Shenandoah Mountain Guides

Haze and Humidity

2011-12-05T14:45:00.004-05:00

The haze, heat and humidity are gone which is awesome for a couple of reasons.
1. You can see a long way and the and the views are clear...
Unfortunately this does not mean you will get a clear shot if you see a bobcat. Nonetheless it's still really sweet to see one.

2. The friction is good...
It's bouldering season!

Give Thanks

2011-11-26T09:57:00.013-05:00

In our family we give thanks via pumpkin pie with lots of whipped cream. Then on black Friday we give thanks again with a nice hike in the park.

This year we gave thanks by "enjoying" a slide and a soak in the cold tub.

The following pictures would not have been put up except that they are family... so it's OK to show how thankful we were with our soaks!

We finished off black Friday with a little rock climbing followed shortly by another big meal and of course, seconds on the pie!

With The Leaves Down

2011-11-21T12:09:00.003-05:00

With the leaves down there is not much to hide behind. So if you enjoy sweatshirt weather and unrestricted views, right now just might be the best time of the year. To say the least there is a lot to be thankful for.

With little shade to be found the sun warms the cliffs up quick and the temps are perfect for a little climbing. If you are out hiking or climbing you probably won't have to fight to many bugs or end up to hot and sweaty. In fact this time of year it's mostly just short sunny days, long views and cool breezes.

Oh yea, and there's a lot of bear and other wildlife out right now. They are fattening up for the winter on a years bountiful harvest of acorns. Although the leaves are gone many of the bear take to the trees to get to the top shelf nuts.

Even though the days are shorter we are out making the most of them even if it sometimes means hiking out by headlamp!

Legends Of The Fall

2011-10-31T16:09:00.008-04:00

Some people hear their own inner voices with great clearness and they live by what they hear. Such people become crazy, or they become legends. -One Stab - Legends of the Fall

It was a fall that came early. After late summers' saturating rains it brought early snows. It was the fall I met the famous Warren Doyle on the AT as he was working on his seventeenth through hike. It was the fall we shared a snack and a clifftop sunset with the seeker Freebird who has hiked many long distance trails following his years as a pro windsurfer. It was the fall where my greatest fear was that I was losing my fear of the magnificent Black Bear I seemed to be surrounded by. A fall of great leaves, trips and tips. One of first ascents on boulders and the smell of foliage mingled with woodsmoke. The fall where Almost Alpine made us movie stars at Seneca Rocks. A fall to remember, one that will not be easily forgotten.

Looking south from the summit of Marys Rock after sunset with Freebird.

No matter how mellow I perceive myself, I left the house stressed. Minutiae of the everyday getting to me and I hadn't even eaten. Cold cereal or a run? I hit the trail, after all it wasn't raining yet. The first uphill was agonizingly slow. The heavy breathing made me aware of the sweet smell of leaf decay. Frost crunched while smoke filtered fog-like through the remaining color in the trees. Picking up the pace I surprised some squirrels who went skittering of and up the nearest trunk. Then I saw the first bear standing frozen to my left. In return I too froze, but within seconds he was running off into the woods and I again headed up the trail. I thought about how different bear had been from the mother and three cubs I'd seen several times close to here. That bear family seemed to want nothing but to ignore me and continue about their daily routine. And just like that, there they were! Mother and two cubs on the ground while a third climbed a nearby tree.

I have never been accused of being overly smart, so it should come as no surprise that although I was alone in the woods with four bear I could not help but stand and watch for a couple minutes.

The two cubs on the ground walked casually onto a downed tree and seemingly just as casually from the downed tree onto and up a close by vertical limbless trunk. In awe I watched as one cub began to lounge in the y of the tree trunk split. Then with me gawking from a distance the loungers' sibling climbed the overhanging and featureless outside of the right hand branch. Now fifty feet up the free-soloing cub decided that the left hand branch looked more appealing. He leaned to the left, and leaped...

Five feet sideways! Effortlessly catching the other side of the y above his siblings head and continuing upwards. Ropeless and fearless that cub (and his 5.16 dyno) put some perspective my climbing career.

As I began to walk on I heard another rustling. I peered unbelieving at yet another two cubs in the distance!

Thirty minutes later I reached the halfway point of the run and looked out on an incredible view, complete with a vulture gliding on the updrafts in the distance. The down hill half of the run seemed to glide by like the bird and I did not again see the bear family. Maybe it was what they call a runners high, but the trail seemed to pass as a cool fall breeze and for a moment it felt like everything was right in the world; and I hadn't even eaten breakfast yet.

Sun early snow and an Oak.

A bear from a different day considers a climb, instead, she came down and continued rooting around the ground for grubs and nuts.

A classic Seneca 5.9 Unrelenting Verticality

A legendary local free-soloists also on some unrelenting verticality, but I don't think he's named or graded the route.

Catch A Leaf

2011-10-17T07:45:00.007-04:00

Are you ready for the best trail running game ever?

Its called ...
CATCH A LEAF!!!!
Here's how the game works.
On a windy day in the fall go out for a run, any pace you want,
When the leaves come blowing down, don't change your pace, just reach out and ...
CATCH A LEAF - this makes you a winner

Game can also be played walking.
But it's not as much fun.

You can also play using the shutter of a camera rather than your hand.
Also much less fun.

You can play in a Big Meadow.
But there's way less trees to drop leaves.

CATCH A BOULDER
is a fun alternative game if you are the one who happens to be flying through the air.

other fun alternatives include,
Don't Fall On Your Face (while trying to catch a leaf)
Catch A Sunset
Find Your Way Out Before Dark (without a map or Light) - this may result in unforseen consequences.

Peak Bagging

2011-10-12T13:16:00.005-04:00

Peak color that is. Get up in elevation around here and somewhere around 3500ft you'll cross over into peak leaf season!

Here's the Peak of Old Rag (upper right) as seen from both the peak of color and the mountain of Hawksbill.

The peak of the haze in the valley and the flanks of Hawksbill in the foreground.

The peak of Stony man mountain looks like the profile of an old bearded man looking up at the sky.

The peak of the day might just be watching the leaves float by on the stream, checking out the view, topping out the climb or snapping your own peak shots. Whatever the case it's certainly the season to get out and enjoy.

Okay Shenandoah, just send me the check for this last shot.

Cheers

2011-10-12T12:53:00.003-04:00

One more pic for the group of long walkers from the U.K., the Aussies, and the Canadians. Glad to hear you are home safe.
Brilliant!

A Bit Dodgy

2011-10-05T12:25:00.007-04:00

For the last five days we have been out for some walks with a great group of mostly English folks. The weather on the other hand has been, well, a bit dodgy. Along with some cold temps we had a spot of rain and even a dab of the white stuff. As always, we had a great time. Our in depth knowledge of the trails and the surrounding area along with some creative alternatives made for a good trip. Making the trip tip top were some local businesses including our friends at Central Coffee Roasters who opened shop to serve us coffee and crumpets (or something like them).

Both of the above snowy pics were taken mon oct 3rd. The first is a Striped Maple turning yellow under the snow on Stony Man trail. The second is a Witch-hazel's fall flower under the same trails snow.

Blueberries, Goldenrod, Old Rag Granite, and the fog.

Of course not every recent day has had precipitation. Here's part of the group enjoying lunch at Maryland Heights, overlooking the town of Harpers Ferry at the convergence of the Shenandoah on the left and the Potomac river on the right.

Jugging a line on Old Rag during a balmy, little big wall, climbing day.

Getting sideways on a classic Old Rag route that lives up to the name Pure Fun.

If the sugar in the tree causes the change of color then why will one branch change before the other? This is a two leaf Maple microcosm for a riddle I've always wondered about.

Seeing Red Again

2011-09-22T16:48:00.003-04:00

The red, it filters through - Chevelle

The air is a bit cooler. The days, shorter, and the reds and yellows are just starting to litter the ground. It promises to be a busy and beautiful fall and we are looking forward to it!

The upper falls on White Oak Canyon.

Aster flowers are one of the last to bloom, sometimes they are still hanging around for the first snow.

Rappahannock Rainbow

2011-09-12T20:50:00.001-04:00

Enough of the snakes, back to the rainbows!

Danger

2011-09-11T13:53:00.004-04:00

After I realized how many adorable sheep pictures I put up, followed by a quirky quasi-poem about mushrooms...
Well I decided to take back my manhood. So the following picture may be disturbing to some viewers. It is a dangerous creature lurking in the woods. Viewer beware!

Yes I know it's a cute, baby, copperhead, but it's still a copperhead.

Mushroom Rainbow

2011-09-08T20:07:00.021-04:00

"From there to here, from here to there, funny things are everywhere!"

The mushroom rainbow. Here for a limited time only.

When it rains like it has around here lately, you won't find a whole lot of hikers weathering the storm on the trails of Shenandoah. But if you don't mind having wet toes there are a colorful group of friends who pop up in the fog.

Occasionally a tiny town of them springs out from a log!

There are black ones,

There are weird white ones that look like they ought to be under the sea,

and then there are those that make you think of people you miss dearly.

Sometimes the mushrooms are almost big enough to be an umbrella for the storm.

and then there are those that aren't sure what color to become.

If you don't see the mushrooms, try not to miss the bear.

And as soon as the rocks dry we're climbing out there!

Editor's note - I think Seuss got a hold of this blog.

"So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed)"
Dr. Seuss

Scrambles Amongst The Alps

2011-08-21T18:37:00.011-04:00

The Matterhorn! After some very busy summer weeks I had the opportunity to spend a little time climbing in the Alps of Switzerland. It was incredible! Our main goal was to climb the Matterhorn but when we got there it was covered in snow. The above picture was taken over a week into our two week trip, at which time we were keeping our fingers crossed for the snow to melt. We hoped the conditions would improve just enough for a summit bid. Throughout the time we anxiously waited for conditions to improve, Jesse Von Fange, some of his family, our friends and I climbed and hiked many other things. If the mountain came into form we knew we would be fit and well acclimated (the summit of the Matterhorn is 14,691 feet).

Conditions did improve! Otherwise I would not have taken this shot from the Italian (slightly lower) summit. One has to walk the knife ridge in the foreground if you want to see the Italian cross up close and you come up the Hornli ridge on the Swiss side. Two climbers are seen just cresting the true summit in the distance.

A celebratory axe flip on the true summit! Yes, this was dumb. No, I did not drop my axe 5000 feet into the crevasse -riddled glacier below.

Another view of the Matterhorn. On the day we climbed it, snow conditions were similar to those seen above. We ascended the obvious ridge in the center of the mountain.

On the way down we passed many climbers still coming up. This picture gives you an idea of what the snow climbing was like. The climbing on rock and snow was consistently steep for the 4000 vertical feet of the summit day. Although there was a lot of snow for a summer bid, the temperature was a little below freezing and the snow was firm and crunchy. Perfect conditions for snow climbing with cramponed feet.

The rock was steep as well. Here we are coming down one of the steeper rock pitches that did not have a fixed line as an aid.

The Matterhorn isn't the only cool horn-named peak around. Here is the Mettelhorn as seen from the Platthorn. Both peaks offered a great hike and a spectacular view.

