Shenandoah NP - WV and MD State HPs
Lower White Oak Falls, Shenandoah National Park
October 16th - Day 1 - Drive to Shenandoah National Park
On the first day we drove from Pittsburgh to Shenandoah National Park. Arriving after dark, we promptly stopped at the first turnout with a view of the lights of the towns in the valley below, almost loosing the car as it rolled backward down the hill, the parking brake not having been engaged. We finally made it to Big Meadow Campground.
October 17th - Day 2 - Old Rag, Stony Man, and Sleeping in the Car
We only had the campsite for the first (Friday) night but wanted to try to get one of the first come first serve sites for Saturday night as well. We got up early and got in line at the campground gate. The office opened up at 9am, but we quickly learned that instead of doling out the known available campgrounds right away, they waited until the previous tenants checked out and then assigned the first person in line that specific spot. Thus, if we wanted a spot we might be waiting around until noon, the latest checkout time. Needless to say we decided to sleep in the car that night instead of waiting around.
Our goal for the day was Old Rag Mountain. The usual route starts at the base of the mountain outside the park, but we wanted to see the White Oak Falls so we decided to take long way to Old Rag. We started from the Limberlost Trailhead on the ridge, hiked down the White Oak Canyon trail to the Whiteoak Canyon Falls Lower Trailhead, then turned northeast to hike Old Rag, finally returning up to the top of the Shenandoah ridge via the Old Rag Fire Road. In total the hike was about 15 miles, with 3,800 ft of elevation loss and gain. Check out the route here.
Experiencing rain showers throughout we finished the hike at about 6pm. We hurried to the Stony Man trailhead to try to catch the sunset from the top. We were greeted by the sun coming out under the layer over overcast creating quite the brilliant sunset.
Our exhaustion did not help us sleep in the car that night. It was miserable, and I will leave it at that.
Story continues after Day 2 photos.
Upper White Oak Falls on the decent to Old Rag Mountain.
View from the top of Old Rag Mountain looking southwest. Hawksbill is the prominent peak on the ridge on the right. We still had to climb all the way back up to close to the top of that ridge.
Sunset light from the top of Stony Man looking northeast along the ridge. The rain showers had cleared out the air nicely.
Stony Man looking southwest along the ridge.
October 18th - Day 3 - Hawksbill, West Virginia HP, and Maryland HP
Not being able to sleep anyways, at around 4:45am we decided we might as well try to catch the sunrise on Hawksbill. The sunrise did not disappoint, and filled with the views of mountains morning glow we headed out of the park with a lot of driving ahead of us.
The second goal of the day was Spruce Knob (4,863 ft; 1,482 m) the West Virginia State HP. Spruce Knob is also the highest point of the Allegheny Highlands, the range that includes bot Mount Davis (the PA HP) and Backbone Mountain (the MD HP). The drive up to the top featured incredible foliage color and a start transition to the wind stunted Red Spruce that covered the top. Some of the thickest moss beds I have ever seen, rivaled only by those in the PNW, covered the Spruce's vast root networks.
The final goal for the day was Backbone Mountain on the easternmost Maryland-West Virginia border where Maryland's HP, Hoye-Crest (3,360 ft; 1,020 m), was located. The drive had more amazing fall foliage and the short hike to the HP was short and sweet.
Hawksbill at sunrise.
Spruce Knob looking across at foliage.
Spruce Knob, this time with more spruce.
Hoye-Crest, the second state HP of the day!