Hoover Camp and surrounds

At last Skyline Drive opened again and I took advantage of the opportunity to do some hiking near Big Meadows.  Because I wasn't sure about the condition of trails (snow?  ice?), I chose to walk mostly on Fire Roads and Horse Trails, stocking the back of my car with crampons and overboots.  Parking at the Rapidan Fire Road parking lot near Big Meadows, I walked all the way to the bottom of the fire road (to the Park boundary gate, where it becomes a public road).  I was taken aback by the change since I was last there:

Here's the junction with the Stony Mt. Trail

While two weeks prior the Rapidan FR had looked like this

Last week it looked like this

It made for quick walking.  There were glimpses through the trees over to Old Rag,

It was quite cold and windy when I started up at Big Meadows, but walking down the eastern side in the full sun warmed me up a bit.  Still, it was close to freezing and there was plenty of ice.

When I got to the Park boundary I turned back around and retraced my steps 0.4 miles to the Rapidan Camp Road (which is not included in the Guidebook or map but deserves mention because it's useful for circuit hikes so I've added it to the Excel table).  When I reached Hoover Camp I poked around a while and sat down in a sheltered spot in the warm sun to eat an early lunch.

Hoover Camp (Brown Cabin?)

Stream next to Hoover Camp probably good for fishing and dipping

Then, in anticipation of a future circuit hike to the south, I decided to walk out the Laurel Prong trail until the junction with the Fork Mt. Trail.  Then I turned around, stopping en route to tour the "5 tents camp" (no tents).  Then I returned to the Rapidan Camp Road and took it to the Mill Prong Horse Trail.

The Mill Prong is a lovely book with many cascades and lots of spots you can take a dip.

At the junction where the Mill Prong Horse Trail divides from the Mill Prong Trail, I took the horse trail to its end on the Rapidan FR then returned to the Mill Prong Trail and ascended to Milam Gap.  From there I took the AT to the Lewis Spring Road and thence back to my car.  The first time I went by the Tanner Cemetary (on Tanner Ridge Administrative Road) I must have completely missed it.  But it's right off the AT and I'm sure it was there on my thru-hike.

Interestingly enough there were headstones for Cave (see last week's hike) and Weakley (presumably related to Weakley Hollow on the other side of the ridge). 

 I finished early enough to go back and finish the Dark Hollow Falls trail down to the top of the lower falls and back.  Dark Hollow Falls were full and noisy.

I had wanted to capture the Black Rock trail near the Big Meadows Lodge but the roads were closed.

Total for day:  14.8 miles of which 12.5 new and unique.  Finished 5 trails and added sections to 2 more.