I have hiked all over Virginia since returning home. I am a contributor to my friend Tony’s hiking website, hikingupward. Tony gave me a promotion this year to CTO of HikingUpward (Chief Trails Officer), it doubled my salary but 2 x 0 is still not much!! A usual hike for me is in the 8-15 mile range. This past year I have done some extra long hikes of 28 and 41 miles in a day, some places online refer to these types of hikes as “ultra long distance day hikes”. No real good definition explains what an ultra long distance day hike is. I propose that it is at least 15 miles + and done in the course of 24 hours or less

Prior to hiking the 28 mile Catoctin Trail in Maryland in March 2011, my longest day hike was 20 miles.

Catoctin Trail 1/2 Way Point

I did the Catoctin Trail as a Benefit hike with 1 Voice Trekking, a group that hikes to raise money and support for groups that help abused and under privileged children. It took about 11.5 hours to hike the 28 miles.

My second ultra long distance day hike in May 2011 was also a benefit hike. We hiked 41 miles on the Appalachian Trail from the Mason-Dixon Line in PA through MD and ended at Harpers Ferry WV in 17.5 hours, referred to as the MD Challenge. We did this hike on behalf of the The Blue Sky Fund in Richmond VA. Their goal is to “get inner city youth into the great outdoors.” We raised $1300 for them.

Crossing the Potomac at 9:40pm into WV

My last ultra hike in 2011 will be a 5o miler in Sept on the Appalachian Trail, once again with 1 Voice Trekking. This hike will benefit the Diakon Wilderness Center in Boiling Springs PA. This center helps disadvantaged youth become productive members of society, many of them have been referred here by the state. Some of the kids in the program will hike the last 10 miles with us to the Center, our end point. I am looking forward to this hike and I am starting to put in more miles on my morning walks in preparation.

Update 10/22/2011: We did complete the 50 mile hike, in fact we did 52.2 miles in 23.5 hours. Started at Noon Sept 30 and finished at 11:30am on Oct 1, 2011. What a great group to hike with, 1 Voice Trekking. Here is the team prior to the hike:

If you are a hiker and are considering longer hikes here is a little advice:

1. Train: walk, bike, run, put in the miles. Decide what works best for you but don’t go unprepared.

2. On the hike: eat and drink often. You need to eat and drink every 15-20 minutes. Do not wait until you are thirsty and hungry. You will need tons of calories for a long hike. Once you start feeling hungry, thirsty, and weak, it is too late, game over! Eat and drink well before you are even hungry or thirsty.

3. Take care of your feet. If you feel a hotspot on your feet, stop and take care of it. Some people use moleskin, I prefer duct tape. See the Backpacker Magazine slideshow for more information. I have used it a couple of times and I am sold!!

Have fun out there. Like any other hike, check the weather, do it with someone else and let someone else know your plans. Enjoy the great views God has blessed us with and and be safe out there.

Spy Rock (Montebello, VA)

View from Fuller Rocks - 1

View from Fuller Rocks - 2

View from Fuller Rocks - 3

The vantage point at Fuller Rocks, near the intersection of the Appalachian Trail and Little Rocky Row trail, gave us an unobstructed view of the James River. It is about a 4 mile hike north on the A.T. from the James River Footbridge to Fuller Rocks.

A.T. Footbridge - 1

A.T. Footbridge - 2

A.T. Footbridge - 3

We actually made a 12 mile loop hike out of this by also visiting Big Rocky Row Overlook.

Big Rocky Row Overlook

For parking and additional trail information we posted this hike on hikingupward. The views are the best at Fuller Rocks and if you don’t have time to go Big Rocky Row, then just turn around at Fuller Rocks. The Footbridge also makes for a cool side trip and has an interesting story about how it came into being.

PS: James River Fact - It is the longest river (340 miles) in the United States completely contained within the borders of 1 state, Virginia.

Mason Dixon Line

Ken, Cat, Scottie, Brian and me quickly took a few photos and then turned back south on the AT back into MD for the majority of the 41 miles we would hike.

