MIST CREATES DIFFERENT TIME AND SPACE

SATURDAY MARCH 14, 2009

One of those cold wet early spring weekends. There were a fair number of visitors on the mountain considering the weather. Met Matt from PATC Trail Patrol on his was out. He and a friend from Colorado had just finished the hike. Starting in the later part of early afternoon, I mostly saw hikers that were coming out. I meet a nice group of four backpackers wearing heavy packs and dealing with the challenges of a wet rock scramble. I tagged along with them until Byrds Nest which was near where they planned to stay for the evening. While slippery in parts the mud was not too bad. As dark fell some of the raindrops were freezing on the tree branches but as of 9PM there was no ice forming on the ground. There were still patches of thin snow cover in the woods. So thin it was polka dotted by holes from rain drops. Good day to test your gear and your ability to deal with wet conditions.

MIST NAVIGATION CAUTION
Most of the time the mist is similar to what you see in these pictures and you can see one hundred feet or more down the trail. That said, on a very rare occasion I have seen it where you could barely see five feet in front of your feet. While woodland trails are continuous and easy to follow even in thick fog the rock scramble may not be.

Even when the mist is not thick, your lights will be greatly limited in the distances they throw light or can be seen at night.

HYPOTHERMIA WARMING

In all of my times in the wild I have found rainy weather near freezing the most challenging for survival from hypothermia. Cold wet days have fewer people on the mountain and therefore more need for self reliance. Remember that if an injury makes you non-ambulatory you will not have the furnace of physical exertion to keep you warm and it would not be unusual for it to take 12-15 hours from when someone goes for help for you to be evacuated.

MISTY WORLD

Misty days are a unique experience. Everything is muffled, close and a little bit surreal. Time is blurred and slower. The mist softens thoughts of goals. It no longer is important to push for the summit views because there will not be any. I find it easier to slow down and absorb the details of places I would never have focused on during a clear day. Mist brings quiet, soft, soulful, restful, nostalgic, reflective thoughts and both respite from and recharging for the more frenetic activities of clear dry days.

John Muir wrote

I was as wet as if I had been swimming after crossing raging torrents and fighting my way through the Alaskan jungle. But everything was deliciously fresh, and I found new and old plant friends, and glacier lessons that made everything bright and light.

Signs Of Spring

Down in the lowlands signs of Spring are showing. An early alarm that spring approaches for the mountain as well. It should not be too long before we start to see dark purple skunk cabbage blossoms followed by green skunk cabbage leaves up near bartenders spring. Skunk cabbage is a unique plant in that it generates its own heat (thermogensis) and therefore is one of the first plants to sprout and flower on the forest floor in the Spring.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Skunk_Cabbage

Of course now that I am watching Spring will take longer than my anticipations' expectations.

Spring Season Starts March 7, 2009

Parking* is free but there is a fee to enter the park unless you have a pass.

DETAILS ON FEES/PASSES FOR PARK ENTRY FOUND AT

http://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/feesandreservations.htm

*Note:On one or two peak days during the year the lower lot becomes full. When this happens the owner next to the parking lot will sometimes offer paid parking in their pasture (estimate $10/car). This does not exempt you from still needing to pay the park entrance fee.

The weather was wonderful, 70 Degrees three quarter moon, no ice, and only minor amount of mud. The Rangers have opened the fee station and the warm weather brought out large numbers of hikers. Over 110 cars in the lower lot when the above picture was taken. I ran across Valerie and Chad two of the Old Rag Mountain Stewards. Valerie was coming down off the mountain having hiked Old Rag with a friend. Chad and two of his climbing friends were rock climbing for the weekend and I shared about an hour conversation with them during their dinner. http://vonfang.blogspot.com/2009/03/weekend-on-old-rag.html Enjoyed some of their 2008 wild grape wine. http://vonfang.blogspot.com/2008/10/autumn-wine.html and http://vonfang.blogspot.com/2008/10/tonight-was-wine-making-night.html While the moon was only three quarters the night sky was clear enough that I did not need to use my headlamp during most of the trip out. Sunday was start of Daylight Savings which means dawn and sunset come one hour later.