Both the above and below pics show one of the mountains we climbed in the background. It's the Breithorn and at over 13,000 feet it makes for a great acclimatization climb. Jesse, Pat and I climbed the Breithorn from the Klein Matterhorn (there's a gondola up the Klein), which is the little rock peak seen on the right side of the below pic. The above pic is taken from the Klein and if you look closely you might be able to see little climbers headed up or down the snowfield.

Here's Pat and Jesse on the hike to the Stockhorn with the Breit in the distance. Pat and his girlfriend Caroline were able to meet us in Switzerland for the first week of the trip. Pat and Caro are true travelers and for a year kept a blog viaje al sur as they traveled across the states and through South America. It was great to finally travel with them a little and to make it part way up the Hornli ridge with Pat on a reconnaissance climb.

I was happy to be able to take some of Jesse's family climbing on both rocks and ice while we were there. Here's Julie climbing on the terminus of the Gorner glacier.

There are many different and unique flowers over there. This one was my favorite.

Edelweiss is everyone elses' favorite. It's the national flower of Switzerland. I only saw it twice in the wild on the trip.

If you happen on the right trail there can be a lot of sheep grazing in the high country. I determined two things which can be seen in the next three pictures:
1. If my girlfriend gets a hold of these pictures they might end up on the website cute overload .com
2. The sheeps' eyes can not be seen from any distance or angle.

See! I even checked from the side.

Back in the land of the free, home of the brave! The town of Zermatt, where we stayed, has had no gas powered vehicles since 1954. Even at fifty mpg my bike would be out of place along side their little electric carts. As big as my front tire, that snapping turtle would be very out of place too. In fact it seems like (with the exception of gravity) there is nothing over there that can hurt you. It's kind of fun to be back home where there are venomous snakes and poison spiders, big black bear with cute little cubs, coyotes, bobcats, and turtles that could bite your arm off. And now we can add one more to the list, EARTHQUAKES! It was pretty cool to be standing in White Oak Canyon and feel the Old Rag Granite bedrock move beneath our feet less than an hour from the epicenter! Well, I guess danger lurks at every corner, so if your worried you should hire a guide. Otherwise I hope you are out there enjoying it.

Even the bugs are brave around here!

Summer in Full Swing

2011-07-27T13:23:00.009-04:00

So busy! So many good times. Too many pictures too, so, I just figured I'll put them all up. Maybe I will add some words later but for now I'm prepping to go climbing in the Alps so other things have to wait.

Nearby Attractions

2011-07-01T18:15:00.011-04:00

Pink Sundew is a carnivorous plant that can be found in on the boggy high plateau of Dolly Sods in WV. We found this one while trying not to get swallowed up by the muddy trails of the bog.

Fording a beaver pond in the WV wilderness was a small part of the adventure on one of our recent backpacking trips.

Thistle's keep a lookout over a little known swimming hole(not in the park)

Water flows over some natural rock art on Red Creek (Dolly Sods).

After a full day of hiking in WV lying on your back and listening to the water flow by is relaxation at its best.

Trail Tally

2011-06-10T21:00:00.002-04:00

Momma and two cubs, a third cub was higher up in another tree but I couldn't get him in the shot.

Miles hiked - 8
Bear encountered - 6
Deer encountered - 1 (but I thought it was a bear at first)
Squirrels - lots
Serviceberrys - thousands, but considerably less remain since a bunch were eaten.
Wild Rose bushes -1
Peaks bagged - 1
Views - 4 (N,S,E,W)
Drenching rainstorms - 1
Good Times - A whole bunch

A Serviceberry waits to be plucked.

Wild Roses cliffside

Crash, Crash, Mmumhff, Mmumhff,

2011-06-09T10:49:00.006-04:00

The Crashing is loud. Startling... It stops my solo trail run in its tracks. Then I hear the familiar Mmumhff, Mmumhff. The sound is stressed and followed by two quick little mum, mumf, mum, mumfs. I stare frozen into the dense forest and before I can locate them, I hear the little noises rapidly ascending a nearby tree. Then there is silence. I can just make out the face of the momma bear from among the boulders and foliage. In the time it takes me to stop, realize what is going on and whip out the cell phone camera the two bear cubs have run forty feet up a Basswood tree. For a couple more seconds I am so in awe of these creatures that I just stare. Panning from face to face to face the four of us wonder amidst the thickening silence at what will soon follow. Momma bear decides, she looks at me and stomps on a tree branch, it crashes down. My awe suddenly changes to fear. I know how fast she could cover the short distance between us and I start to cautiously back away. Once out of sight I turn and resume my run but with a considerably more rapid tempo. This time the Mmumhff, Mumhff comes from me, I feel the breeze and smile at the thought of another great Shenandoah experience.

One of the cubs peers down.

Recent climbing in the sun, thankfully the mountains offer the refuges of shade, the breeze, and the elevation to cool us after the some hot climbing.

Trail tunnels through the Mountain Laurel blooms.

The most toxic skin in North America, and so, so cute.

It's awesome out here, come by for a visit.

Alabama and Back

2011-05-04T08:59:00.024-04:00

A bright Box Turtle between the Poplar blooms, May is fantastic!

April 18- 22nd the SMG crew and a few Old Rag Mountain Stewards traveled down to Little River Alabama to instruct and learn high angle rescue for the week. I kind of wrote up the EHART week so it could stand alone from the blog so it sounds a little different from my normal write ups. Sorry it has been so long since I've posted but I have been having a lot of difficulties with blogger. I hope the pictures show up full resolution.

Why the Park Service has an EHART.
The instructor hangs vertically from a cliff above Alabama’s Little River, 50 feet from the rocks and the raging water beyond. With ropes and webbing she is tied securely into a rescue litter, unable to move anything but her eyes. The instructor’s life is entrusted to her team of students who for the last week have been learning the ropes -- of vertical rescue. The cliff is real and a fall could be fatal, it’s up to the students now.
The silence is broken when a student yells, “Haul!” Within an hour, the team transports the instructor off the cliff and into the safety of a mock ambulance.
The live-patient scenario culminated this year’s 50-hour National Park Service Eastern High Angle Rescue Training, or “EHART” for short. For 5 days this April, more than 50 student park rangers, volunteers and instructors converged from across the country (especially the East) in the honorable pursuit of saving lives in the vertical world. This year’s course was hosted at the Little River Canyon National Preserve in Alabama.
Over its 15 year history, the course has been held in six different locations, offering students an extraordinary amount of training variety. Although the eastern course’s approach differs somewhat from its western counterpart in Moab, Utah, the goal remains the same: to provide rescue in an environment where few people dare to go.
Why do the participants do this? They come because they care -- about the parks and about the people who use them. Providing rescue services is a classic ranger skill, and these are the East’s classiest rangers. In an era where budgets are tight, these rangers and volunteers are serving double duty -- rescue and their regular jobs.
For the rangers and volunteers, putting their lives on the line is a labor of love. They are climbers with first ascents spanning the globe, and cavers who descend far into the underworld. The are botanists and bicyclists, firefighters and tree-huggers. It’s a love of the parks that binds them together like the fibers of a kernmantle rope.
Over the course of the week students trained rain or shine, day, and into the nights to learn every aspect of a high angle rescue. Skills students learned included knots, anchors, litter tie downs and attending duties, ascending, descending, and managing ropes, mechanical advantages, haul team systems and much more. Those many skills were all then applied during the high stakes scenario, an experience that will prove invaluable when the call comes, and it’s time for the real thing.
Just as the students are finished packing up from their final scenario, sirens fill the air. A few miles away, a rescue is underway and this time it’s for real. The students are put on alert and informed that minutes downstream a park user was swept away by the rivers high water and is currently stranded on a rock. The situation is not desperate but the park user’s life is at stake as they are not far above the next pounding waterfall. The long days of training have paid off, and the students and instructors are ready to help. Some of the rescuers gather their equipment and head over to the scene.
The students are now prepared to run a high angle rescue on their own, and although this is swift water they plan as if they were already back in their own parks. At the same time, the veteran rescue group from Little River National Canyon Preserve was also prepared. When the newly graduated class of EHART 2011 showed up to lend a hand, the old hands at Little River were just finishing up with the job. So the next time there’s a rescue needed in a park near you, rest assured that it will be managed by good hands!

Here's a few more pictures.

One evening after class was over for the day a few folks jetted out early (about 8pm)and went on an extracurricular trip to Neversink cave. The free-hanging night rappel and rope ascent back out is 168ft and spectacular. The cool evening, air lush plants, and near by free falling waterfall made it an all around unforgettable experience.

The above picture was taken from the top of the cave as one of the crew was ascending back out. The two below pictures are of the amphibious locals who live at the bottom of the cave. The picture with the frog (who just happened to be there) brought us full circle and back to the realities of rescue in these amazing environments.

And now more from May!

A Red Eft Newt, you can't help but love these guys.

Sweet upside down boulder problem, Lizard.

The rare and beautiful Yellow Lady Slipper Orchid.

This Six Spotted Tiger beetle looks kind of mad. I think it's because some people mistake him for those invasive pest, the Emerald Ash Borer.

A Scarlet Tanager, and I can't believe how close we got! I guess it couldn't hear us over the waterfall at our backs.

The blooms of the Pawpaw tree are often missed just like the sweet edible fruit which follows.

Columbine poses before Overall Falls.

Flowers,

waterfalls,

frogs,

an Ant, yea we see lots of cool stuff, hope you can get out and see cool stuff too.

Yea, that's Shenandoah! We have been enjoying the rain, the fog, and the nice weather too. Ascending a rope into a tall poplar tree is just one of the good fun, foggy day activities around here.
That's all for now, I will try not to hang out in the fog so long before I post again.

Rainy Season

2011-04-15T06:37:00.004-04:00

2011-04-13T22:06:00.002-04:00

The Rise of the Flowers

2011-04-11T19:25:00.008-04:00

"Life is short but sweet for certain." -Dave Matthews band

From this day, and all of the spring forth, they will rise up from the earth. Their goal, to cover field and forest alike. Wild. Uncontrollable. Sometimes edible, sometimes medicinal, exploding towards the sky in unabashed beauty and fervor. We watch the waves of color, with the rise we are in awe, from the spring...

Above, the Coltsfoot flower looks powerful, and it may be. Steeping dry Coltsflower leaves for a tea, or taking and extract from the fresh leaves have the reputation of the cure for the common cough. Just don't pluck them in the park where all flowers are protected!

Pluck away out here, this purple ground cover flower is known as a weed - and it's threatening to take over the field!

Another powerful plant, the Bloodroot, opens and closes with the day and was once used for war paint and insect repellent. Today the plant is still used medicinally.

Sweetleaf shrubs/small trees are not normally found in Shenandoah but are readily found in Virginia's Seashore state park at VA beach. Since I love plants that look like they belong in Dr. Seuss books I had to put it up.

More signs of the spring!

Surprise!

2011-03-29T10:09:00.006-04:00

It's spring and the Raven chicks are hungry! Or maybe the Raven chicks are not quite born just yet. Either way momma Raven is near by, and we are doing our best not to disturb her.

