Shenandoah National Park Appalachian Trail Section Hike | backpacking, back country Part 2
Appalachian Trail Shenandoah National Park, Virginia Section hike PART 2
Day 4 was a harder day for us. We did a 15 miles on day 3 and felt great but day 4 was so hard. We weren’t sure if it was because we did too much the day before, or didn’t get enough sleep. I ate a Reeses for lunch and after a while I must have a sugar spike because I crashed after we started hiking, I had zero energy. It took about two hours for me to get my energy back! It really goes to show what sugar does to your body!
About a half a mile before Big Meadows there’s a good flowing creek that goes across the trail.
We arrived at the lodge at 5:51. We still had over a liter of water left for each of us. We checked in and when the man handed me our room key I literally started crying! I was so excited to sit in a chair, sleep in a bed and take a shower! There was no air-conditioning in the rooms and the bathtub was tiny, but we were so happy to see that teeny tiny bed.
We made it to the dining hall and ordered way too much food. It was so delicious. We met a very sweet couple, Heather and Kevin, who was so interested and excited about our hike. When they left dinner, they left us some money to pay for our dessert! It was so sweet! We still keep up with them on Facebook!
Walking back to the room was so difficult. My feet hurt so bad I was worried that we wouldn’t make it the next day. I massaged my feet for couple hours. Mark walked all the way to the laundry to clean our clothes. It was a big uphill, downhill climb for him seeing as we’re in so much pain already. The laundry was 24 hours, but the store that had detergent closed at 6 PM. Luckily, he ran into Hannah, our British friend, who had extra laundry detergent and let him have some to do one load. The trail had been really great and the overlooks were beautiful. But, by far my favorite experiences on the trail has been meeting the people. You think solitude is nice and you could survive alone, but when you do it for a while you realize how much you miss and desire human interaction.
Day 5
We left big Meadows lodge and walked down to the wayside and stocked up on food and water for the next few days. We left at around 11 AM headed towards Pocosin cabin and were hoping to restock water at Lewis Mountain campground. We decided to take the road to meet up at the Appalachian Trail rather than backtrack back up to the trail. It was really nice to walk on flat pavement for a while.
We got to Lewis Mountain Camp Store and we met a young French man named Corentin. He was a nuclear engineer in the US for a conference and decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. He was from Paris, and was very excited to hike the Appalachian trail. He said that the forest here in the US is very noisy, because where he hikes in the French alps there’s no trees because it’s so high up at about 12,000 feet elevation. He’s not used to hearing birds and squirrels and trees. He was very kind. It rained pretty heavily while we were at the store so we hung out under the porch for a while as the storm passed. It was nice to rest and chat with Corentin.
I wish we had brought come gaiters to keep our feet dry. It never rained on us bad, but after this rain, all of the grass and foliage got wet, so while walking through it, our pants, shoes and socks got wet. Wearing wool socks helped a ton, but it got sloshy.
There were no campsites from Big Meadows all the way to Pocosin cabin. Not a single one. There was a creek .3 miles before you hit Pocosin cabin. It just rained however so it might be dried up at other times. I contacted the Appalachian trail club to reserve Pocosin cabin and Doyles River cabin months before our hike. They mailed me the keys, and I had to mail the keys back after the hike. It was not expensive and I thought it would be nice to have a place to sleep other than on the ground in a tent. Boy I was wrong!
We made it to the cabin at around 530 or so. The cabin was only just about a few yards off the trail. It’s very cute on the outside, but very, very, very creepy and slightly haunted on the inside! It was the most rustic cabin I’ve ever seen. I expected it to be rustic, but not that rustic! I think the worst part of it was the windows were bolted shut, so there was no light. Even in the day it was super dark, and spooky! We relaxed for the evening, rested up and went to bed in the cabin. There were several bunks, but I would only sleep in the same bed with Mark’s because it was sooo creepy! It was very uncomfortable because the mats were saggy, but the worst part was the heat. There was no circulation, so it was so hot. At 11 PM we woke up and decided to set up our tent outside of the cabin to get some airflow. It was so much better!! It was nice to have a place to put our things on the porch and a picnic table just in case it rained, which I didn’t, but definitely don’t want to sleep inside that cabin ever again!!!
Day 6
We woke up about 6:30am and left camp about 8:15am. We like to take our time in the morning! We found our first primitive campsite on the left about a mile 1/2 after Pocosin cabin going south. And another primitive camping area on the left another quarter mile down the mountain. About a mile before the picnic area there was a campsite on the right.
We made it to South River Picnic Area at 10:15am. It was a pretty pleasant hike. We only drank about half a liter of water each. We had some water, a snack, rested up for the next leg of our hike and left at 11am. There was no water at the South River Picnic Area. They had privies but no water.
