Tibbet Knob

We tried to go to West Virginia and ended up at Tibbet Knob.  I suppose you could say that we did end up in West Virginia (just barely!), although perhaps not the New River Gorge as we were originally intending.  To backtrack for a moment, Casey and I are big on "experience" gifts. As a result, for Christmas he gave me a trip to the New River Gorge with an overnight in Staunton, VA on the way back home.  This was a great surprise and would have been an amazing plan except for the fact that the New River Gorge is over 5 hours away from home and Casey's family was hosting a giant family gathering the night before.  In order to get to the gorge and do a reasonably short hike before dark, we projected that we would need to leave in the early hours of the morning.  On a normal off-work day, this might be workable, but with the family around, we wanted to enjoy the night without worrying about a lack of beauty rest.  And so, we ended up keeping our trip closer to home and did this little hike on the way home from our overnight instead.

Tibbet knob is a neat hike with a great effort:reward ratio.  Steep at parts, it had me out of breath a time or two, but overall the 1.6 miles up the mountain weren't too strenuous.  Hiking Upward classifies the difficulty as a "2" (only second to the easiest hikes on the list), but I probably would have called it a "3" on the difficulty scale because Hiking Upward also calls Difficult Run up by DC a "2" and that hike is more of a walk in the woods with very few elevation changes.  This hike also had two areas that were similar to the Billy Goat Trail near DC with some small scrambles to get to the top.  To get to it, park at the Wolf Run Recreation Area and walk across the main street that the recreation area is off of (675).  The trail is right there (yellow blazed) and easy to follow the whole way up.

We were the only ones on the trail which was quite nice.

Wooded area on trail

Sun through the trees on a ridge

View from the ridge

Me at the ridge

At the summit

Me and Casey at summit

Campground at the summit

Tibbet Knob summit again

Sky Meadows Farms

This was a nice little hike that wasn't too far from home.  Casey and I had been to Sky Meadows before, but not to this area.  This time, we headed over to the farm area of Sky Meadows and hiked along the horse trails.  No horses were out on Friday, but we did see some very pretty views!  The hike is a meadow hike (so no mountain overlooks), but is quite gorgeous nonetheless.  There are a variety of trails to take and you can pick up a map when you park.  Our loop was probably just under 5 miles.

Creek crossing!

Views from the trail

Some views from the trail

Cow pasture beside the trail

Big Schloss Hike

This was such a cool hike near Woodstock,VA.  The hike itself wasn't too difficult, but the views were pretty exceptional!  The first part of the hike had me out of breath, but before too long, you end up on a ridge line and the hike turns into more of a very scenic stroll.  We saw several other groups while we were there, so it certainly wasn't an isolated feeling hike, but there weren't even close to the crowds that you would see at a hike like Old Rag.  We used these directions.  Basically, from the coordinates (38.92404, -78.68949), take the orange blazed trail from right near campsite #9.

Wilma poses at the ridge

Casey and Wilma at the ridgeline

A really neat bridge right near the biggest overlook

View from the final overlook

Casey and Wilma at Big Schloss (the final overlook)

Me sitting on a rock outcropping near the top

Survival Training

This one isn't quite a hike, but Casey and I finally had an opportunity to take a survival course, something that I've been meaning to do for some time.  The course that we chose was the Primitive Survival Crash Course run by Advanced Survival Training near Fredericksburg, VA.  I don't have any affiliation to the individuals who run the training, but I can say that Casey and I both thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and learned a lot in the process.  The crash course went from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., but the instructor was willing to keep the class going until 5:30 p.m. because we hadn't finished everything that he hoped to cover in the allotted time frame.  I was thrilled for the extra time to learn.  The course covered how to survive for a brief period of time outdoors with no supplies.  As avid day hikers, we thought that this could be useful to know (although we always to carry a handful of supplies for all but the shortest and most populated day hikes - think Burke Lake level for those types of "hikes" that might forgo the kit).  In any case, we do not always carry tents, knives, sleeping bags, and lighters (although after this course, the knife and the lighter might get added to the day-hike "just in case" kit).  So on to the fun stuff!  What we learned (noting that I am not a survival professional and am merely sharing some of the neat things we got to do):

This list is shared in order of urgency as according to our instructor.

