Rattlesnake Nation

My lifelong buddy DJ decided to take me up on an offer to go for a hike Sunday.  DJ is not an avid hiker but he does enjoy the outdoors and saying that he is an athlete is an understatement.  He was a wrestler and football player in high school and he's just one of those guys that can play just about any sport you put in front of him.  I've partied, traveled, golfed, played in basketball tournaments and spent countless hours just hanging out with DJ, but there's one thing I didn't know about DJ.  He's terrified, mortified, absolutely scared to death of snakes.  I've seen this man compete at the highest levels, Sunday, I witnessed one of his all time lows.  This innocent 7 miler is by far my most memorable to date.

Our destination was one of my favorites, Devils Nose in Sleepy Creek WMA.  All along the ridge just before Devils Nose there are small rock outcroppings that lead to the massive stone platform at Devils Nose.  DJ loves to jump and climb the big rocks.  Now I warned him, "Hey man, I saw a rattlesnake up here a few weeks ago", but he was having too much fun on the rocks to care.  But then...it got interesting.  I see DJ in a full sprint towards me, hands going everywhere, screaming "Snake, snake, big mother&#@ing rattlesnake".  He runs right past me a disappears down the trail.  I walked out onto the cliff to check it out and sure enough, a nice 3 footer sunning itself on the rocks.  I don't think it even knew we where there.  But that's just the start.  After I settled DJ down I talked him into walking the last few hundred yards to Devils Nose assuring him that there weren't any snakes out on the rocks.  Wrong, there were 3 more sunning themselves on the big rocks out on the nose, plus a black snake hiding in the brush at the edge of the cliff.  Needless to say DJ was a mess and I couldn't stop laughing.  Our plan to climb the rocks and do a little bouldering was out the window, so I snapped a few pictures and shooed the snakes off the rocks to make it safe for DJ to pass back through.  The best part came about a mile from my truck when we saw another big black snake right beside the trail and I got to see DJ's "freeze then sprint" snake avoidance technique again.  Once we got to the truck he loosened back up and I started with the normal girl/sissy jokes that he had worked so hard to earn back up in the woods.

The big one that almost got DJ

Challenge Update

#1.  I've completed 80 of my 300 miles that I plan to hike/run in 100 days.  I should be at 84 miles by today but I'll catch up.  Challenge #2 will give me 41 miles in one day so I'm not worried about being behind a little.

#2  We've settled on June 30 as the day that we're completing the Maryland Challenge.  We've hammered out a rough schedule for the day and plan to finish the hike in 18 hours.  My brother in law Tim is on board for sure, and two of our running buddies are considering.

Too busy to post.

I hate to admit it but I've been busier than I like lately.  With work, coaching track, spring workouts for basketball, my son's tee-ball games and the usual business of everyday life, I've been freaking busy.  But, not too busy to hike.  I've managed to get my Sunday hikes in even though I haven't had the chance to log on and write about them.  In the last few weeks I've had a few highlights that are noteworthy.  I finished the WV portion of the Tuscarora Trail.  I've completed the TT from Hancock all the way to route 522 in VA.  That's not a huge section, but for a guy that only get's out for short hikes on the weekends I'm pretty happy with it.  I saw my first wild rattlesnake 2 weeks ago out on the TT.  I was cruising along, tangled in my own thoughts when I saw something out of place.  It's pattern actually gave it away.  It was sitting near a crack in a huge boulder just starting to warm up in the morning sun.  I moved around and made noise but I think it was too cold to react.  I moved past but my curiosity got the best of me.  I've never heard a rattlesnake rattle in person and I wanted to hear it.  So I gave it a quick poke with my hiking stick and it obliged with an unforgettable hiss and rattle.  After that we parted ways.  We took our first family hike of the season yesterday.  A short two miler to a little stream in Sleepy Creek WMA that has big rocks that are fun for kids and kids at heart to climb around on.  The hike itself was business as usual, the highlight came at the creek.  The kid, my 4 year old son, was the one I expected to fall in the water, but for some reason the kid at heart, me, was the one who fell in.  I slipped on a wet rock and took a dip from the waist down.  What can I say, I wanted to make it a memorable experience for my son, and trust me, he won't let me live it down.  We were riding in the truck this morning and as we drove past another creek just down from our house he says "Daddy, remember when you fell in the water yesterday?".  My other big highlight is that I got a new backpack.  I bought a Go-Lite Quest.  I bought it online, I'm a sucker for a sweet deal, and I got it for $80, shipped, so call me a sucker.  It's a pretty sweet piece though.  Big, light, and comfortable, just what I was looking for.  I loaded it up and walked on the treadmill at school, but I haven't had time to trail break it yet.  I'm looking forward to my first hike with it.  I'm going to put about 25 pounds in it and do a 10-14 miler somewhere to test it out.  My busy season is winding down and I'll have more time for longer hikes.  Track season will be over in 2 weeks, school will be out in 3, tee-ball will be over in 4.  Then...relaxing with my family, gardening, and hiking will fill those voids.

