Snowshoeing Lake Artemnesia

It snowed here. A lot. Nearly 20 inches fell in our yard. It would have been nice to head out to the mountains, where they got nearly three feet, for snowshoeing, but the state was still asking people to stay off the roads on Sunday. Understandable, given the severity of the storm. After clearing the driveway on Sunday, we put our snowshoes on and hiked down the bike trail to Lake Artemnesia, a pleasant little spot fairly close to our house.

 Snowshoes on the bike path

 Dried maple seeds.

Tracks in the fresh snow

Michael on the path near Lake Artemnesia

Canada Geese on Lake Artemnesia

The bike path near the lake

Indian Creek

Another view of Indian Creek

Old Rag: Deep Snow Edition

It snowed a lot here last Thursday. Even in the city, we had eight inches or so. I got a little snowshoeing in on Friday with some friends at Greenbelt Park, but with rumors of two feet out in the mountains, a little local snowshoeing wasn't going to suffice. We also had two boxes to check: 1) Michael had never snowshoed Old Rag; and 2) Until yesterday, Michael and I had hiked Old Rag every month of the year - except February. We realized that a few years ago, but there were always higher priority places to go (after all, we've been up there...oh...a lot). Two feet of snow changed the equation. We met four friends in the parking lot and promptly got our car stuck in a bit of deep snow. It really didn't look that deep and we parked next to a car with similar clearance (which might still be there). With a little push, we parked in a better spot and we were on our way up the road to the trailhead.

At the trailhead, more than a foot of crusty, heavy snow was on the ground. Enough people had hiked the Ridge Trail before us that there was a path, but it was too narrow for snowshoes. Where there was enough room, we broke a trail beside the path. As we climbed, the snow got softer and fluffier. We stopped at the first false summit for lunch before tackling the rock scramble. Just before the rock scramble, I stowed my snowshoes and put on microspikes since snowshoes aren't very maneuverable. When I snowshoed Old Rag three years ago, the first part of the scramble was the diciest: an inch of ice coating all of the rocks. This time, we were lucky as many of the crevices were filled with deep snow, the boulders were dry, and there was very little ice. The deep snow, while making the whole hike a lot more work (and more rewarding), actually made some of the areas on the rock scramble easier.

There were fewer tracks beyond that first drop. We did appreciate that someone else post-holed through drifts that came over my knees. There was easily two feet of snow on the ground and the drifts were a lot higher than that. By the time we reached another false summit, it had clouded over and we could see snow falling on mountains to the west and south. At the summit, snow fell steadily. Another first: That is the first time I've been on Old Rag when it was snowing. In spite of the weather, the ravens floated and played on the wind around the summit.

The descent down the Saddle Trail was fun. Soft, fluffy snow made for easy snowshoeing. The fire road, was another story. We were back to the beaten path that was too narrow for snowshoes and crusty snow that was exhausting to snowshoe on. We changed back to the microspikes and just walked down in the path. With better snow, we would definitely have enjoyed snowshoeing all the way down. We were also running out of daylight and we could walk in the path faster than we could punch through hard snow. We arrived back at the car at dusk. I couldn't have asked for a better day, be it crowds, weather, or conditions. We saw fewer than ten people on a mountain that can be completely overrun.

BTW, if you are headed up there in the next few weeks, traction devices are a must. As the snow that is up there now melts, it will get a lot icier.

 Old Rag from the road near Sharp Rock Vinyards. It started out as a perfect bluebird day.

 Making our way up the Ridge Trail.

The view from the first false summit, looking south. Clouds had started moving in, but it was still bright that direction.

A few minutes later, the view of Robertson to the west from the beginning of the rock scramble. We could see bands of snow falling to the west and south at this point.

 Scrambling up through deep snow.

Although there was less ice than I've seen in the past, that doesn't mean we avoided it entirely. This spot seems to ice over for most of the winter.

Climbing up through the Chute, which is usually the most challenging move in the rock scramble. When not filled with snow, this move involves hauling oneself up and over a large rock and then up into a steep crevice that appears to have no handholds (it does, but you have to look for them). Snow was packed into it, so it was a slippery walk up instead.

