Well, I arrived here at the Shenandoah National Park this afternoon and paid my $10 for a week long pass to the park. Big Meadows, located in the middle of the park was the only one of 5 campgrounds open (I guess Skyland doesn't have tent sites?) so that's where I am.
Skyline Drive is the scenic road going 109 miles through the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Shenandoah National Park. I was in a hurry to get to the campground and didn't stop at all the scenic outlooks on the way. Even so, a couple were so breathtaking I had to stop. Most of the drive is at elevations of 2500-3500 feet with views into deep valleys and across to other mountain ranges.
The Appalachian Trail runs for 500 miles through Virginia, more than any other state and 109 miles of it are through the park.
On the 20 mile drive from Thornton Gap, where I entered the park, to the campground I saw many white tail does and one 4 point buck. As I drove into the campground more and more does appeared and I soon stopped counting. Most seemed to have one or two almost grown fawns with them. After setting up the tent I went back out to the camp store. On the way back from there I came across 4-5 bucks individually chasing several does. The does weren't having any part of it and kept running off.
I don't know if rutting season is over or just starting but the bucks didn't really seem all that interested. More like, "there's a female, go chase it". It's also hunting season but not in the national park.
As I sat eating supper I had 13 does in sight at one time. There were probably several more nearby that I couldn't see. It's kinda nice to see them but they are too tame for me. It's much more meaningful to see a really wild deer up close.
I was talking to the camp host a little while ago and he indicated the temperature is probably going into the teens tonight. This may be my last report ever. The possibility exists that I may wake up an ice cube in the morning.
I've got a goose down sleeping bag rated 20 degrees above zero, which means it starts getting cold under 40. I've got 2 Polartec 200 blankets and a kind of lap blanket. I have an air mattress and use a 1ot. Thermarest sleeping pad under it to keep my butt off the cold ground. I'll probably wear sweats and socks to bed although I have long johns if I chose. I'll also wear a Polartec cap. I haven't had even a minor cough or cold (knock on wood) so far, even after that dunking the first night. I attribute a lot of that to keeping my head covered, day and night.
I'll get through the night but don't know how comfortably. This isn't the kind of weather I was really planning on.
11/16/99:
Well, I didn't wake up a popsicle. The wind howled all night and it was mighty cold but I survived. My feet were cold because I only had cotton socks on. They were much better after wrapping them in a Polartec vest. Tonight I'm adding long johns and Polartec socks to the list and should be quite cozy.
I vent the tent to let the moisture from breathing out so it doesn't condense inside the tent. That also lets some wind in but that can't be helped. I try not to put my head under the covers so I don't get a lot of dampness in the sleeping bag.
I don't know how cold it actually got. Probably close to zero with the wind chill factor. There were some pretty heavy gusts.
In addition to the mountains, this area is also widely known for its caverns. A half dozen or so have been cleaned up and commercialized. Today I went to the Skyline Caverns near the northern entrance of the park. It was worth the $10 bucks I paid for the 30-45 minute guided tour I got.
There were the usual stalactites and stalagmites as well as some other 'ites' I dis-remember. They had these crystal calcite thingees growing out of the ceiling looking sea anemones or coral. Some of these things are estimated to grow and inch every 17,000 years.
I drove the 50 miles south from the northern park entrance down Skyline Drive to my campground, stopping at each overlook. There were some great ones and would be even greater with their summer, fall or winter colors. November and December are pretty boring to me because the leaves are gone and the snow hasn't fallen yet.
Some of the white-tailed bucks have moved into my camping area with all those does. I got a couple of good shots of a 8-9 point buck from about 20 feet. When I turned around, there was a 6 point buck not 10 feet from me. I won't tell any of these stories to the deer hunters though. I might end up draped across the hood of someone's truck.
The wind was really rocking today. I was at one turnout overlooking a valley and a gust hit me and knocked me back a step. The sea kayak was rocking back and forth in its saddles on top of the truck. If the wind and gotten hold of it, it would have gone sailing across that valley. Hopefully it will lighten up a little tonight.
11/17/99:
The cold and the wind chased me out of the Shenandoah National Park this morning. This morning everything was frozen again except for the pee bottle. Olive oil turns white when frozen and bananas turn brown.
How cold was it? Water froze instantly when splashed. I had glove liners and Polartec gloves on as I broke camp. Even so, I could only work a couple of minutes before my fingers started going numb and I had to go warm them up in the truck.
It had to be close to zero, maybe below, even without the wind. I was quite toasty most of the night until about 4am. Then my feet started getting cold and while I couldn't feel any specific cold spots on my body, I'd start shivering each time I'd stretch.
So I'm out of there. I drove south on the Skyline Drive and completed that drive. The Blue Ridge Parkway starts right where the Skyline Drive ends and goes another 400-500 miles down through Virginia and North Carolina. I would have liked to have done that too but the cold dictated that I get my butt out of there, particularly since I didn't know where I was going. My only goal was a campground 150-200 miles south.
On the way out of the park, I saw the 3rd solo backpacker while I was there. I don't know if they were weekend backpackers, thru hiking on the Appalachian trail or what. All of them were dressed for the weather with parkas, mittens, etc. I wish them luck. I wasn't aware people tried to hike the 2000+ Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in colder weather.
I drove down US81 which parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway much of the way and is a pretty drive on its own as it passes between two mountain ridges most of the way.
There is heavy truck traffic on 81 and it finally dawned on me that truck stops catering to truckers might be a good place to get internet access, rather than stopping at a motel just for a phone. Sure enough, when I stopped at one for gas there was a whole bank of phones with jacks for plugging in a laptop. I also picked up the National Truck Stop Directory which lists 'all' truck stops by state with, among other things, data ports. They also have a web site www.truckstops.com.
So, right now I'm at Hungry Mother State Park 60 miles north of the North Carolina border near and the Mount Rogers National Recreational Area. Yup! Hungry Mother is the official name of the park. "Legend has it that when Indians destroyed several settlements on the New River south of the park, Molly Marley and her small child were among the survivors taken to the raider's base north of the park. Molly and her child eventually escaped, wandering through the wilderness eating berries. Molly finally collapsed and her small child wandered down a creek until she found help. The only words the child could utter were Hungry, Mother. When the search party arrived at the foot of the mountain where she had collapsed, they found Molly dead. Today the mountain is Molly's Knob and the stream Hungry Mother Creek. When the park was developed in the 1930's the creek was dammed to form Hungry Mother Lake.
When I registered here the young woman at the desk said it was really going to be cold tonight. When I asked how cold, she shivered and said all the way down to 20. I laughed and told her I'd be out star gazing all night in my thong bikini in that kind of balmy weather.
This is kinda a rest stop for me. I'll be heading over to the North Carolina coast for some paddling inside the barrier islands.