View Full Version : Shenandoah: Loft Mountain Campground to Elkwallow Gap
trippclark
06-19-2009, 13:10
I spent a few days on a section hike earlier this month hiking from Loft Mountain Campground to Elkwallow Gap. This was an often wet but quite enjoyable section which put me over the 900 mile mark on my 20-year hike towards Katahdin, and gave me a chance for a personal highest mileage day, with 27.5 miles on Saturday. For any who are interested, I posted a few pictures at
http://www.trippclark.com/loft_mntn_cg_to_elkwallow_gap.htm
and there is also a link over to trailjournals.com for a narrative of the trip.
Nice looking hike. It seems strange to see Shenandoah so wet. When I hiked, it was during a drought and a three mile section near the southern entrance was scorched by a run-away controlled burn.
Cookerhiker
06-19-2009, 14:46
Nice looking hike. It seems strange to see Shenandoah so wet. When I hiked, it was during a drought and a three mile section near the southern entrance was scorched by a run-away controlled burn.
When I was clearing trail on HighTop about a month ago the spring on top was flush and there were 2 seasonal springs - one near the top, onen the north side - which rarely if ever appear. The one near the top was gushing onto the trail - I diverted most of it with a McCloud but with all the rain, it's probably still a mini-ford.
mooseboy
06-19-2009, 14:48
Looks like a great trip. I'm hoping to do Shenandoah myself soon. I'm surprised you had so much sun in the midst of all these rainstorms!
trippclark
06-19-2009, 16:22
Looks like a great trip. I'm hoping to do Shenandoah myself soon. I'm surprised you had so much sun in the midst of all these rainstorms!
Thursday thru early Saturday morning was overcast and raining almost 100% of the time. It cleared off progressively on Saturday morning, and the trip ended on a stunningly beautiful Sunday.
When were you there? I just went through there this week. We were at Rock Spring on Tuesday, High Top? on Wednesday and Black Rock on Thursday. It rained on us for 28 straight hours! I am beat, every day was over 20 miles, then I had to drive 10.5 hours to get home!
trippclark
06-21-2009, 07:55
When were you there? I just went through there this week. We were at Rock Spring on Tuesday, High Top? on Wednesday and Black Rock on Thursday. It rained on us for 28 straight hours! I am beat, every day was over 20 miles, then I had to drive 10.5 hours to get home!
Started at Loft Mountain CG about 5:00 PM on June 4, and finished at Elkwallow Gap a little after noon on June 7.
Yeah, I had an 8 hour plus drive myself.