar Cliffs, and who also maintained for a while: Tania (Bear Chaser ) and Norman (Chef) plus 'Shady' (paw print drawn after this name, so probably their dog). Not sure who wrote the register entry (Tania or Norm) but part of what it said was: " ... enjoyed a day hike to the P.W. Shelter. Unable to get into the SNP because of closed gates. The shelter is really holding her youth well thanks to the efforts of the ODATC members, trail looks great too."

The late lunch break at the shelter flew by quickly and it was time to start hiking if we wanted to be out of the woods by dark. Of course, there has to be the requisite 'overlook' picture. This one shows very well the small trees in the foreground that we plan to clear out to open up the view again. Trees about this size were cleared from the overlook years ago (back in the late 90's) and these trees have now gotten big enough to obstruct the view again, especially when they are leafed out.

 

Some of the things you see along the trail just 'catch your eye' and this tree did.  The trunk almost looks like it exploded and it makes you wonder what sort of 'force' caused this damage since it's not what we usually see when the wind blows a tree down. This tree should be on the ground, but the top is caught up in another tree. It's leaning away from the trail, so it won't be a problem for us in the future, just interesting to look at.

 

Saturday was definitely "squirrel day". They were out and about everywhere, running and chasing each other, sounding off in the trees ..... what in the world was going on? Squirrels in these woods are very wild and other than a quick glimpse, not seen that often. Oh they're around, just hiding behind tree trunks and quietly watching you go by, but that was not how they were behaving on this day. The squirrel in the picture below boldly sat out on a limb and was giving me 'the dickens' as I came up the trail and he didn't duck behind the tree trunk until after I managed to get a picture of him and tried to move closer. After seeing even more squirrels chasing each other, it dawned on me .... December to February is when the squirrels are breeding so this was prime 'find a mate' time ... no wonder they weren't paying a lot of attention to hikers! Squirrel babies are born about 44 days from conception, usually in late February or early March.

 

The light was getting low as we finally made it out of the woods at Humpback Rocks Parking - the lot was still empty so we knew the BRP had not opened during the day. We could hear people hooting and hollering up on the Rocks. As we walked down the driveway, we ran into a group of students from JMU turning in off the BRP and getting ready to begin a hike to the Rocks. We did some gentle questioning (primarily, do you have flashlights?) and suggested that a hike in the dark, on the rough trail, and with likely ice patches might not be the best idea. They wanted to continue on a little way up the trail, but didn't seem overly 'gung ho' and said they would probably turn around before they got to the roughest part of the climb. Shortly after saying good-bye to them and getting to the BRP, a ranger came driving by and stopped long enough to tell us he was opening the gates and to watch out for traffic as we walked the roadway back to our parked car.

 

Some things caught my eye along the BRP ....an old tree silhouetted against the sky as the sun was setting was more beautiful than the picture shows. Weeds 'gone to seed' can be really attractive and some red berries contrasted nicely against a gray rock ... the "wildflowers of winter", if you're out and about to see them. 

 

The sun's last light was also doing some beautiful things that time of day as we made our way to the tool shed to put the pick mattox and loppers away.


Sunset was at 5:18 and we got to the tool shed around 5:15 so most of our walk back on the BRP was in the dark. The group from JMU caught up with us - they ran into another couple that had just come down from the Rocks and told them there was some ice on the trail. The kids decided that dinner in Waynesboro was the better option so they turned around and eventually caught up with us .... we were walking a lot slower since we had 5 miles of AT under our belts and trail work in addition to the miles on the BRP to the Rocks Parking Lot. By the time we got to the car, the lights of Waynesboro were twinkling in the valley and unfortunately, the picture I took is fuzzy and doesn't come close to doing the scene justice. Next stop: Tip Top in Charlottesville for dinner. On the way back to Richmond, shortly after leaving Charlottesville, we ran back into heavy fog and then had fog the rest of the way home .... a surprise after such a warm, lovely day in the mountains.  Despite the dubious start with the BRP being closed, this turned out to be one of the best winter days on the trail in a long, long time!  ~ Merlot

 

 

Note: I checked on the Wintergreen weather site and the highest temperature reported Saturday was 59. I find that hard to believe - it truly felt like the 70's. For Wintergreen weather, sunrise/sunset times, and the BRP/SNP road closure numbers, go to the "Links & Info" tab at the top of the page.