On the Road with Maya: Fall on the Blue Ridge Parkway

Fall color on the Blue Ridge Parkway

The fall leaves, the cooler temperatures and the shorter days were reminding us that our ‘roaming ways and days’ were numbered. So we left the beautiful Williamsburg area to check out more fall color on the Blue Ridge Parkway and get in a few more hikes before we left the Appalachian Mountains. The George Washington National Forest, located south of Waynesboro, Virginia was near the Parkway and had many trails for us to explore. We stayed at Sherando Lake Campground which was only a few miles from the Parkway and had trails that led to the Parkway and to the Appalachian Trail.

Sherando Lake

Fall color was a little past peak, but it was still quite pretty. We spent three days in the area hiking in the forest and also up on the Parkway and the AT. Nights were in the 20's and days in the high 40’s and low 50’s so it was chilly hiking weather. One day we even had snow flurries. That day we talked with a lone AT hiker, ‘Puck,’ who was having a bad day. Puck hadn’t made it to the shelter the previous night and had spent a very cold night out alone. He was tired and cold and feeling very discouraged because the really cold weather was still to come in November in the higher elevations of the Smoky Mountains. David and I knew the feeling having spent a few miserable nights out in freezing weather on backpacking trips ourselves. We wished Puck good luck and warmer weather as he took off down the trail using his hockey stick as a walking stick.

Maple and leaf reflections in Sherando Lake

Maya with snow flurries (the little white dots)

We encountered several groups of southbound AT hikers that talked to us about their adventures on the trail during the government shut-down. Occupied with our own concerns during the shut-down, we hadn’t really thought about how the thru-hikers were being affected. Those that had been hiking through Shenandoah National Park seemed to have had the most difficulties. The ‘unlucky’ ones were stopped from entering the park and had their hike delayed until the government opened again. This set them back over two weeks and will make arrival time in Georgia later into December and perhaps will increase the risk of hikers running into winter storms.

View of Sherando Lake and the Blue Ridge Mountains

The ‘lucky’ hikers were already in the park and their concern became dodging park rangers and trying not to get caught and escorted out. One group of hikers told us they were already in Shenandoah and didn’t know about the shut-down. But they found out quickly from other hikers who had friends that were pulled off the trail and taken away by rangers. There were even some hikers that were arrested. It is a sad state of affairs that the government shut-down caused the people to be thrown out of their own parks.

'He loves me...'

One hiker told us an incredible story about being on a portion of the AT that was very close to Skyline Drive, the main road through Shenandoah. He glimpsed a ranger car through the trees and quickly dived off the trail to hide. After ten or so minutes of being very still he was about to get up and start hiking again. Then he noticed a big black bear not 20 yards from him meandering across the trail. He looked the other way and saw the ranger again and decided he had to stay put. He needed to make some noise so the bear wouldn't be surprised. What to do? Luckily the bear ambled on and after a while so did the ranger. Double danger! This year’s southbound AT hikers will have quite the stories to tell as they arrive home for the holidays.