dperry
05-16-2009, 13:10
The wife and I were going to hike between Chester Gap and Sky Meadows in Virginia over Memorial Day weekend, but various intrusions of real life are going to prevent that (not to mention finding out that that's also the weekend the world's largest strawberry festival is at Sky Meadows. Research, research. . .:rolleyes:) Anyway, we're planning to go between Pearisburg and Catawba in mid-August, and I'd like to get in at least one weekend trip between here and there, so I can test out my new pack and we can get in some practice going longer distances. Unfortunately, the next good window to go out won't be until the end of June. Here are the choices:
1.) We could stick to the plan and do Chester Gap to Sky Meadows. The question there is, will it be mercilessly hot? We did that last year here in PA, and I'd rather not do it again, if it can be avoided.
2.) Alternatively, we could go up to Massachusetts somewhere, which would be cooler. However, I'm concerned that the bugs might still be an issue, and also, Massachusetts might be a bit too flat to really get good training for Southern Virginia (and going up, say, Mt. Greylock might be a little too much training at this point.):)
3.) Or, we could not do the AT at all, and maybe go up to northern PA instead. We've been to World's End, for instance, and that would have some nice steep hills to go up on. Also, it would put us farther back on our AT schedule, which I would like to avoid.
So what do you all think? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
1.) We could stick to the plan and do Chester Gap to Sky Meadows. The question there is, will it be mercilessly hot? We did that last year here in PA, and I'd rather not do it again, if it can be avoided.
2.) Alternatively, we could go up to Massachusetts somewhere, which would be cooler. However, I'm concerned that the bugs might still be an issue, and also, Massachusetts might be a bit too flat to really get good training for Southern Virginia (and going up, say, Mt. Greylock might be a little too much training at this point.):)
3.) Or, we could not do the AT at all, and maybe go up to northern PA instead. We've been to World's End, for instance, and that would have some nice steep hills to go up on. Also, it would put us farther back on our AT schedule, which I would like to avoid.
So what do you all think? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.