We walked down to South River Spring which was about .3 miles off the trail. It was just a tiny trickle but there was a pool we could draw from so we were able to fill up our water with no problem. We left the Spring at 12 o’clock and headed up to Saddleback Mountain.
At the top there are some cleared spots that are potential campsites and a small campsite at the bottom of High Top Mountain between the two road crossings.
We saw a deer in the middle of the trail. It was not afraid of us and we kept getting closer to it, but it wouldn’t run away. It just seemed more curious and interested in eating than anything to do with us. We finally got close enough to it that it walked off the trail, but never really ran away.
Another campsite is at the top of High Top Mountain. Before you get to overlook, it’s on the left and kind of secluded. There’s another nice tent spot right after the overlook at the top. There was a spring after the overlook on the left.
We arrived at High Top Hut around 5 PM made dinner and got water from the spring. We didn’t stay though, we wanted to see if we can find another campsite couple miles down the trail and left at 6 PM.
Pinefield Hut says the water is unreliable so we decided to find water the next day at the Ranger Station. There were no campsites coming down from High Top mountain. We finally made it to the Powell Gap overlook and on the East there was a very nice campsite right across from the overlook. We arrived at 7:45pm! We were SO worried we would not find a campsite before dark!
The overlook campsite above Powell gap was absolutely gorgeous. We watched the sun set and also ate breakfast on the rocks with a beautiful sunrise. We slept great. It was the best night sleep I had all week sleeping on the ground. I’m not sure if I was just tired, or if I was getting use to sleeping on the ground. My phone says that we had gone 16.1 miles.
Day 7
We headed down the mountain at 8:20am towards Doyle’s river cabin. 1.3 miles up the mountain there was another 2 campsite on the left.
At Simmons gap, we stopped to get water at the ranger station. We made it to Pinefield hut by 11:30am and ate lunch here. There was a spring that was just a drip but there was plenty of water in the pool below. We really didn’t know if we could trust this water source. That’s why we got some at the Ranger Station.
When you get to the top of the mountain from the Ivy Creek parking area, there’s one campsite on the left.
About a mile before you get to the Lost Mountain Campground there was a creek that you cross. Just above the creek on the right is the campground. That whole day there was a constant high pitched hummmmm in my left ear! The gnats had been terrible!! We noticed when hiking on some of the mountains that on one side it would be stagnant and lots of gnats, but hiking around the other side of the mountain it would be breezy and more pleasant. Every time there was a nice breeze, I would say that breeze feels good and Mark would say, “I’ll take it!” It became a thing.
We took the blue trail to go to Loft Mountain Wayside. It was .5 miles and it’s a flatter trail. There was a big Spring with a pipe at Ivy Creek hut only .1 miles off the main trail and the spring was pouring!
We got to Loft in Mountain wayside at 3:40 PM. There was a Grill and ice cream! We got hamburgers and delicious fries. The same as when we stopped at the first wayside. We stocked up on snacks and electrolytes. We should have got more of those before. Most of stores were out of them. We really wanted more salty snacks rather than sweet ones.
I charged my phone and portable charger. The cabin was only two miles away but we’re so tired and it felt like forever! Loft Mountain was kicking our butt! We were pretty tired.
There is a campsite near Loft Mountain Campground on the left. About a mile before you get to Doyle‘s trail.
Be careful not to confuse Loft Mountain wayside and Loft Mountain Campground. They are two different places. Decide which one you need. The Wayside has a Grill with hamburgers and things. Not sure what the camp store has. We left the Wayside at 5:30p.
We decided not to stay inside Doyle’s River cabin because it was just as creepy as Pocosin! So, we ended up setting up our tent outside of the cabin. I do not recommend staying at this cabin because of the treacherous hike down to it. Although the spring was really great. I would recommend staying at Loft Mountain Campground. There’s lots of amenities.
Day 8
We left the cabin at 8:40am and stopped at the spring. I used the spring water to wash my hair and it was super refreshing. We had 2 1/2 L each.
There was a campsite on the left before you get to Browns gap .8 miles and another possible campsite right about .5 from Brown’s, and another campsite on the right about part four from browns. A campsite is just passed the Dundo Campground Trail marker and another campsite about a quarter mile past the Dundo campground on the left.
While hiking around 10:45am we ran into two 84 year old men, Junkyard Jim and Shug. They like to keep the trail clean and hand out trail magic. I believe we got a couple of honeybuns. They were so sweet!
There’s a campsite right after the parking lot headed up to Black rock Summit.
