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Last Updated: 01/24/2012
Welcome to a web site full of information on hiking in the Mid-Atlantic Region (PA, MD, VA and WV) ... topo maps, 3-D maps, elevation profiles, GPS data, directions, trail notes, photos.... everything you need to prepare for an excursion into the wilderness. Information for 280 hikes and over 3,371 trail miles are now available. Venues such as, but not limited to, Shenandoah National Park/VA, George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, VA and WV, the Monongahela National Forest in WV, state forests throughout PA, Green Ridge State Forest in MD and regional, state, county and federal parks throughout the Mid-Atlantic region are represented.
Please read the Terms of Use before using this website then click on the desired state on the map to the left to continue.
"Yet in the walks I take through nature in quest of truth and demonstration, I recognize a poetry in earth and sea and sky, ruled in their cycles of harmonious actions, deeper and more sublime than ever muse un- taught in science could inspire." William B. Rogers: First State Geologist of VA, First president of M.I.T. and namesake of Mt. Rogers, Va. |
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Latest Published Hikes
Volkswagen Loop, MD Watoga State Park Wilderness Adventure, WV Reddish Knob Summit Backpack, VA ___________________________________________________
Bulletin Board
M.R.Hyker's 2011 Year in Review
___________________________________________________ M. R. Hyker's Latest Adventure(s) |
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11/21/11, FMF/East Ridge Loop: I’ve spent the last four weeks performing maintenance on the website. It was a mundane, tedious yet invisible (to the site visitor) task that had to be done to keep the site running. It included copying, re-linking and deleting approximately 1,000 files. If I would have known that the site would have gotten to be this size at its inception (05/2004) I would have more seriously considered the structure of the site but I didn’t so all of this work had to be done. Needless to say a person can handle only so much of this stuff without breaking away and taking a hike and so I did, but I put aside writing about them, opting instead to finish the reorganization of the site. Now, a month and three hikes later the work is done … for now. I won’t write about the Bull Run Mountain and Sky Meadows group hikes that I’ve lead many times before except to say that the weather was great and the trails were full of humanity on both. I would like to take this time to thank the hikers that joined me. Your presence was appreciated. |
| The hike I want to write about here is the latest installment of our Frederick Municipal Forest adventures. (Thanks again to AegisIII for his maps and input.) I parked on gravel Gambrill Park Road where the blue blazed Catoctin Trail crosses it. Since the sky was clear P-Hyker and I made the short trek out to what I call the Piedmont Vista. (Others call it the Thurmont Vista.) The sun was brightest to the south so I was able to capture most of the panorama with only a bright glare to the right of the shot. After taking in the view we backtracked to a 4X intersection and turned south onto an old jeep road. The mountain biker community has names for most of these trails and Aegiss has sent me links to maps showing these names but in reality none of the trails are signed so the names have no purpose unless you are speaking to a mountain biker about them. We’ll just speak of this one as the East Ridge Trail because it follows the eastern-most ridge of Catoctin Mountain. We passed a few side trails. The western ones, for the most part, lead to Gambrill Park Road. In a mile we came upon what at first appeared to be a pond with a breached dam. Closer study caused me to conclude that it was more than likely an abandoned stone quarry. Small sections of the trail were pretty rocky but the majority of the trail offered good tread. In another mile the trail descended to the left a bit to avoid a rocky spline but soon turned right to regain the ridge. Here was a sharp right turn that we would be using later in the hike. We continued south, inadvertently passing a “No Trespassing” sign, as I had my face constantly in the GPS unit following the route I had uploaded. After a series of short right hand turns we found ourselves at what I believe to be White Rocks. The partial view through the trees was just OK as views go but the stacks of massive, cuboidal rocks and the thick slabs lying about on the ground made it seem more like the ruins of a medieval castle. We also stumbled upon a motion sensitive camera strapped to a pine tree, the kind used for studying wildlife. Strangely, the business card said it belonged to the Montgomery Parks something or other and we were in Frederick County. We briefly looked for a more direct route out of the area but the understory was pretty thick. We retreated by the way we arrived and spotted the afore mentioned sign. I am big on not breaking rules and laws and respect private property to the utmost. I wouldn’t knowingly take groups across private boundaries or suggest that others do so. Such being the case we followed an old road that skirted the private property until the signs stopped. At this point Mr. Garmin said that we were about 300 feet from the rocks. I could barely see a pile of rocks rising above a Mountain Laurel thicket so we took off cross country through the thickets and soon found ourselves on top of the wrong pile of rocks. There were no views and, although only about 100-200 feet away, White Rocks were not to be seen. After a jerky and water break we backtracked to the ridge trail, deciding to give up on White Rocks for now. The old road that descended to Gambrills Park Road was in pretty good shape. We stopped to talk to some hunters who had gotten turned around in the woods and showed them how to get back to the road. (I think some hunters are not necessarily good outdoorsmen and have pretty poor senses of direction.) We hiked up the park road for 0.3 miles and then turned left onto another gated jeep road. The next 0.5 miles were pretty obvious. The trail then made an abrupt right hand turn and climbed steeply up to a low ridge and a 3X junction. The map suggested a left turn although the GPS unit said we were still several yards from the route. We turned left and soon found ourselves in a mini-rock city with huge rotten logs blocking almost every potential path. Someone had been through there with a chain saw trying to clear a route and they apparently gave up. We did the same, circling back and ending up below that steep climb again. Of course P gave me that look of “non-confidence” again. We scurried up the hill, this time making a right turn through a cut in a log. As luck would have it, in about five steps the trail suddenly switchbacked to the left and began following an old sunken road. A quick check with the GPS showed us to be exactly on course. That short right hand turn followed by the left switchback barely shows up on the new map! This section of trail is your prototypical biker path, oscillating back and forth in search of logs and boulders to jump. After gradually climbing 0.8 miles to the true top of the ridge we turned right onto a familiar jeep trail that we traversed with Sixteen Penny during the Four Ponds-Rock City Loop last winter. We were on the home stretch now. We turned right and soon joined the Catoctin Trail which follows the same jeep road. We passed two familiar ponds on the way back to the truck. Initially, the plans were to visit two new ponds but having already done two side bar adventures we decided to leave them to another day. Unlike the other two hikes, the two lost hunters were the only people we saw. |
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________________________________________________________________________________________________ Latest Outing Critiques
Name: .com
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Name: j. a. b. Hike:
Stone Tower Loop P.S. the yellow trail to the "view" was worth the extra few minutes. I missed it at first and kept following the yellow blazes into nowhere.
Name: CPL
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Name: Colleen Palmer
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