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Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Late surprises and the finale!

On Monday, April 15 I hiked the remainder of the side trails I was missing in the South District of SNP.  That included, the dreaded Gasline Road which turned out to be a pleasant walk and quite interesting because the controlled burn had just passed through.  I parked at Sawmill Ridge Overlook and walked south on Skyline Drive to the road.  It was warm but drizzling.  I had driven through peasoup fog all along the SD.  The air wreaked of burned wood.  The Gasline Road itself has tire tracks but is overgrown in the center strip.  To both sides were blackened and naked ground for most of the way.  I had to walk through one stream at the bottom to reach the gate but the water felt cool.  I was delighted to see the wildflowers just starting to bloom. 






After returning the car I drove a short distance to Jarman Gap to pick up the Bucks Elbow Road.  Billed as 0.6 miles it turned out to be much shorter (0.3 miles by the concrete post).  Perhaps this road would be worth it if you were hiking all the way to the radio tower on top of Buck's Elbow Mountain (which is outside SNP) but it's certainly not worth the trouble for itself.  I've corrected the excel table.  It was still drizzling.



Then on to Beagle Gap.  The fog had lifted a little.  I hiked up the AT to the Bear Den Mt. Road then downhill to the Park boundary, having to take my shoes off for two stream crossings.  This part was not at all worth the walk.  Gravelled and used for frequent vehicle traffic, it's not worthy hiker use.

 It does run along a nice brook at the bottom but that's about all I can say for it.  It does provide access to Bear Den Mountain from the west side (assuming there's somewhere to park outside the formidable gate at the bottom). 



 The top part, from the AT crossing up to the radar installations was great.  Every so often the clouds lifted and I could see the valley to the east.  The top was socked in. 



Once at the top, I wasn't sure whether the road ended there or not so I followed the road down to Skyline Drive.  Another dreary road walk.  I was surprised to see at that end that the road is not in SNP (the sign suggested it is Virginia state land).  Once I got back to the height of land, I took the AT north passing by the tractor seat art installation and returning to the car by the quickest route.   Got some views to the west as I descended through the field.



On my way out of the park I stopped to complete the "Rockfish Gap Spur Trail" which turned out to be not anywhere near it is portrayed on the map.  After inquiring at the entrance station I found a relatively new trail that connects to a pulloff area just south of the station.   Not worth including in the SNAP500. 

My final side trail of the SNAP500 was also the strangest.  The Stull Run Fire Road is disconnected from the rest of the Park.  It connects a small public road with a small private road near Grottoes, VA.  There is no real parking at the bottom so I pulled over at the side of VA 659 just after the stop sign.  The guidebook says it is useful for accessing some areas for bushwhacking.  It is a very flat overgrown fire road that crosses two brooks (I didn't have to remove my shoes).  It was perfectly pleasant but it felt a little bit like being in suburbia since private land comes fairly close.  I was surprised to see, at the end of 663, a well marked parking area for the Madison Run Fire road.  Imagine that!



I spent the night in Harrisonburg (an AT Community) so I could get an early start on my last day. 

My last miles of the SNAP 500 were on the AT.  Blissful had generously agreed to hike it with me but in the end she provided a much needed shuttle up to Loft Mt. Wayside, drove back to Swift Run Gap, then started hiking south on the AT to meet me.  Because of her generosity we didn't have a long car retrieval shuttle at the end of the day.  Another day of pea soup fog.



I started up the Frazier Discovery Trail and was dismayed to get no view at all from the rock ledges at the top.



Then I took the AT north.  A few views along the way but mostly I was in the clouds.  The bloodroots have just started to bloom and they were lovely.




The last blue sky I saw until the very end



I met three southbound AT section hikers.  And I saw a bear as I was heading up Flattop Mountain.  First I heard it crashing around so I stopped.  Then as I started making noise the young guy took off and all I saw was his rear end.  Blissful and I met up as I was descending from Flattop Mountain.  We continued on until Smith Roach Gap where we stopped for lunch.  A northbound AT section hiker met us in that section.  After lunch we went up Hightop and I was sure the cloud would lift by the time I got on top.  No views of any sort.  So we bopped down the rest of the way to Swift Run Gap and I finished the SNAP 500.




Although it took me more than a calendar year, I figure I completed the trails in 52 weeks of hiking (having taken off many weeks for other hiking, family vacation, visiting my father, and my broken rib).  So not too bad.  I'll be making a suggested revision of the SNAP500 list for future hikers.  To be posted soon. 

1 comment:

  1. Way to go Judo, thank you for the inspiration!
    I've completed half the SNAP500 and will finish the balance in the fall after my Rockfish to Harpers out and back hike is completed.

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