Too Much Rain Results in Plan B

Thursday June 4 -  Sunday June 7, 2015
Charlottesville, Virginia

 

THURSDAY

When we came up to Stony Fork in Southwest Virginia, we knew David had to return to Charlottesville on Thursday for a Friday morning blood draw.  It’s 192 miles from Stony Fork so we had thought he would drive his car and just stay at the farm through this round of shots. Since Stony Fork allows a 3 week stay, we could be here next week and the week after so he could come back up on the day of the last shot which would be a Wednesday.  I’d stay with Winnona and Ruby.  Sounded like a great plan.

But as I mentioned before, the creek flows through the campground which is subject to flooding and evacuation if there is a lot of rain.  No problem, you just evacuate, unless you have a tow dolly.  It wouldn’t be such a big deal if the dolly weren’t an EXACT fit.  If there was a little bit of wiggle room when you are putting the car on it, one person could do it much more easily.  As it is, one person has to line it up, get in try it, check it out and if it is up on the side walls of the dolly do it again.   This is all AFTER you hook the dolly back to the RV and find a straight place to load the car.  The only straight place here is in the narrow campground road.  Of course, no one can get past you.  If it only takes one try to get the car on the dolly, no problem.  But that’s pretty rare and multiple tries would irritate especially if evacuation is the order of the day.

SO, since it won’t stop raining and the forecast also says days more of rain, I throw in the towel and go back to Charlottesville with David.  We need a new toad that can be towed 4 down that’s for sure.  I think I want a Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo so I’ll have 4WD for those trailheads where you need it.   Now to find one at a price I can afford that isn’t too old with too many miles.  If you have better suggestions please let me know.

So that’s the long story of how we end up back in Charlottesville this past Thursday.  If it’s going to rain all summer around this state, we’ll have to pick some spots closer than 192 miles away to show Winnona.  Of course that’s tricky because it’s summertime and everyone else wants to be out and about too and most of them have already made their plans.

 

FRIDAY

 

Friday is the blood draw with all the myeloma tests to see if this latest treatment is doing any good.  The results won’t be available until mid next week.

With all the rain we have noticed water on the dashboard.  Apparently Winnona has developed a leak above the windshield so in the afternoon David uses windshield sealant adhesive from Napa parts to try to seal it up.   There is more rain on the way so we’ll know soon enough.

 

 

 

SUNDAY

By Sunday the weather predictions here include less rain and more HOT!  To be specific 4 days of mid 90’s starting on Wednesday.  We have never taken Winnona to our local National Park, Shenandoah, so I don’t really know anything about the campground other than that it is complete boondocking.  No water, no electricity.  Good chance to use our solar set up if there is an appropriately flat site that isn’t in the woods.

So off I go to check it out.  The farm is 17 miles from the southern end of the park and about 45 miles from the middle.  I head up to Big Meadows campground in the middle saving the more southern campground Loft Mountain for another time.

I take Route 33 to the Swift Run Gap entrance, use my wonderful Senior Pass (the ONLY great thing about getting older) and am soon headed north toward Big Meadows.

It is a bit warm down in the foothills but up on the mountain it’s perfect.  Since I’ve come this far, I figure I might as well make a day of it so I stop at the first falls hike I come to on my way from the Central entrance to the park at about milepost 66 to Big Meadows at about milepost 51.  South River Falls Trailhead is at Milepost 63.

 

 

 

Once on the trail, I’ve barely gone any distance when I cross the Appalachian Trail.  I’ve hiked lots of the sections of the AT in Virginia over the years.  Virginia has the most mileage of any state with 550.3, more than a quarter of the trail.  The first time I broke my ankle was on the AT in 2001.  It wasn’t the AT’s fault and I love seeing its familiar cement metal banded posts again.  

Today, I’m going straight ahead and down.  It is going across.

 

 

 

 

The trails in SNP for the most part start at the top of the mountains and go down.  This is not my favorite way to do my mountain hiking.  I prefer my uphill first and my down hill at the end.  But tough luck for me here.  It’s down all the way to the falls and then up all the way back.

