Cabin Fever!

Shenandoah Cabin and Day Hikes

January 31 - February 2, 2025

Map can be found HERE

 

Day 1 - 0 miles hiked with 0 ft up and 0 ft down of elevation change

Now for something completely different.  For our winter trip this year we decided to rent one of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club's cabins near Shenandoah National Park, using the cabin as a "base camp" and do some day hikes from there.  We stay in the Rosser Lamb Farm House just outside the SNP boundary.

I meet up with the guys over at Divens' house and we all load up in Usman's truck as he has graciously offered to drive us up to the cabin.  Being that we aren't backpacking in to the cabin, we may have brought too much stuff with us. A quick rearranging of things and then adding the hitch rack for the cooler makes it all fit.  

 

Sal's Pizza in Stanardsville, VA is our first stop for our mandatory pre-trip lunch.  After a meal of pizza and appetizers we continue up to the cabin.  The initial plan was to get settled in the cabin and do a short hike Friday afternoon.  Upon arrival in the fog and rain we decided just to hang out in the cabin and do a longer day hike Saturday when the weather is supposed to break.

The most valuable item rode in the most precarious position.

A foggy damp drive greeted us on the way up to the cabin.

 

The Rosser Lamb Farm House eventually emerged from from the fog.

 

JJ observes that people were shorter in 1915 when the house was built.
 

Carrying in copious amounts of firewood provided by Usman.

 

A brisk 40 degrees indoors upon our arrival.  This may have made us a little overzealous in our fire building for the evening.  We figured that we had plenty of firewood, we may as well burn it.

 

Examining the door that allows heat from downstairs up into the bedroom.  

Later dubbed "Satan's doorway."

Once the house begins to warm we decide to take advantage of the decidedly more posh surroundings than we are normally accustomed to on our trips and relax by the fire.  After the requisite number of tall tales are told it's time to start working on our dinner, or supper, depending on where you're from.  We all convene in the kitchen to work on our meal of burgers and fries.  There may have been a pre-meal cookie snuck in as well.

With our hunger satiated we return to the living room for more tales and a few naps.  The fireplace is discovered to be much more than just adequate at heating the house and we are plenty comfortable in just our short sleeves.  Around 10 everyone starts talking about going to bed and we finally make it there around 11 only to discover the upstairs bedroom directly over the living room is now 89 degrees!  Lying down anyway on the provided bunks we attempt to sleep.  

 

Usman and JJ seem to have little trouble falling asleep as I can hear their snoring begin shortly.  As for myself the rivulets of sweat rolling down my forehead and face are making it increasingly more difficult to try to sleep.  About 1 AM I hear Divens come upstairs grab his sleeping bag and head to the colder side of the house.  I think that's a good idea and follow.  It's amazing how much better you can sleep in a 40 degree room with a 20 degree sleep system than you can in a room that's nearly 90.  I'm so glad we shut a few doors and only heated one side of the house.

Hanging out by the fire.  CHEERS!

JJ jumping for joy that dinners almost ready.

 

Ah, burgers and fried taters on the ole Coleman stove.

 

I call this one "Santa on December 26th."

 

Told you it got hot upstairs!

Day 2 - 10.3 miles hiked with 2020 ft up and 2020 ft down of elevation change

After a fitful night we rise for a hearty breakfast and prepare for the day's hiking.  While we could have just hung around the house all day and been lazy, we decide it's probably best to get out and get moving.  The great thing about the day is we don't have to make a set number of miles to the next camp.  If we get tired we can just turn around and head back to the house.

The plan is to take the Entry Run trail up to where it meets up with the Pocosin Fire Road.  We'll then follow the fire road up to the Appalachian Trail passing by the ruins of the Upper Pocosin Mission and eventually the Pocosin Cabin where I spent a cold night a few years prior.  But that's a story for another time.  Once on the AT we'll continue north to Lewis Mountain before retracing our steps back down.

Frying up some pancakes, eggs and MAPLE SPAM.  The SPAM was surprisingly delicious.

 

The "comfort station" was delightfully decorated. 

 

Uzi checking out some photos of the home's restoration.

