Date: 2006-11-25
From: Shenandoah National Park - Skyland, Va

To: Shenandoah National Park - S of Big Meadows, Va
Miles today: 9.1

I couldn't get back into Shenandoah yesterday because all of Skyline Dr was closed due to the ice storm. Hokey Pokey and I ended up in a motel closer to Rockfish Gap. I figured they weren't going to re-open Skyline Dr this morning...at least not for a while, so I was going to skip ahead to Rockfish Gap and I would have a section to fill in. Hokey Pokey called the park and got a recording that said 20 miles of Skyline will be open from Thornton Gap south to Big Meadows, so we headed back up to Rt 211 and headed into the park. It didn't look too bad at first, but by the time I got to Big Meadows, I could see lots of damage...trees down, huge limbs broken off and the tops of most of the standing trees showed lots of damage from limbs that broke off due to the weight of the ice. Hokey Pokey dropped me off and I started walking north to Skyland. He then drove the truck to Skyland and headed north to Thornton Gap. The first mile of the Trail from Big Meadows was not only really dangerous because of all the ice on the ground, but it took me over an hour to slack just one mile. I even lost the Trail a couple times. There was so much stuff laying all around from small limbs, to huge trees that it was very hard to see where the Trail went at times. I fought that for a while, then decided to head out to the road and walk a few miles. When I got back on the Trail a few miles south of Skyland, it was much easier. There was still lots of stuff that was down in the Trail and I was still having to work in and out of the fallen trees and limbs, but this area wasn't nearly as bad as near Big Meadows. I even saw a local couple out cleaning up what they called their section of Trail already. I got to Skyland, found my truck and headed down to Thornton Gap to wait on Hokey Pokey. When he showed up, we went to a local restaurant and ate dinner, then headed back into the park. Our plan was to walk a mile or so south of Big Meadows and stealth, but Hokey Pokey decided to just drop me off and head home since the Trail was in such bad shape. When we came in the gate after dinner, I asked the ranger when they might open Skyline Dr again. I was told that they would probably work on the northern section first, clearing away all the fallen trees and limbs off the road, then they would work on the southern section. I was told that it might take up to a month to finish clearing all the downed trees off the road. I thanked Hokey Pokey for coming out...too bad we didn't get to walk according to the way we had planned. He took off for home and I started walking south. The sun was setting, so I only went about a mile and found a flat spot, set up the tent and crawled in for the night. I sure didn't get in many miles today, but at least I'm back in the park and ready to walk in the morning. I'm hoping to make lots of miles in the next four days before the next bad weather is due in. It's supposed to be beautiful out...30 degrees at night and 60 degrees during the day, all the way through Wednesday. :-))) Thanks also to Goosebump The Snow Princess and Rainbow Slick for inviting me over for a wonderful Thanksgiving...I had a great time!!!