We walked over Black rock Summit for a while. It was really nice up there and we ran into a 75 year old woman who was a through hiker. Her trail name was Buttercup. She was a sweet lady and knew a lot of stuff! We were so impressed with her! She said she had a friend going northbound on the trail and she wanted us to relay a message to her if we ran in to her.
We got to Black Rock hut at 1:15p, ate a quick lunch and filtered water for the rest of the day. We filled up all of our waters, 4 1/2 L each because the next water was in 13 miles! We met a mother and daughter who were section hiking. They were very nice. Mark helped the mom with her backpack. Later we ran into Buttercup’s friend and gave her the message!!!
There was a tent site right past the trail marker going from Black Rock Gap towards Wildcat Ridge. Right by the Riprap Trail parking just north of the trail marker and there’s another campsite just south of the trail marker. Another campsite about 2 miles before you get to Wild Cat Ridge Trail on the left going south.
We found a campsite at 6:30pm 1/2 a mile before wildcat Ridge Trail on the left going South. It had several spots for tents, so we tried to figure out which one was the best.
A deer was in the campsite and it hung around with us for about 20 minutes and came and went throughout the evening. It just walked around and didn’t even care that we were there. It was so pleasant. Mark loved it! There was a cool breeze and the sun is setting. I was so glad to rest my feet!
Day 9
We started out hiking at 8:15am and saw an eight pointer buck on the trail.
Found a campsite just after you cross the road from wildcat Ridge on the right. And another campsite on the left on top of the ridge about a mile and a half past the wildcat Ridge Trail. Hiking down from wildcat Ridge, there’s another campsite on the right about 2 miles down from the trail. About 3 1/2 miles before Calf Mountain shelter there’s a campsite on the right. There’s a campsite about 2 miles before the parking area for bucks Elba Mountain parking lot.
I finally got a blister that started on day 8. It’s really a callus but underneath the callus felt like a blister. I put some mole skin on it but it was hurting pretty bad. I took some Advil and the moleskin hoping it would help the last 14 miles! The gnats were so bad. They would fly into my eyeballs!!! I realized if I wear a baseball cap, it helped keep them from getting in my face. Thank goodness because that’s so annoying!
There’s a small stream at a mile and a half before Calf Mountain shelter. There’s no pipe but you could probably pull from the pool. The spring below Calf mountain shelter was just a trickle and there’s really no way to pull water from that tiny pool. You might be able to syringe it out, but there’s just not enough water there. There was another spring about a half a mile from the shelter. Just a trickle.
We got to Calf Mountain shelter at 1:30 and filled up our water in the spring. It was a flowing pipe. We had left Blackrock Hut with 4 1/2 L per person and by the time we gone the 13 miles to Calf Mt. Shelter we almost had none left. That was for a cooking, cleaning, and drinking. We met a lady and her daughter section hiking. Mark helped the mom with her backpack.
Before leaving Calf Mt shelter at 230p I called ahead to get a trail angel to pick us up at Rockfish Gap to take us to our car. She said to text her and she can be there in 15 mins! I also booked a hotel for that night!
We made it to Little Calf Mountain summit. It had beautiful views and a nice pretty meadow. Prettiest part of the trail that day! Oh my gosh! Beagle gap has Porto potty‘s. Why am I so excited, I have no idea! After the climb up from Beagles Gap, there’s a campsite.
There were cell towers at the top of the mountain so I was able to communicate with our trail angel, Susan (different Susan) to let her know we were getting close.
This day really was the hardest. I’m not sure if it’s because of my crushed toes, blister, a really difficult part of the trail, 9 days of hiking, or just knowing we were almost done! I had to stop to take breaks more times one day 9 than any other day. There were a few times I could only go one mile before I would stop for water and a snack. It really was grueling.
We made it to rockfish gap at 7:38pm!! Susan and her husband drove us to our car. Trail angels are locals who volunteer to help hikers. They wouldn’t accept any money. It was so nice! We went to a mexican restaurant for dinner. It was a pretty sketchy place, but the food was delicious! We drove to a hotel nearby to shower and get a good night’s sleep! The next day we drove back into the park to visit some of the overlooks and stop at the camp stores for souvenirs. We never saw any bears, but we thought we may have heard one at one point. We joked that we saw more bears in the camp store than backcountry backpacking for 9 days in the park! The next day my feet and ankles were very swollen from all the water we drank and liquid IV.
It was such a great experience to hike the entire Shenandoah AT. At our age and shape we were very proud of ourselves and will never forget the experience! Again, even with all of the beautiful views and scenery, our favorite thing about the hike was meeting other hikers and people in the park and chatting about all of our stories and experiences.