Summer Challenge Update:  As of today, I've completed 54 of my 300 miles that I pledged to complete in 100 days.  I should be at 63 miles today but I'm off pace a little so I have to play catch up.  As far as the Maryland Challenge, I'm shooting for June 30th.  I'm comfortable that I could hike a 20-25 right now, and with a little more conditioning I'm confident that I'll complete the 41 miles in 24 hours.

Summer Challenge

I'm a guy that is not highly self motivated.  I need to be challenged, and when you are a middle school P.E. teacher you need a little something to keep you going.  In past years I've trained for half marathons, ran 200 mile relays, tried to see how many miles I can log in 100 days, and so on and so on.  I've been getting a little stale on road running as I stated in previous posts and moved on to trail hiking/running.  So I've been putting some serious thought into this summer's personal challenge.  I need something that's out on the far reaches of my potential to really get me going.

Challenge #1:  My idea is to complete the Maryland Challenge.  In short, I'm going to hike on the Appalachian Trail from Harper's Ferry, WV to Pen-Mar on the MD/PA border.  41 miles of the over 2100 mile Appalachian Trail lie on Maryland soil and I'm going to hike every step of it this summer.  Here's the catch, I'm going to hike it in one day, hopefully in about 16 hours.  I haven't hammered out any of the logistics yet.  I'm thinking I'm going to hike North to South and finish at Harper's Ferry because Harper's Ferry is closer to home and offers better places to park.  I'm looking for fellow hikers but haven't had any takers so far.  I'm targeting mid-June for the hike because the longer days will give me longer hours of sunlight, plus I don't want it hanging over my head all summer.  I'm going light, small pack, 3-4 liters of water, portable meals I can eat while moving, water filter, no tent, no sleeping bag, head lamp, extra socks, bandannas, weather appropriate clothing, trek poles...just the basics.  In the next few weeks I'm going to check the AT guide book and map out where I want to take breaks and filter water and all that good stuff.  I'm waiting to see if I have any partners to hammer out the details on parking and shuttling.

Challenge #2:  My brother-in-law, Tim the master of the spreadsheet, loves to organize runs, relays and 100 day challenges.  The last 100 day challenge was to try to walk, run, hike, bike, row 100 miles in 100 days.  It started on January 1st and ended earlier this month.  I didn't get started until about day 40 because basketball was still in season but I finished with 143 miles at day 100.  Tim's summer challenge is a little different.  There were roughly 30-35 people that completed the first 100 day challenge.  The new challenge will be a team effort for those people to complete the east to west, north to south challenge.  Tim figured up that going from the east coast to the west coast and then from the northern border to the southern border of the U.S. is roughly 4600 miles.  The goal is for the team to run, walk, hike, bike row those miles in 100 days.  So to challenge myself I committed to cover 300 of the team's miles.  I figured that with my hikes and runs I could average 3 miles a day, plus it would be a great way to train for the Maryland Challenge.  The challenge started on the 23rd and ends on August 1st.

I like the idea of working on both of these challenges at the same time because in a way they serve each other.  I'm the kind of person that needs to be challenged and I like to make my goals very public.  Not in a bragging way, but I find that if I tell more people then I hold myself to a higher standard and don't want to let people down.  So I'm stating very publicly that this summer I will run/hike 300 miles between now and August 1st and that I will complete the Maryland Challenge in June.  I'll update as I go and if anyone reads these posts and has any comments please feel free to post your thoughts.

