Trail Journal - July 04, 2005
 
Back to Main Page Back to Calendar Page
 
July 04, 2005
     Happy Independence to everyone!  Leaving at 7:50am.  I don't know where I'll end up this evening.  It's cloudy today and the first thing I got into is this stream crossing, that I had crossed down below at the camp.  I've run into it up here and you couldn't tell where the trail was.  Rock hopping from one rock to another and then had an incline to go up with a lot of rocks on the sides of the trail.  Not a weedy area, they've at least cleaned this section out.  When you get into those rocks you have to concentrate on where you put your feet, so much that you don't have a chance look up and see what's around you.
      This part of the trail is very weedy, a lot of bar steps, made of logs, but it is fairly smooth going through here.  Very closed in, very hot and humid.  You can't see any more than 3 to 5 feet, because the undergrowth is so thick, you just can't see through the woods at all.  I don't like this kind of an area very well.
      Just passed a little camp ground sign, it led into Sky Meadows Camping area.  Trail Angels had left, soda's and crackers for snacks.  I am within the Sky Meadows State boundary and it should be a little cleaner hiking through the trail.  The have some nice trail signs through the park with mileage, so you know where you are.
     The park service have come down through the field with a mower so that it's easy hiking here.  I like these areas because I can hike and look at the same time and not have to worry about where my feet are stepping.  Not like whenever your hiking between rocks, you cannot look up.
     The goats beard is blooming in mass, it's really pretty.  This has been the prettiest area since I've left Front Royal.  I think I see a different type of Thistle plant blooming in the field.  They've  got a pinkish bloom on top. 
     Coming into Ashby Gap St. Rt.  Entering the Shenandoah Battle Field National Historic District.  Back into the weed again, I was hopping for a place to sit and eat a snack, but I don't think that's going to happen soon.  Ashby Gap trail is know as a roller coaster, up and down.
     I'm now going into Rod Hollow Shelter.  It 's a stone structure with a big huge fireplace on the outside.  It looks like a good place to stop and rest.  I have passed a lot of stone fences still in tact for the most part, about shoulder high.  I just found out that I never did find the Rod Hollow shelter, what I did find, belonged to the Potomac AT.  These 2 people has rented a cabin,  They were a nice couple from Washington DC.
     There's a sign on a tree that says "Hiker warning you're about to enter the rollercoaster section of the trail.  If you survive we'll see you at the Blackburn Center."  This going to pretty much straight up and straight down for about 13 miles.
     I've gat a pile of rocks to go through now, there's no trail, it's just rocks.  Every now you see a blaze painted on a rock.   Now I climbing up about 30 or 40 log steps that are about as bad as the rocks.  After climbing up the steps, I had a steep switch back that still going, going and going.  I finally made to the top of the mountain. It spreads out and is rather flat. 
     I'm at Sawmill Spring turn off for the Sam Moore shelter.  My feet are tired, my knees have been twisted, and Simon is tired, so I'm going to go crawl in to bed.
Information on Sandy's black rattlesnake:
 
Kathy:
 
Sandy wanted me to check out the "black" rattlesnake she saw on the AT. She had never seen one before or did she know of them being black, so:
 
From "The Audubon Society Nature Guides EASTERN FOREST", what she saw was a "Timber Rattlesnake." 
 
Northern forms range from yellow through brown or gray or black, with dark back and side blotches on front of body and blotches fused to form crossbands on rear of body. Head unmarked. Southern forms yellowish gray, brownish gray or pinkish gray, with tan or reddish-brown back stripe dividing chevronlike crossbands; dark strip behind eye. Both forms have black tail. Scales keeled.
 
Kelly
     Swing'n Jane and Simon
Back To Top Next Page