First chunk of my section hike north to Massachusetts. Climb out of DWG was much easier for me than last year's westward climb over the rocks around Mt. Minsi on the Pennsylvania side. Temps were moderate and I was lucky enough to be in tent for the few times that the rain got above a drizzle. Great views of the lakes and forests, birds, chipmunks, and squirrels going wild with spring's arrival.
I checked the car in at the HPSP ranger station and enjoyed an on-time and informative shuttle on the back roads to the Tammany trailhead and walked out of morning drizzle onto a glorious day of birdsong on Racoon Ridge. Mohican Outdoor Center was an easy ten miles in spite of a little mud, a few blowdowns, and one trailside rattler who was so chill that it didn't even coil. It was checking me out, though, zoom in on the raised head in the photo.
Best hotcake ever at MOC before I hiked on to Catfish fire tower and spent a hour with the fire ranger learning about the world he works in, enjoying the views across into PA, north to the Catskills, and the High Point Monument a few days ahead.
The lakeside scramble around Sunfish Pond seemed more difficult than it needed to be. A curious collection of artfully done rock cairns covers one of the stony beaches that the trail goes by, idle time activity for fishermen?
I filled up on water at Crater Lake (why "Crater"?) and tented out with a few others at one of the semi developed sites. No bear box, but a well placed branch allowed a spec 12-6 hang.
The views and critters were too enjoyable to rush by, so I took my time for the next two days and stopped to tent out at Gren Anderson and at Rutherford shelters. Plenty of clean water at each location! Gren Anderson is showing its age, but was reasonably clean; Rutherford was unfortunately dirty enough that I considered moving on.
A little respect for trail maintainers? Bear boxes and privies are not trash cans!
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Virginia is Not Flat