Hiking in the dark

It started getting light enough around 6am for us to pack away our headlamps. They would be needed again near the end of the hike. The goal of this hike was 3 States, 41 miles, in less than 24 hours. In the dark we lost the trail at one point and finally about 20 minutes later we were back on track and paid closer attention to the White AT Blazes.

In the Fog

We headed to PA with an 80% chance of rain, we had 2 good rains for about an hour each but for most of the day it was either foggy, misty, dreary, or a slight drizzle. I’ll take the weather we had over trying to do this same hike in the middle of July in 95F and 100% humidity. We were actually pretty fortunate with the type of weather we had. My friends Tony and Linda were our designated supply car drivers meeting us at 4 supply stops throughout the day. Our first stop was at the 10 mile mark at Wolfsville Rd. Cat was only able to join us for this part of the trip as she had to be in Richmond to work the Dominion RiverRock Festival in Richmond that afternoon.

The Team at Wolfsville Road

We quickly got back on the trail after eating some donuts and drinks provided by Tony and Linda, man did they taste good. Everyone felt good, no blisters. Brian and Scottie set a good pace over the next part of the trail to the I-70 Parking Lot near the I-70 AT Footbridge, Ken wasn’t far behind them. In fact, the next photo was the last I saw of them until I-70.

Heading to I-70

I hiked by myself for an hour or so until I crossed paths with a young man named Brian hiking 700 miles of the AT to visit his mother in Asheville, NC. We talked for a few minutes then started hiking together, of course I wasn’t carrying a 36 pound pack like he was, but he kept up, amazing! An hour before I-70 he asked if Tony might give him a ride to Gathland State Park as he wanted to get down the trail and had some blisters he wanted to take care of, Tony of course obliged. Brian was not a “purest” AT Thru Hiker so he was not overtly concerned about skipping a section of the trail. Very nice guy, lost a job recently, and was just trying to get away for a few months to figure out what he was going to do next. It felt good that we could help him out a little.

Brian near I-70

I-70 Halfway Point and Lunch

This was about mile 19, Tony and Linda brought us Subway Sandwiches and hot Starbucks Coffee, what a great morale booster that was. It felt like Tony and Linda were our own personal Red Cross Disaster Relief lunch truck!! Brian joined us for lunch and then got a ride with Tony and Linda. As for the team, Brian and I noticed a few hotspots and took some time to take care of our feet. I added some duct tape to a few spots and changed into a clean pair of socks from my day-pack. Brian used some moleskin on his feet. We spent about 30 minutes here but it was well worth the stop.

I-70 AT Footbridge

We quickly crossed the footbridge and got back on the trail heading towards our next stop at Turner’s Gap (US Alt 40) about 5 miles away, our shortest distance between any of our stops, we made pretty good time. We once again had some drinks, juice and smoothies, and a few snacks and bananas. My photos from this point on became pretty sparse, not sure why, I guess I was just focusing on one foot in front of the other. The rest of the photos were taken by Tony and Linda. Heading to the 4th stop at Crampton Gap/Gathland State Park, Brian’s blisters started getting worse.

Gathland State Park

Gathland State Park was around mile 31 and unfortunately Brian called it a day, blisters were just too much. We were certainly bummed for him as he had come so far. I appreciated him coming out on such a dreary day to raise some money for inner city kids so they could go camping and hiking, thanks Brian!! Brian Fact – He won a Backpacker Magazine trip for 2 to Mt Kilimanjaro, which he took last year with his brother in law, too cool! Tony and Linda stayed with Brian until his brother in law came to pick him up. Scottie had already headed to Harpers Ferry as Ken and I stopped for a quick break here, snacks, drinks and refills to get us to Harpers Ferry. The final section (10 miles) was a mind game and of course we were getting tired. The switchbacks down from Weaverton Cliffs were exhausting and we had to be careful as the rocks were wet. I thought the last 3 miles on the C&O Canal Tow Path would be easy but my feet were pretty sore and that path was really packed down, it felt like I was walking on an concrete road!!

Scottie on the Goodloe Footbridge - 8:15pm, 16 hrs on the trail!!

Scottie crossing the Goodloe Footbridge into Harpers Ferry, WV around 8:15 pm, congratulations Scotti, great job!! Notice it is still somewhat light out.