 A cool drift along one of the narrow ridges.

 The spot where I usually take a picture. This is the most snow I've ever seen on it.

 Looking down Weakley Hollow from the summit. Snow fell steadily at this point.

The summit from the Saddle Trail. If you click to enlarge, ravens are visible in the air just to the left of the summit.

Snowy Antietam

Horizontal Tread invited Michael and I up to Antietam National Battlefield for an afternoon on snowshoeing on Sunday. While we didn't get any snow to speak of, they had 4-6 inches up there. That is just barley enough snow to use the snowshoes. In a perfect world, it is nice to have a foot of snow for snowshoeing, but we can't be too picky in the Mid-Atlantic. Opportunities to use them without driving three hours don't come along even every winter.

When we left the DC area, it was 45 degrees and sunny. I thought I would be snowshoeing in my base layer. It was colder in the Sharpsburg area, which wasn't a surprise, but the moment we arrived at Antietam, it clouded over and the wind picked up. I wound up needing a coat for the whole hike. We started on the the north side of the battlefield and made our way south across the cornfield. We passed several farms and stopped to have lunch on the porch of one of the houses that are part of the national battlefield.After lunch, we headed south, pausing to climb the Tower and then further south, all the way to Burnside Bridge. By the time we made it back to the car, the mood was up and the sun was below the horizon. One of the cool things about this hike was that we weren't really following any trails. We just set out across various fields, generally aiming for the next stop. 

Horizontal Tread was a great tour guide, providing context for what we were seeing. I don't know enough of the details of the battle to get into it beyond noting that more soldiers (on both sides) died that day than in any other single-day battle in the Civil War. Almost a quarter of the troops involved in the battle perished. A detailed account of it can be found here. 

 Looking southwest towards the observational tower, which was built in 1890.

One of the cannons in the Cornfield.

 A directional plate in the observational tower.

A dried seed pod in the snow.

Horizontal Tread (left) on interpretive duty.

 A snowy field in the late afternoon.

 Burnside Bridge.

A Red Bellied Woodpecker in a Sycamore Tree (click to enlarge).

 Monuments near the visitor center in the setting sun.

Moonrise over the fields near the visitor center.

Snowquester: One Last Snowshoeing Trip to West Virginia

On Wednesday, while the rainy, snowy mess that was the Snowquester in the DC area amounted to very little, it was snowing buckets in West Virginia.  While g-chatting with a friend that afternoon, we decided it would be a crying shame to let that kind of snowfall go to waste.  Within an hour, we had reserved a cabin (with real beds and heat!) and started making serious plans.  Ultimately, we rounded up a total of eight like-minded people for an overnight at Blackwater Falls State Park near Davis, West Virgnia and met at the cabin on Saturday morning.

For all of the times I have parked at Blackwater Falls State Park so I could go backpacking at Canaan Mountain immediately to the south, I had never really explored the park itself.  Four of us set out to explore the rim of the north side of Blackwater Canyon (The rest of the group went to Dolly Sods).  There were about two feet of snow on the ground and it was warm enough to snowshoe in a t-shirt.  We crossed a dam on Pendelton Creek and then left the trail to explore the little canyon formed by the same.  We crawled through and around rhododendrons and hemlocks, getting glimpses of pretty snow-covered waterfalls along the way.  Finally, we reached some cliffs that we couldn't get around, so we made our way back up to the trail.  From there, we followed the trail west to a rocky overlook where we had a great view of Blackwater Canyon.

Saturday night, we checked out the falls which the park is named and we had a proper feast, complete with WanderMindfully's awesome lasagna.  Sunday morning came way too early after a late night of games and especially after the time change.  Everyone else had to be home by a reasonable time, so WanderMindfully and I headed to Timberline Resort and up into Dolly Sods.  It was cloudy and a little chilly when we arrived, so I started snowshoeing in a long-sleeve shirt, which meant I didn't sunscreen on my arms.  I would pay for my oversight since, as soon as we started climbing, I put on a short-sleeve shirt.