Hiking and rock climbing season are upon us and although sometimes it might be a little brisk, the views and the friction are the best this time of year.

Whether you want to practice anchor building on vertical faces...

Slab climbing with plenty of air beneath your feet...

or top-roping one of the parks classic crack climbs. Spring is the season!

And if you happen to get hurt on the Old Rag trail, or one of its many cracks or crystal pinching climbs, the Old Rag Mountain Stewards have been hard at work training for those ragged mountain rescues. In the unfortunate event of an accident, the Stewards will do their best to give you a splint and a hand, to put you on the level and send you on your way.

And then... Surprise! It's winter again, Beautiful and frightening the hoarfrost snow and ice come in.

It covers the rock climbs, pine trees, and milkweeds alike, but lucky for us it doesn't hang around long this time of year.

Before we know it we are back admiring the early blooming Spicebush and climbing some rarely touched rocks before we realize we have come to close to a Ravens nest and decide it's best for us and the birds that we move on.

Along with the dog we admire a walking tree. The willow tree is budding and although it's cold today we know that the summer is not far off and spring might be back tomorrow.

Stigmata Chaga

2011-03-13T17:37:00.007-04:00

A Chaga is a rare parasitic fungus. It grows even more rarely at this latitude. On a recent heritage hike we found one of these slow growing mushrooms on the side of a Birch tree at one of the park's historic church sites. The graffiti cut into the other side of the tree reads "Jesus Saves." Well, since the 16th century Chagas have been touted all over the world for their medicinal qualities. Recently a number of studies have shown an epochal effect in several types of cancer. As one of our guides has a family member with cancer I broke off a legally harvestable chunk of the growth to be sent to the family member. As we stood observing the interesting pattern in the center of the chaga a red drip formed and started running down the mushroom. I didn't think to get a picture but as we talked about it later a lady from the trip said "I'm not even Catholic but that gave me the willies."

New spring life comes to the old home sites in Shenandoah with the perennial daffodils.

Celebrating a monumental birthday during our heritage hike the birthday girl lay down for a SHORT rest near the historic park cemetery.

This beautifully curved hand-dug spring has been running since well before the park was established.

And this arrowhead was manmade far before the spring was dug, a recent rain washed it up so that we were lucky enough to see it. We left the artifact where it is most valuable to the archaeologist, right where we found it.

150 foot rappels? Yea, we do those.

Vultures dry their wings after a spring rain.

Keep On The Sunnyside

2011-02-24T17:13:00.005-05:00

Late winter days are like county fairs, sometimes they just seem like the same old Ferris wheel. Then you find a deep fried Oreo, and it's spectacular!

During one of the less interesting recent rainy hikes I was checking ice conditions on the shady side of the mountain and happened upon this extremely precarious car sized boulder. My strong desire to climb any boulder I happen upon was overcome by my desire to live and I didn't even touch the haphazard block.

This time of the year is perfect for one of the Heritage hikes we lead to some of the many historically significant sites in the park. We saw this tea pot near the site of the older of two churches which once graced the Old Rag Community before the land became part of the park.

Although the old Highland Baptist Church is very hard to find someone did not want the message to be forgotten. So here it is, the godly graffiti marking the site of the old church, C W and R W apparently wanted it to be a little easier to find.

On a recent rappelling adventure the north side of the mountain looked like this.

Which is why we chose to rappel off the sunny south side of the mountain.
What a beautiful day and a great adventure.
I think we found the deep fried Oreos!

Tree Climbers Anonymous

2011-02-21T14:10:00.004-05:00

This one goes out to the tree climbers. This is the post for those who don't want to climb ice, why would you? Ice-climbing requires expensive and pointy equipment, plus, ice is always cold. Tree climbing is a sport for all seasons, and the gear you need you were mostly born with. First tree ascents are plentiful! And if it's not a first it is almost always taller for the second ascent! So here's to the tree climbers, get out there and grab life by the limbs. Enjoy your view from the top but don't forget about your roots.

You never have to travel far for a good tree climb, but if you want to, the option is there!
(photo Jesse Von Fange)

An enticing tree along the side of the Skyline drive in SNP.

Tree ice climbing? = dumb
Normal tree climbing = fun!

This people-huggin hippie tree loves you tree climbers too.

Winter Color and Grey

2011-01-26T13:58:00.004-05:00

The cold tree ghost looks out from the grey enshrouding the Bolen cemetery, off of the Little Devil Stairs loop.

Rock art formed long ago by Jasper(red rock) intrusions in the Greenstone Basalt (I think that's what is going on). There are a number of these beautiful formations near the base of the Jeremys Run trail.

The next few are of the greens of winter as seen from a number of park locations.

The Fountain, a stunning, deadly, and unclimbed pillar that is about one foot wide, hollow in the center, and may quite possibly be the fountain of youth.

Another interesting ice formation, but this one is on a smaller scale.

One of the nice big ice falls at White Oak Canyon.

Old Rag Iceman

2011-01-07T06:41:00.009-05:00

This is the Old Rag Iceman who waits near the top of the mountain, he's a little cold and not very sociable but he's seen a lot, and is definitely worth a visit.

A whole different type of iceman hanging in the blue room at a local climbing area.

An Icewoman. Don't worry there's a helmet under that cool hat.

The rare but native species, the Ice-Jellyfish. Unlike other invertebrates, they walk on their tentacles!

New Year's Ice

2011-01-04T09:24:00.007-05:00

The Skyline drive is open! So for now the access is good if you want to see this roadside ice or any of the other drive accessible high peaks and ice formations. Get out there, while it's open.

Ice formations never cease to amaze if you take the time to get out and look at them.

Some more great Shenandoah ice plastered to one of the parks rock walls.

Although it was awfully warm for it, we rang in the new year with some ice skating on the pond at my place. There was a lot of melted water on top of the ice and those who fell paid a price with a cold leg but we correctly figured if this gigantic bear tested the ice didn't break through, we probably wouldn't either.

Flowers for Followers

2010-12-05T10:18:00.005-05:00

Decided to put up some more ice flower pics since it seems like people really like them. I agree, they are awesome and I wanted to put up more in the first place.

So there they are, a few more flowers for the blog followers. Happy Valentine's Day, I mean Merry Christmas!
Wintergreen

Ice Flowers!

2010-12-02T20:50:00.007-05:00

I've seen a lot of ice. From Alaska to Utah, Maine to Montana. We are ice climbers. I've seen a lot of ice, I've never seen ice like this.

Many times I've seen where the ice come up from the ground in long thin hairlike strands which crunch underfoot, they are cool... but not that cool. The ones we saw today were like works of art direct from the master designer. Here's a tiny sampling of the thousands we saw.

Not to take the mystery out of the majestic but here's how it might work, if you want to know read on. It happens when the air is cold but the ground is not yet frozen. Water is trapped in the stem of a plant or on the ground at a plants base. As the water freezes it expands, and burst out of the sides of the plant through long thin seams. From there it wraps into the exquisite petal/flower shapes, and as usual, we gawk in awe of the natural world!

Family Traditions

2010-11-29T09:12:00.005-05:00

A decent portion of my extended family poses atop Bearfence mountain on our annual day after Thanksgiving hike. We didn't see another hiker out on this beautiful but brisk day. In fact, the park always seems deserted on what they call Black Friday. I've heard otherwise, but we never seem to see a crowd.

On the way up the trail I like to call Mini Old Rag, the fam did the real Old Rag a few years ago on our post-Thanksgiving hike.

The girls

An Allegheny Stonecrop Turns pink before going dormant for the winter.

This small falls is far off trail in SNP and situated just above a large waterfall outside the park boundry. There are many off trail and sometimes just outside of the park waterfalls we have explored and although many are unispiring there are also some awe-inspiring falls to be found. I am coming very close to a personal goal of seeing them all, and if you are ever up for some off trail navigation (bushwhacking adventure) we can show you some amazing and rarely seen Shenandoah natural wonders!

The uppermost section of a three-tier waterfall just outside the park, makes you wish the park service had been able to extend the boundary just a little lower!

A large back-country boulder perfect for climbing, situated on the flanks of Mt. Marshall

A patch of grass atop Big Devil Stairs enjoys an unobstructed view and awaits the winter ice.

Fresh Ice

2010-11-17T07:32:00.007-05:00

Some of the first ice of season the crystallized on the puddle at Little Stony Man cliffs before a fantastic day of rock climbing and rappelling.

After some long carries and a spectacular helicopter rescue we have reached the end of the 2010 ORMS (Old Rag Mountain Steward)season. It was a great season and we think that the Stewards helped the Park Service a lot, learned a lot along the way and deserved a spectacular finish to the season. To that end we did our best to provide and on Sunday the Stewards who were available climbed the western slabs to the summit of Old Rag. The picture above and below were taken somewhere in the 400' of roped climbing.

Cleaning the gear, Thanks Ben

A Turkey Vulture drys his wings in the sun.

A great sunset from Black Rock in Md, seen on a great Leave No Trace trainer weekend.

For the Leafers

2010-11-05T13:32:00.005-04:00

A few more pics for the leafers before the color is totally gone

The inside of the trunk of this Hickory was burned out in 2000 but the tree is obviously doing great.

Fall rain on a Yellow Poplar leaf.

A Maple in the sun.

Some of the highlights of Madison county.

Wild Fox grapes, these ones are fermenting at my house right now!

The tropical looking Sumac in full color.

A Maple holds its leaves in stark contrast to the surrounding trees that are providing it shelter.

A break in the sun on the long road south.

Earth Shadow

2010-10-27T13:57:00.004-04:00

If you stand on the top of the highest boulder on Old Rag mountain there is a pothole. When its not windy and the pothole isn't full of water you can stand up on its perfectly flat bottom and see 360 degrees. You can look around and feel like a million bucks, and if its a night like last Friday you could feel even better than that. As we stood on top of the world a full moon rose to the East. Simultaneously to the West a full sun was setting and the feeling was spectacular. After the sun fell behind Hawksbill mt. we watched the moon continue to rise and a perceptibly circular Earth shadow was cast on Falquier, Rappahannock, and Madison Counties. I wish you could have seen it.

There are some pretty cool things to see in this park and if you are too lazy to hire a guide so we can show you them in person well then I guess here's a couple of pics. I hope these will entice you to stop farting around on your computer either hire us, or go find this stuff on your own. The below are a couple pics of columnar jointed basalt found in SNP. Sometimes we climb on the stuff, sometimes we just step back and look at it because it's so darn cool.

Fall Fashion

2010-10-12T08:43:00.006-04:00

New fall apparel just in! Hope you get a chance to stop out and see this colorful line!

I have to think long and hard before I put an image like this next one up. It probably scares away more people than it attracts, but we lead hikes in the real world, so here it is unedited. It's a Garter snake eating a cute, little, harmless, helpless toad with his arms outstretched to heaven. Sorry.

"As Close As...

2010-10-04T19:25:00.004-04:00

...we can come to flying."
-Margaret Young, aviator and alpinist.

Just a couple pictures from climbing in Shen in the last week.

"Climbing may be hard, but it's easier than growing up."
-Ed Sklar

Ravens!

