Friday, January 12, 2018

December 30, 2017 - Shawl Gap Trail and Shawl Gap Spur

The "Lee 333 Challenge"

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: 5.63 mi
     Duration: 3:24
     Ascent: 1457ft
     PATC Difficulty: 128

Lee 333 Progress Summary:
     Trails: 10 of 115
     Trail Miles:  31.95 of 342.5 miles
     Hiked Miles:  50.28 mi

Today's Track
     Today's hike started late, it was very cold and I took a nap in the car at the trail head before I ever got started.

Start of the trail on Panhandle Road

View of the ridge from the valley near the start of the trail, that's the destination.
The trail begins as a forest road
It's nice and easy going... at first.
The trail is open sky and sunny just before the 'road' section ends, glad it's not summer or I'd hate the heat here.
Trail starts to climb in earnest now that the road section is behind me.
The trail has a few rocky sections, but not many and not for long
Nice easy going....again

Looking back down hill, a spur trail leads back down the mountain towards private property.

    To the left in the picture, I came up the trail to the right. I'll explore the spur to the forest property line on the way back.

The trail gets steep as it approaches the ridge
Almost there...the ridge is in sight
This is the ridge, the Shawl Gap trail meet the Massanutten trail.
It was cold and windy, so I didn't stay long.

On the ridge (looking west)

On the ridge (looking east)

In this picture is what I think is a horse's snow shoe, it must have fallen off. 

    On my way back down I took the spur trail about a mile to the forest boundary line. The trail continues onto private property, but I turned back since it was getting late. Apparently there are a lot of trail that are like this spur in the National Forest, I'm going to add them to the Lee333 challenge as I discover them.

Nice burl on the spur trail

I didn't stop to rest the entire hike since is was too cold to be comfortable. I later paid the price with sore feet and aching calves.

A view into the valley looking east as the day lost it's light and the cold began to set in.




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