Team Builder

I am Johnny Anal when it comes to these camping trips I guess. I am going to be homo and pack my bag tonight for a "dry run". I am no good at packing my gear so I am wanting to see where I am at with all of that. I will need to be fairly good since I am sure I will probably have to carry some of the things that my wife doesn't or cant carry. I have faith in her though, she is pretty hard core.

I am guessing that we will be close to about 20 miles roundtrip. It should be pretty fun. It's been a while since we have been ALONE and enjoyed each others company. Not even sure that we will know what to do with ourselves.

The plan as of right now is to leave here in the early to mid-afternoon (11-1) and get to Shenandoah NP 3 hours later. We will arrive at the entry point and hike in about 6 miles and try to stay near a cemetary. Then we will set off the next morning and head into bear country. We will eventually make our way to the Appalachian Trail (AT) and find a place to slumber. On the final day we will get up and hopefully only have a 5-8 miles to hike out. If we have time we will try to head down a trail and see a 93' waterfall. Then getting our sore butts home. We are trying to get out early enough to get some goodies for the boy and ourselves at the gift shop which is at the half way point of the park.

Here is a map of the area that we will be hiking. It has the loop that we are going to do.

If you look at the right side of the map you will see a trail called KEYSER RUN FIRE ROAD. We will take that for a bit and then jump onto another trail eventually leading us to DEVILS STAIRCASE. I had told myself that I would never attempt this trail again but my wife wants to see what I was whining about when I went before. We will hike up about a mile past that parking lot shown and stay at a cemetary that is about a mile above that. It is at the intersection of the HULL SCHOOL TRAIL and KEYSER RUN. We'll stay on the HULL SCHOOL TRAIL and branch off onto the THORNTON RIVER TRAIL. This is where it gets cool. It's a nice trail and they say it's the best place to catch a glimpse of a black bear. I had seen one there last year. Then we will cross the Skyline Drive and head out on the AT all the way back to our car.

Wish us luck. We will be going up to REI again on Friday to get a few odds and ends to make the trip a bit easier. I need some long underwear tops and some hiking socks. I am sure that I will find a few other odds and ends too. I also see that it's supposed to rain next Friday too. I hope that it's nothing major or an all weekend thing.