Feburary 11, 2019 - Mine Gap and Massanutten Mountain Trails

Mine Gap Trail as seen from Saturn

    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: 5.83
Duration: 3.48
Ascent: 1448ft
PATC Difficulty: 129

Lee 333 Progress Summary:
Trails: 21 of 106
Trail Miles: 54.18 of 342.82 miles
Hiked Miles: 106.76 miles

 Today's Track

    OK, so today I planned on hiking part of the Tuscarora trail by parking at the north end of FR66 and hiking west up to the ridge via the Massanutten trail (starting at the upper X in the picture above). However, FR 66 was closed at the lower X.

Parking at the closed gate on FR 66

    So instead, I parked at the stop sign near the closed gate and I hiked north on FR 66 to the Mine Gap trail. I followed the Mine Gap trail up to the Tuscarora trail. The weather was rather cool but not too bad and I warmed up quite a bit by the time I reached the ridge and the Tuscarora trail.

Nice Stream on FR 66 at the Closed Gate

Closed Gate on FR 66

Mine Gap Trail Head on FR66

FR 66 from the Mine Gap Trail

Mine Gap Trail Near FR 66

Mine Gap Trail starts the climb to the ridge

Nearing the ridge and the Massanutten Mountain Trail

Intersection of the Mine Gap and Massanutten Mountain Trails

Intersection of the Mine Gap and Massanutten Mountain Trails

    Next I hiked north along the Tuscarora trail where it began to get very cold even though there was no wind. In about half a mile the trail moved just off the ridge to the eastern slope and it wasn't as cold. When I reached the intersection with the Massanutten trail, I stopped for lunch. I brought a fried chicken breast and a banana.

Looking north on the Massanutten Mountain Trail along the ridge 

Fort Valley from the Massanutten Mountain Trail

Massanutten Mountain ridge is too rocky so the trail is slightly east of the ridge

More ridge rocks

Intersection of the Massanutten Mountain Trail and Doll Ridge Trails 

Intersection of the Massanutten Mountain Trail and the Tuscarora Trails

A great place for a lunch break

     As I ate, I got cold again prompting me to get moving. I headed back south. When I reached the Mine Gap trail I decided to go a bit farther south to lengthen today's hike and shorten the Tuscarora future hike from the south.

On the Massanutten Trail south of Mine Gap Trail

On the Massanutten Trail south of Mine Gap Trail (my turn around point)

    The Tuscarora trail was flat easy walking without rocks south of Mine Gap. I picked an easy to identify spot with a rock outcropping to be my turnaround point. I wanted a place easy to spot on that future Tuscarora hike when coming from the other direction.

Mine Gap Spur at Mine Road

     I made may way back to the Mine gap trail and started back down. My knees are definitely not what the once were and they were hurting by the time I had gotten off the steeper section.

At the end of Mine Road

    The Mine Gap trail has a couple of spurs that lead to forest roads. By combining both of them with a bit of forest road walking and a short section of bushwhacking I zigzagged my way back to the car.

Intersection of another Mine Gap Trail Spur and Mine Mountain Road

Janurary 27, 2019 - Finishing the Tuscarora (Bear Wallow Section)

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: 7.59
Duration: 4.24
Ascent: 1323ft
PATC Difficulty: 141

Lee 333 Progress Summary:
Trails: 20 of 106
Trail Miles: 53.24 of 342.82 miles
Hiked Miles: 100.93 miles

Today's Track

    Today's hike only added about 0.8 miles to my Lee333 completed total. To complete the final 0.8 miles of the of Tuscarora Bear Wallow Section  I, once again, hiked FR66 from the gate at its northern end to the Tuscarora trail. From there I hiked east up to the ridge where the trail intersects the Meneka Peak Trail, my goal. Then I just retraced my steps back to the car.

There where lots of horseback riders on the trail today.

There where lots of horseback riders on the trail today.

   For January, there were a lot of hikers and riders out, probably because the temperature peaked at about 45 degrees. Just past the gate on FR66, about 8 riders (all women), passed me. About a quarter mile farther on they stopped. I caught up and was able to talk to one of the riders and admire her horse.

One of several stream crossings

Typical FR66

Trail around the lake

 Nice

Boy Scouts and the water bottle  (white speck on the lower right)

   At the Strasburg Reservoir, I caught up with a lot of boy scouts. I took the time to talk to a couple of their leaders. The boys had tossed a water bottle out on to the frozen lake and were attempting to tie together long sticks to reach it. They only got about 50% of the distance. They headed off around the west side of the lake while I continued on the east side.

Strasburg Reservoir

Boy Scouts Crossing the creek at the Tuscarora/FR66 intersection

Lunch Bench at the Tuscarora/FR66 intersection

    Along the east side of the lake I passed the riders again. I think they were heading back south from there. Across the lake I could see the boy scouts, we reached the intersection on the north end of the lake at the same time. From there it is just a short distance to the Tuscarora intersection. I sat on a rock and watched them cross the creek and start up the east ridge. Once they were gone I took over the bench and had lunch.

Tuscarora/FR66 intersection

Me

Rider coming down Tuscarora from Meneka Peak Trail

     I got started again and finally was on new trail (for me). It was a short 0.8 miles to the top. On the way up the trail gets rough. So you might imagine my surprise when I encountered three riders coming down the trail. They were stopped so I said hello and the lead rider asked me to take her picture with her phone and I asked if I could take a picture with mine too, she agreed. Unfortunately I took a blurry picture with my phone.

Tuscarora West of Meneka Peak Trail

Tuscarora West of Meneka Peak Trail (must be tough on horses)

Nearing the Peak

One of the few views (part way up to the ridge)

A switchback (part way up to the ridge)

Intersection with Meneka Peak Trail

   Once at the top, I took a few pix, had a drink and headed back. On the way down, I passed a young woman with a husky dog with amazing grey eyes. We said hello but continued hiking.

From the ridge looking east

Woodpecker work at the ridge

See the lake from the ridge??

How about now?

    Back at the Tuscarora intersection bench I rested. A young couple passed me coming back down from Signal Knob. At the next creek crossing, the couple were trying to find the best place to cross when I approached. The guy had crossed upstream and the girl was looking for a place near the road. I stepped across on rocks just under the surface of the water. Once she saw where I crossed she easily stepped across on the same rocks. I think they did not want to get dirty, their clothes and boots were new. In a few hundred yards they passed me again and I only saw them a couple more times in the distance. They were hiking much faster than me. I think they were parked on the other side of the ridge and still had a long way to go and it was getting close to 5pm and dusk.

Last view of the Lake