This marathon hike was destined months ago. My last one was late June 2009. Earlier this year I vowed to do a marathon hike July 2nd if the dew point temperature was in the 40's. It's a rare occurrence in July, but that's how it worked out. The motivational gimmick is first light and sunrise- be in the Park at a location to witness dawn and sunrise. First light becomes noticeable about 20 minutes prior to nautical twilight, or about 80 minutes before sunrise. With sunrise at 5:52am, it meant being at a viewing spot by 4:30am. There are a couple options- drive to an overlook or hike to a viewing spot. The past few marathons have been the latter. I've found Hawksbill to be the best location for first light and sunrise. I thought about a night hike up Cedar Run but decided instead to keep it simple and view first light from Buck Hollow Overlook and sunrise from Marys Rock, hiking up Buck Hollow Trail from US-211 at the park boundary, walking along the Drive, then up Meadow Spring and the AT to Marys Rock. Timing is everything. I did this route two years ago so knew that before 3:30am was the time to start the hike. Since this hike would not include Tunnel Parking Overlook (it's under construction and the rock wall is gone), 3:20am would do. So up at 1:15am (bedtime was 7:30 the prior evening), on the road at 1:30am, and on the trail at 3:22am.
Hiking alone in the dark is a little spooky, but focus is on not tripping over rocks that there's little time to be concerned about what's "out there". I've got a great system for night hiking- LED headlamp plus second LED light attached to my camera case at hip level. The lower angle really brings out the rocks and makes tripping much less likely. It was cool and breezy, it just couldn't be more comfortable! I sliced through the 3 mile 1800' Buck Hollow climb in 61 minutes, arriving at Buck Hollow Overlook at 4:30am. Perfect timing for first light. My pictures of first light are 15 second exposures at f2.0, so it's actually much darker than the pictures indicate. Stars are visible and there is no usable light other than moonlight. Upon stopping I started to cool. I brought a wind-breaker jacket and needed it. Later, up on Marys Rock, I would be wearing my Polartec cap... in July! I needed 45 minutes to get from Buck Hollow Overlook to Marys Rock, so left during best color, but had glimpses through the forest on the way up. I made it to Marys Rock about 20 minutes before sunrise and was the only one there. About 50 degrees with a breeze, and I had on winter layers. A few clouds, particularly cirrus, really make for a spectacular sunrise, but the atmosphere was bone dry. It was also nearly haze free with no inversion layer, so there was an unlimited view to the horizon. Sunrise was awesome! The effort to get here was worth it.
OK... six miles down, 22 to go... time to do some real hiking. The route from Marys Rock would be the Appalachian Trail south, Corbin Cabin Cutoff, Nicholson Hollow, Hot-Short Mountain, Hazel Mountain, Hazel River, White Rocks, Hazel Mountain, and Buck Ridge. There were backpackers, most likely thru-hikers, stirring at Byrds Nest Shelter just before 7am. I normally stop and talk to thru-hikers, but it's not good to stop long on these long hikes (can't give the legs time to tighten) and what good would I be without a box of trail magic donuts? Up over The Pinnacle (where I found a few hold-out mountain laurel blossoms), past Jewell Hollow Overlook and Pinnacles picnic area (got water there), then across Skyline Drive at Corbin Cabin parking. The Corbin Cabin Cutoff Trail drops steeply to the Hughes River. There were a couple trail traces shortly before the river. I followed one to some stone grave markers. The walk down Nicholson Hollow is as pleasant as it gets, easy grade on high quality trail, with the serene sound of the Hughes River and morning songbirds to clear all thoughts. I ventured about 3/4 mile beyond Hot-Short in order to visit my favorite cascade on the Hughes River. This was mile 14, about halfway, and only 9:30am.
Backtracking, the second major climb of the day awaited, Hot-Short Mountain Trail. It's a rather steep climb on quality trail, with a limited view of Old Rag near the top. Before long I was on Hazel Mountain Trail. Being an old road, it's a rather wide trail. I was cruising along on auto-pilot and took one step a little too far to the left and was over-correcting for it with a wide step right, with my foot about to come down on some bark or lichen. The brain rapidly processed the image and determined that it was not bark or lichen, but instead a coiled snake, a rattler at that! I had been listening to music, but it was still cool enough that this rattlesnake was not rattling. Still, stepping on it would have likely ended badly. That got my attention!
Somehow I took a wrong turn onto Catlett Mountain Trail. After the downhill turned into an uphill, I sensed something was amiss. This detour added nearly a mile to my hike. Back on track, I eventually came to the big downhill of the Hazel River Trail. Stickers and nettles were prevalent but I was too stubborn to put the pants legs on. I watered up at the Hazel River crossing on the White Rocks Trail before the series of steep climbs to views. This is bear country, and there was plenty of scat on the White Rocks Trail. My bear drought continues and no bears were seen, though one or two were heard running off through the woods, one at night on Buck Hollow and another on the AT. There are two excellent viewing locations from rocks along the White Rocks Trail, views north of Oventop and The Peak, west to The Pinnacle and Marys Rock, and Hazel Mountain to the south. There were also ripe blueberries here, and a few ripe red and black raspberries were found during the day. After a quick visit on the steep side trail to the falls and cave, it was on up to Hazel Mountain Trail then up to Buck Ridge. I'd gone down Buck Ridge just a couple weeks earlier, but those amazing log steps/waterbars on the very steep section make going downhill doable. I counted the logs this time and came up with 454 (unless it was 554). Nearly 500 logs placed, that's an incredible feat! I can't stress enough- if you haven't seen this marvel of work that PATC has done in the past year, go check it out.
