A brief vacation – Hikes in southern Shenandoah National Park and the Trout Pond Valley – Continued decline in COVID infections and deaths – Evening statistics
AD and RH rented a house in rural Virginia for themselves and ten others. The house location is about a 90-minute drive from Fairfax, but the area becomes quite rural as one gets further west from DC. The twelve of us stayed in a large house with numerous bedrooms and a comfortably large sitting room. The house was in the vicinity of a local museum that focuses on the floats used in American parades. It was closed for the season, as was a huge yellow barn across the road that is rented out for events with a large number of people, such as weddings and family reunions. The house probably would be less comfortably during the height of the season, but as it was, the place was quiet and serene, and we were not troubled by contending with other cars for space in the museum’s parking area, which is used by the house visitors as well.
We arrived on Friday evening, hiked on Saturday and Sunday, and dined and breakfasted from Friday evening to Monday morning. As is generally the case in such excursions, we ate quite elaborately. We always attempt to accommodate the vegetarians in our group, but if the phrase “vegetarian dinner” conjures up a picture of lean and skeletal persons gnawing on a couple of raw carrots with the drinks supplied by a water jug – you can dismiss that image. On Friday, for instance, we had eggplant lasagna, a rather complicated dish of tofu and cauliflower seasoned with cumin and various other spices, salad with celery, carrots, sunflower seeds, and avocado in addition to the romaine lettuce, crusty bread, lots of fresh oranges and grapefruit, gourmet cheeses, and plenty of desserts, all washed down with vintage wines provided chiefly by CB, the “sommelier” among our group. We dined heartily, drank deeply, and spent over two hours together at the dining table, eating and drinking and conversing; and that pretty much set the pattern for the evenings that followed. Breakfasts were also elaborate, with various casseroles, breads, fruits, etc.
These are the hikes in which I participated over the long weekend:
2/18, Appalachian Trail, Ivy Creek Overlook to Simmons Gap and back, 7½ miles, 2100 feet. This hike was a sort of “warm-up” hike that I did on my own. It was a brisk winter day, in the mid-thirties and quite windy, but reasonably sheltered once I got off of Skyline Drive. As I drove to Shenandoah National Park there were some clouds in the sky, but on the higher elevations it was quite clear. The hike has no set views, but at this season one sees glimpses of the Big Run valley below through the clinks between the boles and branches of the trees.
2/19, AT/Patterson Ridge Trail/Brown Mountain Trail/Rocky Mountain Trail, 10 miles, 3000 feet. I have led a similar hike for the vigorous hikers, except that on that occasion we went in a counter-clockwise direction and used the Big Run Trail and Big Run Portal Trails instead of the Patterson Ridge, which makes for a somewhat longer hike. But this variant provides most of the longer hike’s features, descending into the lovely Ivy Creek gorge and meandering through the Big Run valley, which contains the largest run withn the park itself. As with the preceding day, it was quite windy, and even down in the valley we were less shielded from the wind than I had expected. But it never was bitingly cold and the skies were sunny and clear, so that as temperatures rose in the middle of the day it was necessary to take off a layer of clothing.
2/20, Wolf Gap there-and-back to Tibbet Knob and to Big Schloss
Wolf Gap is a popular recreation area, and even in winter it can get quite crowded. We arrived there relatively early and parked without difficulty. When we completed our first there-and-back, the one to Tibbet Knob, the parking area was quite full. The trail to Tibbet Knob is slightly over 3 miles round trip. It begins with a gradual ascent to a viewpoint that overlooks Mill Mountain, then it descends slightly, flatters out for a short distance, and then steadily ascends to the knob itself. To get to the top of the knob one must navigate two rock scrambles, no more than 30 yards long. In this case they were complicated by ice encrustations on some of the rocks, but these were easily overcome with a little patience. From the summit of the knob one looks directly into the vast sweep of the Trout Pond Valley, with views of Big Schloss to the east and the ridgeline of Long Mountain to the west.
After returning to Wolf Gap we went along the Mill Mountain Trail to Big Schloss, where we had lunch. Big Schloss I have already mentioned in previous entries; it is a very popular hike and we were not surprised to encounter several others on top of the rock outcropping at its summit. Some of these turned out to be friends of MB from the Mountain Club of Maryland (the same club that organizes the Hike Across Maryland, which covers the 41 miles of the Appalachian Trail that run through Maryland in a single day). MB herself had never been there before, and she was all but overwhelmed with the spectacular views from the apex.
Afterwards some of us went further. A few went to the junction with the Cutoff Trail before turning back (about one mile from Big Schloss) but I went further to the Perry Overlook, which is two additional miles each way. The there-and-back hike to Big Schloss is about 4½ miles, so with the additional 2 miles in each direction and the Tibbet Knob hike I covered 11½ miles in all. The elevation gain, however, was less than that of yesterday, perhaps about 2500 feet in all. The weather was two or three degrees lower than the temperatures of the preceding day, but much less windy.
2/21, AT, Smith Roach Gap to Simmons Gap and back, 9½ miles, 1600 feet. I have completed most of the Appalachian Trail that runs through Virginia. The portion that goes through Shenandoah National Park I have covered mainly through hikes with the Wanderbirds and various other clubs, including two 14-mile hikes along the southernmost portion of the trail in the park. But I can’t quite remember whether I’ve ever covered the area between Swift Run Gap and the Ivy Creek Overlook, so I am going over it this year to be on the safe side. The segment I did today was not familiar to me at all, so it may well have been the first time I’ve been on it. It contained a few ascents, not unusually steep but quite long. As with the hike I did on Friday, one catches glimpses of the valleys on either side of the ridge through the trees; in addition, there is a viewpoint down to Bacon Hollow. A small mountain community lies in the hollow, which gives an idea of the scale of the distance from which one is gazing above.
As often happens during such excursions I paid little attention to the news and I have not even been collecting daily statistics. It is clear, however, from the statistics I obtained this evening, that the rate of infection is steadily declining. The daily average of COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. fell below 2,000 for the first time in nearly a month over the weekend. The daily average of COVID-19 cases has fallen to 103,000 per day, the lowest average since early December. Since the country’s peak in early January, the average of new infections in the U.S. has dropped by 87%.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 426,240,243; # of deaths worldwide: 5,908,945; # of cases U.S.: 80,145,282; # of deaths; U.S.: 960,157.