[at-l] trip report: Compton Gap to Ashby Gap

[Amy Forinash]

My friend Mel and I went on our fourth annual birthday hiking trip  
this weekend.  This year we are turning 39.  My day was yesterday.   
Hers is the 23rd.

I packed up all gear for two hikers and met her at the airport.  I  
packed some surprises for her, which is always fun to do.  (This year  
we gifted her with her own titanium mug and tiny headlamp. )  We  
picked her up at the airport, then drove out to Shenandoah to get  
dropped off at the trail crossing.

After a quick change into trail clothes, we got started walking at  
Compton Gap.  Weather called for fog, then rain, then torrential rain  
and lightning.  I was prepared with lots of food, a tent, a spare tarp  
and groundcloth for cooking and lounging in foul weather, and extra  
clothing for both of us.

After a short walk we took a little break at Tom Floyd Wayside for a  
snack and boot retying.  It was a pretty nice little shelter with a  
pleasant front porch.

Walking on, it started to sprinkle so we hurriedly put covers on the  
packs.  That was the last sprinkle we saw for the weekend, at least  
during daylight.

I ran out of water going up High Knob.  I didn't figure out until the  
next day that the 2 liter water bag I thought was carrying was really  
a 1.5 liter water bag.  Oopsie.  It was quite warm and humid, so the  
lack of water bothered me a lot.

We were headed to Denton shelter for the night, still expecting that  
torrential rain.  I was dismayed, to say the least, when I saw a sign  
for a spring with what looked like a collapsed shelter next to it.   
And so relieved when we walked another fifty feet and saw the sign for  
the real, very nice shelter.  Denton had a great front porch, separate  
dining pavilion, and no mice.  We decided to stay in the shelter  
rather than camp due to the possibility of severe weather.  However it  
didn't do more than sprinkle a little overnight.  Ah well.

I had packed in a special treat for dinner:  fondue, french bread, and  
an apple.  And a bottle of wine.  It was wonderful.  I was somewhat  
shocked when the thruhiker in the shelter, Peanut, refused to try any  
of it.  She said she was full!  Can you imagine?

Saturday we trudged up a mountain in the morning, then stopped at a  
shelter for lunch.  I realized that the headache I had was migraine,  
not dehydration.  Yay?  Aspirin, Tylenol, and a caffeine impregnated  
power gel helped out the headache and sent me zooming through the rest  
of the day.  We walked for a couple of hours through the most massive  
field of trilliums I've ever seen.  Acres and acres worth, millions of  
trilliums.  Plus a similar number of wild geraniums, violets, and may  
apples.  It was a stunning display of natural beauty.  Or at least I  
felt stunned.  It may have been the migraine.

The air felt still and full of the potential for storm (and storms had  
been predicted for Saturday night when I left home Friday morning) so  
we again went to a shelter.  We stayed in Dick's Dome, just the two of  
us.  A ton of boy scouts* and two long distance hikers (Fruitcake and  
Nuts, IIRC) were tented.  We saw one nice tent site that we almost  
used until Fruitcake pointed out that it would flood if it rained.   
The stream in front of Dick's Dome was already mightily swollen, with  
the bridge being surrounded by water.

I'm pretty sure it didn't rain all night.  Mel and I slept  
surprisingly well in the little shelter, lulled by the roar of the  
stream next to it.

Sunday morning Mel and I were a little stiff.  We woke up well before  
dawn (again) and breakfasted on coffee and pastries, then headed out.   
I was feeling very zoomy and energetic.  The hiking was pretty and  
easy, especially the relo through a beautiful, open estate.  We took  
many pictures.

Around eleven my friend Delee picked us up at Ashby Gap and drove us  
home to get ready for our birthday party / bbq.  Let me just state for  
the record that I now realize it is insane to go backpacking all  
weekend and then hold a full on party at your home.   We were  
exhausted by bedtime and I now have a fridge full of cooked meat that  
I don't know what to do with.  But we had a wonderful time.

We think we may have a trail name for Melissa.  After watching her  
shiver while I was wearing a t-shirt, I started teasing her about her  
low tolerance for cool air after moving to Florida.  "Florida" may be  
her trail name now.  We'll see.

-amy


*I was amazed and annoyed that the boyscout leaders A) left the seat  
up in the privy so it wouldn't vent up the pipe, and B) kept leaving  
the privy door open when they were done.  The boy scouts themselves  
never went near the privy and bothered no one.