October 26, 2021

Burke’s Garden hikes – An encouraging trend – Evening statistics

The hikes from the trip were as follows:

10/17 – AT, Thunder Ridge Overlook to Sulphur Spring Trail and back, 18 miles, 3000’ elevation gain.  This hike and the succeeding one, which I did on my own, were arduous.  The ground was fairly rocky most of the time – not a series of boulder fields like the trail in northern Pennsylvania, but uneven enough to slow my pace.  They were also continually going up and down, with few flat areas.  The weather was favorable, clear and cool.  The hike itself was not exceptional.  There were good views at the Thunder Ridge overlook itself but not many during the remainder of the hike.  As I noted earlier, the change in the foliage was just beginning, and many leaves were already withered by the long summer. 

I checked in that night at Bedford.  From what I saw of it, it appears a fairly prepossessing town; but I was too tired after the hike to do much sight-seeing.  The hotel was modest and unpretentious, but the room was sizeable, clean, and stocked with various amenities.  Outside of myself, no one in the lobby or the corridors wore a mask. 

10/18 – AT, Thunder Ridge to Floyd Mtn. and back, 14 miles, 3900’ elevation.  The hike had many more views than the previous one, including one at Black Rock and one at the FAA tower.  Both of these provided overviews of a complicated network of ridges and valleys partitioned by various land tongues projecting from the ridges.  On this day the change in foliage was more evident, with occasional displays of vivid reds and yellows. 

After the hike I drove to Wytheville, where I had a quick lunch, and from there to the Parsonage in Burke’s Garden.  It was very gratifying to relax in the extensive upstairs sitting room and in my allotted bed chamber instead of retiring to an impersonal hotel room.

10/19 – AT, Groseclose to Rte. 42, 13 miles, 3000’ elevation.  This hike was a key-swap hike, with BM and I going northbound, the more strenuous direction on this segment.  Nonetheless it was considerably less tiring than the hikes I did on my own, much less rocky and with milder grades for both ascending and descending.  The hike provided audial as well as visual stimulation:  numerous birds were caroling during the first few miles, and blue jays flitted above continually.  The trail is not well-blazed in this area and we took a few wrong turns.  BM said that he felt like sending a gallon of paint to the trail maintainers.  The views appeared towards the end of the hike, particularly as we crossed over a field and looked down into the valley while we ascended.  We passed through several rhododendron groves and a couple of them showed one or two flowers, which is very unusual for this time of year.  One highlight of the hike was coming upon a sign that designated completion of one-quarter of the AT for through-hikers going northbound from Springer Mountain, the trail terminus. 

10/20 – AT, Rte. 42 to Walker’s Gap, 13 miles, 3900’ elevation.  This hike was particularly beautiful.  We all went together, shuttling to leave a car to enable us to return.  It was a lovely day, very clear and in the low-to-mid 60s throughout.  During the morning sunlight filtered through the leaves of tulip and hickory trees, imparting a golden-green luminescence beneath the tree canopy.  The hike contained a couple of steepish climbs, but not overly long.  These were, in RH’s phrase, “unceremonious”:  we simply went up to a high point and immediately went down again, with no views or markers to signify that we had completed an ascent.  About five miles into the hike, after the first ascent, we crossed Lick Creek.  The bridge had been washed out over a year ago and the storm that wrecked it must have been quite a powerful one, for the remains of the bridge were massive.  But the weather during the past few days had been dry and as a result one could go over the creek, if not quite dryshod, at any rate without getting one’s socks wet.   We then went up an ascent of 2000 feet of elevation, but spread out over 4½ miles.  Some portions of it were steep, but most of it was well-graded.  During the last mile of the ascent we came to a bald that provided numerous views of ranges and valleys, with Grayson Highlands and Mount Rogers in the distance to the south.  From the shelter at the top, we looked down the other side of the ridgeline, where we obtained a bird’s-eye view of Burke’s Garden, the highest valley in Virginia, with its oval shape, created long ago by the collapse of the limestone underneath, led it to be nicknamed “God’s thumbprint.”  The shelter itself is unusual.  Instead of having three walls like the majority of them, it has a fourth wall and is entered by means of a door, which must be quite a relief to through-hikers who reach it on a rainy day.  From there we descended to the parking area at Walker’s Gap, which is only about a ten-minute ride back to the Parsonage.