Pre-Anything Else: Mindset!  He highlighted that having a positive attitude and tenacity is crucial to survival.

1) Shelter.  He said that shelter should only be second on the list if someone needs immediate first-aid (i.e. bleeding out, suffocating, or otherwise will die without immediate treatment).

Our leaf hut when it was just bare bones.  Two ~3' 'Y' shaped sticks leaned together with a long, ~12' stick forming the "spine" of the structure.  Ribs were then leaned against the spine to form this frame.  We got to do this all ourselves!

Beginning to add some leaves to the shelter.

With a few more leaves.  A functional shelter should apparently have ~2' of leaves on top and actually be filled inside with leaves as well.

Side view.  You can see that it's tight, but that a grown man fits fully inside!

 Water: He said that water is only second to shelter because while you can get hypothermia in 3-4 hours in poor weather, you can die of dehydration in 3-4 days.

We learned how to boil water using rocks that were heated in a fire in the case that a pot was unavailable (you could even use a rock depression as your "bowl" and place small hot rocks in the water within this depression to boil it.

 Fire:

Casey and another gentleman in our training use a bow-drill to attempt to get a fire going.  The drill and board were both cedar in this case.

Successful fire creation!  It is way harder than our instructor made it look.

This particular crash course didn't go too far into identifying edible plants and trapping animals, but it was extremely useful for our purposes (we also covered a bit about making tools from rocks).  There was an option for a longer course (a bit out of my current budget), in which we would have been able to spend the night in our shelter and learn far more about finding food and other survival essentials.  I would love to return - it was a great and informative time!

Sugarloaf Mountain

I'll let the pictures do the talking on this one, but it was a great time!  It felt more like a walk in the woods than a true hike, but with stunning views, so it was a win-win in terms of effort:reward ratio.

View at one of the overlooks

Casey and Stephanie on the rocks

Nothing beats a winery 10 minutes from the trailhead (Sugarloaf Mountain Winery)!

Three Ridges Loop

Suspension Bridge  

It had been too long since I had been backpacking.  I've been trying to find an opportunity for quite some time and I finally snagged my chance!  In a lucky stretch of unseasonably warm weather, Casey and I found the perfect weekend in late September to take ourselves away from the hustle and bustle of the DMV.  We headed to Three Ridges Wilderness in an attempt to do the Three Ridges Loop (see Hiking Upward).  We headed out early Friday morning with our bags packed and ready to go.  To make a long story short (because I'm exhausted after getting up before 4 a.m. this morning for an [ultimately failed] attempt to go on a hot air balloon ride), we decided to start at the alternative start coordinates.  We incorrectly figured that these coordinates would be for an overflow lot or something of that sort.  It turns out that the alternative parking is actually a 15 minute drive from the other parking lot. To visualize the loop trail, picture a sketch of a lollipop.  Now picture that lollipop with a stick poking out each end.  The end of one stick is one parking lot and the end of the other stick is the other parking lot.  Each branch off of the loop will get you to the loop, but from opposite directions.  However, while I do generally love HikingUpward as a resource, we realized fairly quickly into our hike from the alternative parking coordinates that there was zero indication of how much longer the "lollipop stick" of the trail to the loop from the alternative parking coordinates would be. (If you're wondering, the answer is about a mile longer each way - so a 16ish mile loop instead of a 14 mile loop).  We also realized about a mile into the hike that we had lost one of our large, 1 L water bottles.  Bottom line?  We opted to turn around, attempt to find our water bottle (guess who forgot to take it out of the car!?), and start again from the other parking coordinates.    While not the intended start to the day, we did get to check out a super neat suspension bridge that is close to the alternative start point.

