Fourth Annual Hike Off the Pie: Lewis Mountain

For the fourth year in a row, I went for an epic hike with a friend on Black Friday. For this year's Hike Off the Pie, we decided to bushwhack up Lewis Mountain in Shenandoah National Park. Normally, we have a group, but due to various circumstances, there were just two of us this year. We picked this bushwhack because the topographic map of the area that we had shows an old trail leading up the mountain, connecting to Lewis Mountain campground. I was curious to see if we could find it. 

We started at the Pocosin Hollow Trailhead on the east boundary of the park. The old Lewis Mountain trail, theoretically connects with the Pocosin Hollow Trail just west of the trailhead. We didn't try to find it, however, because the Pocosin Hollow Trail crosses private land for about half a mile. Hiking through that land on the Pocosin Hollow Trail is ok, but venturing off of it to find an old trail is definitely not. Once at the park boundary, the trail almost immediately re-enters private land for about another half mile. Eventually, we crossed the creek and were firmly on national park land. 

From that point, we started working our way up the side of Lewis Mountain, looking for the old trail. The plan was to climb until we reached the top of the ridge and follow the ridgeline generally west, eventually reaching the Appalachian Trail at Lewis Mountain Campground. As we climbed, we started encountering snowy patches. By the time we reached the crest of the ridge, we were hiking in three or four inches of snow.  We paused for lunch in a relatively flat spot near the top of one of the knobs of Lewis Mountain. The snow was two days old, so there were tracks everywhere in it, including bear and bobcat tracks. 

From the top of the knob, we could see the higher peak on Lewis Mountain a short distance ahead of us. It should have been a quick walk across the saddle to get to the base of it and then we needed to climb up and over it. Up to that point, we had successfully avoided the dreaded mountain laurel thickets by going around them. At the bottom of the saddle, we reached one that we couldn't go around. We had to go through it, fighting our way through the tangle of dense branches, crawling under them in the snow where we couldn't get through on our feet. We followed bear tracks (they were at least a day old) because we knew that we could get through whatever they had. The thicket never seemed to end, although in reality, we were only in there for twenty or thirty minutes. It couldn't have been more than a few hundred yards long. We were able to look up and see the peak we were aiming for ahead of us, so navigating wasn't a problem, it was just figuring out how to get through the tangled morass of branches.

Once through it, we pushed up a very steep climb to the summit of Lewis Mountain. I popped out on top and found a blue blaze! There is a very short section of trail that is still maintained from that little summit I was standing on to the campground. I looked at the map, we turned right and headed for the Appalachian Trail half a mile away. The approximately four mile climb had taken us 3.5 hours - pretty standard for bushwhacking and not bad at all for route-finding in the snow. Now that we were back on established trails, we needed to move quite a bit faster if we wanted to make it back to the car by sunset. We hiked north on the Appalachian Trail to the Slaughter Trail, where we turned east back towards the boundary of the park. Eventually, the snow thinned out and we were able to take off our microspikes. A mile before the car, the trail meets the road at the Conway River, which was knee deep and running fairly fast. It does not have a bridge, so, given the distance to the car, we rolled up our pant legs and walked right through it (air and water temperature right at freezing). We made it to the car just as the last light drained from the sky.

It was a great hike and definitely met the criteria for the annual Hike Off the Pie. It was truly epic. The snow and the views through the trees were beautiful. We didn't see anyone else out hiking. We never did find the abandoned Lewis Mountain Trail. It would probably be easier to find it from the top (west) and when there isn't snow on the ground. That being said, I don't think I ever need to fight my way through that mountain laurel thicket again, so I doubt I will ever find out. 

Pictures:

 A waterfall on Pocosin Creek.

Moss on a rock in Pocosin Hollow

Aplectrum hyemale (Putty-Root Orchid) leaf. The plant puts out leaves in the fall and they stay out all winter. They don't have to compete with all of the other underbrush in the winter. In late spring, the leaves fade away and the plant will send up a stalk of flowers.

 The view through the trees on the way up Lewis Mountain.

 Snow near where we had lunch

A bear track in the snow. Lewis mountain is a popular spot for bears, based on the number of tracks we saw.

 Looking south from the very top of Lewis Mountain.

The Appalachian Trail between Lewis Mountain Campground and Bearfence Hut.

All Mushrooms Great and Small and a Waterfall

After all of the rain we received last week (five straight days of downpour), we headed for a waterfall yesterday.  South River Falls is at the very south end of the central district of Shenandoah National Park, almost at Swift Run Gap.  The hike starts at the South River Picnic Area.  We figured there would be a fair number of people there since it was bright, sunny, and relatively cool.  When we arrived, a few people were picnicking, but only four or five cars were parked near the trailhead.  While we put our boots on, a couple finishing their backpacking trip, drove away in one of the cars.  We decided to hike to the falls first, hoping that we would beat any crowds that might come later.

Inspired by Shenandoah Mountains Guide's recent post, we started looking for mushrooms.  The heavy rains last week have them popping up everywhere.  We were not disappointed, but it took us a long time to hike the 2 miles down to South River Falls.  Everywhere we turned, there were more interesting mushrooms in a myriad of colors.  At the falls, we had lunch and spent some time taking pictures of them.

Finally, it was time to move on.  We had spent almost two hours to cover two miles and we still had eight to go.  We made good time climbing out of the ravine.  We turned right on the South River Fire Road, which continued to climb.  Based on the amount of grass and number of mushrooms on the trail, few people ever hike this part of the loop.  Parts of it were lined with goldenrods and asters.

We took a short detour to a cemetery when we reached the Pocosin Trail.  Unlike some of the cemetery's closer to the boundary of the park, this one was pretty overgrown.  Some of the tombstones looked relatively recent, but they were surrounded by sunflowers and other plants.  Back on trail, we found more interesting mushrooms and flowers.  At the junction of the Pocosin Trail and the Pocosin Fire Road, there are ruins from an old Episcopal mission, which was established in 1904 to serve the local community.

From the ruins, we climbed the Pocosin Fire Road for a mile to the Appalachian Trail, where we turned left and hiked three miles back to the car.  Near the top of Baldface Mountain, we found the last interesting mushrooms of the trip, purple ones.

This was a nice 10.3 mile hike.  All said and done, we saw fewer than 10 people the entire day.

If anyone knows about mushrooms, let me know and I'll post the identifications.  I know very little about them (other than how to identify morels).

Pictures (click to enlarge):

 A white fungus that looks a little like coral.

 A tiny turquoise fungus on the same log as the coral fungus above.

 A pretty orange mushroom.

 Little parasol mushrooms.

 More orange mushrooms.

 Tiny little orange toadstools

 A giant white mushroom.  The cap on this one was nearly six inches across.

 A purple mushroom on Baldface Mountain

 South River Falls.  I used a neutral density filter and a one second exposure for this one.

 Another view of South River Falls.  This one is a 2.5 second exposure.

 Ipatiens pallida (Pale Jewelweed) at South River Falls

 Solanum nigrum (Deadly Nightshade).  I am not 100% certain that this is right. 

 Aureolaria flava (False Foxglove)

 Chelone glabra (Turtlehead) at South River Falls.

 I am still working on the identification of this one.

 Lobelia inflata (Indian Tobacco).

 An interesting insect on a Goldenrod.

 Aster acuminatus (Mountain Aster) on Baldface Mountain.

 Lactuca floridana (Tall Blue Lettuce)

 I'm still working on this one, too, but I think it is a Hawkweed.

 Old Rag from the Pinnacles overlook on the way home.

Sunset from the Pinnacles overlook.