After a bit the trail goes along the river.  I stop to enjoy the water and of course in doing so attract others including two families with numerous children.  After they leave heading on down to the falls, I decide they may be going there for lunch so perhaps this lovely spot is where I should have my lunch and I do.  The music of the river is enchanting.   The scenery outstanding.

 

 

 

 

Lots of rocks on the trail, big ones at a distance, some on the trail side and some as the trail base.

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the oldest mountains in North America and their bones are showing.

 

 

 

 

All along the way I can hear the water tumbling down toward the falls.  I am glad I have the trail to myself now and there are no other sounds but the water and the birds.  The oven bird is yelling his “teacher, teacher, teacher” and the vireo is asking “see me, here I am”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are some flat sections of the trail but here too you have to watch for the rocks and the roots.

 

 

 

 

 

One nice thing about all the rain, although the trail is a bit muddy, it is green green everywhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am getting pretty close, I can hear the waterfall and wonder if I might be able to see down into the gorge from this rock platform which has a clear path going down to it.

 

 

But nope, trees block the way.

 

 

I reach the stone viewing platform constructed in the 30’s by the CCC and find it  seriously muddy.  Underwater at the edge actually.   I also discover that the ‘don’t mess with it’ policy of the National Parks has pretty much allowed the gorge to fill in and the waterfall is now difficult to see.  Can you even find it in the first picture below?

South River Falls is the 3rd highest falls in the park. You cannot see its complete 83 foot drop down into the gorge.  I don’t believe there is a trail to the foot of the falls. 

I’m not sure how I feel about this don’t touch policy.  I certainly don’t want them landscaping my National Parks but if there is a viewing platform, I think perhaps they should maintain the view.   What’s your opinion about this quandary?

 

 

I try some other angles to see if I can get any better picture of the falls.  Zooming in does a little better but it’s just not the same not being able to see the falls tumbling all the way into the gorge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just below the viewing platform, there is what I believe is a Rosa Rugosa bush.  The bee is doing his part to make sure the rose hips will appear this fall.   I’m worried about the bees.  What will we do without them.

 

 

 

 

I arrive just as the big groups are leaving so I have the platform to myself until another couple quietly joins me and also comments on the lack of view.

The trip back up actually goes faster than the one down.  Probably because I don’t stop for many pictures.  Just a few of the really great huge rocks lining the path and one to show the incline.  It’s up all the way.  A good work out but not one David would want to do at this point I don’t think.

 

 

 

 

Ruby and I drive on up the road to Big Meadows where I go into the Visitor Center and get some maps more recent than the ones I have of trails in the area. 

I go on to the campground where Ranger Lori gives me some site suggestions and after checking them all out I pay for two nights in C 137 which is the flat enough, long enough and sunny enough for Winnona.  With full solar gain we’ll be able to stay boondocking as long as the tanks will last.

Luckily for me, SNP allows me to pay for tonight to hold the site until we can bring Winnona up in the morning.  This is the first National Park where I have ever been able to do this.  Sure makes it easier so I don’t have to rush back and bring Winnona tonight.

Lori also gives me some suggestions of where in the area I might get a verizon cell signal and/or be able to get internet. Neither of these is available anywhere in the large campground.  So I check out the amphitheater parking lot and from there I am able to call David and tell him about the site but no internet. 

I am also able to make calls from the National Park Lodge parking lot and when I go inside the lodge, wifi is available in the great room but the wifi is very iffy so I tether my phone and I’m in business.

Having finished all I wanted to accomplish, I head back down the mountain to get ready for tomorrow’s move up the mountain into hopefully cooler climes for this next week of very early extreme summer heat in Virginia.   It’s really been a great Sunday.  Can’t wait to return to “my” National Park.