One of the first overlooks

By the time we reached the other start point (the one that had detailed directions and distances), it was already early afternoon.  Pretty soon in, Casey realized that his pack was causing his shoulders to ache.  Casey's pack is a several decade old day-pack that places all of the weight-bearing load into the shoulder straps.  A new one is in the works, but alas, we are not made of money and so we hoped that the day-pack would be a suitable temporary stand-in.  In the end, it wasn't a good option.  We redistributed some of the weight into my pack and traded packs every so often as we climbed.  It wasn't ideal, but it was doable.  Because of the pack, the late start, and the quickly-realized knowledge that we both could stand to get in better backpacking shape, we opted to reach the best vista of the hike, hike to the next vista that was less than a mile away, camp there, and then backtrack the following day.  This plan saved us about 4 miles and while we didn't get to officially complete the loop, it was still a beautiful trip.  As an added bonus, we stumbled upon a mama bear and two cubs about 30 feet from the trail.  Mama bear scooted down the tree that she was in when she heard us on the trail, but left us alone as we made some noise and continued walking.

At the best overlook of the hike

Casey napping at the campsite.  Note to hikers - please do not take a dump right next to a cleared campsite.  Someone left a nasty pile of unburied crap + toilet paper right beside this rock  which was about 15 feet from the tent site (I photoshopped it out because it ruined the photo).  We covered it up with rocks so the next camper doesn't have to look at it.

Tent site!  Gorgeous weather.  Fly is "half up" to add some privacy right off trail, but it was too gorgeous of an evening to cover the tent up all the way.

Sunrise at the overlook

Sunrise at the overlook

Casey on the way back to the car

Billy Goat Trail Part A (again!)

I'm getting a bit tired of this trail lately, but then I really can't complain that such beautiful scenery is essentially in my backyard.  This time around I went with Casey and his younger cousins and we all had a blast.  Unfortunately, this hike also marked the last trip for my beloved boots.  I might be able to save them with some boot glue, but I managed to pull nearly the entire sole of the boot off of the "body" of the boot and had to tie the sole back on with paracord to finish the hike.  I shouldn't complain - the things lasted me over 11 years (albeit with only minor use until about 4 or 5 years ago).  But still, I'm sad to see them go and my wallet is cringing just a bit at the thought of needing to buy myself a new pair!  In any case, I'll just leave you with a few photos since I'm not really feeling the writing bug right now.

one of the first overlook points

A different view from the same overlook point

My poor boot has seen better days...

Difficult Run Trail/Old Carriage Road Loop

I caught up with an old friend to hike a loop incorporating the Difficult Run Trail and the Old Carriage Road on the Virginia side of Great Falls park.  The water was quite brown as you can see and the weather looked a bit threatening for a while, but it was a great trip overall and the weather held out!  We generally followed these directions: http://www.hikingupward.com/OVH/DifficultRun/.  However, instead of taking the Swamp Trail back, we took Old Carriage Road to the Ridge Trail to Wolfpack Trail to get back.  Our total loop was about 5 miles which incorporated the jaunt to the water and back on Difficult Run Trail at the beginning of the hike and an accidental failure to turn off of the Carriage Trail at the end of the hike (we accidentally hiked to the end of Old Carriage Road and then had to return to the junction with Ridge Trail).  For the proximity to UMD and the NoVa area, Great Falls is a must for anyone who enjoys exploring.  However, finding solitude in this area seems to be close to impossible.  As it was, even with thunder rolling in by the time we reached the picnic area, the area was bustling.  

Muddy river view from an overlook along the trail

Another muddy river view while the sky was still blue

View of the River Trail

Kepler Overlook

The map at the trail head.  