2010-09-27T11:11:00.007-04:00

Ravens are the coolest birds. Well, on second thought, Ravens are the coolest birds that can't swim (Creatures that can dominate land, air, and sea win every time.). But once you get over the stigma of a Raven you will probably sit and watch in awe for hours. At least that's what I do.

Ravens are one of the most intelligent birds. They have been taught to speak. Ravens have been seen to attack nest in teams, dive bomb mountain goats to scare them into falling, ignore loud noises such as air horns but head towards gun shots, and scavenge the top of Old Rag mountain all in the name of an easy meal.

So if you find yourself watching these intellectual avians on the wind racked summit of Old Rag what do you think they do? They show off! They glisten in the sun as they twirl in the updrafts, they pick up sticks only to drop them so they can chase them down and catch them again! I have watched jealously as the ravens swoop within inches of jagged granite boulders and even fly upside down nearly touching feet with another right side up Raven flying parallel and above them.

Just go sit and watch them awhile, I promise it will be better than the hike.

Falcons!

2010-09-22T18:42:00.005-04:00

Peregrine Falcons can dive at 200 mph. They tuck their wings for aerodynamics and hit their unsuspecting prey (usually a smaller bird) from above. They often literally knock the life out of it, if they don't grab it at the same time they hit it they just pluck it out of the air as it falls.

Falcons are also a huge conservation success story. Due to DDT, in the years from 1950 to 64 reproduction nearly ceased and in 64 none were known to exist east of the Mississippi (except in the arctic). Their eggs were extremely fragile and had to be raised in captivity in order to survive. Because of the inaccessibility of their nests, rock climbers were some of the primary rescuers of the fragile species on the verge of extinction. Climbers scaled cliffs as big as Yosemite's Half Dome in the name (excuse) of conservation and activism. Since then the species has seen an incredible comeback and in Virginia the raptor is no longer on the endangered list.

Although the Falcons' numbers have rebounded they have not returned to their original habitat(choosing the city lights instead), so when we see them out it is really exciting. While out climbing on Old Rag today we saw two headed south. "That was cool" we thought, then we saw another, and another. Pretty soon we realized that we were seeing a migration! At one point we counted more than one hundred Falcons high above. Awesome!

The falcons are high up and to the left (the ones that look like gnats), the bigger bird in the picture is a Turkey Vulture. (click to blow the pic up)

Saw Box Turtle with an orange face too.

Perfect Weather

2010-09-20T15:32:00.004-04:00

When the weather, the view, and the climbing trip go perfect it feels like this!

Any weather is great for watching a immature Black Snake climb around in a bush. If it gets just a bit colder and you decide to put your hand out in front of one of these friendly snakes the snake might just crawl on and enjoy a bit of your warmth sharing.

It might be a little scary but you gotta take a look at the view when rappelling off these cliffs.

Just a little more water in the center has managed to keep the Hay-scented Ferns alive a few days longer while those around the perimeter have called it a season and faded to yellow.

Picture This

2010-09-13T12:13:00.004-04:00

The summer haze has burned off, and the blurred lines of the blue ridge have become cool and crisp like the evening air. We are headed to the canyon laden with ropes, rappelling equipment, and wet-suits for the fall's cooling water. A bottle of pink Champagne is hidden in the dry bag for a lunchtime toast to the bride to be. It's a steep section of trail and we notice some dark purple vine-ripened grapes contrasting against the still lush green of the forest. We take a moment to teach the women of the bridal party from Florida about the wild grapes and pluck a few clusters for them to taste for the first time in their lives. The grapes are small, full of seeds, and thick skinned but also sweet and tasty. At the top of the hill there is a fantastic view of the many shades of clear blue mountains to the north. Somehow we are much more awestruck by the brilliant Maple just to the side of the view. It is the only tree to have noticed it is now fall and has adorned itself in a complete scarlet red against the dominance of the green and the peaks of blue. It will make a stunning picture, and as the equally beautiful women we are guiding line up in front of the view, I fumble for my trusty GE digital point and shot and wonder, "How did I get this job?" They are still holding clusters of grapes in their hands and they give me the affirmative that it's cool for them to end up on the blog for your (the blog readers) viewing pleasure. I compose the picture and the screen reads "battery exhausted."

Sorry folks, I snapped one with their waterproof disposable and I wish you could have seen it. The rest of the day was a great and memorable canyoneering bachelorette party in the heart of Shenandoah.

This picture is unrelated but still beautiful. It's a Buckeye butterfly we recently saw on a separate hike, they are usually not found north of North Carolina.

Falling

2010-08-23T08:19:00.007-04:00

Sometimes I love this feeling, right now I'm terrified. There's no way to stop the impact. I am falling, I will land defenseless and prone, on my back, but this thought hasn't registered yet. Right now I'm trying to locate the crashing noise, trying to understand why I am falling, and I'm terrified.

It was a great day of climbing that started on a boat at 7am with the fog rising off the warm water. The plethora of rocks overhanging blue water looked smooth, soft and doughy in the morning light.

We came to the heart of West Virginia to climb those rocks, and that's what we did, all day. Climbing high above the water is scary. Hit right and it's like a big pillow, hit wrong and it hurts. The water can produce pains like needles, stings like wasps, bruises, soreness, headaches. But it's a risk worth taking. Climbing over water is amazingly pure, simple and fun. This kind of climbing strips everything else away until there is only your action and the immediate consequence of that action.

You come to a blank spot in the rock, a sheer wall with a big hold above and nothing positive in between, no holds, except the one up there. You get your feet high and that hold becomes all you can see. Everything disappears except focus, blank, like the wall rushing past. For a moment you touch nothing, you are just reaching for that hold with every ounce of your being. Your fingers wrap the hold.
The fingers slip off. The rocks are rushing in reverse, it's an enjoyable feeling, the falling. You push your stomach out of your throat and suck down a last deep breath before impact. The smack is a shock to the system and it hurts for a second before it is enveloped, as you are, by the smooth, cool refreshment of the water around you. Right now it feels spectacular. You are floating in this anti-gravity world, you can move effortlessly in any direction. You choose up, and swim for the sun. Or...

Your fingers grip that hold and your focus remains singular. The momentum of your body changes from upward to outward. Your body is stretching away from the wall. You try to keep your core tight, to fight the forces ripping you from the wall, the gravity is stretching your shoulders, your elbows to their extension, wrist elongate, even your fingers begin to unwrap. But the fingers hold, they did what you told them and everything else follows suit. Wrist, arms, elbows, shoulders, core, even your feet snap back and can now press against the blank section of rock below. You did it! The feeling courses back up from the toes, through your veins and out of your mouth in the form of a joyous yell. Wow, what a sport! A couple more moves high over the water bring you to a ledge and you turn to face the view. It's beautiful. You take a look and a breath, and jump.

We swam a lot. We climbed a lot. We tied a rope to the boat and tried to surf a piece of driftwood but it didn't work. Instead we watched the light reflected off the ripples as it danced on the underside of a large overhanging rock. It was a great day and we followed it up with a huge meal before deciding where to camp.
In the morning we would be meeting another friend for the day, but not till 10 so we decided to back-country camp, try to catch the sunset, and get a climb in at first light.

Maybe we were tired or maybe the hike was just longer than we expected but we missed the sunset. Sans headlamp and in the last dimming light of the day I threw up the hammock in the one good spot where we had chosen to camp. Camp was level and my climbing partner Bryan would be sleeping on the ground but the only spot for the hammock was right next to the cliff. Not the kind of cliff with nothing but air till the bottom, like we had been climbing earlier, but the kind with lots of loose jagged rocks on extremely steep hillside where the only thing to stop a bouncing tumbling fall through the daggers would be the trees. The trees a body might end up wrapped around, the trees looked healthy, they would hold you. I was concerned about the fall potential but I have to say, I'm pretty good at setting up and sleeping in a hammock. It's something I've safely done off a cliff numerous times (including the nuttin but air till the bottom kind). Not to mention the fact that of the past 30 nights, probably 25 of those I have slept in a hammock. The job was done and I collapsed exhausted into the anticipated hammock bliss. And then I was terrified.

In milliseconds I realized I was falling and within several more I had located the source of the horrible cracking, splintering sound. The sound was a tree, and it was falling directly towards me. In the waning light I had tied off to a widow-maker. I had mistakenly tied off to the dead tree and I would now die as the Old Rag community pastor had. An eight inch wide tree was rushing, falling, towards my head. So there I was, with the jagged talus cliff to my side, posed to relax in my hammock, pursued by a large tree, falling to my death. Not, the kind of falling I like.

I tried to midair hover to the non-cliff side and never noticed the impact with the ground. It must have been some sort of butt-walk-crab-walk combo which narrowly saved my life. The tree crashed down to my side. Rolling off the hammock with my face in the dirt I said "thank you Jesus" and proceeded with the strange reaction I sometimes have to these situations. I laughed uncontrollably.

I hope you never have to employ the the butt-crab-walk combo but I guess it takes a little experiential learning to get these type of things right. Bryan and I had another hardy laugh, a super climb in the morning, and a great weekend to follow!

The view from the cliff top the following morning.

"They Just Want to Have Fun"

2010-08-16T07:21:00.006-04:00

-Cyndi Lauper

Here's a couple quick shots of last week before we take to the trail again.

Last Week in Pictures

2010-08-09T11:37:00.008-04:00

"Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions" -Albert Einstein

The four above pics are from a quick trip to the New River WV (dog off leash is a no go in Shen, sandstone, etc...)I just had to put them up.

Now for the good times in the 'Doah

Yes, that is a deer standing on its hind legs eating wild apples... Only in Shenandoah!

Out the door and looking forward to another great week.

Happy Birthday BSA

2010-08-01T10:11:00.003-04:00

Today marks the Centennial birthday of the Boy Scouts of America! My little bro is at the national scout jamboree and I have to admit I'm a little jealous. Yes, in the last several days I have been rock-climbing in several states, cliff jumping, swimming, swimming, swimming and getting paid for it. And I guess in the next couple days I will be doing the same with the addition of zip-lining from the top of one high peak to another, watching the sun rise and set from Shenandoah's highest points and in general loving life. But scouts gave me my start! Where else can a bunch of boys with abnormal tics in their heads (such as myself) start out with awkward unproportionate feet and dubious intentions and come away strong men with their heads screwed on straight. It's a great organization with which we are very proud to have run many high adventure trips.

It's been a decade since I received my Eagle but the Scout Oath, Law, and Motto are still as fresh as the memories of those great trips. So congrats to the BSA, now one hundred years strong! I can't wait to see my bro get Eagle, and I'm out the door for another week long trip.

The Boys of Summer

2010-07-24T11:26:00.007-04:00

The cool night gives way to to the sun's first rays, and soon we would be shedding layers and swimming.

A night out in the Dolly Sods high country during the hottest part of the year brings the shivers like it brings the memories. The boys of this summer will remember the shooting stars over the white rocks as they waited for their turn on the moonlit free-hanging rappel. They will remember holding the six foot Blacksnake and how she didn't strike at us as we gently passed her around the circle giving her no reason to be afraid. Memories of the canyoning, climbing and jumping into deep pools will rank right up there with the sight of the sunrise over the morning fog. Decisions and friends made will be thought of, and this summer will not be easily forgotten.

