I chose this early season hike as the topic of my first ever blog post. The plan is to make regular posts here about the various outdoor adventures we take in this magnificent valley we are fortunate enough to reside in. The one and only........ Shenandoah Valley! One of my favorite on air quotes from a great local radio station (WMXH) is: "If you are just visiting the valley, welcome! If you live here, aren't we lucky?" We are indeed lucky to live in such a gorgeous place, surrounded by natural playgrounds. On to the hike.
First of all, a LOT of great, detailed information on this particular hike and many more is located here: http://www.hikingupward.com/GWNF/StricklerKnob/
The skies were mostly gray and the temperature was 38 degrees when we hit the trail Sunday morning. The gate to Chrisman Hollow Rd. was closed, so we had to park at the Massanutten Story Book Trail and walk about 1/2 mile north to the orange blazed Massanutten Trail. In less than a mile, the trail takes a very steep turn downhill! Note: The Waterfall Mtn. trail is still one of the steepest I have been on in the GWNF. We then followed the orange blazes north, paralleling and crossing Big Run a few times. There were three guys from Stafford, Va. camped along the creek. This is a part of the George Washington National Forest that I have hiked, biked and camped in dozens of times over the years. As the Hiking Upward website notes, Strickler Knob is NOT an official trail. Most of the pink/purple blazes have indeed been painted over, but the lack of dense vegetation made the trail easy enough to follow. By the time you get to the very last section of the trail, the rock scrambles become steep and we had to give Athena (Gary's dog) a lift in a few places. Several spots on the trail offer excellent vistas of Page Valley. As I stood atop the summit, the clouds were as thick as soup and promising rain. On a clear day, you can see in all directions. We paused long enough to eat some pasta, drink some coffee and fire up a couple stogies for the walk out. On our way out, we encountered 12 Japanese tourists decked out in rain gear, and planning to head out on the fog shrouded ridge. Gary and I both found it to be cool and interesting that these folks chose a rainy, gray Sunday to hike these trails. Would we go to Japan and hike on a rainy day in the mountains? Most likely. Instead of re-tracing the route we took in, we deviated slightly to avoid climbing up Waterfall Mountain on the trip out. While we did manage to avoid the killer uphill, the overall distance was the same (about 10 miles) . The last half mile back to the car was rain soaked. According to Gary & Linda, Athena slept quite well that night (and part of the next day!)
I'd like to end my first post with a quick shout out to my friend and blog meister, Jim Turner. He has a fantastic blog, www.hawksbillcabin.blogspot.com, which I have been following for a few years now. Something tells me I won't be able to match his diligence and discipline with regard to making regular (usually daily) posts, but I will try to keep them informative and fun.
