Finally I’m hiking wholly within Shenandoah National Park. Better still, the Appalachian Trail is roughly paralleling Skyline Drive which runs along the crest of the 105 mile long national park. As you can see above, it’s beautiful country seen on a spectacular day.
To this point I’ve had to hike the AT and then retrace my steps to get back to my car. This essentially had me walking each stretch of the AT twice, once in each direction. If covering the length of the park is my goal then this was a pretty inefficient way to go about it. With the Trail loosely following the road I now had an option. I could hike one way and bike the other.
This morning I headed to the Trail via the Drive and dropped my bike off at the third peak of Hogback Mountain (SLD mile 21.1) and drove back to start my hike at Compton Gap (SLD mile 10.4). There I left my car and started my hike south on the Trail. Many hours later I’d end up back at my bike and the plan was to cycle back to my car.
I chose today to hike because of the forecast. Back in Reston it was to approach 80 degrees and I knew it would be much cooler in the higher elevations. My hike took me up and down between 2400 feet and 3500 feet and cooler it was, perhaps topping out at 70 degrees. Perfect!
Rarely have I had better weather when hiking; the cool clear air invigorated.
The Appalachian Mountains tend to have hazy vistas due to all the moisture in the air. Today was a marvelous exception. The skies were almost cloud-free and the sun shown brightly. At various points along the hike I took short detours to rock ledges to view the horizon. As you see, it was beautiful!
After five and a half hours of hiking I arrived back at my bicycle and wondered “Do I have the energy to ride back to my car!?” Well, the answer didn’t really matter because I had no choice. After finishing off the last of my food and water I mounted and rode off.
Talk about an exhilarating ride!
The first ten minutes were a steep and steady descent from 3500 feet to 2555. Gravity did all the work but that didn’t last long as soon I was pumping my way uphill at two miles per hour. Thirty minutes after starting I found myself back where I started. The circuit was closed.
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