Sunday Hike

After a week off from hiking I finally got back out in the woods this Sunday.  I didn't get out the weekend before because of Easter plans and I was pretty excited to get out and my excitement was satisfied by one of the best hikes I've ever done.  I'd been hearing about a place called "Devil's Nose" in Sleepy Creek WMA for a while now, and it lived up to the talk.  The best part is the Tuscarora Trail leads right by Devil's Nose so I could continue working through my quest to hike the entire TT while checking out a new spot.

Devil's Nose is a huge stone platform that overlooks a canyon carved by Mill Race over millions of years.  The Tuscarora Trail Guide says that it is a 150 foot drop from Devil's Nose to the creek bed below.

Sunday's forecast was warm and sunny and a perfect day to hit the trail.  I parked at the Spruce Pine Hollow Roadside Park on Route 9 in WV and started heading south.  The area around the trail head was an evergreen forest and the light fog and damp ground gave the woods a soft, quiet feel.  I almost felt like I was sneaking around through the woods, my boots barely made a sound on the soft ground.  The trail gave way to a dirt road that gradually climbed through a lightly populated development.  I'm usually hesitant to walk through populated areas on the Tuscarora because I know that much of the trail flows through private property and some people may view hikers as trespassers but my reservations were eased early by a few friendly waves from the locals.  At the end of the dirt road the trail started up hill in earnest and after a series of steep switchbacks I had the uphill portion of the day knocked out in the first 2.5 miles.

I don't know what it is about the area around Sleepy Creek but the rock formations along the tops of the ridges  are unique to say the least.  There are small caves, jagged crags, and tall rock faces everywhere.  It takes me a while to work through these areas because I always stop to check them out, climb around or take pictures.  As I dropped down on the eastern side of the ridge I could hear the water rushing in the creek and I knew I had to be getting close to Devil's Nose.  After a few hundred yards there it was, the unmistakable platform that I had only seen in pictures.  If you haven't been there it's tough to give an accurate description of such a remarkable place and pictures don't do it the justice it deserves.  The steepness and depth of the gorge took me off guard and the complexity of the rock formations along the ridge were like nothing I've seen.  Devil's Nose is famous for it's rock platform but it's true beauty is further down the ridge.  Huge, truck sized boulders perched on razor thin ledges.  Deep cuts in the rocks that looked like they were carved by hand ran 40, 50, 60 feet down to the base of the cliff.  Recessions and mini-caves.  I hung out there for the better part of an hour just exploring.

Sadly I had to hike back to my truck and head home to meet my wife for lunch and give her all of my "you shoulda seen that place" stories that I know she hears all the time, but this one was different.  To top the trip off I saw my first snake of the year on the trail.  A 4 foot black snake was hanging out beside the trail in a sunny spot in the leaves.  In the sun it looked poised and sleek, almost confident, so I kept my distance and moved on.  I cruised down hill all the way back to my truck and drove home, content but excited for the next hike.

A tale of 3 hikes.

I got in my usual weekly hike on Sunday on the Tuscarora Trail through Sleepy Creek.  I'm working my way out of Sleepy Creek WMA on the Tuscarora Trail now and building up to a few big section hikes.  Sunday's hike started at Sleepy Creek Lake and went north.  There are no serious climbs, memorable terrain or great views along this section but it was a pretty awesome area to hike.  A lot of the hike was in view or I was at least able to hear Meadow Branch, and the rolling hills along the bottom of Third Hill Mountain were very nice to hike.  My next hike in that area will start on WV Rt 9 at Spruce Pine Hollow Park and hike back South all the way to the lake.  It looks like about a 15 miler and I'm pretty exited to knock it out.

