Oof.
We are tired. I am sitting here at my desk with a bad case of sore limbs and surprisingly un-sore feet, but Hans' feet are fairly blistered. There are muscles in my bum that I didn't know I had and they hurt, hurt, HURT.
So, at the moment I'm chowing down Ibuprofen with rootbeer chasers while I post about our weekend. I guess you could say I'm speedballin' in the lamest way possible.
The general idea of our trip to Shenandoah this weekend was to pack for backcountry camping to get away from the crowds, and also all of the campgrounds were reserved/full months before we even thought of spending Columbus Day weekend in the park.
On Saturday we got up a little late so we weren't in the park until right before noon. Skyline Drive, the 105-mile road that winds along the park's backbone, was already packed with cars and motorcycles and all of the scenic overlooks were occupied with multitudes of visitors. After a quick stop at one of the visitor centers for a free backcountry permit, we drove to the Elkwallow picnic area where the trailhead Hans picked out was.
He had originally suggested a 5.2-mile loop for us to do, then later some short waterfall-viewing walks before we chose a campsite, but I wanted to get the whole backpacking experience and suggested a "slightly-longer" loop where we could make camp near the end of the hike. What I originally estimated to be about 8 miles turned out to be 13. Ouch.
This hike really made us feel flabby and out of shape, even though we recognized that it had been a long time since we'd hiked any distance with 30-pound packs on, and the first time we'd ascended 1,700 feet in the process.
After 3.4 miles, when we'd reached the 2,865-foot summit of Knob Mountain, we were really considering turning around instead of pressing onward. But, after a little co-encouragement, we lumbered down the back ridge of the mountain and into the creek valley known as Jeremy's Run and began to make our way back toward our starting point. At this time we began to look for a decent place to pitch our tent, but the long weekend and nice weather meant that several people had the same idea. It seemed like we were in a designated campground. It wasn't for another half-mile that we managed to find a secluded place for ourselves, though we could hear several groups of other campers nearby.
We thankfully threw our packs to the ground. Making camp was a tedious process in the fading light and with our stiff legs. Once we were seated around our camp stove it was very difficult to move, except when it came to escaping from spiders. Hans nearly set the woods on fire (a moment that was really scary one second, and hilarious the next).
Hanging our bear bag at the end of the night was a little difficult since we were surrounded by trees with very few and very skinny branches. Hans had to help because, well, I throw like a girl. After we'd crawled into our tent for the night we could hear our neighbors searching far and wide for a bear-bag place in the pitch dark. I crushed some spiders in our tent with Hans' hat, to his great indignation.
This morning we were up at first light and on the trail about an hour later. It took me a long time for my legs to feel more flexible than wooden posts. The last five miles of our hike took us across the creek at least a dozen times and by the last crossing I was very tired of trying to balance on small rocks with my heavy and wobbly backpack. Hans recommended that I bring a jet pack next time.
Once we returned to the car I drove as we continued on Skyline Drive for another couple of hours of sightseeing and viewpoint stops. At about the half-way point through the park, we headed back into civilization and continued home after making a quick burger stop.
We will definitely be returning to Shenandoah in the future. The fall foliage was very beautiful and the cool weather was perfect for hiking. Next time, we'll do some of the shorter hikes and hopefully be in slightly better shape. For the moment I'm just happy to have feeling in my shoulders again.
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