The Faux Shaux

Made it to Shenandoah National Park around 4:15. The nice older woman at the gate broke the news that the campsites are full, but if I am equipped for backwoods camping, that is an option I have besides camping outside of the park.

You need to fill out a permit to backwoods camp, so getting to the visitor’s office by 5pm is crucial. The caveat of backwoods camping is that fires aren’t allowed. What’s camping without nature’s TV (as my friend Ben calls it)?  The other condition is that you need a bear-proof solution for food; they make special bear-proof containers or you can hoist food between two trees (something like 10 feet in the air and 8 feet from the tree).

I did not expect the park to be this big! I knew Skyline Drive was 105 miles, but didn’t realize it’s all destination as well. On Matt Richard’s recommendation, my aim is White Oak Canyon trail. It’s about 8 miles if you do the loop. That’s mile 45 on the Skyline. A highway of hikes; amazing.

On the drive, I find another car stopped.  A mama black bear and her four cubs are crossing the street.  Snapped a quick photo of the last cub with my 7D, which I’ll upload when I get to civilization. This definitely supports the ‘bears every two miles’ statistics I read earlier. Note to self: whittle spear first!

I reached the trailhead at 7pm, an hour before sunset. Took 20 minutes to pack my essentials: hoodie, sleeping bag, tent, hammock, lantern, knife, Camelbak, hatchet, dry-bag with map, paracord, DSLR.  I headed down a horse trail by the Hawksbill parking area (mile 45), where I was told it was okay to camp. It’s a very steep and rocky area, not the type of place I would have chosen for myself. But the night was quickly approaching and I had to choose my campsite while it was still light enough to see most of the possible hazards.

About 10-15 minutes of walking and 1/2 mile from the road, I found a relatively flat clearing situated before a 20′ rock face. In retrospect, it’s nice to be by a cliff. Limiting the possible directions of attack serves as nice illusion of safety. The ground way too rocky, I hung the camping hammock (thanks Mick) between two trees – one of which was dead and festering with centipedes.   Luckily the dead tree could support my weight, as it was dark by the time I finished tying it off.  In the hammock I could perfectly see the valley below and yet remained hidden from the higher area above.

Between the centipedes and variety of insects that greeted me in my first ten minutes, I was happy to not be sleeping on the ground.  I made a nearby sapling my night stand, hanging my lantern and sunglasses.  I hadn’t realized how important it is to have a lantern that will last through the night until the moment I was camping without a fire in unknown woods.  My Black Diamond Apollo lantern claims a 96-hour runtime on low led setting, which was the perfect level for working on a task or falling asleep.

I ate dinner by headlamp, but I shoveled it down. Part hunger, part bear anxiety, I had no idea what the forest looked like as I only spent about 20 minutes in it before dark. I put the remnants of my kale salad, quinoa side & hazelnut Ritter chocolate bar back in a sack and made my way through the dark forest to find a tree to keep it from bear mouths.

Headlamp Dinner

Following my knot app, I made a lazy variation of a noose, which I tightened to a rock and threw over a thick horizontal tree branch. Once I retrieved the swinging rock-end of the rope, I hoisted the bag up to the tree and tied off to a sapling. Viola!  The pics below were from the morning (it was a little trickier in the dark).

Bear-proof food storage solution

Tying off the food bag

I was somewhat relieved once the food was removed from my campsite.  I say ‘somewhat’ because the next thing I did was sharpen my grandpa’s bowie knife.  This type of knife looks like the one Rambo carried, but with a compass on the tip of the handle.  Inside the handle there are water-proof matches and a tiny fishing lure & monofilament.  I’ve had this knife tucked in a drawer for most of the time it’s been in my possession.  I’ve only recently started carrying it, as my hikes have gotten longer and riskier.

Back to the knife sharpening.  Here I have this dull-ass 6″ blade and a 1/2″ x 3″ sharpening stone.  I spent a good fifteen minutes trying to put an edge on it.  It was crude, but I could stab it into a tree trunk with far less effort than before.  The long day of driving was finally taking its toll, so I ditched my idea to whittle a spear (or even fasten the knife to the end of a branch).  The camping hammock had a large enough to store the hatchet so I was set for sleep-defense.

Literally anything I put down on the neighboring rock ledge would have a centipede or giant spider on it upon retrieval.  After flicking off the critters, I carabinered my things to the hammock straps.  The temperature was noticeably dropping from the day.  I threw on my faux-fur-lined hoodie and unfolded my sleeping bag into the hammock.  I was still wearing shorts, so I zipped my legs into my sleeping bag before passing out.  I woke up to what felt like low 50 degrees and huge gusts of wind swaying the trees in a swirling motion above.  It was in the eighties during the day; I’d almost left the sleeping bag behind!  I giddily zipped myself fully into the bag.  Suddenly I felt the sensation of a hundred tiny legs on my side.  I grab – pinch – threw that sucker off me so quick, you’d think it was a rehearsed movement.  At the time, I wasn’t sure if they were poisonous, so definitely added a little drama to the occasion.  Crisis averted.  Back in the sleeping bag.  So glad I brought that thing.  Thinking about it, exposure to the elements is the primary cause of death in the outdoors.  Always overpack people!