Ken and Bryce, 9:50 pm, 17.5 hours on the trail

It was dark when Ken and myself trudged in around 9:50 pm to Harpers Ferry, WV, what a great feeling that was! This was definitely the hardest hike I have ever done but doing it for a great cause, The Blue Sky Fund, made it all worthwhile!! Thanks to all our friends, family, and the www.hikingupward.com hiking community who made donations to BSF on our behalf.

100 Mile GPS Track

We crossed a beautiful cow pasture a few miles into the hike near Troutville, VA.

A.T. through a Cow Pasture

The nicest shelter we stayed at was the Bryant Ridge Shelter, sleeps about 20 people.

Bryant Ridge Shelter

We had a beautiful view from Big Rocky Row looking down on the James River, one of the rare days it wasn’t raining.

Big Rocky Row

One night we were stuck at the Thunder Hill Shelter in a pouring rain banging down all night on a new metal roof, not much sleep that night.

Thunder Hill Shelter

When we went back a few weeks later we had some great views on Cold Mountain, Tar Jacket Ridge, Spy Rock and The Priest.

Cold Mountain

Tar Jacket Ridge

Spy Rock

Tye River Valley - 1/2 Way down The Priest

See my webshots album for additional photos of this hike.

Little Stony Creek

after the other

with the trail never going further than 30 yards from Little Stony Creek before finally reaching the amazing Upper Falls.

Upper Cascades

Upper Cascades in the rain

It is only 2 miles from the parking lot to the Upper Cascades. We decided to do an extra 2 miles beyond the falls to Barney’s Wall

Barney's Wall

What a great place to have lunch with my wife. I brought an insulated lunch bag with some ice packs and had a couple of nice cool yogurts to eat and take in the views of the New River Valley and Blacksburg.

Barney's Wall

We only had to share the spot with one guest

Eastern Fence Lizard

Just after heading back it started raining and we got pretty soaked, but it felt great

Raining

Glad we had a change of clothes in the car because we had a dinner reservation at Mountain Lake Conservancy & Hotel

Hotel

You may recognize this as the Hotel they used in filming “Dirty Dancing”.

Dining Room all to ourselves!!!

We were there a few days before the Memorial Day Weekend which is when business really picks up at the hotel. What a great day I had with my wife. I highly recommend a visit to this trail and to the Hotel.

The trail will soon be added to my friend Tony’s hiking website (www.hikingupward.com) as I mapped it with my GPS while there. There are tons of other hikes in VA and WVA on his site, take a look and best of all – it’s all free!

GPS track of this 8.4 mile trail

The fire road up to the intersection of the Appalachian Trail had been cleared by a bulldozer, somebody I guess lives on the other side mountain beyond this intersection.

The fire road was easy going but once on the A.T. it was slow going. We reached Spy Rock around 3pm but still had 3 miles to go to The Priest Shelter. As slow as we were plodding in 12-20″ snow, we decided to camp the night at Spy Rock and finish the rest of this trip some other time when the trail has cleared of the snow. Prior to setting up camp we went to see some great views at the top of Spy Rock and views of the Religious Range: The Priest, The Little Priest, The Friar, The Little Friar, and The Cardinal.

The wind was really blowing up at the very exposed top. The views were incredible but decided we better get down and setup camp.

With my 5 degree sleeping bag, I stayed warm through the night. It was a unique experience to sleep on the snow. I would be tempted to do it again but maybe with less snow. We hiked out the next morning and back to the car at the Montebello Fish Hatchery. After packing up we realized Jeremy had actually put his tent up on the Appalachian Trail, we didn’t see the white blaze on the tree beside his tent until we were leaving, too funny!!!

We stopped at Crabtree Falls on the way to Reed’s Gap to pick up Jeremy’s truck. We wanted  to see if the falls were frozen, we were not disappointed.

Reed’s Gap is where Route 664 crosses the Blue Ridge Parkway. Jeremy’s truck was literally parked on the Blue Ridge Parkway (Brings to mind the oxymoron, why do we park in a driveway and drive on a parkway?). The Parkway was completely shut down.