Group shot before heading STRAIGHT UPHILL.

I did manage to hide in the shadows so you can't get a good look at me.

Is that more SPAM I smell?

Even with the previous rain, there is still some snow on the upper reaches.

Gotta be cooler sleeping in here than down on Satan's back porch.

 

Break time at the Pocosin Cabin.

 

Just a trickle of water at the Pocosin Spring. 

The spring box had sprung several leaks along the bottom.

 

The Pocosin Cabin marks the approximate halfway point of the day's hike.  This old CCC cabin sits right off the Appalachian Trail and about 200 yards from Skyline drive.  After our break, snack and water refill we continue on the Appalachian Trail toward Lewis Mountain.  Deeper snow greets us as we climb higher making the going a little bit slower but still enjoyable in the beautiful weather.

Taking the blue blazed Lewis Mountain Summit trail we soon discover that there is little to see at the summit since it's covered with a rhododendron and laurel thicket.  The trail makes a loop around the top but offers little in the way of long range views.  Mildly disappointed, lunch awaits us back at the Lewis Mountain Campground.

 

After lunch we pick up the pace as we look forward to a nice warm house down below.  

Whose idea was this?!  Oh yeah...

Lunch Selfie!!

 

Skyline Drive shortcut.

 

JJ giving us some of his best acting techniques while inspecting weird piles of poplar seeds in the trail.  We suspect they have collected in some frozen footprints and were deposited as the snow melted.  The piles are spaced out about the length of an average human stride.

Back at the farm house the fire is rekindled, but only in the living room as we have learned our lesson from the night before.  After a brief respite and change of clothes it's time to work on dinner.  To get us started we have an appetizer of grilled chicken tacos with a side of couscous salad.  Tonight's main dinner menu features a locally sourced beef sausage in an artisanal roll accompanied by a traditional southern pasta with cheese sauce.  OK FINE it's hotdogs with mac and cheese.

Once the meal prep and leftovers are taken care of another evening of gentlemanly fellowship awaits as we all fight off sleep long enough to pretend we stayed up late.  Finally giving up we head up to bed.  One bedroom is now 47 degrees and the other is in the 30's.  Steve and I choose the 30 degree room so as to not take any chances of getting too hot to sleep.  

This is how you prepare a fine dining meal.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
   Sailed off in a wooden shoe, --
Sailed on a river of crystal light
   Into a sea of dew.

 

Day 3 - 2.4 miles hiked with 876 ft up and 876 ft down of elevation change

The morning sun greets us after a much more restful night's sleep and we get ready for breakfast.  More pancakes today with home fries, eggs and doughnuts.  With full bellies we clean up the house, pack up the truck and get ready for the trip back to Divens' house.  With all of this accomplished pretty early in the morning, we decide to do a short loop hike down to another PATC cabin and back.  

 

Starting out on the Entry Run trail again, this time we go the other direction down towards the John's Rest Cabin.  Cresting the ridge we come upon the Lamb family cemetery where several former residents of the farm house are buried.  Finding places like this helps us to remember that the areas where we often recreate had regular people with regular lives in them at one point in time.

Continuing down the ridge we reach the Rosser Lamb trail that takes us to the other cabin and eventually back up to the house.  We find ourselves in front of the quintessential log cabin and do some exploring of the site.  Consensus is reached that it would be a fine place to spend another weekend some point in the future.  The realization soon hits that if we want to make it out for a timely lunch stop we should probably head back up the hill.

 

Writing something pithy in the cabin logbook.

 

The Lamb family plot.

 

Checking out John's Rest cabin.

 

"It doesn't feel like we walked down this far"

 

These rock piles are everywhere.  Sights like this make you realize the difficulty in getting enough land cleared for it to be possible to eke out an existence for yourself and your family.

We found this nice looking cascade on the creek as we hiked back up.

 

Once back we clean out the ashes from the fireplace and stove and hop in the truck for the ride back to the real world.  Chicken sandwiches for lunch from Buttermilk and Honey in Short Pump, VA help put a bow on a fun weekend.  If you like to get outdoors but aren't too keen on camping, I can highly recommend the PATC cabins as a nice alternative.

