This is not a hike that will be posted on my friend Tony’s hiking website as it is actually a GPS track of a glider flight I took near Waynesboro, VA. My wife and I went to Shenandoah Valley Soaring on May 23, 2009 for a glider flight over the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. Our wedding anniversay is coming up and we decided to do something out of the ordinary prior to our 25th!! The airport was at 1437′ and according to my GPS I went as high as 4630′.

Julie getting ready to go

We picked a beautiful day for soaring above the Shenandoah Valley and Julie was first to go in the LET L-23 Super Blanik Glider made in the Czech Republic.

Julie getting airborne

I went second and was towed about 10 minutes and then I pulled the release bar seperating us from the tow plane.

Just before release

Self Portrait, I look constipated!! Note to self: smile more....

My flight took me over near Sherando and the Lyndhurst area as we soared for about 30 minutes. Once released from the tow plane all you hear is the wind. It was pretty cool flying over to the mountains and close to some of the trails I hike quite often.

Soaring over I-64

Coming in for a landing

Julie zoomed in on my landing

What a great time we had even if it went by very quickly. Thanks for going with me Julie and enjoying it even me more than me. I love you – Bryce

See my webshots site for additional photos and a couple of short video clips.

Bryant Ridge Shelter - A.T.

I have wanted to visit this A.T. Shelter in Virginia for some time. We were rained out of our 3 day backpack in West Virginia so we decided to do a “training” backpack closer to home even with a high probablity of rain here also. We shared the Shelter with 2 thru-hikers: “Fast-track” and “General”. “General” had a friend with him who was going to hike with him for a week. It was great talking with these guys and sharing some of our plentiful food with them, especially Gordon’s Raspberry Cobbler.

I have read various stories / statements about this shelter from online blogs. Here are a few of them:

• “This is a unique and impressive shelter.”
• “Makes my top 5 list of shelters.”
• “Sleeps 20.”
• “..I heard music…he asked if it was a flute and strangely enough it was…we heard it twice that night.”
• “You can hear a pretty good number of coyotes.”
• “There are no serving wenches.”
• “A pretty ambitious design.”
• “Privy isn’t always short for privacy.”
• “An amazing shelter with 3 levels and glass windows.”
• “..the Taj Mahal of shelters.” <added 5/13/2009>
• “Sleep by number beds.” OK – this is my contribution to add to the mystique of the Bryant Ridge Shelter!!!

Porch is as big as most A.T. Shelters

I’ll agree about the 3 levels if you count the porch. The next level is the raised platform where the sleeping bag is.

2nd Level Raised Platform

 Then the 3rd level is at the top of the rung ladder.

Ladder to 3rd Level

3rd Level, Plexi-glass Windows

Other side of 3rd Level

We were all pretty amazed with this shelter. I imagine it must be the biggest shelter on the A.T. in Virginia. It has a rather unique privy located about 80 yards beyond the shelter.

Privy with no Privacy

We were fortunate on the 6 mile hike down to the shelter and had just a few sprinkles. The hike back up on Sunday was a different story with a steady rain the whole way. This is a great training hike if you need a good climb and is well worth the visit to the Shelter. Listed below are the trail stats/directions for this hike.

Bryant Ridge Topo Map

• Parking Coordinates: N37 29.568 W79 32.972, MP 80.4, Floyd Field
• 6 miles down (3 hrs 40 mins)
• 6 miles up (4 hrs 30 mins)
• Total Miles: 12
• High Point 3558’
• Low Point 1353’
• Elev Change 2205’
• Bryant Ridge Shelter Coordinates: N37 31.820 W79 35.138

Directions to A.T. from Parking Area:

Cross over the Blue Ridge Parkway towards gray metal road barrier. Stay on Fire Road for about 1/10 mile and then bear right onto path towards Cornelius Creek Shelter. Go past the shelter and take the Blue Blazed spur trail to the A.T. and then head south towards the Bryant Ridge Shelter. There is a creek right beside the shelter for your water source. The hike back up is tough, get plenty of water.

More photos of the Shelter on webshots plus a sidetrip to Apple Orchard Falls.

April is such a great time for backpacking in Virginia and we certainly had a great weekend to backpack McAfee Knob  (April 18-19, 2009). It is not quite a tradition yet but this is the 2nd backpack trip I have organized for my church, West End Presbyterian near Richmond, VA. We went to Cold Mountain/Mount Pleasant last Fall and I hope to continue leading one each Fall and Spring with friends from church.

At the top of McAfee Knob (Elev. 3197')

There were 13 of us who made the trip with 11 staying overnight and camping near the Campbell Shelter about 1/2 mile beyond McAfee Knob. The nearest town is Catawba, VA but on a clear day from the top you can see Roanoke. McAfee Knob is one of the most photographed places on the Appalachian Trail in Virginia. Part of the cliff at the top actually protrudes out beyond the rest of the cliff and that is where most people want to have their photo taken.

Steve "Fly like a" Byrd

It was about a 4 mile hike to the top of McAfee Knob which doesn’t sound too bad except we were also carrying our backpacks and the temps were in the low to mid 70’s. It was a very sunny day and being mid-April in the mountains there wasn’t much shade from the trees on the way up as they were still mostly bare. For those of us with a Celtic background (Doug, myself, and a few others), we paid the price for not having put on enough sunblock 5000!!! The summit was a great place to stop and have lunch and take in the beauty of the Catawba Valley in front of us.

"Lunch with a view" (Jim, Jeremy, Heather, & Abbie)

After lunch we parted ways with Gary and John and then headed for the Campbell Shelter to setup camp for the night.

Great Spots near Campbell Shelter

A few folks decided to take advantage of a nice breeze and proceeded to have an afternoon nap which felt great after the hike up. I do believe that is Doug in the green tent taking full advantage of an afternoon with no other distractions such as yard work!!! I proceeded to explore the area and mark the Campbell Shelter, Pig Farm Campsite, Privy, and the nearby water source on my GPS as waypoints to submit to my friend Tony’s hiking website for other hikers to use.

After Dinner, 7 of us hiked the 1/2 mile back up to McAfee Knob to view a sunset. It was a perfect night to watch the sun set over the Catawba Valley and North Mountain to the west:

McAfee Knob Sunset 1

McAfee Knob Sunset 2

The next morning we had our breakfast, Jim had his new backpacking coffee maker to try out and I of course had my morning tea. We leisurely packed up and headed down the fire road back to the Route 311 Parking area

Jim with coffee brewing to his right....

 

Rob & David starting to pack up their hammocks

It was a great weekend being able to get to know each other just a little bit better. I was especially blessed as both my beautiful daughters came on this trip with me and said they had a great time. I am looking forward to the Fall Backpacking trip……

Go to webshots for more photos of this trip.