We had fun on this trip and we were prepared for the cold, we were certainly not prepared for the amount of snow on the trail. We topped off the trip with lunch at the Blue Mountain Brewery in Afton, VA on the way home.

We have posted Spy Rock as a day hike on my friend Tony’s hiking website:  hikingupward.

Additional photos of this trip on webshots.

View of Crowd

In addition to Mr. Bradley, there were quite a few family members of the crash victims in attendance. There were also people involved in the rescue effort and the attending physician on duty at the hospital when Mr. Bradley was brought off the mountain.

Mr. Bradley talking to Dr. Frank McCue, the attending physician

Mr. Bradley and Mr. Alvin Toms, helped in recovery and kept guard overnight at the crash scene

It was a beautiful service with prayers said, a talk by Dr. Frank McCue, an Air Force ROTC color guard from UVA, a few words by Hawes Spencer who just recently published a very thorough story about Flight 349 in The Hook magazine, a few words by a gentleman from the Civil Air Patrol who was involved in the search, a talk by Mr. Bradley and what I thought the most poignant part of the service, the reading of the crash victim names by Mr. Bradley’s son Brad.

Mr. Brad Bradley reading the crash victim names.

There were a couple of  TV news crews covering the event from Charlottesville. This link will take you to one of them. About 5-6 lines down you should see a video camera icon with the words “Victims of Piedmont Flight 349 honored”, click on that for a 2 minute video clip.

A photo that we had taken when we originally found the wreck last December 31 and posted to hikingupward, made it onto the October 31, 2009 front page of the Charlottesville Daily Progress.

Daily Progress Front Page

I have been in touch with the Bradley family over the past 6 months as they were planning the 50th Anniversary Service. I volunteered to lead a hike up to the crash site after the service.  I was privileged to lead a group of 27 people plus myself to the crash site.

Hike Path - 10/31/2009 (GPS Tracks)

The group included my daughter Abbie, family members of the victims, people from Crozet who wanted to visit the site, a group of Cadets and leaders from the Monticello Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol, and various others who had heard about the hike via The Hook and the plug from Mr. Hawes Spencer when he spoke during the Ceremony.

Tough Going on the Trail

At the crash site - Photo 1

At the crash site - Photo 2

At the crash site - Photo 3, Fog rolling in

The trip back down the mountain was pretty treacherous and we did have one injury. Bonnie, one of the ladies who joined us, had a slip near the top and we originally thought she just had a minor cut. Upon further examination she had a pretty good size hematoma on her forearm. Some of the guys went on ahead in order to have an ambulance waiting at the park as we felt her arm needed further medical attention. It took us a little longer to get down the mountain as we were taking turns making sure she did not fall again. My daughter Abbie (12) offered up her rain jacket as a sling as she had just read about doing that in my recent Backpacker Magazine, I guess I need to read it better!!

A big thanks to Mr. Bradley for allowing us to be part of the 50th Anniversary Service. To keep going with Mr. Bradley’s humor, I am not sure I want to return and lead an encore hike for the 100th Anniversary Service!! That is one tough hike and now having done it twice I am ready to retire this trail!!

Mr. Bradley and grandkids

Gordon at the top

The clouds hung around for a good bit of the day but even so we had some great views.

View from the A.T. South

We were in for a suprise as we headed on a blue spur trail over towards the Appalachian Trail South. Just 0.4 miles after the A.T. intersection we had the first of 3 additional vistas after Humpback Rocks. The photo above is the first one and the one below was the second. I didn’t even know these views existed.

2nd View

There were stone walls on this part of the A.T., I assume they were part of an old homestead that may have been here prior to the Parkway being created.

Stone Wall

On the way to our last view, which I had been to earlier in the year coming from the opposite direction, we took a side trip to view the wreckage of a U.S. Marine T28 Trainer that crashed in 1964, both pilots bailed out and survived. There is a great writeup posted online by a gentleman I met while hiking a year or so ago, we continue to stay in touch via our blogs. His blog is called Rightside VA.

T28 Wreckage

The debris field for this crash is contained within about a 30 yard circumference area. We lingered around the crash site for about 20 minutes before continuing south to our last view and campsite. It was dry enough by the time we got there that we able to get a fire going.