With spring break in full gear I was able to get out again on Wednesday and hike a section south of Sleepy Creek WMA.  It started at Siler Store, a little store at a crossroads in the middle of nowhere.  It started out great.  A nice kid named Timothy was out working on his tractor and gave me permission to park beside his garage for a few hours so I parked my truck and headed out.  The first mile was awesome, right along Brush Creek and a few pretty green meadows.  The trail then led onto many pieces of private farm land.  I know I crossed more than a dozen fences and hiked across many open fields.  Being an AT guy I'm not crazy about hiking near and around peoples homes and crossing their fences.  Many of the people in this area are heavily armed and probably aren't too crazy about people poking around on their property.  And with all the signage they made it perfectly clear that you had better stay on the trail and not step a single foot on their "private" property.  But then I figured, this trail has been here for a while and I can't be the first hiker they've seen, but it still wasn't a comfortable hike.  The last mile or so was back in the woods and back in my comfort zone.  I hiked all the way to the Basore shelter which is absolutely incredible.  It's as nice as a privately owned cabin, really a beautiful spot.  I took a break there and had a snack and some water and just lounged in the relaxing atmosphere.  I made my way back to truck, shouted a big "Thank You" to Timothy across the road and headed on home.  My next hike in that area will get me as far south as Gore, VA.

My third hike of the week was definitely my favorite.  It's not too often I get to hike with my wife but when I do  it's always a good time.  Today we hiked up to High Rock in Sleepy Creek, which is one of my favorite spots.  We spent a few minutes there taking in the views and the bright sunshine before hiking over to the shelter on Shockey's Knob for lunch.  After a relaxing lunch we headed back down the hill to my truck.  It wasn't a long hike but it was nice for the two of us to hike along and enjoy nature together.  Tomorrow we're taking our son to the DC Zoo.  This has been a fantastic spring break for me.  I'm not looking forward to going back to the other zoo (school) where I work every day.  I'll post my pictures of this weeks adventures soon.

Positive Identification

The picture of what I called a salamander in my last post is actually a Red Spotted Eastern Newt.  According to the website I was reading this one is a juvenile.  Juveniles are typically bright orange and don't always have their red spots until they mature.  The scat that I was wondering about is probably from a fox.  That's right, I was reading up on identifying animal turds.

Sunday Hike

I must start by saying that I couldn't have all of the fun adventures that I get to have without my wife.  Usually I'm a minor pain in the rear but yesterday I was probably a little more.  She drove me about an hour round trip on bad roads to drop me off at Sleepy Creek Lake to start my hike and I am very grateful.  My intentions were to link up with the Tuscarora Trail in Sleepy Creek WMA and back track to fill in a section of the trail that I hadn't hiked.  I know I was on the trail when I was near the lake but I soon lost it.  I'm learning that trails in Sleepy Creek are not always well marked or maintained.  I found a trail that got me around the southern end of the lake and heading up Sleep Creek Mountain and towards what I imagined to be the Tuscarora Trail.  My understanding of the Tuscarora was that it stayed along the top of the ridge through that area but evidently I'm wrong.  When I got to the top of the ridge a trail was there but not the Tuscarora.  So I hiked south on the unnamed trail to hopefully link up with the Tuscarora which I eventually did but really only got to cover about two miles of it instead of the ten miles I had planned on covering.  I was able to figure out the Tuscarora's course through that area and will cover the parts I missed on another hike.  I did pass a test yesterday though, I hiked in the rain and stayed relatively dry.  I bought a cheap poncho from Wal-Mart and wore it over my pack with my bucket hat and it worked well.  I was prepared with a zip-lock bag for my phone and wallet and everything stayed dry so as a novice hiker I was pretty proud of that, and the fact that I hiked just short of 12 miles in the rain in a little over 4 hours.  I saw a turkey, several squirrels, tons of birds and one awesome salamander that I haven't had the chance to identify yet, but if anyone knows what it is please let me know.  I also found a lot of small animal scat in one area that looked about as suspicious as animal scat can look.  I could see small bones in it and I used a stick to tear it apart and it was full of what looked like small rodent and bird bones.  I'm pretty interested in what type of animal left it.  I still haven't seen a bear yet, but I'm on the lookout, hopefully I get a picture.  Next week is Spring Break and I'm pretty excited to get back out on the Appalachian Trail to continue my section hike.

Salamander in Sleepy Creek WMA. 

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Trail markings in Sleepy Creek WMA

The southern end of Sleepy Creek Lake.

Protein Cookies

I'm going to try a new recipe I got from a runner friend.  They are basically no bake cookies made with peanut butter, protein powder and oatmeal.  I've always been a Clif Bar/Power Bar kind of guy but the thought of making my own and knowing every ingredient is a good thing.  On top of it all, they dont taste too bad.

Here's the recipe.  If anyone reads this and has any other recipes please share them.  This recipe makes a dozen I believe.