Yes, that is the zip-line you've always dreamed of. We had that dream too!

It's Hot Out!

2010-07-17T17:59:00.002-04:00

We've been in the water, it's much cooler there.

Summer Assortment

2010-07-07T19:07:00.007-04:00

Dolly Sods WV! Yea, we get out of Shenandoah for trips too.
(Inverted aerials not allowed on our trips... mostly)

Little Stony Man offers a cool breeze on a hot day, oh, and some sweet rappelling.

Last week we spent some time in Rocks State Park MD which had recently been tagged with a lot of graffiti. When the park service showed up with sandpaper and drills to sand the graffiti off the rock we saw it as an opportunity to give a little back. However, when we suggested taking time out of shady rock climbing and rappelling in favor of an hour or so of work sanding graffiti in the sun we were skeptical of the answer. One of the girls in the group replied, "We're girl scouts, we do stuff like that." Awesome! Big props to the Girl Scouts of Camp Conowingo, you rock.

Grey Treefrog chillin poolside on the Fourth.

Dragonfly

A nice Thistle with a view.

Caterpillar eyes... or are they?

Water Park Shenandoah

2010-06-25T18:35:00.006-04:00

Last week was hot, really hot, and since we were out all week we hit the swimming holes, a lot. Everyone had a blast, it kinda felt like the above picture.

I have to put a couple pictures that are not from swimming up, don't know why but here they are (we will get back to swimming soon, I promise).

Fly poison is one of the coolest flowers in bloom right now, it's poisonous (duh) so they used to grind it up and mix it with sugar water to kill the flies, cool huh.

A Zebra Swallowtail on a Hay-Scented fern.

Now back to sweet water pics.

Ahhhhahhh, now that's refreshing.

And after all the good times in the water holes, show em how the week ended.

And here's how we felt!

Sweet Summer Treats

2010-06-21T09:49:00.002-04:00

Summer berries are in season! Those two ripe ones in the picture went missing, but the rest are just coming in and the black raspberries are in full force!

Uuummmmmm sweat, there's plenty of that to go around so I don't mind if this small Red Admiral butterfly has a little while I'm on belay.

It's always a treat to see a Rattlesnake in their natural habitat, unless of course you get too close. This one had 14 rattles but he didn't have to use them, we kept our distance.

This Black Vulture is thinking; "Will you be my sweet treat for lunch?" "Just step a little closer to that cliff edge, you will be fine." Meanwhile we were thinking, "man, so graceful in the sky, but they are so ugly up close."

The Feeling of Summer

2010-06-13T09:06:00.010-04:00

"Well there's a feelin' in the air
Just like a Friday afternoon
Yeah you can go there if you want
Though it fades too soon
So go on, let it be
If there's a feelin' coming over me
Seems like it's always understood this time of year" - Better than Ezra

A local opossum out for an evening stroll in the waning light before he starts his nocturnal foraging.

This Spicebush swallowtail thought she would pose for a picture, I was like, "alright, since you match the climbing rope so nicely."

A spiders' orb web catching the morning fog.

The next three pics are some more Shenandoah friends who posed for pictures, hope you'll come along and see some for yourself.

Its the nervous feeling before the jump into cold stream water, or trying to decide to watch the stars or the lightning bugs. It's noticing the wind whip waves through the deep summer grasses and following a box turtles trail because he has matted the grass down. Its the cool breeze and the steam rising after the storm. The summer is here and we hope you love it too.

Floral Arrangements

2010-05-16T15:13:00.009-04:00

I've been lazy about posting the last couple weeks, sorry, but here are some flowers to get us back on your good side. I'll start with some Mountain Laurel after Saturday's rain and as you go down the pics get older till the flowers at the end which are already long gone for the season.

Indian Cucumber Root

Blue-eyed Grass

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Mountain Laurel, mountain fog, Scrub pine, and boulders- Old ragged beauty

Wild Columbine

Japanese Honeysuckle - Yes I know it's invasive but it's definitely a love/hate relationship. I mean it's beautiful, smells great, taste like Honey! Respect!

The bloom from a Tulip Poplar tree is usually way up in the canopy so you don't see them till they fall but if the tree's not in a forest they will bloom down low as well.

A ladybug on Barley. I put those last three pictures in cause I like em, now we'll go back inside the park and see some more stuff you might see on a hike.

Tiny Bluet flowers with an even tinier beetle!

Wild Clematis

Not a flower, but check out the bright blue sweet bee. Cool!

Two Painted Trillium and some nice shadows.

Another Painted Trillium without such harsh light

Pinxter Azaleas - Maybe the best smelling of all SNP flowers

Pink Lady Slipper Orchids

Mayapple

Large Flower Trillium

EHART 2010

2010-05-03T14:55:00.007-04:00

notice the smile...

This is 10 percent luck, 20 percent skill, 15 percent concentrated power of will, 5 percent pleasure, 50 percent pain, and 100 percent reason to remember the name ... - Fort Minor... EHART

- Eastern High Angle Rescue Training 2010 had another fantastic year of rescue training last week. Shenandoah Mountain Guides was again honored to be part of the instructor cadre for this incredible week of National Park Service rescue training! Held in the high elevations of the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina this year's training conditions varied widely, from sideways snow and 70 mph wind to sunny and warm, but either way it was a huge success!

Here is what the students' (mostly NPS park rangers) looked like in the stinging snow while the the instructors in the first picture rappelled off the mile high swinging bridge at Grandfather Mountain. The weather was so brutal that the students' training was postponed for a night due to safety concerns. There were only a few instructors who demonstrated what the students would soon do in the more pleasant conditions of the next night. When students rappelled off the whistling bridge it was balmy, just above freezing, just 40 mph wind gust, a beautiful starry night.

Some perfect training conditions at the Devil's Cellar area of Table Mountain.

Over the course of the week students who started with various skill levels learned everything from basic knots to the complex details of rigging and using a raise/lower system in an emergency technical rescue application. After five chock-full days of training you can be sure that if you live on the east there is a competent rescue technician park ranger working in a park near you.

Here's a look at some of the local flora at table mountain, Mountain Rosebay is a nice spring bloomer, and was plentiful on the cliff-sides.

Taken from the same spot as the last picture, here's a look at the local fauna of the area. He's a little hard to see but there's an Eastern Fence Lizard in focus on the left side of the photo through some of the brush.

The haul team working from a safe sitting position and raising a patient (out of view) up the cliff.

A great sunset seen from Grandfather mountain.

Fresh as Spring Chickens

2010-04-22T08:57:00.003-04:00

Yes, this is what it feels like to hike in Shenandoah! Yes, we will make special accommodations for your family if you want to get the little guy started young.

Nice hikes and fantastic training are getting us into the full swing of the season. Last weekends Old Rag Mountain Steward (ORMS) training was awesome. The training was a full weekend of first aid, LNT training - and hilarity, good food, great times, and a real rescue we got the opportunity to help the park service out with!

Ferns showing a Dr. Seuss like sign of the season.

A cloud masked sunrise as seen from the top of Hawksbill peak Saturday morning before the ORMS training weekend began. Old Rag is in the lower right hand corner.

Spring Fling

2010-04-16T01:30:00.005-04:00

Everyone loves to shed some down in the spring and this has been just the weather for it. This down might have come from a goose, or a buzzard, a hawk, an eagle, falcon, teradactyl? Oh well, your guess is as good as mine.

Trying not to fling off the rock on the proj (one I haven't climbed on lead yet), but I got it on top-rope! Come climbing, We will show you how.

How's the Weather?

2010-04-09T22:16:00.003-04:00

The forecast for last week was sunny and 75. Next week the forecast is sunny and 75. My job here is done, I'll see ya out there!

P.S. The flowers are out and the Redbud trees are blooming.

A beautiful bicolored Birdsfoot Violet

Redbud overlooking Passage creek.

Easter Egg Hikes

2010-04-02T23:30:00.007-04:00

Perfect Easter moss on the mountain.

Wandering through these woods we see bright yellow, red, neon green, purple, orange, pink, blue. The cold vestiges of white are nearly melted with a welcoming warm breeze. We've been riding that breeze up the rock climbs, watching falcons on Old Rag, buzzards at Senaca, staring off into the distance, feeling the sunshine and noticing colors ascend the foothills.

A small snowfield lingers on Old Rag (4/1/10).

Once planted Daffodils bloom long after the pre-park house is gone.

A skinny blacksnake emerges from a log after the long winter.

Ants bring the bacon back home.

A hungry turkey vulture was hoping he would fall, but he let the bird down.

Cruising the Plesant Overhangs of Senaca Rocks.

Jump on Report to Sickbay at Old Rag and you may need to employ the seldom seen double knee-bar palm press to make it up.

Another great day in the mountains.

A Toast to the Good Life & the Season

2010-03-17T10:52:00.004-04:00

"May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view..." Edward Abbey

Climbers know that Old Rag season starts on a crisp winter, fall or spring day when the sun hits the slabs and the friction is good. The season goes till it gets hot, buggy, overgrown,and overcrowded. Be sure to go out prepared, but Old Rag season is right now and it's off to a fantastic start!

Does it get any better? I think the answer is no.

Good Days for Ducks

2010-03-17T10:16:00.003-04:00

Heavy snow-melt, spring rains, flooding and cold wet feet are an acquired taste, but good days for ducks will bring the blooms and make the sunny warm ones all the better.

The Canadian goose pictured above(3-15) was loving the banks of the mighty Shenandoah river. The gentle waves lapped against the nearly flooded town of Harpers Ferry bringing food within easy bill-reach.

The Crocuses aren't native, but they are up, and beautiful!

Routes with a View

2010-03-03T10:32:00.008-05:00

People say that your dreams, are the only things that save ya. - The Arcade Fire

At Shenandoah Mountain Guides we live our dreams. Many nights we dream of climbing ice, and in Virginia and West Virginia we have climbed a lot of it. We don't lead guided ice trips, sorry, too dangerous, but here's a couple pictures I couldn't help but put up.

The above picture is one I am proud of, as the route was very hard for me. Protected by rock gear, I lobed off the lower rock holds three years in a row! On the day I finally climbed it I first backed down scared. Second try I took the whipper (lead fall) and for the first time in my climbing career, a piece of gear pulled. The fall was arrested quickly by the piece just below, which was in a much better crack. I stepped up shaking for my third go, it would be the last either way.
I have nothing to compare to the feeling of completing a route like that, but I love it, and I think it's why I love to show others climbing so much.
The climb was a first ascent, and I named it Fire and Ice.

The next two pictures are also on ice formations we are very likely to be the first to have climbed, although, they are on a very recognizable rock out-cropping, which can be easily seen from a road. On the right side of the cliff Jeremy's Medicine Man overlooks a beautiful view and is climbed via a steep ice ramp leading to a thin pillar finish.

On the left side of the cliff I climbed through some reachy rock moves that lead to the windblown icicle pictured behind me below. After a couple delicate moves to get out on the ice I enjoyed a deep breath, the valley view, and thirty feet of fun, easier climbing. I named the route The Snotcicle, you will know why if you see it.