It felt like I had the Park (and therefore the universe) to myself for most of this hike. I encountered a lone hiker along Nicholson Hollow at mile 14 and several others on Hazel Mountain as the holiday weekenders started pouring in. This hike was 28 miles with about 6700 feet of accumulated gain and loss. It takes a few days to recover from hikes like these, and getting up at 1am really messes with the internal clock. Worth it? You bet!
Pictures
Hiking alone in the dark is a little spooky, but focus is on not tripping over rocks that there's little time to be concerned about what's "out there". I've got a great system for night hiking- LED headlamp plus second LED light attached to my camera case at hip level. The lower angle really brings out the rocks and makes tripping much less likely. It was cool and breezy, it just couldn't be more comfortable! I sliced through the 3 mile 1800' Buck Hollow climb in 61 minutes, arriving at Buck Hollow Overlook at 4:30am. Perfect timing for first light. My pictures of first light are 15 second exposures at f2.0, so it's actually much darker than the pictures indicate. Stars are visible and there is no usable light other than moonlight. Upon stopping I started to cool. I brought a wind-breaker jacket and needed it. Later, up on Marys Rock, I would be wearing my Polartec cap... in July! I needed 45 minutes to get from Buck Hollow Overlook to Marys Rock, so left during best color, but had glimpses through the forest on the way up. I made it to Marys Rock about 20 minutes before sunrise and was the only one there. About 50 degrees with a breeze, and I had on winter layers. A few clouds, particularly cirrus, really make for a spectacular sunrise, but the atmosphere was bone dry. It was also nearly haze free with no inversion layer, so there was an unlimited view to the horizon. Sunrise was awesome! The effort to get here was worth it.
OK... six miles down, 22 to go... time to do some real hiking. The route from Marys Rock would be the Appalachian Trail south, Corbin Cabin Cutoff, Nicholson Hollow, Hot-Short Mountain, Hazel Mountain, Hazel River, White Rocks, Hazel Mountain, and Buck Ridge. There were backpackers, most likely thru-hikers, stirring at Byrds Nest Shelter just before 7am. I normally stop and talk to thru-hikers, but it's not good to stop long on these long hikes (can't give the legs time to tighten) and what good would I be without a box of trail magic donuts? Up over The Pinnacle (where I found a few hold-out mountain laurel blossoms), past Jewell Hollow Overlook and Pinnacles picnic area (got water there), then across Skyline Drive at Corbin Cabin parking. The Corbin Cabin Cutoff Trail drops steeply to the Hughes River. There were a couple trail traces shortly before the river. I followed one to some stone grave markers. The walk down Nicholson Hollow is as pleasant as it gets, easy grade on high quality trail, with the serene sound of the Hughes River and morning songbirds to clear all thoughts. I ventured about 3/4 mile beyond Hot-Short in order to visit my favorite cascade on the Hughes River. This was mile 14, about halfway, and only 9:30am.
Backtracking, the second major climb of the day awaited, Hot-Short Mountain Trail. It's a rather steep climb on quality trail, with a limited view of Old Rag near the top. Before long I was on Hazel Mountain Trail. Being an old road, it's a rather wide trail. I was cruising along on auto-pilot and took one step a little too far to the left and was over-correcting for it with a wide step right, with my foot about to come down on some bark or lichen. The brain rapidly processed the image and determined that it was not bark or lichen, but instead a coiled snake, a rattler at that! I had been listening to music, but it was still cool enough that this rattlesnake was not rattling. Still, stepping on it would have likely ended badly. That got my attention!
Somehow I took a wrong turn onto Catlett Mountain Trail. After the downhill turned into an uphill, I sensed something was amiss. This detour added nearly a mile to my hike. Back on track, I eventually came to the big downhill of the Hazel River Trail. Stickers and nettles were prevalent but I was too stubborn to put the pants legs on. I watered up at the Hazel River crossing on the White Rocks Trail before the series of steep climbs to views. This is bear country, and there was plenty of scat on the White Rocks Trail. My bear drought continues and no bears were seen, though one or two were heard running off through the woods, one at night on Buck Hollow and another on the AT. There are two excellent viewing locations from rocks along the White Rocks Trail, views north of Oventop and The Peak, west to The Pinnacle and Marys Rock, and Hazel Mountain to the south. There were also ripe blueberries here, and a few ripe red and black raspberries were found during the day. After a quick visit on the steep side trail to the falls and cave, it was on up to Hazel Mountain Trail then up to Buck Ridge. I'd gone down Buck Ridge just a couple weeks earlier, but those amazing log steps/waterbars on the very steep section make going downhill doable. I counted the logs this time and came up with 454 (unless it was 554). Nearly 500 logs placed, that's an incredible feat! I can't stress enough- if you haven't seen this marvel of work that PATC has done in the past year, go check it out.
It felt like I had the Park (and therefore the universe) to myself for most of this hike. I encountered a lone hiker along Nicholson Hollow at mile 14 and several others on Hazel Mountain as the holiday weekenders started pouring in. This hike was 28 miles with about 6700 feet of accumulated gain and loss. It takes a few days to recover from hikes like these, and getting up at 1am really messes with the internal clock. Worth it? You bet!
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