Saturday, February 28, 2009 Dark Encounter Tales Of Rescue

Pileated Woodpeckers are fairly common on Old Rag. http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Pileated_Woodpecker.html They can be a little bit shy of humans though. They like to make long rectangular holes in their search for bugs like the one next to the blue blaze above. Most of their holes are not this big. In fact this one almost looked like the start of a resting or nesting cavity that was never finished. I have seen an old punky thirty foot softwood pine reduced to nothing but a pile of splinters by three Pileated Woodpeckers over the course of a couple of weeks. If the wood is rotten and full of good bugs they can really make the chips fly.

Saturday, February 28, 2009 Rescue Tail and Dark Encounter

It was cool but trail was dry and ice free. On the way up encountered husband of women who had help rescue a hiker who had dislocated his shoulder in the middle of the rock scramble a couple of Sundays before. She had a Rescue Blanket she used to help keep victim warm and she stayed with the victim until they got him off the mountain. Another passing hiker had a cell phone and could call the injury in so responders only took 3 hours to get there. Even with the Rescue Blanket it was a wee bit cold for the victim but all ended well.

Low on the mountain I encountered a young military recruit with a close relative having a kind of get in shape hike before reporting for duty. He was pretty sure he was going to Afghanstan. This is my third encounter of a hiking party consisting of a relative and a recruit sharing an adventure before deployment. I think I would find some strength and peace of mind from having been able to do Old Rag with someone close to me before shipping out.

I did not get to the top of the crux of the rock scramble until it was deep dark. I did not see the alleghany wood rat http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/wildlife/information/?s=050081 that I had seen the week before but there must be several hundred feet of crevices for him to hide in right in that area. As I usually do, I stopped to look down at the beginning of the rock scramble in order to see if any hikers were coming up. Since it was deep dark I was just telling myself that I was foolish for even looking when what to my wonderous eyes did I see but some lights bobbing over the top of the first false summit and entering the rock scramble. I decided to wait to make sure they got up all right. Being a dark night I thought about hiding up in the little cavern at the end of the crux with my light off and then greeting them with a loud deep bassy WELL HELLO THERE or maybe a FEE FI FO FUM but I realized that would not be a good idea so I gave them plenty of advance warning as they approached from below. It turned out they had no problem getting up through the rock scramble even with two dogs that they had to lift over the vetical parts. We all enjoyed a beutiful veiw of the valley lights at the next false summit. They were planning on camping near Byrds Nest.

Saw another large camping group near the junction of Weakley Fire Road and Corbin Hollow Trail on my way out.

Earlier in the day I saw Jr. and heard reports of a second local dog who looked like him but was older.

As I was approaching the summit it started to sleet a little. The air was cold enough that the top of the deep mud on the Old Rag Fire Road was frozen. The mud underneath was not frozen yet so the crust would sink a little as you walked on it but at least the mud did not suction onto your boats. For those of you who encounter this mud when it is three inches deep (it will suck a low rider shoe right off your foot) take comfort in the knowledge that once you get to the fire road intersection that the Weakley Fire Road will be hard pack.

NEXT WEEKEND DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME RETURNS

GREAT DAY ON THE MOUNTAIN

Sunday, February 22, 2009 Old Rag Signs

Old Rag Bear Sign/Scratching Post

http://www.bear.org/website/



Old Rag Fee Station Signs About Self Registration and No Pets

The No Pets sign is only applicable to the Old Rag Trails the other trails and fire roads that are accessed from this Nethers/Old Rag parking lot allow pets on a lead. The park service has a web-site page http://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/pets.htm which details which trails do not allow pets. The vast majority of trails allow pets. The Ridge Trail has places where a dog would need to be lifted up or down the rocks. Local lore has it that some years ago a very small dog was attacked and carried off the summit rocks by a large bird.

Old Rag Trail Blaze With Number R3
Note 1: Some Ridge Trail blazes have R#s and some Saddle Trail Blazes have S#s.
Note 2: If you have to report an accident knowing the victims location relative to a nearby numbered blaze will help the responders know how to best respond.

PATC District Manager

Saturday, February 21, 2009 Summit From Weakley Hollow Fire Road In Late Afternoon

Mel Ellis your friendly PATC District Manager. More information about PATC trail maintenance volunteers can be found on http://blueandwhitecrew.org/

An old rock pile from the days before the park when much of the land was farmed and had meadows or orchards. A popular distraction for the long fire road portion of the hike is to make up reasons why these mounds were built. Among many other creative explanations I have heard snake hotels, burial mounds of (fill in the blank), remanents of a canceled CCC road project, Weakley Hollow bling, and remanents of a rock pile building contest. Of course there are as many more explanations as time, interest and creativity will allow.