Now that the snow and ice are melting, we have started to have rock dreams. Here's a couple friends chilling on the top after a great climb up the prow above the Cacapon river.

2010-02-28T08:57:00.006-05:00

Friday was a day of adventure! Big snow in West Virginia beckoned and we went for it. The wind was blowing hard and Adam's all-wheel drive engine was missing the same fashion, so we made a detour to Auto Zone. With the three of us amped to ski we did a Nascar worthy spark plug swap in the parking lot. Moving on, we tried to take a tiny back-road shortcut where we found the above pictured skunks. The road appeared as though no one had driven it in a week but the skunks were in the middle flopping around... we thought "oh no, they have just been hit". At a safe distance we stopped the car and got out for a look. We were relieved to find they were not hit, but merely expressing their love skunk style. We had not disturbed them, and when they broke up one headed straight towards me. I was a little scared, but he veered off and I did not get sprayed (although there was a lingering stink in the air).

At the top of the deserted pass we found the other side had not been plowed since before the big storm, so we turned around and continued our scenic tour.

We tightened the lug-nuts when the wheel started knocking (nice maintenance Adam), and we rerouted when the road was closed due to snow.
The above picture was taken almost to Mt. Storm where we had to squeeze behind the big rig to continue. We made it to Davis we were told we could not proceed to White Grass where we had planned on skiing, WV had declared it a state of emergency. Two feet of blowing snow, we were loving life!

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Before to long we found ourselves a great ski-able powerline cut. The snow was light, fluffy, deep and awesome! Here's big bro pushing through snow drift.

Sweet! After a couple runs it was time to cruise the snow tires back over the mountains to Va, what a great day out.

It's been a rough winter for the deer.

We've been finding some ice to climb these days too, here's Byran climbing the gnar.

Nice job on a hard first ascent Jeremy!

Ski The East!

2010-02-15T10:10:00.008-05:00

There are those who would badmouth the skiing in the east, especially in the back-country. Most years the naysayers are right, but not this year. This is the highest snow accumulation winter on record. Back-country ski lines are everywhere! So we have been hiking (or skinning up) and skiing the Virginia steeps. There is a very good chance that these are first descents. Here's a few pictures of what fun ensues when massive snowfall and minimal work collide.

Signal Knob is near Front Royal at the northern terminus of the Massanutten range, and the power line cut is 1700 vertical feet with some very fun, fairly steep skiing. Big bro and I went directly at it from forest service land and it was about 1.5 miles of moderate skinning upward followed by about .25 of steep climbing. Totally worth it. It's an amazing run down.

Jonathan is psyched. He should be, we are about to drop in on a run nearly as good as anything he found in the two weeks he just spent skiing in British Columbia!

Bouncing through the pillows. Sweet!

Look at that form. Yea, that's my bro.

The snow was great all the way down, once the steep stuff is over its a nice cruiser grade most of the way out.

The epic Hogback mountain.
The power-line cut is 2200 ft of elevation change The top is wicked steep, wind raked, rocky, icy and narrow. The hike up the back is long and would involve a big car shuttle, so we went up the front. The best word to describe the hike up the front is brutal, but in a pinch one could use, heinous, horrible, excruciating, or any derogatory four letter word followed by -fest (##$%-fest). The hike was hard, brushy, steep and not fun. In fact there was almost nothing fun about the hike or the ski. Jeremy's wife, Christina, was my good willed companion for most of this sufferfest. Christina realized the folly of our ways and turned around before the top. Smart girl.

On the way up, before it got tough.

Finding our way around this road block was a welcome reprieve from the mountain laurel bush-whacking.

The signpost is hard to read due to the water on my lens but it is appropriate for the ski. The post reads "launch site" and is directed towards hang gliders, but it works for skiers too.

Although the park service loves us, and does everything they can to protect us, they probably don't expect folks to ski the Hogback powerline cut. They have yet to clear the old wire that lies in wait to clothesline the unsuspecting skiier. Just in case you head out to the mountain to get some fresh tracks (against my recomendation), watch out for this wire. The wire runs down the center of the run from about 100 feet below the top downward for about 1000 ft and is only above the snow where it drops off rocks and very steep areas. Watch out! Keep your tips up if you have to cross the center and don't catch it from the side mid-turn like I did in the above picture.

Fun boulder skiing.

Skiing Little Devil Stairs is a ton of fun, just watch out for the stream.

Snowbirds

2010-02-09T16:49:00.004-05:00

A couple of Cardinals with cold feet warming up in the morning sun.

The snow is deep and there are fresh tracks to be skied. So if you like the snow, you should be loving life: we are. The skyline drive is closed and will be impassable without skis for weeks. So we are skiing up from the bottom and saving the descents for the end of the day! Get out there and you'll have the park pretty much to yourself so here's a sampling of the other snowbirds you might see out.

A meal with a view of Old Rag somehow always taste a little better.

The Cardinal looks like he had to much of the grain bird seed!

The Cardinal fell of the wagon (bench) but this Blue Jay was walking the straight line.

Woodpeckers don't like that stale bird seed.

Not a bad spot for a homemade snowshoe walk.

Kinda snowy for Virginia.

Had a great ski to the top of the "forever protected" Red Oak mountain (outside SNP) where you can see just about the entire central district of the park when its not cloudy. I had the pleasure of being the first one on top after the storm. Enjoyed a nice sunset before a sweet three miles of fresh powder brought me back down.

The Red Oak lookout tower.

Bring It!

2010-02-05T08:26:00.000-05:00

I smell the blizzard in the air, Winter's bitter love affair.
I grab my coat, my hat, my jacks...I put my hat on my head and I was off again as she said, -OAR

A Four Plus Failure

2010-02-01T07:37:00.009-05:00

This post has nothing to do with the above cool pic taken Sunday after it got cold again.

The Four State challenge is an epic long day on the trail. The challenge is this, to start on the Appalachian trail at either VA or PA and finish at the other. In the middle there are at least 40 (possibly as much as 43.5) miles of trail including the entirety of the AT in MD and a bit of WV. The goal is to finish in under 24 hours. Two out of three of our full time guides have completed the challenge. Jeremy hiked the four state years ago, and the Big Fish knocked it out this past summer with a bunch of boy scouts. Last Thursday night I decided my time had come. But how would I enjoy this pointless and painful experience without one-uping the guys? Well, I would just have to one up the guys.

The Four PLUS challenge starts in PA and the RUN ends in VA where the bike begins. It's 61 miles on the C&O Canal from Harpers Ferry (where VA meets WV) to the finish line in Washington DC. Since DC's not a state, we (I think Drew came up with the idea to add DC) just gave it a Plus. The Four Plus challenge was born! Last Thursday night I planned on being the first to complete this challenge.

It has been almost two months since I surprised myself with how well I did on my first ever long run, almost a marathon on Old Rag. So why not shock the system again and see if I could again rise to the occasion? Besides I have done several roughly 10 milers in the interim, I figured I would be good. Right?
I bounced the idea off several trusted fiends. Jeremy said to "go for it!" and offered a morning shuttle. He also said he would only shuttle me because he knew how much pain I would be in. Although Jeremy was claiming schadenfreude I personally believed him to be secretively hiding a nice person deep down, besides, I would need the early morning ride. My roommate Jesse said; "Why not, you got nothing else to do tomorrow". It was true, the forecast was a little cold, but Saturday was off also and I would need the recovery day. Jesse even offered some new batteries for my dimming headlamp. The box looked old and Jesse suggested I take my old batteries as spares as I checked the replacements. I simply bounced the old AAAs in my hand and said he should do the same 20,000 times, then he could tell me how he felt about the extra weight. Satisfied with my succinct lesson on weight savings I finished packing and hit the sack a bit late.

2:45am came early but I had to hit Walmart for food, do the bike and food stash and get to Hagerstown for Jeremy to give me the 4:30am ride to Pen Mar Park where I would be dropped at the PA line.

Jeremy dropped me an hour and a half before sunrise. His tail lights disappeared into the full moon and it felt very cold. My single layers would keep me warm as soon as I got moving. I hit the trail and was startled by the immediate leap I had to make to avoid stepping on a dimly glistening frozen deer carcass just past the gate. My light did seem really dim.

This is when I realized Jeremy and Jesse (and my Id) had conspired to kill me. Within the first half mile my headlamp was completely dead and in my pocket. I was alone in the dark on a section of trail I had never seen and the temperature was in the single degrees. I stumbled by moonlight trying not to miss the many initial turns out of Pen Mar park, Jeremy had said the start was the worst. I was sure I would "warm up" once I got on the always clear and open stretches of the AT most likely just outside Pen Mar. Not so. Just south of Pen Mar the AT spends several miles winding its merry way through a contrived conglomeration of ankle breaker talus boulder slopes before it switchbacks to the ridge. Believe it or not in this section of trail, in the dark, it is quite easy to become lost. I experienced this phenomenon several times. I would find myself on a strange moss covered boulder or in a pile of un-trampled leaves and have to backtrack yet again.

It is possible, that it always seemed to be better lit when I looked back due to the unlocked Ipod in my back pocket whose screen may have been burning from bouncing around as I tried to run. Lit screen or not, the music died about 30 min in, just 10 min after my water froze. I tried to crunch through the frozen hose of my non-insulated hydration pack for the second drink of the morning, but instead I found it plugged with ice. I had filled it with warm water and kept the tube under my shirt but nonetheless it froze. From here on I would take off the pack, break open the iced lid designed to fill up not pour from, and get a drink. This meant I would be dehydrated.

I gained the ridge as the ambient light of a soon risen sun lit the second puddle I broke through. It was my first long run for my sweet new Avia trail runners I got from Ross for 21 bucks (I might have thought they were Asics). The tennies claim to have Cantilever Technology but they do not claim to be waterproof. My second foot was now wet, but I was finally running.

I crossed three valleys and was starting to enjoy the day by the time the blister broke. Maybe it was the wetness, maybe the shoes, but I hardly ever get blisters. I taped a makeshift cover of a slippery Nature Valley bar wrapper over my Achilles and it worked. Heel hurting no longer, I moved on.

Now might be a good time to explain how doing a long trail run without much training is really dumb. It's really dumb. But I guess if you haven't figured that out yet I will give you just two more reasons. If you still don't believe in the dumbness then you are probably as thick headed as I am, and I say good luck to ya, life is hard. I will be training more next time.

Reason one, you might spill water on yourself in the cold. By the time I figured this one out the frozen open lid on my pack had leaked, a lot. The water drained down the pack freezing my keys, food, cell phone, Ipod, and emergency supplies into one mass. Then the water drained down my backside and into my right shoe where I felt the sloshing and assumed my blister had begun to bleed. Dumb.

Reason two, parts of your body which shouldn't be hurting, start hurting. In my case It was my groin. Yes, the joint on the Barbie where the leg attaches to the torso can start to hurt. It started to hurt on both sides. On the right it was starting to feel like I was back in the days where I tried to do dumb things like slide (grind) handrails on my rollerblades, and I overstretched, sprained, strained, or tore the darn thing. Dumb. I thought I learned from those days.

