Seventh Annual Hike Off the Pie: Camp Ridge, Shenandoah National Park

Last year, for Hike off the Pie, we had intended to bushwhack up to a mountain called Pinnacle Peak, descend the west side of it and then hike up to Skyline Drive and descend back down to the car via Camp Ridge and the Nicholson Hollow Trail. It didn't quite work out that way, so this year, we decided to do the Camp Ridge portion of that hike. Also, different than last year: this year's Hike Off the Pie was held on Saturday, which meant that Michael got to come along!

We arrived in the Old Rag parking lot at 9 a.m. and it was already nearly full. There were people everywhere, including a group of what must have been 30 people. We packed up, showed the rangers our park pass and made our way to the Nicholson Hollow trailhead. As soon as we turned off of the road, we left all of the crowds behind. We saw a couple of fishermen and one family in the first mile and they were the last people we saw until we were within a quarter mile of Skyline Drive. The hike up went smoothly. We had lunch near some ruins at the junction of the Nicholson Hollow Trail and the Corbin Cutoff trail. We took the latter up Skyline Drive and the walked on the drive for about a third of a mile to the spot where the Camp Ridge Trail once intersected Skyline Drive.

We think we found a few blazes, which got us started the right direction, or at least it was a happy coincidence. There was initially a footpath, but quickly lost it in a thicket of mountain laurel, so we generally made our way out to Camp Ridge using the map. As we were making our way along, Michael spotted the path again and this time, we were able to follow it all the way out to the end of the ridge. It wasn't an easy walk: the mountain laurel put up a good fight. I don't know when the Camp Ridge Trail was last maintained, but it is pretty grown over now. We had a snack at the summit of the little ridge. Then we started down the south side of the ridge, slowly making our way down the steep slope to the Hughes River. For the record, bushwhacking down a steep hill is much worse than going up it. We got very lucky and met the Hughes river at a spot without steep banks, so we didn't have to bushwhack downstream to cross. At that spot, the Nicholson Hollow Trail was right next to the river as well, so we didn't have to slog uphill to find it. On our way down, we were plotting our next bushwhacking adventure on a nearby ridge.

We made it to the road just as the last light faded and back to the car just after dark. It was a great day and the weather was amazing for November.

The ruin of an old cabin on Corbin Cutoff trail. Logs have been removed and this is mostly the second story.

 The wall of the cabin.

 A butterfly on a log. Like I said, it was incredible weather. Even at 2500 feet, it was probably close to 60 degrees.

 An old stone wall on the Corbin Cutoff Trail. If you look closely, you can see a tree growing on top of it near the center of the picture.

 Old Rag from Skyline Drive

 Michael on the old Camp Ridge Trail. This was some of the less dense mountain laurel that we had to push through. I have a love-hate relationship with mountain laurel. In May and June, when it blooms, it is beautiful. The rest of the year, I feel as though it is trying to kill me.

 Oak leaves.

 Fungus growing on a tree.

 The old trail through the mountain laurel

 Puttyroot orchid leaves. These little guys are interesting. They bloom in the summer, but they only put up leaves in the winter, when there isn't any tree canopy to block the light.

 I grabbed this branch for blance when we were descending off of the ridge. It turned out to be covered with tiny prickly things. I have no idea what the branch is or if the prickly spikes are thorns or some kind of parasite.

The final descent to the Hughes River.