The Southern Shenies
Begin: Day 105- Saturday, August 3, Big Meadows Lodge, Shenandoah National Park, VA
End: Day 111- Friday, August 10, Waynesboro, VA
Most Trail Miles in a day this period: 19.9
Total Trail Miles Hiked: 1051.0
Photos corresponding to this week’s post can be found in the “07-31 VA Shenandoah” folder. Sort by name is recommended.
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Day 105- Saturday
Start: Big Meadows Lodge - 927.1
End: Lewis Campground - 918.4
Miles: 8.7
Ascent: 1381 | Descent: 1639
We woke at our normal time and after breakfast at the lodge’s restaurant we hung out until right before checkout time since we were going to have a fairly short hike today.
Not long after starting our hike, we came across one of the many waysides in Shenandoah National Park. We had a snack and one of the famous blackberry milkshakes that all the waysides supposedly serve. This is the first successful one where we actually had a milkshake available, and it was quite tasty.
We ended up hiking 8.7 miles for the day and stopped at Lewis Mountain Campground. We had reserved the hikers cabin, but unfortunately there was a mistake in the reservation system so we ended up taking a camp spot. It was a rainy day and we spent the afternoon hanging out at the camp store, talking to other hikers and campers. We came back to a wet tent since it rained the entire time we were at the camp store. Hopefully before the end of our hike we will figure out this wet tent.
Day 106- Sunday
Start: Lewis Campground - 918.4
End: Pine field Shelter tentsite - 898.5
Miles: 19.9
Ascent: 3974 | Descent: 4888
We left Lewis Campground at 6:30 AM and within a couple hours we had reached a milestone of 1000 miles hiked!
This hike ended up being a 20 mile day and we felt it when we came into camp late in the afternoon. One thing about Virginia this time of year is that it is very dry. Many of the reliable water sources through the park have dried up so you really need to plan on where you’re going to get water. We use an app called “FarOut” where among campsite, locations, provisioning spots, water sources and other important information, hikers add comments on the conditions of water sources. On this day, we had to stop at the Shenandoah Park entrance and a remote ranger station so we could fill up with water, to make it to our campsite called Pinefield Hut. Since we have been hiking south, we have seen much fewer hikers and at this particular site there were no other people to be found at this site.
Day 107- Monday
Start: Pinefield Shelter tentsite - 898.5
End: Blackrock Hut tentsite - 885.3
Miles: 13.2
Ascent: 2810 | Descent: 2613
After the 20 mile hike of yesterday, today’s 13 mile hike was considerably easier. We left our camp and hiked about five miles to the Loft Mountain Camp Store where we could reprovision with enough food to make it to Waynesboro on Wednesday. We also had the opportunity to eat a second breakfast at the camp store and laid out our tent in the sun to dry it out. We ended up staying there for about two hours, talking to people as they came and went; it was very relaxing.
From there we proceeded to BlackRock Hut, arriving about 3 PM. There where actually three other hikers in the campground.
Day 108- Tuesday
Start: Blackrock Hut tentsite - 885.3
End: Calf Mountain Shelter tentsite - 872.3
Miles: 13.0
Ascent: 3072 | Descent: 3000
We had another 13 mile day which was a little bit more difficult than the day before since there was a bit more climbing. In the scheme of things, it was still a pretty easy day.
It was another dry hike where our only water source was our starting point at Blackrock Hut and our endpoint at Calf Mountain Shelter. We had to pack a little extra water to make it, but it was quite doable. It was nice getting to Calf Mountain Shelter and seeing the piped spring bubbling out cool refreshing water.
We will be leaving the national park tomorrow and going into Waynesboro on Wednesday to wash clothes and reprovision for the next few days.
As of right now, it looks like Hurricane / Tropical Storm Debbie might put a damper on our hike on Thursday. They’re calling for three or four inches of rain on Thursday and possibly Friday. If that’s the case, we will probably, stay put for a day, or maybe two, if it hangs around.
Day 109- Wednesday
Start: Calf Mountain Shelter tentsite - 872.3
End: Waynesboro, VA - 864.5
Miles: 7.8
Ascent: 1204 | Descent: 1977
We had a short 8 mile hike today from Calf Mountain Shelter to Rockfish Gap outside of Waynesboro, Virginia. It was a pleasant hike over Calf Mountain and Little Calf Mountain and we actually crossed some meadows that were very foggy in the morning mist.
It would appear we are out of blackberry territory (for now) but we have passed several apple trees that are dropping apples. Tasting them they were pretty tart, but still had a bit of sweetness.
Once we got down to Rockfish Gap we called the hostel (Stanimals) to pick us up. There was only one other hiker in this huge hostel, so we pretty much had the house to ourselves. We proceeded to do some grocery shopping, going to Ace Hardware, and of course going out for a very large meal.
It would appear Tropical Storm Debbie will keep us in the spot at least an extra day. We will reevaluate on Thursday to see if we can leave on Friday, or if we need to just wait until Saturday morning when the weather is supposedly going to be very nice.
Day 110- Thursday
Zero Day
Today was an expected washout day due to Debbie where we hung out at the hostel and went out to eat for breakfast and a late lunch.
The rain is expected to go into Friday also, but it may clear up and that would allow us to proceed tomorrow. This is still up in the air as of Thursday.
Day 111- Friday
Zero Day
We decided to wait one more day at the hostel for the rain to clear up. We could probably go today if we wanted to, but it is supposed to be very nice tomorrow and that seems like a good time to proceed.
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