10/21 – Great Channels, 6.5 miles, 1200’ elevation.  The hike consists of an out-and-back to sandstone formations that form slot canyons, not as extensive as the ones in the Southwest but quite as narrow in places, the passage being defined by huge boulders and rock walls on both sides.  The day was misty and overcast, limiting the views from above, but autumnal foliage was more advanced in this area, with many patches of reds and russets and yellows throughout.

10/22 – AT/Rte. 615 to Walker Gap, 14 miles, 3450’ elevation.  This hike was the most arduous of the one we undertook as a group.  It was a key-swap hike; BM and I took the southbound direction, which is the more strenuous of the two.  It was a good hike, but not a great one.  It had no views to speak of and the sky was overcast.  However, the foliage between Rte. 615 and Jenkins shelter was brilliant, by far the most colorful I had seen on the trip to date.  BM and I went up one ascent of well over 1500 feet, after which I was anticipating relatively easy going.  The elevation profile on the map displayed little ups and downs with not especially steep grades.  But there were so many of them that we ascended nearly an additional amount of 1000 feet and the ground was rocky, whereas the first portion of the hike had been much smoother.  Even though we had come over the half-way point after the long ascent, we took more time to complete the segment that remained after completing the biggest climb of the hike.

10/23 – Seven Sisters, 9 miles, 1500’ elevation.  After the preceding hike we were all in the mood for an easier one, and in any case we had completed the most difficult hikes on our agenda.  This hike is unspectacular but very pleasant.  It went up to a ridgeline and then over various peaks (the “sisters”) on the ridge.  Views were mainly obstructed, but there were some partial clearings through the trees and the fall colors were on display throughout.  The return consisted of a road walk, but the road had little traffic and wide flat shoulders to walk upon.  In addition, from below we could make out the contours of the peaks clearly.  The weather was also favorable, somewhat cloudy in the beginning but rapidly becoming clear by the time we reached the ridgeline.

10/24 – AT, Rte. 52 to Rte. 615, 8 miles, 1300’ elevation. Several of us had actually completed this hike during the previous visit, but some members of the group had not.  It is an attractive section of the trail, skirting around the mountain rather than ascending all the way to the ridgeline; it may have been developed from an old wagon road.  I had gone ahead of the others for the last ascent and while I was waiting for them at a junction I chatted with a friendly pair of section-hikers who were passing by.  We exchanged our impressions of the AT, especially concerning our experiences in Pennsylvania. 

The hike was well-chosen to round off the trip, long enough to fill up the better part of the day, but leaving sufficient time to return to the house relatively early in order to regroup and organize packing.  We were fortunate in our weather as well.  It was optimal that day; whereas the forecast for the area predicted rain for much of the coming week.

Speaking of the AT in Pennsylvania, when I returned and went through the mail I found a certificate from the Keystone Trail Association for my having completed the entire section of the AT that runs through the state.  I had submitted a form much earlier that described the sections I had done and the dates that I had completed them, but I had heard nothing afterwards for months and assumed that it had gotten lost in the shuffle.  It was a pleasing surprise to obtain it after all.

Some good news for a change:  the current wave of the coronavirus has crested.  The number of new daily cases has declined by 57% since September 1st, the peak date.  And they have been declining in every state.  How the upcoming winter season and its colder temperatures, which result in less outdoor activity, is yet to be seen.  The wearing of masks, as I indicated earlier, has become much more relaxed, and that may lead to new increases.  There have been flare-ups in Alaska and several states in the Mountain West, but that is more likely due to resistance to vaccines than the chillier weather.  Cases are declining in Canada and in the more densely populated cities, where people are notably more likely to become vaccinated.  Dr. Ali Mokdad, of the University of Washington, predicts a new surge in the virus in November, but adds that its scope will depend on several factors:  1) vaccine mandates; 2) FDA approval and rollout of vaccines for children in the 5-11 age range; 3) boosters; 4) wearing masks indoors. 

Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 245,255,872; # of deaths worldwide: 4,978,197; # of cases U.S.: 46,497,380; # of deaths; U.S.: 759,936.