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup milk
4-5 tablespoons chocolate protein powder or cocoa
1 1/2 cups Splenda sugar substitute
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 1/2 cups quick oats
2-3 tablespoons vanilla

1. Melt margarine in a saucepan and add milk, protein powder and Splenda.
2. Bring to a boil for no more than a minute or until thick.
3. Remove from heat and add in the oats, peanut butter and vanilla.
4. Mix well.
5. If too crumbly add a touch of water, but this should not be needed.
6. Press into cookies and set to cool on wax paper.
7. Enjoy!

Sleepy Creek and TT Pictures

Sign where the TT runs into Shockeysville Road, in Virginia

Massive bolder with blue TT blaze.  I considered doing a little bouldering but I was pressed for time.

Looking southeast from Pee Wee Point.

Shockeys Knob Shelter on the TT.  According to the log, there's a resident bear but  I didn't see it today.

Shockeys Knob from the TT.  That's actually fog hanging around the top of the mountain in the late morning.

Above is High Rock, a 30 foot tall monolith sitting atop Sleepy Creek Mountain.
Below is the view looking East from the top of High Rock.  It's my favorite spot in Sleepy
Creek WMA and the view is worth the hike.

Sleepy Creek and The Tuscarora Trail

Sleepy Creek WMA

I've lived near Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area my entire life and had no idea they had hiking trails.  I had never heard of the Tuscarora Trail either, but recently learned that a long stretch of it passes through Sleepy Creek.  Most of my hiking has been on the AT, but I live 3 miles from Sleepy Creek so out of convenience I've been spending a lot of time there.  So every Sunday for the past 6 weeks or so I get up early and go over to Sleepy Creek and explore their trails.  My first hike in Sleepy Creek took me to a place called High Rock which is a huge rock monolith proably 10 yards high and maybe 60-70 yards long.  I climbed all over the rocks the day I was up there but would probably avoid it in the summer because it looks like a snake hideout.  I hiked with my brother in law to a spot named Pee Wee Point a few weeks ago and checked out the awesome views of the Back Creek Valley.  My true interest over in Sleepy Creek is the Tuscarora Trail.  The TT is a spur of the AT that was created in case the AT needed to be rerouted.  It is 250 miles long and leaves the AT in Shenandoah National Park in VA and rejoins the AT near Marysville, PA.  From what I've read online the TT is not always maintained.  I hiked the TT yesterday from Shockey's Knob to Shockeysville Road just to check it out and can say that it is alive and well in that area.  It appears that it is used by a lot of mountain bikers which has probably kept it pretty well maintained.  I didn't see any other hikers yesterday, I never see any in Sleepy Creek anyway, but I did see a lot of squirrels, birds, chipmunks and bugs.  The trail is pretty easy going with a few easy climbs and downhills.  With confirmation that the trail is there my goal for this summer is to section hike as much of the TT as I can, maybe 100 miles or so.  I do read that a lot of the trail is on roads which I don't care for because I'm there to get away not to mingle with the rest of society but I'll manage.  I'm a teacher and I'm looking at spring break being a big hiking week for me here in about 2 weeks.

First Post...

In my past life I was a basketball player.  I played in high school and continued my basketball career at Shenandoah University.  Towards the end of college my knees started to break down and after college I stopped playing and exercising all together and wouldn't you know it my weight ballooned.  So I decided I'd try my hand at being a runner to get back in shape.  I started with a mile or two and worked up to running 5K's, 10K's, Half Marathons and even ran with a group in a few 200 mile relays.  Running got me back in shape but I can't say I ever fell in love with it.  Competing in races is what kept me going. 

In my present life I'm a backpacker/dayhiker.  I wouldn't say a real hiker yet but I'm working on it.  I've hiked off and on since college but never put much thought into it.  My transition from being a runner to being a hiker is an effort to preserve my knees and also to find a little peace and quiet and escape my own reality.  In my reading I've discovered that a lot of hikers manage journals and blogs.  I've already hiked a good bit this year and have seen some pretty cool places.  The purpose of my blog is to keep track of where I've been and also hopefully make contact with other hikers and promote hiking as a worthy endeavor.  I'm going to log as many hikes as I can and take/post as many pictures as I can.  Any comments or suggestions are certainly welcome.