"Lee 333 Challenge" Hike all the trails in the George Washington National Forest Lee Ranger District: 2018

Picture of the Day

My Track

    I've been recovering from a foot injury for few months and I can only get out to the Lee 333 every other weekend at the most. So it's been a while since I've made any progress. Today was a good trip. Sunny T-shirt weather and I got there early enough not to have to hike in the dark on my back.

    The trailhead is a bit hard to spot. I drove right past it even though I was using the "ViewRanger" app. It was totally accurate. I turned the car around and found the trail head and then quickly spotted the boat launch parking lot across the street. I pulled into the empty lot and took a quick cat nap in the back of the car before heading out on the trail.

   It was an uneventful hike, nice and quiet. I didn't see another person the whole trip. It might be that no one even drove past the parking lot while I was there (when I was awake anyway).

    The trail starts out with a slight incline for quite a ways before getting into some more serious climbing. Since I haven't been hiking much over 3 or 4 miles per walk for the last several months with no significant climbing, this shorter trail was perfect to get me going again. The total elevation gain was almost 1600 feet so that was more than I bargained for. Four miles was about all I can do right now. I'll work on building myself up again. Not much else to say...see the pictures below...

Parking at the canoe/boat launch

The trail head across the street from the boat launch

Trailhead sign just a few steps from the road

The only stream crossing on the Habron Gap trail. The stream is not on my maps so I don't know its name. It flows into the Shenandoah at the boat launch

Looking down at the stream from the trail

Easy walking...at first

More easy walking

The trail begins to climb

Finally a few views to the east

Another view to the east

Looking back down the trail after part of the steeper section

I had a hiking companion for a short time

Looking down at the Shenandoah and trying to spot my car and the buildings across the river. I don't think these are the right buildings. The ones across from the boat launch were red.

Now it's really gotten steeper

Cell phones don't take the best close up pix

Ahhhh, I made it to the ridge and the Massanutten Trail

Two miles back to the car

A nice place for lunch, the rock where my backpack is in this picture was a comfortable seat

Another view to the east

Not far from off the ridge I stopped to evaluate a fire ring. There's plenty of flat ground for camping here

Casting a shadow on my return trip

Moving from the evening shadow into the sunlight made a dramatic change in the lighting.

Looking northward at the Shenandoah River

Ten cones on one small branch

Picture of the Day

    This blog chronicles the hikes I've completed in the "Lee 333 Challenge". I haven't set a challenge deadline because I can't dedicate myself 100% to it. However, if the SNAP500 (or SHEN500) can be done in one year, I don't see any reason why a dedicated enthusiast couldn't complete the "Lee 333" in under a year also.

Today's Hike:
Distance: 1.06
Duration: 0:37
Ascent: 100ft
PATC Difficulty: 15

Lee 333 Progress Summary:
Trails: 18 of 106
Trail Miles: 50.59 of 342.82 miles
Hiked Miles: 88.82 miles

     Phew......it's been a long time since my last Lee333 hike. Leave it to say the family responsibilities, health problems and a foot injury has kept me away. I was attempting to hike 1000 miles this year and about 5 weeks ago I injured my foot (plantar fasciitis) so I completely stopped hiking and walking until today. These two short walks were about all I could manager before I could feel the burning tendon of my left foot start. I know it will be a long recovery but I'm not giving up on the Lee333!

   The Lion's Tale Trail is a handicapped 0.5 mile easy flat walk. There is a place that wheelchairs can be rolled down into the creek. I didn't take any pictures of it because there were quite a few children playing in the water and I didn't want to post pictures of other peoples children.

    There are signs that guide children along the trail. Click here to jump to the signs in the order I encountered them.

Trailhead (loop)

One of several bridges

Most of the trail is compacted fine gravel

Passage Creek

Bridge over a boggy area

This fountain was created to give wheelchair bound visitors access to the water.

It's fed by a wooden mini-aqueduct, see video below.

Camp Roosevelt

The Camp Roosevelt Campground is the site of a former CCC camp. I walked the campground loop and the pavilion area. There is a series of signs describing the buildings that used to be on the site. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see the signs.