Date: 2006-04-24
From: Bear Fence Mt Parking SD

To: Stony Man Parking, Skyland Service Road
Miles today: 11.3

Pocosin Cabin Fire road SD to   Bear Fence Mt Parking SD S 3.9 MilesBear Fence Mt Parking SD to  Bootens Gap SD 55.1  S 1.3 MilesBootens Gap SD 55.1 to Milam Gap SD 52.8 S 2.8 MilesHawksbill Gap SD 45.6 to Stony Man Parking, Skyland Service Road North S 3.3 MilesFirst a couple things from yesterday. You will not see any pictures from High Top Mountain because, during that hike, Terry forgot the camera, it was raining Terry said. And then after we showered and got cleaned up, we went into town last night, and got gas for the rental car. Went and saw an 1827 house where Stonewall Jackson headquartered during one of his campaigns during the Civil War. Went to the Food Lion grocery store again. Bought more groceries, came back, got a Subway sandwich, and then got back to the Elkton motel, just in time for West Wing. So we enjoyed it. Nice, nice firm queen size bed. And today is Monday April twenty fourth 2006. We got up at seven, on the road at eight. We got to SNP, and put a car down at the Pocosin cabin fire road. We came up here to Bear Fence mountain parking area and we got on the trail at 8:45am. And it went pretty steeply up for 0.1 mile to the Appalachian Trail at 8:50. Eight fifty eight we hit one of the loop trails, 9:03am we hit another trail. And then, down and then you come to Bear Pen Hut trail at 9:25 maybe. What to say about the trail. Actually pretty nice once you come over the top, is pretty rocky going up to the scramble Rock area. And then you walk pretty close to the Skyline road, and number places you could look right over, and one spot I mean same elevation with it, and could have walked over really easily. We met one couple coming down around the rocks. Then we met two guys coming up the trail near Bear Pen Hut. We were going to go down And See the shelter, we started down, we could see it, but it was too steep going down, the heck with that, so kept going on. Came to Lewis Mt. campground picnic area, nice access there if you needed it. I think that was at 9:45 there. Walked around the campground, you go right by some campsite, there was a German shepherd wanted to charge, he thought about it. And then we come on around and then for a little bit it was level, just moving on out really nice. Then we ran into another guy who asked how far back to the campground because he was looking for the camp store. And we told him about a mile and a half back, hopefully will see him later today. If we do I'm going to ask him what his trail name is. We kept going and finally we came to the to the fire road at 10:40 and back to our car at 10:45 and we're guessing that it's roughly around the four mile hike. Now we're going to reposition the car and go from Milam gap back down to Bear Fence mountain parking. We got on the trail at Milam gap at 11:35. And it was just a nice gentle up up up. And then big long stretch of flat before taking you up a little bit more. Terry and I just talked the whole way or should I say I talked all the way, and it just went by real fast. And then at 12:25 we were just about at the top and there was a nice big rock outcropping looking out towards Shenandoah Valley. So we sat there for fifteen minutes, had a nice snack bar and drink, and just looked at the view. You could see that Massa Newton Mt. and then I think what they call the Allegheny Mountains and then way behind there was another range of mountains. I said I bet you could see the West Virginia like seventy miles away or so. Anyhow it's just a really nice and warm. I mean it's a nice day, very sunny.  Finally got to top of Hazel Top Mt. and walked across, started down. It was steeper going down, somewhere near there we met the two guys again, the guy and the younger guy that we had met yesterday, just to talk to them for a minute. They said the camp store was closed at Lewis Mountain campground, so they were heading up to Big Meadows. So we might see them there, when we go to the grill also. And then we kept on going down. And then at 2.4 miles and we reached the side trail to Rapadan. And it was One o'clock. Point four miles to Business gap and we got there at 1:10. And then it kind of leveled off for a while, was nice easy going again. And then finally we came around towards Bear Fence Mountain, and they took us up and finally, we got to the intersection there with the side trail at 1:45. And then we came on down, got to the car at 1:50. We took our break, the fifteen minute break, up there at the lookout, from twelve twenty five to twelve forty. and now we're back at the wayside, we're going to have a lunch. Saw lots of deer on the side of the road. it was warm when we got down to Buton gap. then we got down below the road and there was no breeze, and the sun was shining, and it was fairly warm. My car says sixty eight but they said it would get up to eighty one. That might be down in the valley though. Now lunch. We dropped a car off a Hawksbill gap and we went on up to the Stony man Parking, North Skyline service road. And we got on the trail at 4:10pm for a three point three miles hike. First 0.8 miles was right there at Skyline between North and south service roads. At four thirty we were crossing the south service road, we went by the stables and there's probably twenty horses in the pasture and Terry forgot to take a picture. And then you go out along these ledges and a lot of fantastic scenery looking out over Shenandoah Valley. Kind of rocky, because you¢re on ledges we were taking our time. First we came to an overlook, and we're real close to it, but it wasn't the overlook in the data book, it was Timber Hollow overlook. So there we realized we had like another one point three miles to go. The time was 5:15 and then we kept going. Went over another hill and then we got right next to the Skyline roadway. And there was deer in the woods. And it was warm, it was late afternoon, and the sun was shining down on us. and then we finally got to the Crescent rock overlook with point four miles to go, and we were there at 5:30 I think.  And then we kept going and there was a lot of water coming down off the road at a creek, right there at Cresent rock. And a few other places as well. So we kept going and at 5:55 we got to the cut off to go to Hawkbill Gap. It was really easy to get up to the road and just took a couple more minutes. So then we went back, got the other car, stopped at some overlooks, read about Stonewall Jackson marches through Fishers gap. Then came on back to Big Meadows campground, and had a nice tuna fish Salad meal while sitting at a picnic table. Watched the sunset from the amphitheater, called dad. And now we're back at the car and just looking at all the data on the hikes. And now were sitting out for a few minutes, watching some deer. We got our big 1000 candle power Spotlight; shine them on the deer as they walked around us. And now we're just relaxing. When we totaled our Miles, we¢re at seventy miles in seven days. So we did pretty well for people who never train. We¢ll see what tomorrow and the next days bring.