Good day on the mountain. My L4L5 disc was talking to me so I did a low key day. Started late. It was the first time I got to meet Mel whose crew does miraculous work on Old Rag so I spent quite awhile chatting in the Old Rag upper lot. That had me starting up the fire road even later. Ambled up fire road. There were quite a few campers this weekend. A single tent party near PO Junction, a multi-tent party hidden near Old Rag Shelter and a single tent party out of sight at Byrd's Nest Shelter. All was well. Got to summit long after dark and turned around and did an up and back.

Saturday, February 14, 2009 Old Rag Dogs

Saturday, February 14, 2009 LOOKING DOWN THE RIDGE TRAIL JUST BEFORE THE ROCK SCRAMBLE

There was practically no ice with the exception of a couple of 10 foot patches on the Saddle Trail and the mud was not too bad. A big difference from last week when the Saddle trail had a half mile of tricky ice and the fire road above the fire road intersection (aka PO junction) had three inches of boot sucking mud.

The dog on the left is one of several Old Rag Dogs. They live down near the the lower Old Rag parking lot and love to walk the trail. They know their way home so you do not need to worry about them in that regard. They sometimes adopt groups of hikers probably based on an intuition about who might provide treats or maybe just because they like you. In the warmer weather there are various crevices up under boulders that they like to get into and take a nap. Some of them are extremely sound sleepers and often will appear dead. They most likely are fine so you need not worry about them. In the event that you can tell they are actually hurt they usually have their owners contact information on their collars. Last year when a lot of hikers expressed a lot of unneeded concern the Rangers persuaded their owners to keep them at home. I consider them old friends and always enjoy saying hi to them when we cross paths so I am hoping that they are not forced to stay home when the crowds return. That said, it is probably best for them to stay close to home.

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Long hours at work found me needing to sleep in even longer than normal so I had an even later start than I normally like to. It was a great day with partially cloudy skies and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. After dark there were a few snow flurries for about an hour and then the skies cleared again. The moon did not rise until around midnight so I was long gone before it came up.

ADVICE

For those not used to the range of winter conditions on Old Rag you should be aware that these range from making the trail impassible - to passable but more dangerous - to very passable but far slower to negotiate - to clear and dry. Warm dry conditions can change to wintery blizzard conditions during the course of a day.

If you are starting in the afternoon it is good to bring a light. If you do not have a light and it becomes so dark that you can not see it is best to stay put on the trail and wait for help. Especially if you know that someone at home will alert the park when you do not make it home. If you are on the trail you probably only have to wait hours. Once alerted the searchers will cover trails and fire roads first. On the other hand if you; bushwhack off the trail, are out of earshot, and become non-ambulatory it could take days to find you. If you know you have misjudged and then meet other hikers ask if they have lights and if you can join them so as to be sure to get out. If I happen to see you late in the afternoon and I know you do not have a light I can often loan you a low cost light that you can leave at a designated spot for my retrieval once I get out.

Cell phones have either very spotty or no service on the mountain. In an emergency plan on someone needing to return to the Old Rag or White Oak Fee Station's emergency phones. If you are injured high on the mountain and are non-ambulatory expect up to six hours for first responders to show up from the time someone goes for help.

SUNSET APPROACHES THE ROCK SCRAMBLE

Saturday, February 7, 2009 SUNNY, 60, MOONLIGHT, ICE, & MUD

Great day on the mountain. The temperatures were around 60 and skies clear even up until 10PM. The Ridge Trail had a little bit of ice but it was fairly easy to avoid. I got to the top of the rock scramble as it was getting dark. The moon was almost full and very bright. Hearing voices entering the rock scramble and seeing a periodic flash of light I decided to wait to make sure the party got through the scramble. With the very bright moonlight they made it with no problem. It turned out they were enjoying purposely doing a moonlit hike. The Saddle Trail was much icier and more trecherous than the Ridge Trail. Starting just below Byrds Nest Shelter you had to carefully pick your way from rock top to rock top for close to a half mile. As you got lower on the Ridge Trail and onto the segment of the Old Rag Fire Road between Old Rag Shelter and the fire roads' intersection you had to deal with deep squishy mud. Weakley Hollow Fire Road was fine though. Ambling through the rest of my hike a second party of moonlight hikers arrived in the upper lot just behind me.