My first experience backpacking Shenandoah, and backpacking in general, was quite successful. Emily and I spent four days out in the wilderness and saw few people in the area, which made for a quiet and relaxing experience. We planned a four day trip to give ourselves ample time to learn the basics on a three loop hike that looks a little like a clover leaf and is about 25 miles long.
We began by leaving late Friday afternoon, late like usual, and arrived at Browns Gap in the southern part of Shenandoah National Park. The hike started us on an ascent to Austin Mountain where we very quickly setup camp for the night after about 1.5 miles. I was surprised at how easy it was to get settled at camp out in the middle of nowhere. I was anxious and uneasy about the logistics, with thoughts such as, “What if we can’t find a place to sleep?” running through my mind. This proved unnecessary, as there are really plenty of places to camp when you’re in the backcountry. One important thing we learned after our first night was the importance of flat ground. Even the slightest slope caused us to slide around the tent like a wet slip-n-slide.
The second day was our largest day of hiking. We hiked almost 13 miles with constant elevation changes over Austin Mountain and Furnace Mountain. Furnace, as its name suggests, was quite hot and buggy. The largest elevation change was a descent of just over 1400-ft in 2 miles and an ascent of 1200-ft in 2.25 miles, but we also began the descent into Jones Run/Doyles River that evening. We setup camp midway between Jones Run and Doyles River on a relatively flat piece of land we found just as we caught our first glimpse of water at Jones Run.
The third day was our most lax day. We spent a lot of time in the morning cleaning ourselves up, relaxing, and being lazy. We packed up and left around 11-am and spent most of the day admiring the 63-ft Lower Doyles River Falls and the 28-ft Upper Doyles River Falls. The hike back up from the falls was a killer, almost 1500 ft, over a period of 5.5 miles which was brutal after our long hike the day before. I learned a lot about minimizing weight with water on this hike up, opting to dump a good bit of the water we pumped the night before. We found skyline drive in early evening and began the hike down to Big Run River.
Our third night was really interesting. We found the perfect site about 400-ft from the water. We saw some great wildlife during dinner, including deer and a black bear. The black bear freaked us out a bit… even though we were prepared. I strung up the foot in a tree using the proper method and we went to bed.
At least tried to go to bed! The deer were out in numbers, walking down to the creek and around the tent. Then, the unexpected happened. A bear was growling beside our tent! Wooo, boy, was that FREAKY! Emily asked me, “What is that?” To which I responded, “I don’t know” even though in my head I was sure it was a bear. He sniffed around, grunted, coughed, grunted some more, trudged around, and left us alone… for about 30 minutes. Then another one was back, breathing loudly next to the side of the tent. Luckily, they left, finding no food in our bags or our fragile human bodies.
The next morning we began our ascent out from Big Run River which hit the Appalachian Trail and took us back to the car. We ate lunch along a very nice overlook on Skyline Drive and then drove home with very minor traffic delays.
I loved it and I can’t wait to do it again. View more images »
hi sond lke u had good fun lol
Glad to hear that your first hiking trip was a success. The weather looked ideal for the hike and luckily, the threatened rain never materialized. A bear experience on your first hike. Wow! Normally, the main irritants are the raccoons and bugs.
QQ – What kind of food did you guys eats? Did you cook over a stove?
I took a jetboil cooker, so we mainly used dried, packaged, foods from Mountain House, etc. For those who don’t understand that concept you basically boil the water and then mix it into a foil package and let it cook the dried food for 10 minutes. One of the best meals we had was made from 2 meals, the first being sesame ginger pasta and then a package of precooked salmon. Mixed them together and… YUM!
My godfather wrote me and told me that Emily and I were missing out on an important factor of backpacking, adversity. I have to say, while we didn’t get lost or have any major hurdles, I kind of liked how relaxing and un-stressful the trip turned out. It was just what I needed to get a fresh start working early, being productive, and being in good spirits.
Thanks for the info on JetBoil. I checked it out on the web and you can get them at REI, mail-order in my case.
Having a bit of adversity on a hiking trip can be a good thing as it adds a bit of a challenge. Can you survive in the elements for a while without all the modern conveniences. The weather and terrain can offer there own form of adversity. These are all positive forms of adversity. When unforeseen problems or injury occurs you have another form of adversity. Depending on the nature of the situation it gives you a chance to learn or practice some of the skills that you have picked up along the way. But for your first couple of outings you probably want more positive adversity than negative. Meeting up with a bear I think added some unforeseen adversity.
Wow! The new earthy color to the blog. One potential suggestion would be to change the color of your name and the word weblog at the top. The black on the brown background is a little hard to see. Other than that the color look good and a nice change.
A bear! How scary. I always heard horror stories about another boy scout who used strawberry scented shampoo one day and a bear dragged him out of his tent by his head! Glad that wasn’t the case here, though.