Before this hike, I can't remember the last time that I went on a hike and did not see a single soul on the hike or even a car parked at the trail head.  Surprisingly, at less than two hours from DC, this hike delivered complete solitude.  And it was such a neat place!  It had three or four rudimentary car camping areas near the base of the trailhead and several more backpacking areas along the trail.  The car camping areas were still very much "backcountry" in that you're not going to find a bathroom or picnic table in the vicinity, but you can drive your car right into the spot and there are fire pits at each spot.  

I used HikingUpward as my navigation for this hike and found the directions to be generally good, but I would elaborate by saying that there are two "permanently closed gates."  The last car camping area is a turn off to the left, but the gate/fire road that you should follow is the one before the left turn off (i.e. straight ahead).  You'll notice a trail sign and map at the beginning of this fire road that are not present on the fire road closer to the camping area.  Take the fire road with the map!

first backpacking campgsite that you'll pass

Shortly after turning left onto the blue blazed trail, we crossed a dry creek bed and came across this neat backcountry camping area.  The rest of the trail to the top was fairly uneventful, but I loved how quiet it was!  At one point, a bunch of ants were crawling across the path and if you stopped, you could hear them scurrying across the leaves.  Overall, this hike was a win - gorgeous views at two points, and a great place to be if you want peace and quiet.

Rickety "bridge" across a creek.  Casey trusted it - I walked across the dry creek bed instead.

First overlook (you must go off trail to see this one).  At fourth switchback on the trail, there is an unmarked side trail that you can follow to this overlook.  Follow the side trail behind the back of a rock outcropping and you'll reach this view.

At the final overlook.  You'll see another unmarked side trail on the right from the top of the ridge that will bring you here.

The final view

Maryland Heights and C&O Canal

Casey and I have been meaning to go backpacking for quite some time now, but schedules and weather keep getting in our way.  So, when we found a unplanned stretch of time from Thursday to Friday (with both of us off on Friday), I insisted that we try to make something happen.  Unfortunately, with the two of us now almost real adults, we realized that we wouldn't be able to depart until after work.  This might have been fine, except that after an extensive google search, I reached the conclusion that there is no good backpacking any closer than a 1.5 hour drive from College Park.

This would mean that in the best case scenario, we would have been able to arrive at the trailhead in the late afternoon to early evening.  For as much hiking as I have done, I have done very little true backpacking and was concerned about beginning a hike so close to dusk when we were both so new to securing food from bears, using our (new and improved and hopefully less prone to spontaneously burst into flames) camp stove, and just generally doing the overnight thing.  As such, we began to think about alternative options and wound up with the idea of taking ourselves on a bike camping trip along the C&O canal with a day hike to Maryland Heights the following day.  It turned out to be a perfect idea.

I had recently secured a free bike trailer off of Craigslist with the hope of being able to cart around my aging dog when she can no longer walk around Burke lake on her own four paws, but the trailer seemed like the perfect way to get our tent and supplies from point A to point B via bike.  It worked out just wonderfully.

bikes at the campground

We arrived to our starting point, the Antietam campground, around 7:00 p.m., ready to bike just about seven miles to the Huckleberry Hill campground.  The C&O canal is essentially flat and is well groomed so it was smooth and quick sailing.  There are campgrounds at frequent intervals along the trail, which makes this a perfect trail to do a long-distance bike ride along (I want to go back for a longer trip now!).  We arrived with nearly an hour of daylight to spare and met our friendly neighbors.  All of the others at the campground were on the trail for the long-haul - we were the only overnighters - and they were good company.

What a view to wake up to

 The next day we had been thinking about taking the bikes to the Maryland Heights trail head, but we were concerned about theft, so we opted to bike back to the car and then drive into the town of Harpers Ferry to start our hike there.  I don't have too much to report from the hike - it's a pretty steady uphill for most of the way with a roughly .5 mile downhill section right before the overlook.  The overlook is well worth the little hike.  You are able to see the confluence of the rivers, the town below, and know that you may be sitting in Maryland, but you are overlooking Virginia and West Virginia.  Such a neat place!

Casey at the overlook

Me at the overlook

One more of the beautiful view