Date: 2010-02-27
From: Black Horse Gap

To: Troutville
Miles today: 12.1

I did decide to slack pack today because I was concerned about the conditions, the trail and mine. I knew there had been a lot of snow in the area so I opted to hike south from Black Horse Gap back to Troutvile and then the 2 miles back to the motel. It was 16 degrees, overcast, and windy at 9:30 AM when I left the car and Doug from the outfitter. There was snow on the ground but I couldn't tell exactly how much at that time because there was a frozen layer of snow that supported my weight. It was a little slippery, especially when there was a downhill tilt to the trail as I traversed the mountainside. Also slippery as I went up and downhill. The snow walking was fairly easy though and I made alterations to my stride and gait. Little shorter steps seemed to work for this stretch.There were no human footprints preceeding me and I thought that was odd because there had not been snow for quite a while. There were plenty of other tracks though. A couple of coyotes, several deer, some squirrels, and a few small birds had been on the trail. The coyote, in particular stayed strictly to the trail for almost an hour of my walk. The other animals came and left the trail but the coyote was right down the middle of it.At 10:30 I stopped at the Wilson Creek Shelter to have a snack and check the shelter register. The shelter floor was perfectly dry despite all the snow in the area. It had warmed up to 30 degrees and the sun was intermitten. I layered down as I had also warmed up. The register had last been signed on January 10 when, as it said, it was bitter cold. The fact that the register had not been signed in a month and a half, and that there were no other human footprints on the trail made me realize that I had better be very cautious about my hike.In short order I noticed that I was beginning to break through the crusty layer of top snow and sinking up to about my knees. Not with every step though, just sometimes, but enough to start noticing that is was occurring more frequently. From the shelter I was heading down hill and went down quite a ways. This always concerns me because it usually means a long uphill follows. True again today. The next several hours seemed to be one long uphill. Doug had indicated that this one never seemed to end and he was correct. The snow gave way very frequently by this time. The problem with this type of snow is that you develop some forward momentum and suddenly you are knee deep in the snow that does not give to go with that momentum. If not vigilent, knees, ankles, and backs can become sprained, strained, or broken. None of those scenarios were in my plans so I slowed way down to avoid becoming a person of interest to the local buzzard population. I thought I heard a couple of them whispering about me just out of visual range. I thought about calling out to them that I only smelled dead just to keep them at bay. It must have worked because I never did see any flying overhead. My quads were beginning to get sore from lifting my feet so high to get out of my posthole and forward enough to make the next step. At 2:30, I found a set of bear tracks that came down the hillside and crossed the trail. It was little consolation to notice the bruin had as much difficulty staying on top of the snow as I did. After studying the tracks a moment, I thought that they were fresh earlier in the afternoon or late morning. I scoured the down hill area in hopes of catching a distant view of the bear. I really thought he should still be denned up. Unless you consider me as lunch, there wasn't much in the bear food chain. Have to dig for grass, not much tree budding yet, roots frozen, nuts and berries also under the snow if at all and probably pretty well picked over before the snow fell. Leaving just me as the only viable food source. Hmmmm.At 3:30, about the time I thought I would be getting to the road in Troutville, I got to Fullhardt Knob Shelter. I still had 4 miles to go to the road. With all the snow I could not find the spring on the trail that was associated with this shelter. I had about 8 ounces left and not showing good water ahead. It was all downhill though and the snow was diminishing. In an hour I saw sporadic snow near the trail but walked on dirt the rest of the way. In an another hour I was at the highway. There is no shoulder on the side of the road with the traffic going towards town so I walked facing traffic because it was a whole lot safer. I would have hitched but there was no room to stand safely.I was sore in my calfs from punching through the snow heels first and leaning foreward from the momentum, with my foot flexed. Other than that I was feeling pretty good.I had major concerns from the day. No help available on the trail if I had an accident. Strong potential for injury. It wasn't the snow. It was the snow.I'll try to explain. If there was a foot of snow that I could wade through and that was consistant I wouldn't have had a problem. However, there had been thawing and freezing causing a crust and that was a big problem. Slippery in the morning and trecherous in the afternoon. I had trouble finding some of the water holes. There were some good streams but they tended to cluster in one area and not spaced in a more usuable pattern. I think I have some good survival skills, I'm just not willing to test them if I don't have to.So, I have decided to push back my hiking about two weeks. I have a date in mid March to hike with a college buddy and my former partner in a Christmas Tree Farm, and a date to Hike with Tagless at the beginning of April. If weather typical to this time of year prevails we should be back to normal hiking in a couple of weeks. For now I will return to Colorado and begin making more plans to return to the trail very soon. I will let you all know when that is.See you on the trailJohn