Campsite

Campsite Fire

After dinner we were priviliged to see one of God’s masterpiece sunsets over the Shenandoah Valley.

Awesome Sunset

We were camping about 30 yards from where we viewed the sunset. On Sunday morning we got a good group photo at the same place we viewed the sunset.

Group Photo

The weather on the return trip to the car on Sunday was just beautiful showing some of the great colors of Fall in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Return Trip - Fall Colors

We had a great weekend for backpacking. This is not the longest backpack but there are some great views and sidetrips on this part of the Appalachian Trail. For trip directions see my friend Tony’s HikingUpward website.

For additional photos of this trip, see my webshots site.

Waldo in the Laundry Room

Waldo, a Guiding Eyes for the Blind (GEB) yellow labrador officially graduated from the GEB Canine Development Center on August 15, 2009. He actually finished his training over the past month with his new owner in New Hampshire. Let me tell you a little about what it took to get Waldo trained and ready to be a working guide dog. First of all, it takes someone very dedicated to doing the initial Puppy Raiser training, ranging anywhere from 14 -18 months. For my family that someone was my daughter Abbie with lots of help from her Mom.

Abbie & Waldo - Oct 2007

Abbie was being home-schooled by my wife and decided she wanted to do a home-school project for the year. She had received an email about doing projects and raising a GEB puppy was one of the ideas. She came to us and asked if she could do this so we let her fill out the paperwork on-line, Julie signed on as an adult sponsor as Abbie was only in 5th grade at the time. Abbie and Julie were soon contacted by GEB, attended 4 sessions of training over 2 months, had a home visit, puppy sat Intrigue for 5 days and then were put on a list to receive the next available puppy. Waldo came into our family on Oct 22, 2007 as a ten week old fluff-ball!!

Waldo & his new Pal Shane

Waldo quickly became friends with our own Chocolate Lab, Shane. They took naps together during the day but Waldo had to sleep in his crate at night and found many positions to get comfortable in.

Waldo - the contortionist...

Over the next 14 months Abbie, Julie and Waldo faithfully attended Richmond Region GEB training sessions every 2 weeks, learning about 35 basic commands such as sit, let’s go, we’re working, stay, stop, kennel, heel, get busy, go place, etc. Reinforcing the learned commands prepared Waldo for his final training in NY. He was also taken for 2-3 mile walks everyday. Waldo was a very inquisitive dog and if he had thumbs I am sure he would have helped Julie:

Waldo helping

Waldo came everywhere with us. He came with us to church but I don’t think he listened to many of the sermons.

Waldo at Church, the kids loved him

We were continually amazed by the different positions Waldo and Shane could get in when they would have their naps:

Nap Time

Abbie and Julie did a great job with Waldo and it was a sad day on December 16, 2008 when we turned Waldo back in to GEB to go back to NY for final training. Abbie was a trooper knowing that this day would come and that she had done all that was required with the hope that Waldo would soon change someone’s life.

Waldo getting ready to go to NY

We learned at the end of June that Waldo would complete his training at the home of his new owner in New Hampshire. Abbie and Julie were invited to visit Waldo at the CDC in early July prior to him leaving for N.H. Abbie was really glad to see Waldo as was Julie. Waldo was also glad to see Abbie and Julie after taking a few seconds to realize who was visiting him.

At GEB CDC Yorktown Heights NY July 8, 2009

Abbie was recently awarded The Presidential Volunteer Service Award at a recent Richmond Region GEB training event for her work in raising Waldo. Julie and I are both proud of all the work Abbie did in training Waldo. I am proud of both Abbie and Julie for all their dedication to Waldo and to GEB.

We were sent a photo of Waldo and recently retired Eben from the new owner, we wish you all the best with Waldo and hope that he is as great a GEB guide dog for you as Eben has been, God Bless – The Allison’s

Waldo & Eben

Footnote: GEB was recently featured on NBC’s Today Show. One of the dogs featured, Alex, is Waldo’s father

Footnote 2: A recent photo of Waldo was sent to us by Kandi on 9/13/2009

Waldo_090909