rmitchell
09-15-2013, 22:11
Tuesday I returned from a section hike northbound from Daleville to Spy Rock Road trail distance of 95 miles.. The weather was warm but remarkabily it did not rain for the entire trip. Probably due to the rainy summer, water was not an issue. All the springs and streams had some water avaiable.
In a couple of sections the weeds were quite tall. Between Big Rocky Row and Punch Bowl Mountain the stinging nettles and goldenrod were chest high. I had to were my long underwear for protection from the nettles. Also from Hwy 60 to the top of Bald Knob had high weeds but not as bad. I did report this to the Natural Bridge Club. (In all fairness to the volunteer maintainers, it has been a very wet summmer. The goats I use for weed controll at home are behind on their usual job.)
I visited all but one of the shelters in the area but stayed in only two of them. Mosquitos were pretty bad so I preferred to sleep in my tent. There was not a lot of hiker traffic. In 8 days I met about 25 other backpackers. All but one night I camped alone.
Some of the southbound thru hikers I met included Brightside, Numbers, Stretch, The Jesus and Minty Fresh. There were others but I forgot their names.
AWOL's 2013 guide was spot on as to water, camping locations and services. The only correction that I can think of is that the campsite listed at NoBo mile 797.5 is posted as no camping. This may be because of the proximity to the Lyncburg Reservior. All shelters had a water source except for Cove Mountain which is listed in the Data Book and in AWOL's guide as "nw".
Cow Camp shelter is .6 miles off the trail so I did not go by it. The other shelters were well maintained and clean with little trash. Most all of the shelters had new privys.
I saw a some scat but no bears. There were hundreds of squirrels and several deer.
I hope this is of some use to anyone intending to travel this section in the near future.
In a couple of sections the weeds were quite tall. Between Big Rocky Row and Punch Bowl Mountain the stinging nettles and goldenrod were chest high. I had to were my long underwear for protection from the nettles. Also from Hwy 60 to the top of Bald Knob had high weeds but not as bad. I did report this to the Natural Bridge Club. (In all fairness to the volunteer maintainers, it has been a very wet summmer. The goats I use for weed controll at home are behind on their usual job.)
I visited all but one of the shelters in the area but stayed in only two of them. Mosquitos were pretty bad so I preferred to sleep in my tent. There was not a lot of hiker traffic. In 8 days I met about 25 other backpackers. All but one night I camped alone.
Some of the southbound thru hikers I met included Brightside, Numbers, Stretch, The Jesus and Minty Fresh. There were others but I forgot their names.
AWOL's 2013 guide was spot on as to water, camping locations and services. The only correction that I can think of is that the campsite listed at NoBo mile 797.5 is posted as no camping. This may be because of the proximity to the Lyncburg Reservior. All shelters had a water source except for Cove Mountain which is listed in the Data Book and in AWOL's guide as "nw".
Cow Camp shelter is .6 miles off the trail so I did not go by it. The other shelters were well maintained and clean with little trash. Most all of the shelters had new privys.
I saw a some scat but no bears. There were hundreds of squirrels and several deer.
I hope this is of some use to anyone intending to travel this section in the near future.