1st Section in SNP starting May 25

[wallace]

Hi all,

This Friday, May 25, I'll be starting my first section hike. I've always day hiked before but this is my first time backpacking and covering any distance. I was inspired to try it after meeting some through hikers last year in SNP. My friend and I will be hiking SNP southbound from Front Royal to Waynesboro. I thought by going south I would meet more throughs. (would not be able to keep up with them if I went north anyway). I have my pack weight including food down around 24 pounds. This does not include water. I am hoping to do 12 to 13 miles per day. Seem reasonable? Hope to meet some of you out there.

[Alligator]

12-13 sounds reasonable if you are used to hiking some. That's a relatively easy section of the trail. I section hike and I did the top North and Central portions of the park in winter at that pace.

[Creek Dancer]

Seems reasonable to me. This is a nice section. Don't count on staying in the shelters because they may be full of thru hikers this time of year, not to mention the extra people out for the holiday weekend. Have a great time.

[Skyline]

SNP is easier than many sections of the AT, but there are ascents, descents, and rocks contrary to rumors that blossom every Spring in Georgia. If going shelter-to-shelter, you'll find a couple of them are spread out to make for longer daily mileage than 12-13, and in another instance you will have to choose between short and much longer mileage where the next is closer but the one after that is quite a bit further. This time of year (NOBO prime time), and particularly during a holiday weekend, expect the shelters and nearby designated tentsites to be packed.

Keeping your pack weight that low should be a positive.

There are commercial campgrounds, lodges, etc. that will give you other options as well as stealth sites along the AT if you know where to look. On the outside chance you need a commercial shuttle service anytime during your journey, Rodney Ketterman covers the area between Harpers Ferry and Reeds Gap--which includes all of SNP. He can be reached at 540-743-1355 or 540-671-1734.

[Blissful]

The nice thing about SNP is that you are not limited to camping only at the hut areas. But being on a ridge, and also needing to stay in their regs, can make tenting choices a bit more challenging than other areas of the AT. But it is better in that respect than the Smokies. But you don't have to limit yourself only to the huts.

And I would watch "stealth camping" if this is your first time out. Sure pros might do it. But I advise against it. The rangers will be patrolling on a holiday weekend, and esp around the developed areas, and I have seen hikers caught and fined. And make sure you have your backcountry permit displayed. They do check them (we had ours checked near Elkwallow)

Sounds like a great plan, hope you have a ton of fun!

[Bonjour]

My wife and I had the same plan last year and it worked well. It worked well to walk south and meet new people every day. The services in the park also meant that we didn't have to carry as much food. As I recall the blueberry pancakes at Big Meadow were superb! Have a good time.

[Skyline]

The nice thing about SNP is that you are not limited to camping only at the hut areas. But being on a ridge, and also needing to stay in their regs, can make tenting choices a bit more challenging than other areas of the AT. But it is better in that respect than the Smokies. But you don't have to limit yourself only to the huts.

And I would watch "stealth camping" if this is your first time out. Sure pros might do it. But I advise against it. The rangers will be patrolling on a holiday weekend, and esp around the developed areas, and I have seen hikers caught and fined. And make sure you have your backcountry permit displayed. They do check them (we had ours checked near Elkwallow)

Sounds like a great plan, hope you have a ton of fun!

Most of the "stealth" sites I had in mind might more properly be called "primitive" sites. They are mostly legal or at worst in a kind of gray zone. I agree the inexperienced should not attempt to be "stealthy" in developed areas because those are the most likely places to get caught.

Rodney (see above) has a list of areas to look for sites that fit the above description (gleaned from shelter registers, online journals, and other sources) that he provides to his shuttle customers on request, along with a spreadsheet of water sources along the AT.

[wallace]

The nice thing about SNP is that you are not limited to camping only at the hut areas. But being on a ridge, and also needing to stay in their regs, can make tenting choices a bit more challenging than other areas of the AT. But it is better in that respect than the Smokies. But you don't have to limit yourself only to the huts.