Til next time...

Bears and Bugs and Snakes Oh My!

Gregory Bald Loop

May 15-17, 2015

Map can be found HERE

 

Day 1 - 7.1 miles hiked with 3516 ft up and 198 ft down of elevation change

The day arrives for my first backpacking trip into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I leave my house, swing by Crockett's and pick him up and head west to meet up with JJ.  Once we are all in the same vehicle we make our way to the Smokies.  Today's plan is to start out from the Twentymile Ranger Station and hike up to backcountry campsite 13.  The day becomes a little warmer than ideal and we sweat our way up the Wolf Ridge trail.  

 

In the months since Standing Indian I have gone down the ultralight backpacking rabbit hole a bit and my pack is considerably lighter than last time.

Myself, JJ and Crockett getting ready to hit the trail.  

We are all rocking the oh so unflattering but practical zip-off pants.

Many of the creek crossings in GSMNP have these log bridges.

Our first but certainly not last wildlife sighting of the trip.

The Wolf Ridge trail continues 7 miles up, and I DO mean up, to campsite 13.  BC13 is one of my favorite sites in the Smokies.  It's large with plenty of tent and hammock options and a handful of firepits for multiple groups of campers.  We arrive at the site and a group that is already there warns us of a bear they've seen walking around camp.  Keeping an eye out but not seeing the bear, we set up and prepare for dinner.

While sitting around the fire on whatever logs and rocks were available we notice another group at the site sitting in chairs drinking bourbon and smoking cigars.  A thought occurs to us that we might not be enjoying ourselves as much as we could be.  The experience does open our eyes to the possibility that chairs small enough to take backpacking do exist.

Sunlight playing across the ferns in the forest understory.

JJ demonstrating the proper wearing of the headnet.  They are much more bearable with a billed cap.  The gnats had come out in force and were determined to make a landing in our eyes.

Testing out the new and much lighter Dutchware nylon hammock.  

Part of my continuing gear evolution.

Wildlife sighting #2.  Several whitetail deer warily approached our camp this evening.

 

Backcountry sites in the Smokies are equipped with cables to make hanging food and packs easier.  We made sure to take advantage of them (it is also required), having been warned of a bear earlier.

Day 2 - 10 miles hiked with 1259 ft up and 4161 ft down of elevation change

The day dawned warm and humid, typical as the Smokies warm up for summer.  Today's hike will take us up the Gregory Bald trail, over Gregory Bald and eventually meet up with the Appalachian Trail at Buck Gap.  We then turn south on the AT towards Shuckstack and the fire tower.  Once we are done at the tower we will backtrack north on the AT to the Lost Cove trail and make our way down to campsite 90.

Crockett and I having breakfast before heading out for the day.  

He is the lone ground dweller on this trip.

Hey guys!!  I think this is the top!

The day was gray but still very much worth the work to get up here.

One of my favorite photos JJ has ever taken of me while hiking.

Calling the bear hotline to see if they like blueberries.  They do.

 

We spent a pretty good while admiring the views from Gregory Bald before continuing on towards the AT and ultimately Shuckstack fire tower.  Something I learned on this trip is to make sure you are out of sight of the trail when nature calls and also that you know exactly how to get back to the trail!  Luckily being pretty much in sight of the trail I was able to look up and see my friends waiting on me to finish. 

 

Going southbound on the AT we soon reached backcountry campsite 113 aka Birch Spring Campground and elected to have lunch here.  This very nice site was closed when we were there due to bear activity.  Closures are fairly common and always remember to check the park webpage for trail and park closures when making your reservations.

Some common sense right here.  The Smokies have one of the highest concentrations of black bears anywhere in the United States so it's not unusual to see signs like these and signs of the bears themselves.  Although in the intervening years I have hiked 400 miles and spent over 40 nights in the park and have only actually seen a handful of bears.  More on that later...

Birch Spring Campground also known as Backcountry Site 113.