A Break in the Rain - Seven Sisters Trail

Wednesday June 3, 2015
Stony Fork Campground
Wytheville, Virginia

 

It rained yesterday after Bill and Nancy left lucky for them.  It is predicted to rain today too but I want to hike at least half of the Seven Sisters Trail before it does.  The trail is 5 miles long and goes over the mountain and down to the Seven Sisters picnic and Day use area on VA 717 which is the road that leads to the campground.  If you hike over the mountain, you either have to come back over or hike back to the campground down the road.  Either way it’s a 10 mile hike.  Given the rain we think 5 miles is enough so our plan is to hike to the top, turn around and come back.

You have to take the Nature Trail to get to Seven Sisters.  The nature trail is conveniently near our site.  As we start out, things are still very wet, it’s foggy, the air is thick with moisture.  Foggy pictures are sometimes not the best but I actually love pictures of people moving off in the distance into the fog.

 

 

 

  The turn to the Seven Sisters trail is about half a mile up the Nature trail.  I guess that really makes it a 6 mile trail up and back.  It isn’t long until we begin to see the Mountain Laurel.  It’s just lovely and we are here at its peak.  Spring and early summer in the Blue Ridge Mountains are hard to beat for beauty.

 

 

 

 

 

Some of the Laurel is white and others are pink.

 

 

 

We see all of this on the Nature Trail before we even get to the Seven Sisters cut off.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mountain Laurel seems to get better and better, thicker and thicker, the higher we go.

 

 

 

I have my raincoat around my waist.  David chooses to carry an umbrella.  Just in case the weather people have guessed wrong.

The 7 sisters sign is clearly pretty old.  Half of it is on the ground.  David holds it up so we can read it.  Sort of.

 

 

The mountain Laurel continues up the Seven Sisters Trail.  We find a few rhododendron blossoms but it’s clear we have just  missed it.  Darn!

 

 

 

The trail becomes steeper here.  It is up all the way to the top obviously and less and less gradually as we go.

 

Anyone know who this is?  He was actually all green, the light makes him look white on one side I hope he isn’t someone bad since after watching him for a while I let him pass on his way.

 

 

There are very few openings from the trail to views.  I’m not expecting one at the top either but it’s the journey not the destination and the trail itself is lovely.

 

 

As you can see in this picture, the trail is level side to side but we are walking up the side of the mountain.  Opps if you step too far to the right.

 

 

 

There are lots of oak trees so I’m not surprised to see squaw root.

 

 

 

I just wonder how these big trees cling on to the side of this mountain and then grow straight up. It’s a long reach for me.

 

 

We find a few more isolated rhododendron and lots of evidence on the ground that we have just missed the big show.  The heavy rains of the last few days have striped most of the flowers.  I’m really sorry to have missed most of the rhododendron.  They are a spectacular Appalachian mountain flower.

 

 

 

 

David’s low blood counts make him winded as he walks but he soldiers on. He does takes a break on a short flat spot before continuing on through a section of rock strewn path. I wonder how all these pieces of rock, I assume sandstone, got here. This is the only place on the trail we see them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We come to a section of blueberries almost closing the path.  In August you might find some black bears here. The flowers have just gone and the berries beginning to form.

 

 

 

 

Mountain Laurel all the way.

 

 

 

 

David and I agree we will turn around at 1:15 to try to beat the rain.  So I move on ahead since I know we are close and take this photo to prove I made it.  By the time I reach the top, at 3310 feet, the rain clouds are all around. Clearly they need new signs on this trail

 

 

 

Up here on the top it is nice and flat.  I’d like to walk around and check for views but it’s time to do the down hill.  David’s waiting and my time is up.

 

 

 

I do find David waiting and on the way down he gives one of the big oaks a hug and thanks for holding the mountain in place.

 

 

I actually love doing a trail out and back since I always see things going back that I didn’t see coming in, like the moss lining the paths.

 

 

 

 

Just before we reach the campground I notice this huge furry poison ivy vine on this tree.  It almost looks like a lightning strike.  I’m glad it’s not right next to the trail with its vines growing out over in an attempt to grab a bald head without a hat.

 

 

 

It sprinkles some on our way back but we make it before the real rain.  It’s a really lovely invigorating hike.  One of these times I’d like to go all the way down the other side too.   Great way to spend a break in the rains.