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Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Bloodroots, wet feet and surprise trails!

Well today I finished the Central Section completely.  I started by hiking the remainder of the Graves Mill Trail (yellow blazed) along the Rapidan River.  What a lovely trail and it was chockablock with bloodroots.

bloodroot


I had thought I could keep my feet dry on this trail but my first trail crossing (over the Staunton River) I slipped and got one foot wet.  Then when I discovered I had left the bottom part of my hiking pole in the middle of the stream, I got my other foot wet going back to retrieve it.  From then on I just waded right through the stream crossings.  

About 8 minutes above the Stuanton River crossing you come to a fabulous swimming hole.  A good thing to remember if you do the Bear Church Rocks/Jones Mt./Fork Mountain loop in the summer.  Saw many swallowtail butter flies, orange with brown spots, and some more of those sable with cream tipped butterflies.  

Swimming hole on Graves Mill Horse Trail

Swimming hole on Graves Mill Trail


The trail ascends steadily from the parking lot on VA 662 to the junction with the Rapidan Fire Road.  Just before the RFR, there is a stupendous swimming hole.

After returning to the car, I drove over to Fletcher VA which isn't far as the bird flies but a definite drive by roads.  There I parked along the side of the road (they've trucked in enormous boulders all over the place so it's hard finding legal parking) and walked up the road a ways to the start of the Conway River Trail. 

Right off the bat I had to wade in the stream.  By that time, I didn't care.  The day was really hot and there are no leaves yet so the cool water felt great.  The section between the road and the Slaughter Trail is partly on private property and partly in SNP.  Then, after the Slaughter cutoff there's a wide ford -- no dry feet.  The route is obvious (it used to be a fire road on old maps) but there are lots of trees fallen across the path.  It makes me grateful for all the trail maintenance work PATC does on its trails.  It wasn't clear whether I was in SNP or in the Rapidan Wildlife Management Area.  There were some SNP blazes and some RWMA signs.  The trail ascends steadily paralleling the lovely Conway River.  Lots of little waterfalls, dipping pools and even swimming holes.  I ran into some fly fisherman close to the top and by chance one caught a small fish (trout?) just as I passed.  Just when I was losing hope (and doubting I was on the Conway River Trail), the trail ended with an SNP milepost and the Conway River Fire Road was across the river. 

Along the way I saw a lot more bloodroot and hepatica, which was lovely. At the end of the day, I don't think the Conway River Trail "counts" in the SNAP 500 since it appears to be an RWMA trail.  I'm awaiting word from PATC on this. 


Hepatica





The most disturbing part of the hike was the transformation since my last pass through (hiking the Pocosin Hollow/AT/Slaughter loop) of the area by the "Conway River Timber Farm", a "Stewardship Forest".  They have trucked in an impossing number of huge boulders to block off the property, dug many roads, and clearcut large swaths of forest.  What kind of "stewardship" is that? 

Imposing stone wall

New logging roads

Clearcutting


Before leaving I used my odometer to measure the road walk from Conway River Trail to the path to the Pocosin Hollow Trail (1.0 mile).  

Then I picked up stakes and drove up to Skyline Drive and the South District to hike on what the map bills as two fire roads but which in the Guidebook turn out to be one road.  I walked down the lovely and infrequently vehicled Beldor Fire Rd. (heretoafter referred to as Simmons Gap Road, west side).  On the way back, my wrist became really painful.  I ended up carrying my trekking poles.  After returning to the car I kept on going to the east side.  Passed the Ranger Station and trotted down to the SNP border on that side.  It was really hot.  My wrist was killing me so I took a couple of Advils.  

Simmons Gap Rd. west side (previously known as Beldor Fire Rd.)

Simmons Gap Rd. east side (previously known as Simmons Gap Fire Rd.)
Then, since it was only 3:30 I drove north to Lewis Mt. Campground (the cabins and store are now open!) and trotted up to Lewis Mt. (not to be confused with Lewis Mt. in the South District).  Without trekking poles I walked the one-mile trail up to an nice viewpoint, taking the time to cut away a couple of limbs that had fallen across the trail.  

View from Lewis Mt. (Central District)
I took a couple more Advils when I got to the car.  I think my wrist has carpal tunnel syndrome from the walking sticks.  I'll have to lay off them for a while.  

A good day in which I completed 5 trails (that may turn out to be 3 trails), 15.8 miles of hiking, 7.1 miles of new unique SNAP mileage.  Assuming Conway River Trail still counts but that Beldor FR has been incorporated into Simmons Gap Rd. then there are 171 trails and 504.6 miles in the SNAP 500.  

Trail Miles CompleteNo. Trails Completed



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