Thanks for the responses. We are planning on hammocking off trail. The regs have a minimum distance and a requirement to be out of site. Will have the permit also. It seems like we should be able to easily find good spaces to hang and still be legal.

[Blissful]

Thanks for the responses. We are planning on hammocking off trail. The regs have a minimum distance and a requirement to be out of site. Will have the permit also. It seems like we should be able to easily find good spaces to hang and still be legal.

Oooh, yeah, hammock hanging. The woods is yours, then ! Should be super, weather looks fantastic.

[ms doolittle]

Two friends are section hiking SNP NOBO starting this weekend. You'll pass them. Guy and a girl, were once mistaken for brother and sister. 5'4" and 5'5" both have dark hair and wear glasses. Really, you can't miss them.

I'll be in the area as well, but I'll be looking to hog tie a certain thru-hiker.....

[jlb2012]

I'll be in the area as well, but I'll be looking to hog tie a certain thru-hiker.....

Green Hornet is passing through SNP? I'll keep an eye out for ya'll.

[ms doolittle]

Green Hornet is passing through SNP? I'll keep an eye out for ya'll.

Yeah, I think he's somewhere near Waynesboro, but not certain exactly where. If he didn't chicken out, he'll be wearing a Mountain Hardware kilt, courtesy of moi.

He's been missing in action. Last anyone had heard from him was 5/14 when he was in Pearisburg.

I'm staying at Highpoint Hut on Saturday night with Spindlette and No_Granola. At least, that's the plan for now.

[jlb2012]

Highpoint ? perhaps you mean Hightop? - the one just south of Swift Run Gap?

[ms doolittle]

Yeah, that's the one. Sorry, didn't have the information in front of me. Between mile 66 and 67, I believe?

[Tipi Walter]

I did this backpacking trip with an old girlfriend long ago but it was in early March when the Skyline road was closed and so we had some peace and quiet. I imagine your biggest hassle will be with the noise polluting cars and motorcycles. Then again, human noise on a backpacking trip is one of my biggest pet peeves.

When we went we entered in the south at Waynesboro after a long hitchhiking trip from Asheville, NC, and immediately found a campsite right at the entrance to the Park cuz we were knackered from the hitching. At that time we didn't see a ranger or the tent police or the backpacking gestapos or nylon nannies or the Gotcha! types(in a german accent say, "May I see your paper work!!?") Aw, shucks, I'm off topic again.

We stayed one night atop Marys Rock where a mean midnight windstorm toppled a dead tree onto our dome tent breaking a pole and ripping the fly. No bother, the trip continued and we hitched into Luray for food and got back to the Park in swirling snow and solitude. We didn't see a single human the whole trip.

[ms doolittle]

Okay, another correction. 67 & 68 mile markers.

If you see a girl wandering around aimlessly with long blonde hair, it's me.

I'm really not this bad with directions, really.

[jmcgarrahan]

Do you enter the SNP as soon as you leave Waynesboro? or is it a few more miles North?

[Lone Wolf]

Do you enter the SNP as soon as you leave Waynesboro? or is it a few more miles North?

about .8 to the self-registration/park entrance

[jmcgarrahan]

Thank you thats the way it looked on the map, but I wasn't sure. Will be hiking that first section of the SNP from Waynesboro to, well I don't know where, Thursday afternoon till saturday sometime, or until I collapse, which ever comes first.

[jlb2012]

Do you enter the SNP as soon as you leave Waynesboro? or is it a few more miles North?

about .8 to the self-registration/park entrance

Well this is a yes and no sort of thing - yes you will pass through a small part of SNP as soon as you leave Rockfish Gap but then you will be hiking outside of the park until a few tenths north of Calf Mtn Shelter - approximately .3 before Jarman Gap - so you will have several miles north of Rockfish Gap where you are not in SNP.