Last week Darling Wife made plans to be with her daughter for Mother's Day weekend. As my girls would be with their mom for that weekend too, that left me free to roam. With the forecast calling for perfect weather, I decided it would be a good chance for a Shenandoah National Park overnight. I could take Friday off work, leave as soon as girls left for school, have two days and one night in SNP, be home Saturday night, and have Sunday to spend with Mom.
One complicating factor was my still-somewhat-sore back. But it felt so much better Thursday that I wasn't worried about it. It turns out I should have been. I was in a lot of pain after the drive to Front Royal, so I checked into the motel and laid down to stretch out and rest. That didn't help much, but walking was one of the things that didn't seem to hurt, so I thought I'd drive into the park and at least try to start my planned hike, Big Devil's Stairs, a 5.5 mile out-and-back without killer elevation changes (
hike details here.)
I entered the park and drove south on Skyline Drive to Gravel Springs Gap trailhead at around mile marker 16. It was a gorgeous spring day: sunny and warm with a nice breeze blowing. I started down the trail, and had only gone a few tenths of a mile when I heard a loud crashing in the woods to my right. Looking over, I saw a black bear running away from me. He was aware of me before I was aware of him, and he took off. I was thrilled, as I'd never seen a bear in SNP, and was explicitly hoping to.
I hiked slowly and gingerly, and my back felt okay. After descending off the ridgeline, the trail made a left and went parallel to the ridge. I realized two things at this point. The first is that I had forgotten a belt and my pants were drooping down. This was annoying on its own, and doubly annoying because I have not one but two cheap Walmart belts that I've bought on hiking trips when I left without a belt. Why can't I remember to pack a damn belt?!?
My second realization was that while my back felt good, if for some reason it gave out, I'd likely be spending the night in the woods. No one else was out on the trail in the late afternoon on a weekday, and cell phone reception in the national park was spotty to non-existent. My back didn't feel like it was just going to give out, but the thought made me pause.
When I arrived at the blue-blazed trail that went down to the gorge, I had my next decision point. Things had been fairly flat to that point, but the trail would now start down, and then I'd have to come up again. I did a little stretching and took inventory, and decided that my back felt well enough to start down.
It was abut a half mile to the first overlook, and when I got there it took my breath away. Then I went down the trail the second overlook, and I just stood and gawked. I've been in plenty of discussions of Shenandoah hikes and overlooks, and I've never heard Big Devil's Stairs ranked up there - and now that I've seen it, I have no idea why that is. The view into the gorge, and out to the succeeding ridges is as good as anything I've seen in SNP.
I took a number of pictures, and just ended up frustrated, as nothing came anywhere close to doing justice to the view. And then I decided I'd better get back, as I didn't know how I'd be on the ascent, and didn't want to be in the woods after dark.
That turned out not to be a concern - as I started up, I felt really good and kicked it up a notch just to feel the pleasure of moving at a good pace. My pants really started to get annoying in their falling down, and I spent most of the return hike with one hand holding up my pants. I'm sure I looked ridiculous, but there was no one to see me. And if any bears noticed, they didn't let on.
I completed the hike in almost exactly two hours. I was still having a lot of back pain, but the hike didn't hurt it, and almost certainly helped.
This was a fantastic hike, and one I can't recommend highly enough. As Shenandoah hikes go, it's not that long or that strenuous. The middle section is basically flat, and the final descent to the overlooks is not that steep. The views from the overlooks have to be seen for yourself.
Distance: 4.90 miles
Elapsed Time: 2:02
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