After lunch we made our way down to the Shuckstack fire tower.  If you are ever in this area of the park, the tower is worth the effort to reach it.  Some of the most amazing views of the park are found at the top of the tower.  A short side trail off the AT leads to the base of the tower.  Unfortunately the top of the tower was locked and inaccessible so we had to settle for the views from the stairs.

Shuckstack fire tower viewed from the base.

Fontana Lake as seen from the tower.  The dam can be seen in the right side of the photo.

Crockett putting a happy face on the climb up the narrow stairs.

I'm apparently channeling a high rise steelworker here.

Leaving the tower we hike northbound up the Appalachian Trail to the Lost Cove trail junction.  The three steep miles of this trail will bring us to campsite 90 on the shore of  Fontana Lake.  Be prepared to lose nearly 2000 ft of elevation from the AT down to the campsite.  Even more disheartening was knowing that we would have to climb right back up this trail in the morning to go home.  Such is the way of the Smokies and the designated campsites.  Sometimes you have to take a less than desirable route to make the trip work.  I will say though that having the designated sites helps to concentrate the human impact in much smaller areas and I greatly appreciate not seeing a campsite and associated toilet paper blooms every 200 ft in the other areas of the backcountry.

It's not called Lost Cove for nothing! 😉

 

An unbridged creek crossing provides some welcome relief for tired, sore feet.

This has got to be the most unflattering shirt I've ever worn backpacking by the way.

Looking down on backcountry site 90 with Fontana Lake slightly visible through the trees.  Another excellent site although it is reachable by boat so it tends to accumulate trash more than some of the more remote sites.  This in turn attracts animals.  More on that later...

Looking down at Fontana Lake from BC90.

Say hello to my little friend!

I think he might have followed us from Wolf Ridge trail because we look like so much fun.

Crockett and I marveling at JJ's ability to build a bonfire even in the often damp Smokies.

Day 3 - 8 miles hiked with 1912 ft up and 2328 ft down of elevation change

PERV BEAR appears!  As promised earlier, here's the bear story.  

 

I was answering the call of nature about 1 am at the edge of the campsite.  I tend to scan around the area with my headlamp while doing this and on one pass I see 2 orange glowing dots about 50 ft up the hill from me.  I'm pretty sure this is not a deer as my lamp picks up no lighter color in the neighborhood of the eyes.  I can only see the eyes slowly blink in a black void on this moonless night.  "HEY BEAR" in my most intimidating voice causes the eyes to turn and retreat into the black night.  Just to make sure it's gone I go wake JJ and Crockett.  JJ is so sound asleep I can bearly wake him.  After what seems like an hour we get up and look around to make sure it's gone and then return to bed in an attempt to sleep.  Not more than a couple of minutes after settling down I hear a stick fall from a tree and hit the top of Crockett's tent and slide down the side with a loud zzzzzip sound.  The next thing I hear is him flailing about and yelling trying to get out of the tent.  I very nearly wet myself laughing when I figured out what had happened, good thing I had just gone to the bathroom!  This incident repeatedly gets brought up with the joke that maybe it was just trying to get a look at the goods.  We then christen this animal the Perv Bear.

Once the eventful night passes we wake and begin to pack up for the hike out to the Jeep.  As soon as we start back up the Lost Cove trail it starts to rain turning the steep trail into one long muddy slip and slide.  The final wildlife encounter of the weekend occurs when I round the bend and see a low black shape drinking from a stream right in front of me.  After the night before you can imagine what I was thinking.  This is not a bear however.  It's one of the Smokies feral pigs.  Upon seeing me it bolts straight up the rocky mountainside at the side of the trail.  I had no idea pigs could move so fast!  Following this last wildlife encounter we scramble up the muddy trail to once again reach the AT.  This time we take the Twentymile trail back to the parking lot at the ranger station.

Twentymile trail coming down from the AT.

One benefit of hitting the Smokies when it's warmer, the mountain laurel have started blooming.

Twentymile Cascades.

 

Wondering when our pizzas are going to show up as it feels like we are about to starve to death.

What a wonderful adventure.  The events of the weekend only helped to further cement in my mind that I had found something I loved to do.  Even the frights from the bear and snake and pig couldn't keep me away.

Til next time...