I was nearly 20 miles in at 9:30am when my cell phone (now warm in my pocket) thawed out and a message came through. It was the Big Fish and he was leaving for a possible rescue on Old Rag. Did I want to come along? Hhmmmmm, I could get in a warm vehicle and go pretend to be a hero, or... Die frozen and alone in the woods, in Maryland. Tough decision, I wussed out and he picked me up at my frozen food stash 30 min later. Here's a link to the Old Rag Rescue which was over before we got there.

Sorry for the long post, if you made it this far you must be a true friend. Thanks!

T-shirt Weather

2010-01-28T13:27:00.003-05:00

It's always nice to have a warm spell mid winter, if only the ice would hang around. Well I hope you all enjoyed the t-shirt weather, good bouldering, sunny climbing, and trail running temps. It looks like it might get cold again.

Mid-Winter Day Dreams

2010-01-23T16:55:00.003-05:00

Seeing a bear in the winter is always surreal (I have only seen a few) but this one was really hard to believe. Sometime I will tell you the whole bizarre dreamlike sequence but the short version involves us watching the daredevil climb a steep rock and ice cliff where most skilled climbers would not tread without a rope. We watched in amazement until he lay down on this ice ledge probably 80 feet up from level ground! Not wanting to disturb the bear in such a precarious place we chose another area to go ice climbing. Although the recent warm spell has put the kibosh on ice close to home we hope to have the spirit of the bear with us the rest of the season.

Recent freezing rain has brought some of my favorite conditions to enjoy the wilderness. Ice Everywhere!

Icy Fun

2010-01-06T08:47:00.003-05:00

Never let me slip, cause if I slip, then I'm slippin' - Dr. Dre

These are the things that you are missing if you fail to hike in the winter. Give yourself permission to go with us, we will take care of you!

Strange cool ice formations forming from the ripples on the log.

Take a quick picture and move on if your are standing under (or even close to) big ice with no helmet on, even if it is below freezing like when this picture was taken. A nurse with a lot of trauma experience should know better, but she did hire a guide for a reason.(She's not as close as it looks)

See if you can find the staircase, the trail is under all that ice somewhere. Along with telling you how to prep for the cold we will hook you up with traction for your feet, and if the traction devices start to slip off your boots we are prepared to tape them on!

You gotta see it to believe it. Cool trail side ice formations.

The New Year

2010-01-04T14:44:00.003-05:00

Rang in the new year yesterday with our first guided hike, the temps were in the teens and the wind was raging but we had a great, safe and warm trip over the mountain and across the icy trail!

In case you missed the fireworks in your town, here's some pics of the fireworks found in the woods! The above is the frost on a tall piece of grass at sunrise.

This ice exploded out of the ground as the water in the dirt expanded up through the paths of least resistance. The ice pictured stands about 4 inches tall and lifted the golf ball sized clump of dirt off the ground!

Sometimes you start to notice friendly faces in the woods when you hike to many unbroken trails by yourself.

Ghost of Christmas Past

2009-12-27T07:50:00.006-05:00

Like a restless spirit I have long been stuck between personal worlds. My position as a role model and my desires as an individual often collide. Several days ago I took the LNT high road. Instead of posting a picture of the obvious Leave No Trace infringement, my training won and told me I would only encourage copy-cats. So I didn't even take the photograph. I left only my ski-prints behind.

The conversation of the Boxwood tree I had found littered with ornaments several miles in the back-country came up during the Christmas feast. Grandpa changed my mind with one question. "You know the ghost of Ragged Mountain decorated that tree don't you"?

Some say he was the towns preacher who died when a branch fell on his head as he stood just outside the church. Others say he is an unforgiving settler pushed from his home to make way for the new park. Still there are those who have heard of the Monacan warrior who had holed up lonely on the mountain while his people peacefully integrated. After many moons and a weeks fasting and meditation he is said to have made a vow to the wind. He then climbed an impossible path to the top of one of the high ragged boulders and jumped.

I have heard his voice icy on the wind through the rocks. I have seen the eyes in the dark and the fog. But there was a warm breeze and a feeling of spirits at peace when I skied up a second time to the old Boxwood. I visited the old community cemetery as the sun broke through the fog to the forests' snowy floor.

Like its adornments, Boxwood trees/shrubs are not native to these forest, rather they are a small and slow growing tree and a specimen this large has been here since the days before this land was a park. This one was planted in the yard of one of the 18 cabins of Old Rags' pre-park community.

The truth is I don't know who decorated the tree, but I do know that no matter what we do we have left a trace. I didn't touch the decorations, just took the photograph and had a nice warm ski back down.

Merry Christmas From the Woods

2009-12-25T08:52:00.004-05:00

Christmas came early this year and gift wrapped the region with a nearly two foot thick present. The back-country is an untracked wonderland for skiers and ice-climbers, and the joy of the season is upon us! I made the above ornament for my little sister (Joy) from the unique shapes of the wild grapevines.

Old Rag Snow Day

2009-12-20T18:22:00.007-05:00

Big bro and I were the only ones dumb enough to head up the mountain today. We had a time getting out of the driveway, and not a chance at getting to the upper lot (although it is clear now) so we shoveled out a parking spot and we were on our way. Much thanks to the folks who were up there yesterday evening and broke trail all the way to the chute, without them, we probably wouldn't have had the heart to make it all the way up. It was the most fun (in a painful sorta way) we've had on the mtn in a long time. Here's a few shots.

Yee Haa, hucking for the deep powder on the way down!

Much of the hiking was the kind where you lift the snow up with your thigh, pack it down with your knee, step down with your foot. Repeat. A steep spot on the way up.

Sometimes the snow was a bit deeper. Here's Jonathan digging through a drift that was over his head!

A neat snow corniced rock in the middle.

View near the top.

From This

2009-12-19T18:28:00.005-05:00

The view from the top of Marys Rock.

To This!

What a difference a day makes!

You might have guessed the bottom one is taken from the valley, 20 inches and still falling!

Old Rag Marathon

2009-12-11T19:26:00.005-05:00

In the fifth grade I ran the classic Rappahannock 10K, the Fodderstack race. It was by far the longest I had ever run and my good friend Ian beat me in the final steps to the line. I spent the night at Ian's and we will never forget the agony of soreness that was walking down the steps in the morning.
Tomorrow, I will again know this pain.

High-school running was the the 5Ks of cross-country and I hated every step. Boring, painful, but good conditioning for the other sports. I had the worst spot on the team, 5th, always the last on the team to count for points, and often pushing to the point of vomit to score us a little higher. I swore off running and entered a blissful state of apathy.

But trail-running is much more interesting, the quick steps, the downhills on the edge of control and the occasional rolling digger. It can be almost exciting. So I've done a little here and there, and then I got inspired. Several weeks ago a friend ran Old Rag twice in a day. My uncle, who never ran, has recently taken to running marathons in his sixties. And last year I lost a bet, my punishment; Old Rag three times in a day. The gears in my head started turning.

So having never run more than twelve miles in one stint it began unceremoniously at 7:36 this morning, and would end in much the same fashion 6hrs 13min later. I would park 1 mile down from the lower lot, run to the upper, eat some food I stashed, don the hydration pack, knock down three laps and finish out the 26.2 miles to the car. Simple right, I've always wanted to do a marathon, I think.

I did actually start out very well, 2.5m in my hands warmed up and I was moving fast. But soon I hit the snow and ice, "this might be a bit dodgy". I concentrate much better when there are consequences,and running is definitely more fun when you are not thinking about the fact that you are actually running. So laps one and two fell and although I was starting to hurt, my pace was great, I was actually enjoying this.

On lap three I learned the valuable lesson that when running a marathon on Old Rag for the first time in one's life, it is best to stick to the snickers and the goldfish.

I started the third lap with a belly full of dried peach halves, tuna sandwich and water. I was huurrrtting. Not a whole lot of running on the way up the third lap. Legs burned, stomach ... questionable and for safety sake I was moving through some sections in ways I have never tried except with a full pack of climbing gear, after a full day of climbing. It never rose above freezing and the wind howled. That third lap made me feel as if the mountain really is the cold hard beast I know it can be. In the midst of a burly wind near the top I came across a huge buck who stared calmly while chewing on sticks. I thought, "Boy, I could learn a lot from this great creature, cause he may be dumb, but he sure is tough"!

Nonetheless I made it to the top and did not barf. I got a sort of, second wind but even so, trying to let the wheels spin on the way down was a very painful proposition. Some relief was obtained by a glorious stop at the upper lot port-a-john (thanks, and sorry for the brutalization, NPS). I plodded my way back to the car.

I did it, and I am proud, but my math was off. I realized the fact in a hot shower after all my self-congratulating. Parking one half mile further down the road would have given me the 26.2 mile mark, I in fact ran 25.2. Oops, at least I got out from under that bet.

ShenanSNOWa!

2009-12-09T20:17:00.006-05:00

I think I saw Bigfoot

We have come to the time of the year where you sometimes hike all day and never see a soul. Its just your breath, tracks, trees, and the beauty of the mountains. We've enjoyed a couple recent snows and last night brought my favorite conditions for taking pictures, an ice storm. After an ice storm no matter how crappy the camera it's going to be a cool picture!

Between the Rains

2009-12-02T12:46:00.003-05:00

Another post-rain sunset shines a little light on Old Rag.

When the sun and wind hits the rock it can dry quick, but with all the rain of late we have had to jump at our opportunities.

A little guy learns the ropes of trail running on a dry boulder stream crossing. With a little extra care even rainy day trail running is a good time, and with Shenandoah's 500 miles of trails there is plenty to see!

Nearly Thanksgiving Sightings

2009-11-20T20:16:00.004-05:00

Along with this plump turkey and the flock which followed her across the road, Saturday was fat with animal sightings. The first sighting of the day was not far from these tasty afternoon delights, they were three coyotes which hopped up on the wall as I watched from the car. It was my first coyote sighting in Shenadoah, they are mostly nocturnal and relatively uncommon; exciting! Then the hikers of the day and I watched a mother bear and three cubs foraging, followed shortly by a ruffled grouse which flew off as we walked by. A weeks worth of sightings packed into one day. Wow!

A Red Eft Newt having a bite to eat trail side near "the Portal" in the south district.

A cold dragonfly warming his bright eyes in the morning.

A two inch long skull which must have belonged to a muskrat with a nice safe home next to the stream and under some large overhanging rocks.

The ridge of a mini Seneca Rocks like formation off of Brown Mtn. and the Shenandoah valley to the west.

The best way to see this great park, at 50mpg its not a bad way to commute either.

Gift of the Fog

2009-11-17T10:16:00.002-05:00

Like sight, sounds are muted in the fog. Even when the water level is up and pounds off the tops of Shenandoah's cliff bands it seems to somehow land softer. With rain gear we prepare to shield ourselves but find that our warm bodies keep our cotton dry, and the waterproofs remain packed. Then the sun breaks through and all the branches glisten. Sounds are amplified and we hear the crunch of the mother bear and her cub foraging on the not to distant slopes. The fog has taken away our senses and given them back. Now, we can see into the valley, but we are grateful for the whole process.

