This weekend a friend of mine (Vivian) and I went on a backpacking trip. This was her first
backpacking trip (although she'd been on long hiking trips many times before), and we got off to a bit of a late start on Saturday morning. Since we were a little pressed for time and not quite sure how much actual hiking she would be up for we decided to pick somewhere fairly easy and close. In the Northern Virginia area that pretty much always means a trip out to the
Shenandoah National Park. There are plenty of other places to hike, but not quite so many that allow overnight camping.
Located less than two hours away from most of the Washington, D.C. area, the Shenandoah National Park is a very popular destination for people wanting to get a taste of the outdoors. Luckily, the weather was a bit on the chilly side (mid 40s-mid 30s over the weekend), so we didn't encounter the usual horde of weekend warriors decked out in the latest in fashionable gear from
The North Face. The park makes its money off of these people, sure, but it's still nice when they stay home. For this weekend's trip we decided to go down to the
Matthew's Arm area (and not just because of the similarity to my name). This area boasts a great waterfall view (off of the Tuscarora Trail), some good elevation change, and a decent chance of finding a good camping spot. There are also plenty of trails in the area allowing us to tailor the length of our trip as we went.
The day started out with absolutely perfect weather and temperature, with just a splattering of clouds in the sky and just warm enough that we didn't really need more than a layer or two to stay warm. Considering the forecast when we planned this trip was calling for cold and rainy the entire weekend, we couldn't have asked for nicer conditions. From the beginning of the trip it was readily apparent who would be carrying the majority of the load (my pack is on the right, and holds a full 50L more than hers).
Of course, the bag looks just right when she's wearing it, so mine must be ridiculously over-sized:
The last time I was on this trail the water was in fairly short supply, but thankfully that wasn't an issue this time. The waterfalls were all very active, and the river by our campsite was flowing quite nicely. This did mean a couple of water crossings, of course, but none that we couldn't manage with a bit of careful stepping.
Spring is definitely just around the corner, and the trees and flowers are all starting to leaf and bloom. These little flowers were everywhere along the trail, and while I don't know what they are called, they are very photogenic.
We managed to find a good place to camp somewhere in the middle of the land of a million rocks (the trail was filled with large rocks). This entire area was obviously within a flood area at one point in time (due to the rocks and general shape of the terrain), but that wasn't a concern for this weekend.
As usual, my whisperlight handled the task of heating water for food.
As per NPS rules for wilderness camping (and as is just general good sense), our food was stored in a "bear bag" high above the ground in case any such creatures decided to come sniffing around.
Being in the middle of the woods doesn't mean you can ignore proper hygiene!
Being in the middle of the woods also doesn't mean you have to give up some comforts.
The weekend ended quite a bit colder and cloudier than it started, with the smell of wetness (rain? snow?) in the air. We were quite happy to make it back to the car when we did and as warm as we did.
A cloudy sky might have made the views a little darker, but this part of the country is still beautiful.
While a short trip, it was a lot of fun, and I think Vivian's gotten bitten by the backpacking bug, so I imagine there will be more trips in the future. The rest of the pictures are available in my
photo gallery.
