Jake and I, along with our good friend, Ethan had a wonderful time hiking this past weekend! There were plenty of ups and downs (pun intended) along the way, but we had a blast.
We hiked just over 30 miles, which was shy of the 40 miles we had planned, but we decided to hop off the trail a day early after lots of rain, mud and tired feet. Shout out to Jake’s mom and stepdad for picking us up at 7:30 in evening and driving us another hour back to our car!
We headed out of Damascus at 9:15 am after a 3 hour car ride. Jake and I had to take a few more stops than planned trying to get our Luna sandals just right. We realized that they need to be a lot tighter than you would think! But, they were great after we figured out what felt best.
After hiking just under 10 miles, we rolled into camp at Saunder’s shelter around 3 pm. It’s a great place to spend the night if you are tenting. The only complaint was the distance to the water source. It’s down the hill a ways, but there is a pipe, so that was nice.
I had mentioned to Ethan before the start of the trip that I hoped I had the chance to experience hiking in the rain… and I did. Day 2 started out with an unexpected morning rain shower, but thankfully it tapered off to light sprinkling when it was time to start hiking.
Around 2 pm, we had a decision to make. Do we hike Whitetop Mountain to our planned destination at the top or just hike another 2 miles down to the bottom of Whitetop and hike it in the morning. Since the sun was shining and we all felt better after lunch, we decided to go for it and hike our planned 12 miles.
To anyone planning to hike Whitetop Mountain… it is not joke! Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, but it definitely kicked my butt! It could have been that I had already hiked 8 miles, I don’t know, but it was HARD.
Thankfully, like most challenging hikes and for that matter, challenges in life, you are rewarded at the top.
It was breathtakingly beautiful! Once you reach the top, it is another 0.9 miles to the campsites, so with a looming thunderstorm, we headed out after just a few pictures.
The thunderstorm finally rolled in, but thankfully I had just turned my stove off and we were all settled in. Despite being almost completely out in the open on top of the mountain, we survived the thrashing rain and wind and slept really well!
Our last day was a breeze compared to the other two days. We had formed a routine and we had the downhill advantage that morning. We hit Va 600 and the parking area in one hour, which meant we were able to knock out 3 miles! Good feeling!
After a little snack break and bathroom break, we headed up the foggy backside of Mount Rogers. It was beautiful watching the fog dance around the mountain base.
Just imagine an open green area with beautiful trees aglow in hues of orange, while the fog settled in its place till it was ready to move again. Beautiful.
After such a lovely setting, I was quickly reminded of my times hiking Mount Rogers on the Massie Gap side…rocks, lots and lots of rocks! Add a mix of rain, mud and even more rocks and I was ready for a nice hot shower by the time we got to Massie Gap!
Since we didn’t have cell service till Massie Gap, we had the pleasure of hiking out to the parking lot and for two hours cooked food, chatted about the weekend and put all our clothes on to stay warm – hiker trash at its finest!
The parents showed up around 7:30 pm and we were in comfy beds by 12:15 am. It was an amazing weekend and even though my legs are still a little sore, I can’t wait to get back out there!
For anyone interested in replicating our 3-day hike, here are the milage and campsites according to the 2015 AWOL guide:
Day 1: 9.3 miles – Mt. Rogers Outfitters Damascus 469.3 to Saunders Shelter 478.6
Day 2: 12.1 miles – Saunders Shelter 478.6 to Whitetop Mtn Rd. Campsites 490.7
Day 3: 10.4 miles – Whitetop Mtn. Rd Campsite 490.7 to Massie Gap 501.1