We hiked up one of the ski runs into the wilderness and turned north, basically following the route I took after another freak weather event at the beginning of the season.  Like that trip, we found three feet of snow up there. Remarkably, it wasn't windy on this trip, even out on the very edge of the plateau. It was even warmer than on Saturday. We had lunch there looking down on the Canaan Valley, soaking up the sun.  In spite of the snow, the trees have buds on them.  We meandered along the western edge of the wilderness until it was time to return to the car.

This was my third trip into Dolly Sods this winter and I just have to say that it just doesn't get old:  It is such a spectacular place.  Today, I am tired and fairly sunburned, a great price to pay for an amazing trip.  What a way to finish the winter!

Pictures (click to enlarge):

Blackwater Falls at sunset Saturday.

 The trail behind our cabin at Blackwater Falls State Park.

Pendelton Creek below the dam.

Untracked snow on the Pendelton Trace Trail.

 A rhododendron bud.

Boot/Snowshoe Shot over Blackwater Canyon

Melting snow near the overlook of Blackwater Canyon.

Another view of Blackwater Falls.

Fuel for snowshoeing in the form of lasagna.

 The entrance to Dolly Sods.

 Windblown ripples in the snow on the western edge of Dolly Sods.

Buds on trees:  a sure sign that spring will be here soon.

 A massive wind-blown snow drift.  This was taller than me.

 Tracks in the snow.  I think these are bobcat, but they were not especially distinct.

 More tracks in the snow.

 Looking northeast over the northern section of Dolly Sods.

Droplets from melting snow.

Snowshoeing at New Germany State Park

We haven't hiked a lot in Western Maryland.  The parks are just as far away as the National Forest lands in West Virginia and we've always been drawn there instead.  Horizontal Tread, WanderMindfully, and the two of us decided to explore New Germany State Park, near Grantsville, Maryland, on snowshoes.  It did not start out particularly well.  I couldn't find any maps online, so I figured we could stop by the park office and buy them once we got there.  The first woman we spoke to told us there were no maps to be had and that snowshoes were only allowed on a single one-mile loop (the concern being that snowshoes would destroy the groomed ski tracks).  I was a little taken aback, since that isn't what their website says and we had driven a long way.  We talked to a second woman there and finally figured out that there were actually more trails where snowshoes were ok.  Fortunately, it got better from there.

We finally got underway on the Hemlock Trail with a photocopied map.  The trail winds its way along a pretty ridge covered with stands of hemlock trees.  About a foot of snow covered the ground, providing a nice base for the snowshoes and sleds.  The trail eventually drops into a small valley and follows a little creek.  I was cold, so I kept zig-zagging up the hillside to warm up.  Nothing will get the heart rate up like breaking trail with snowshoes going up hill.

We had a pleasant lunch complete with hot chocolate at the bottom of the valley.  We saw a few skiers go by as we were near one of the groomed trails.  After lunch, we snowshoe-ed near the lake and up around the Ice House loop.  We spent a few very pleasant minutes warming up by the fire in the lodge at the end of our hike.  We had a very nice hike and the trails are pretty.  Typical of other Maryland State Parks that I've been to, the hiking is made up of very short loops connected by short stretches of road walking.  It wasn't crowded yesterday, but from what I understand, it can be quite crowded on weekends.

Pictures (click to enlarge):

 A Hemlock grove up on the ridge.

 A Hemlock twig in the snow.

 I found this little burrow when I was tramping uphill to warm up.  My snowshoe track is on the right for size comparison.  The critter using the burrow had thrown pine cone bits outside the entrance.

 A small creek on the Hemlock trail.

There was extensive damage to the park from Hurricane Sandy.  These blowdowns were just one set of hundreds.  Much credit goes to the New Germany State Park trail crews for getting them cleared.

The lake at New Germany State Park.

 The Ice House Trail.

 Michael and Horizontal Tread pulling sleds.

The lovely fire in the lodge.