Winter SNP Thru-Hike

[lal2wx]

Hey guys, I posted in the SNP forum but wanted input from you all too.

I'm looking into doing the SNP section next month and wanted to see if anyone had general input, experience with water sources in the park during the winter, or info on parking at each end for setting up a car shuttle.

I have experience camping in alpine situations so I know I have the gear and am planning to do it fast and light (as much as you can with winter gear!). I'm thinking 4 full days for the 100 miles which is a fair pace even with the early sunsets for me. If we get another partner we might put a car in the middle as a gear cache and do a lot of miles our first day, but this feels like cheating to me so tbd.

I'm a college student from nearby SNP and have spent many summer, fall, and spring days in the park but not too many during the winter since I'm usually busy with finals or gone for break.

Thanks for any input you can share!

[chknfngrs]

Range View Cabin has a killer spring. Only experience I have w winter in the park. I suspect all waysides will be closed and you may have to drop off ridge for water. Don’t know though.

[Coffee]

There are frost free hydrants at certain locations (the park should be able to provide a list). I remember using one near the Swift Run Gap entrance station (slightly off the AT) and in the Big Meadows complex. In addition to Range View Cabin, the Rose River provided good water for me in a snowy March hike several years ago. I've hiked the entire AT through the park but only sections of it in winter conditions. Beautifully uncrowded but few services and downright frigid in winter.

[1azarus]

expect the drive to be closed if there is a glimmer of a threat of snow, and plan shuttling/parking to work on other roads if that happens.

[Skyline]

After 12 noon on 11/26/17--zero commercial establishments will be open, until next Spring. So you can't depend on those. Already, all but Lewis Mt. cabins and campstore, plus Skyland Lodge, are closed. Dickey Ridge VC also closes 11/26/17, and Byrd VC converts to weekends-only the following weekend, weather permitting.

Access via Skyline Drive is iffy in the winter, because of reduced staffing. The Drive may be closed at any time, ostensibly because adequate staff is not present to assist Park visitors who have vehicle trouble or get into an accident while driving in the Park. In my experience, even the forecast of a few snow flurries can trigger a closure. Once snow or ice build up on the Drive, it can be days or weeks before it's reopened. Some years, there are very few closures. Others, it seems the Drive is closed more than open. If you park at a Skyline Drive-accessed trailhead, and weather causes a closure, you're possibly locked in. Rangers shouldput a notice on your vehicle telling you what to do to get out, but if not, you're on your own to call the Park's public number at 540-999-3500 and listen to the menu to speak to someone live.

There are plenty of hike-in entry points to access boundary trails if the Drive is closed. These are especially good for doing non-AT loops closer to the hollows and boundaries, but some trails can get you up to the AT or back down (a good PATC map set is valuable in this pursuit). Here is a link to a list from 2010 (the web page hasn't been updated since then but perhaps there hasn't been a reason to?):

http://www.guidetosnp.com/web/ShenandoahNationalPark_Boundary_Trails_Access.pdf

You can call an automated system at 540-999-3500, press 1, then press 1 again to find out if the Drive is open.

To find out about best weather guestimates for elevations above 3,000 ft, The Weather Channel has this link:

https://weather.com/weather/today/l/USVA0704

(Temps are often 10 degrees or so colder in higher elevations than in nearby towns. Great in the summer; not so much in winter when it might be raining down below but sleeting or snowing higher up.)

There are other relevant SNP weather-related links here:

https://www.nps.gov/shen/planyourvisit/weather.htm

[lal2wx]

Thanks guys. All great info, especially on the reliable winter springs.

We're semi-local (Charlottesville) so are familiar with the Park's winter closures. Have had to park at Reids Gap multiple times to hike in for winter hikes and ice climbing those rare times the weather is cooperative.

Going to have to look into a little more about parking options near the two gates where I feel comfortable leaving a car for two nights.

[dcdennis]

bring microspikes or you will not survive :)

[im lost]

what he said bring microspikes have hiked all of snp in winter its great no crowds