Happy and Sad Thoughts

2009-11-12T18:23:00.020-05:00

I found myself wandering a narrow park boundary road in the gloom of the rain.
As I passed a broken cliff I noticed something hanging from the upper and most vertical reaches, and the memories flooded back. It was a gym class style rope hanging just low enough that a deft jump to the leaf covered ledge would put one mid-cliff. From the ledge a dangerous down-climb/slide looked to be the path of least resistance. No doubt, this had been the plan enacted by the same brilliant child (along with unsuspecting friends) who had stolen the rope from, well, wherever the rope was stolen from.
It has been nearly twenty years since my first backwoods Rappahannock County climbing experience, which so quickly came rushing to the present. I was filled with joy and pleasure as I reminisced on the similarities laid out before me. How high that little cliff stood, and how tall I felt on top, will never fade.
Yes, it's amazing I made it this far.

A short distance ahead I parked the car and entered private property.
You can't see it from the road but If there were a trail it would be under a minute hike through a picturesque canyon before arriving at the base of the falls. Shorter, in fact, than any of the park's hikes to falls. This is not in the park, there is no trail, just no trespassing signs, no scenic view points, no benches for contemplation. In fact, there is no evidence humans spend any time at this thirty foot falls at all, except for the trash. This beautiful place has not been preserved, situated just outside park boundary it is what all park land would now be had it not been preserved, and it stinks. It stinks because of the two rotting deer carcasses thrown off the road above. It stinks because no one enjoys this place, and because the the stream is clogged with beer cans, buckets, tires, and a 16 quart carrying can for 100 proof liquor.
It stinks, and it makes me love the park that much more.

I believe I grow a bit every time I go into the woods.
Every time I learn something new and wonder about something I don't know. Growth happens from hurting, healing, and laughing through it all. I doubt the big old tree pictured below knew what it would become when its roots were ripped from the ground and it fell to the forest floor. Today, three trees grow straight up from what was the side of the original fallen tree.
Today I might have grown up two, maybe three bits.

Old News

2009-10-27T09:06:00.011-04:00

I fight through my mixed media emotions to bring you several stories which are old news. The big story was certainly the fall leaves. Basically gone. But that's not quite the whole story, the bands of wind protected Yellow Poplars and a few others still streak their brilliant paths up the hollows. The above picture shows what it looks like from the top of Old Rag.

Although it's been over a week now since the printing I have to show the beautiful personification poem printed on the front page of the Oct. 22 edition of the Rappahannock News. It is entitled Autumn Spectacular. I have always loved the downtown Sperryville tree it refers to. The picture can be clicked on and enlarged so you can read the poem off to the tree's side or I have retyped the poem at the bottom of this post with the permission of the author Al Simpson, he's my grandpa!

I don't know
But I've been told
If you keep on dancing
You'll never grow old - Steve Miller Band
Grandpa is 91. In July I watched him party till 1am, last weekend he was out dancing again, I am proud.

In other media outlets Fox 5 was in the park last Monday the 26th exploring. They found us, and I was in short interview on live TV. Here is the link.

Autumn Spectacular
By Al Simpson

Ohhhh, I am
So beautiful
So magnificent, so glorious
So wonderful to view

When the sun shines
Upon me
I glow, I sparkle
Each leaf of me
Ablaze with color
Red and yellow
Orange and green
And everything in-between
I am a living rainbow

I do a tango
Dancing with the wind
I sparkle in the sunshine
I embrace the breeze
I am so beautiful

I am a cameo
Captured for a time
Truly a favored tree
Displaying such design

I am the queen of Main Street
The belle they come to see
I am the crown jewel
Of Sperryville's autumn

Some call me "Big Red"
Some call me "The Tree"
Some think of me
As crimson
Some say burgundy

I prefer Scarlet
But call me what you will
Just come to see me
I'll pose for you

And share my beauty
With all who live
In our community
I am so beautiful!

Scarlet Maple

Counting Ravens

2009-10-19T07:45:00.003-04:00

If you've never stared of into the distance than your life is a shame. -Counting Crows

Watching a raven fly in a heavy wind atop Old Rag Mtn. is the coolest thing ever. Ravens are the Cirque du Soleil of the avian aviators and with this weekends fog, rain, snow, and wind they were out in force. I would highly recommend sitting on a rock and watching them until the shivering becomes to much, than do some pushups, some jumping jacks, warm up and watch them again.

Falling

2009-10-16T08:23:00.003-04:00

For many years I was self-appointed inspector of snowstorms and rainstorms...
-Henry David Thoreau

Fog adds a new mystique to the forest, as does brightly colored rain jackets!

Be it leaves, temperatures, rain, or snow, the woods of Shenandoah are precipitating. It may not be what you expected but it can be beautiful. Waterfalls run higher volumes, and what could be more stunning than a snow or ice storm in fall colors.
But be carefull, the unexpected breeds unpreparedness and you can find yourself a long way from the trailhead if you get hurt. Be safe, hire a guide if you want to stay safer, otherwise we will see you out there!

Leaf Looking

2009-10-14T16:20:00.008-04:00

Bright Maples like this one dot the entire park, and rain or shine its a great time to get out to see them.

Purple Aster flowers on the flanks of a back country bridge, Asters bloom all throughout fall and add yet another color to the patchwork.

Lunch at the lowest of White Oak Canyons falls where the leaves are not quite peak yet.

Another great Shen view through the leaves.

the Bear and the Breathtaking

2009-09-30T10:46:00.002-04:00

Between the bear and the breathtaking views is a place we call Shenandoah. It's a place were the leaves are turing early this year and the cold winds are coming. It's a place where you might see a bear, coyote, turkey, or bobcat in the wild anytime. It's also the place where in the last couple days you might have seen the Peace Corps or Aramark staff laughing, playing games, or traipsing through the woods on a Shenandoah Mountain Guides lead activity.
Here's a quick slice of the last week.

The flying squirrel soars out towards the valley at Aramark's picnic.

Peace Corps staff working through their game/race on the summit of Blackrock Peak.

Rattler getting in some good rays on a talus slope.

Aramark staff playing games at the Skyland lodge lawn.

Before climbing forty feet up a big tree this bear decided it was time to use the little tree for a good butt scratchin.

2009-09-30T09:49:00.003-04:00

Footprints

Watch how easily this 400lb bear climbs the tree!

Weekend Explorer

2009-09-23T21:19:00.001-04:00

With many trips comes many personalities, this week we had the pleasure of introducing Emmy awarded host Jeffrey Lehmann and the film crew for Weekend Explorer to Shenandoah. As usual we had a blast! So much so that after the scheduled rock climbing and rappelling was finished, Jeffrey changed up the days itinerary and headed deeper into the woods so we could show him some more! Jeffrey and the crew know how to find the good stuff, and as the mornings fog turned into evening mist we hiked back up the hill 40 pound HD camcorder in hand, a bit tired but happy with the footage and the fun!

Based out of California the award winning, PBS television series, Weekend Explorer takes you along to incredibly scenic destinations around the United States and the world and it's about time Shenandoah made the list! But don't take my word for it, the link to Jeffrey's site is www.weekendexplorer.com, our show should air sometime around June 2010. It was great to meet the crew along with Jeffrey and to show them around our home. We wish them the best of luck with the show.

Rain or Shine

2009-09-17T21:41:00.000-04:00

... and sometimes the colors seem to shine even more when its raining!

Summer Sun Fading

2009-09-09T08:05:00.000-04:00

Well the temps are starting to cool in Shenandoah and the ideal hiking/climbing days are arriving. That's not to say you won't be seeing us at a swimming hole cooling off after a hard hike or possibly even canyoneering in a wetsuit, some of the best trips from the last week or so have put us in the water for at least a quick break. Here's a couple pics from last week, in the water or not.

Climbing the Sentinel in the bright sun and warming up, before jumping in swimming hole number two on Saturdays' adventure race birthday party.

What can I say, I'm a man who loves butterflies. A Red Admiral suns itself next to a pool.

It was nice enough out last week that we just wore the wetsuit tops for our canyoneering trip! (It's not quite as steep as this picture makes it look but it is as fun)!

2009-08-31T11:12:00.000-04:00

Noticed this Monarch Caterpillar munching some of its favorite food, the Milkweed, near Skyland lodge several days ago.

Good Evenings

2009-08-28T18:40:00.001-04:00

After a great hike in the meadow I had the chance for a quick hike to the top of Compton peak on the ride home. It's sunsets like this that good evenings are made of, of course the cliff and the Mountain Ash help as well.

Bug-eyed in the Woods

2009-08-26T11:21:00.001-04:00

Walking through the woods in Shenandoah this time of year can leave one a bit bug-eyed. There is so much to see, the big summer wildflowers, the butterflies, the bugs and the bear all vie for your attention. Here's a couple the folks on my hikes and I have seen in the past couple days.

A Locust hanging on a lichen covered tree near the Nicholson Hollow trail.

A Spicebush Swallowtail lighted on a Cardinal flower Stream side.

The biggest Wild Turkey leading the flock through the ferns of the Limberlost trail.

You Can Too!

2009-08-20T11:45:00.001-04:00

She did it!

Tick Check!

2009-08-20T11:22:00.000-04:00

Out again this year for our annual three day training with George Washington Universities Trails Guides and again it was a great year! The student leaders learned a multitude of wilderness leadership skills from LNT (Leave No Trace) to land navigation and many things in between. Pictured above students do a thorough tick check after a cross country bushwack orienteering session. Students left more prepared to lead their peers into the wilderness but hopefully no blood sucking, disease carrying, arachnid, parasites.

Blue Mountains

2009-08-20T10:44:00.000-04:00

This plaque adorns the top of a headstone in one of Shenandoah's many cemeteries where the families of the deceased parkland residents are allowed to continue burying their kin. Click on the picture to enlarge it and read the window into a locals final thoughts.

Extreme Kids

2009-08-10T15:22:00.001-04:00

Whether you are a kid, or a kid at heart, spending seven days in the woods is extreme.
Rock climbing, rappelling, water sliding, white water tubing, climbing mountains and carrying everything you need for five days on your back are also extreme. Good job ladies, you're stronger for it.

Respect Wildlife

2009-08-03T06:50:00.000-04:00

One of the seven principles of Leave No Trace is Respect Wildlife, and it makes sense. If we harm the creatures whose home we pass through, that wilderness loses part of the reason we go there in the first place. When it comes to Crawdads, and my personal desire to show and teach on trips sometimes I pick one up to show just how cool they are. Crawdads (Crayfish for you northerners) are a great indicator species as they can not live in all but the cleanest of streams. So if you see them dying in a stream near you, watch out, there are pollution issues. Watch out if you pick them up as well, sometimes they get the last laugh.
(No Crawdads were hurt in the posting of this blog)

Making a Waterfall

2009-07-28T17:15:00.001-04:00

Check.

Dam, now that's a lot of fun.

Rappelling Down Waterfalls

2009-07-28T07:31:00.000-04:00

Check.

If it's not on the life list, you might want to put it there, most folks think it's quite the rush. I guess we just think Rappelling the biggest waterfall in Shenandoah is another great way to cool off in a beautiful place... Well okay, It's kind of a rush for us too.
(click to zoom in and see person rappelling)