Dates ........ Friday April 28, 2000
Miles ........ 10.2 miles
From ........ VA - Gravel Springs Hut SNP
To ............. Tom Floyd Shelter
Weather ... Foggy morning, gradually clearing to partly sunny, mid 40's to
60's.
Brett and I left camp at 8:45 A.M. It was cool and very foggy as it had been so many mornings. We climbed to the summits of North and South Marshall Mountains which were supposed to offer spectacular views in all directions but could not see much beyond 20 feet. About halfway through the hike ElWolfe caught up and hiked with us. He had made arrangements with Fannypack to pick him up in Harpers Ferry and take him to Washington, DC to meet his incoming hiking partner at midnight, then drive the two of them back to Harper's Ferry and the AT. It is simply amazing what Fannypack will do to help out his fellow hikers.
 |
| Chainsaw cut trail through dead trees in Shenandoah National Park. ("ElWolfe" ahead, on trail.) |
Note the photo of the trail with all the downed trees. This has been more typical than not with SNP. It was amazing to us the difference in the condition of the forest and it's under story as soon as we left SNP. Less than two miles from the park we noticed healthier trees and a healthy growth of young trees and underbrush. We could not explain or understand it.
One nice thing about SNP that we will miss is the concrete post at trail junctions and significant points. The posts were fitted with metal bands, which pointed in the direction of and gave the mileage to points of reference. They helped a lot in the fog. Another difference: In SNP, they did not allow tent camping near the huts. Elsewhere, they encouraged it. If a hut was full and you were a late arrival, technically, in SNP, you were out of luck. Because of the dead and leaning trees everywhere, safe tentsights were few and far between.
We were the first arrivals at the Tom Floyd Shelter, a nice shelter with a big porch deck and roof overhang that would sleep two. We were early, so we took advantage of the nicer weather to relax and air out our sleeping bags. It was a long trek to get water. I gathered firewood while Brett and ElWolfe got water. AuSable Mike, Medicine Man (his nephew), Old Spice, and Southern Comfort joined us. Seven people filled the shelter and its overhang. The conversation was lively and interesting. Everyone wondered at the difference in the forest since leaving SNP. It was also the consensus that there were many more wildflowers growing outside SNP and very few in the park.
 |
| Clockwise from "Firefly" (black cap): "AuSable Mike, ElWolfe, Medicine Man, Old Spice, and Southern Comfort" at Tom Floyd shelter. |
|
Sun
|
Mon
|
Tue
|
Wed
|
Thur
|
Fri
|
Sat
|
| 4/19/00 | 4/21/00 | 4/22/00 | ||||
| 4/30/00 | 5/01/00 | 5/02/00 | 5/03/00 | 5/04/00 | 5/05/00 |