Date: 2005-03-02
From: VA Rt. 42

To: US. Rt. 11 Groseclose, VA
Miles today: 11.8

¢Are you sure you want to do this?¢ ¢The wind chill¢s gonna be zero tonight!¢ ¢There¢s much more snow up on those mountains.¢ ¢Are you crazy?¢ ¢If it was me, I sure wouldn¢t be out there!¢ ¢You should wait at least one more day.¢And many more such quotes from the well-meaning folks in Pearisburg (where I stored my car and secured a shuttle) and Groseclose. ¢Well, I¢ve been planning this hike for some time. I¢ve got the right clothes and equipment. I hate to have driven all the way down here and not hike¢ And such was my response. I was touched by the locals¢ comments and concerns. The Rendezvous Motel manager photocopied my hiking schedule and took my home phone number in case the worst happened. On the one hand, they may have felt that hikers in general and me in particular braving this weather had a few screws loose. But I also detected caring and respect in their tones - an expansion of ¢hike your own hike¢ to ¢live your own life.¢I had already postponed this hike by one day. Hoping to travel on February 28 and start hiking on March 1 would mark one year since I had found myself at Amicalola Falls to begin hiking with Northern Harrier and subsequently both rekindled a long-lasting friendship and made several new friends among the class of 2004 hikers. What better way to commemorate than to hike a section of AT I hadn¢t covered before. So the plan was to hike from Groseclose to Pearisburg. February 28's snowstorm caused a one-day postponement. Now as I lay in my room at the Relax Inn listening to the wind howling and thinking how I was nearly blown away last evening in the short walk to and from the restaurant, I wondered. Any other options? Yes, what about slack-packing from Rt. 42 back to Groseclose? At 12 miles, it¢s only 2 miles less than the planned 14 miles to Knot Maul Shelter (all up-and-down). The owner of the Relax Inn shuttled me to Rt. 42 and I was on the Trail by 8:40 AM.The first mile was fine with 4-6 inches of snow on the ground not slowing me down too much. The first problem was losing the Trail. Much of the first half of today¢s hike traversed through open fields necessitating climbing stiles and looking for white blazes in a white environment. Another application of Murphy¢s Law: at the time when you most need a clear blaze, you don¢t find one. So when the white-blazed posts abruptly stopped and I had 3 choices: right through the woods, straight through a gate, or left parallel to a fence, I chose (wrongly) the latter). Sure, in normal conditions, the Trail route was likely obvious but in the snow there was no discernible path towards the woods. Often in farmland, the Trail has been known to follow along fences so I trudged along. After 10 minutes, I realized I had likely picked the wrong route. At least I noticed a dirt road ahead. Supposing it to be Rt. 742, I plowed ahead, negotiated the barbed wire fence, and wondered what to do next when fortuitously, a car appeared with 2 unwitting Trail Angels. The elderly couple were en-route to their farmhouse and set me straight on the Trail. ¢It goes over that ridge there - Rt. 742 starts up there, right by our home¢ And they drove me the 1/4 mile to their home and deposited me at Rt. 742 with a parting warning: ¢That¢s gonna to be tough going up Walker Mountain.¢ The snow seemed deeper as I left 742 and the Holston River North Fork ascending then descending to Rt. 610. After crossing the stile and deciding correctly that the Trail proceeded straight through the field, I came to another junction devoid of blazes. After turning right for a 100 yards, I decided to retrace and turn left - the correct decision. The snow seems deeper as I trudge ahead breaking the smooth unbroken surface with my footsteps and struggling with my waistpack which always slips. Upon stopping for the umpteenth time, I realize: no camera! Retracing my steps, I¢m starting to doubt about this day and maybe the whole hike. Luckily, the camera had not sunk too deeply into the snow where it lay at the errant right turn. But between the wrong turns and retrieving the camera, I¢m burning energy and losing time.But I¢m enjoying and appreciating this experience - out in the woods with beautiful pristine-looking white snow. Fluffy, powdery, dry - the involuntary snow angels I made were painless! I¢m sufficiently warm even with the strong winds. And although the increasing depth makes for difficult ascents, I¢m discovering that descents (at least at a certain angle and snow depth) are actually easier on the knees than dry conditions.The Walker Mountain ascent gave me pause both literally and figuratively. The strong winds blowing for the last 24 hours had made their mark in that drifts became deeper and more frequent as I neared the summit. The shapes were fascinating - ripples resembling sand dunes along with ¢holes¢ around large trees. The tendency to regard crested ripples as snow piling atop a log was belied by stepping into them and sinking up to mid-thigh. At least the snow¢s dry powdery nature (which made the creation of the drifts possible) allowed for relatively easy negotiation but consistent knee-deep and higher wading does have an effect on this 56 year-old body! And the Gullion Mountain ascent featured more and longer stretches of deep drifts. Now I¢m getting tired! About 1-2 miles of nearly constant mid-calf, knee, thigh, and occasional waist-high drifts are getting me thinking not just about today but tomorrow. I was quite tired by the time I reached Davis Patch Shelter. Two more ascents and descents later (with drifts not as high as Gullion Mt.), I reached Groseclose, losing the Trail one more time in the open fields which themselves were resplendent in their glistening white blanket while also prone to high drifts. Less than 8 hours to cover 12 miles in these conditions with my errant turns wasn¢t too shabby. Back in the warm motel room tonight. Outside, the wind is still howling although not as fiercely as last night. But what about tomorrow?