NORTH

Usually we take a 4 week vacation every summer. This year we only took 3 weeks so that we could take a one week trip in the Fall. Initially our plan was to do some backpacking in the Adirondacks and to hit some waterfalls in Upstate New York. We timed our trip for early October, to catch the peak of fall color. However, the fall color came early this year to those mountains. As our trip neared, it became apparent that the leaves would be on the ground by the time we got there. In addition, Christy injured her knee in September. She was recovering, but a challenging backpacking trip in rugged terrain seemed like a bad idea.

At the last minute we shifted gears. We decided to hit the Hocking Hills in Ohio, Niagara Falls, Letchworth State Park, and Watkins Glen in New York, and Ricketts Glen in Pennsylvania. We’d finish up with a visit to Christy’s family’s camp in the mountains of north-central PA. The trip would be entirely day hiking and car camping, and the hiking would be considerably easier than the Adirondacks. That would be more manageable for Christy as she recovered from her knee injury.

We got a head start on the drive north on Friday morning, 10/6. First up on our agenda was Hocking Hills State Park in southeastern Ohio. However, instead of driving straight there, we decided to break up the drive and spend Friday night near Grayson Highlands in southwestern Virginia. That area was only a little out of the way, and I wanted to check out the fall color at the higher elevations.

We were two hours down the road when I realized that I’d forgotten our passports. That meant that our visit to Niagara Falls would be limited to the American side. We debated going back, but decided that the American side would have to be good enough.

We drove through Laurel Valley on the north side of Mount Rogers. There was some nice fall color on the hillsides above, but it was spotty. We stopped at Elk Garden for our first hike. The east side of Whitetop Mountain above Elk Garden is thick with Sugar Maples, and I thought it would be a good spot for fall foliage. I was wrong. A lot of the trees were already bare, while the remainder were either green or a dull brownish gray. So much for that idea.

We hiked the A.T. northbound, up through a cow pasture to the top of the first ridge. We enjoyed great views here of Mount Rogers, Whitetop, and the mountains and valleys to the south. These views are easily accessible with a short walk, but incredibly this area sees only a fraction of the visitors that Grayson Highlands State Park receives.

Grayson Highlands was our next stop. We parked at Massie Gap and hiked up to the top of the ridge. The fall color was fantastic here, and the views southwest were stunning, too. From there we followed the A.T. east to a series of rock outcrops with fine views.

We doubled-back to Massie Gap and did a short hike down towards Cabin Creek. We only went part of the way though, as our goal was a grove of Bigtooth Aspen. I was hoping to see them at the peak of fall color, but most of the aspen leaves were already on the ground. When we returned to Massie Gap we found three wild ponies grazing near our car. The dogs were delighted!

From there we drove over to Whitetop Mountain in hopes of finding a place to camp. We thought about parking at the trailhead for the A.T. and walking down the trail to a campsite, but decided to drive on. My next idea was to drive out towards Buzzards Point, but that road is not Prius-able. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway, as someone had parked their pickup in the middle of that road, and there was no way to get around them. We drove on, until we reached a gate just before the summit. We doubled-back a short ways and parked next to an old roadbed. There was something of a campsite there, with a fire pit. We thought about pitching the tent on the old roadbed, but found a nicer spot for the hammocks back in the trees. We thought it would be warm enough for them, so we decided to skip the tent.

We made dinner and then enjoyed a stunning sunset from a nearby meadow. Afterwards we relaxed around a campfire before retiring to the hammocks for the night. We had attempted to get Boone into a hammock once before, and that had gone….badly. He’d found the experience stressful, and nearly fell out of it. Boone curled up on a blanket on the ground, while Kona jumped up into my hammock. She snuggled in next to me, and I fell asleep quickly.

I slept great. Christy had a different experience. It wasn’t long before Boone tried to get into her hammock. She woke to find him staring at her, his front paws on the edge of the hammock. She helped him climb up into the hammock, but he couldn’t get his balance. Initially he stood in the middle of the hammock, before promptly sitting right on Christy’s face.

Christy pushed him off, and he jumped out of the hammock. He launched himself right back in, and sat on her face again. Christy was laughing and yelling at him, and finally got him to move and lay down by her legs. However, she was so uncomfortable with him in the hammock that she wasn’t able to sleep.

I slept through the whole thing.

I woke at first light the next morning damp and chilled. Fog had rolled in late that night, and the moisture had seeped into everything. The wind was howling through the trees, too. Between the gusty wind and the dampness I was freezing. There was no sign of Christy or Boone. I stumbled out of the hammock and walked down to the car. Christy and Boone were inside, sleeping. I woke them, and we broke camp quickly. Cooking breakfast in the wind and cold wasn’t an option. Instead, we drove back down the mountain and back over to Elk Garden. It was a totally different world down there – cool but sunny, and with just a light breeze. We cooked and ate breakfast there before resuming our journey northward.

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