The wife and I took a quick, short overnight in the Shenandoah National Park this past weekend. We parked at Blackrock hut and hiked past Loft mountain. Retraced our steps the next morning. This was a quick up and back AT section hike.
Dinner was at the exclusive Cafe Amphi, aka Loft Mountain Amphitheater. We had a table for 2 compliments of the bench seating. The stone wall made a lovely kitchen area. The view was spectacular, catching the late afternoon sun.
We covered the Loft mountain area just around sunset and decided to double back with a partial evening/night hike. Observed a couple of bats doing aerial maneuvers overhead. Not surprising given how bad the bugs were on Saturday.
We spent the night in the vicinity of Doyle's overlook – Browns gap. Couldn't exactly say where since it was past dark. Cowboy camped under the stars which was beautiful. Wish I could say the night was uneventful, but we had trouble. A pair of Coyotes basically probed the permimeter for about an hour, working their way 180 degrees around us until downwind. They approached at that point, not sure why. We didn't have food out, hand not cooked there, or anything. Not scary, but concerning. High beam light and yelling sent them off and the rest of the evening was uneventful, just passing deer and calling coyotes on the ridges.
Woke in the morning to find ourselves camped on sprouting briars. Couldn't tell that last night. The Thermarest took it like a champ, as did my wife's Big Agnes insulated Q core. A quick breakfast bar and drink, then packing. We were hiking just after dawn. Stopped at Dundo picnic area and cooked breakfast, had a lovely hot drink. The wind kicked up and we could tell a weather front was moving in.
All in all a great overnight trip. My gear consisted mainly of a Golite Jam 50 pack. I have a love hate relationship with it and plan to replace the pack with a ULA of GG before too long. The Neo Trecker pad was brand new and the most comfortable sleep I've had in the last few years of backpacking too. Durable as well, I thought for sure it might puncture during the night given our site, but no worries.
A Thermaret Alpine Down blanket was my bag for the evening. Almost too warm really. I left at least one foot out most of the night. Covered my head with a bandana and slept in my hiking clothes without any additional layers.
Kitchen setup included an Esbit Ti Wing stove and my tried and true Snowpeak Ti 900 sans lid. Simple, good for boiling, worked very well.
Clothing consisted of running shoes, nylon hiking shorts, a long sleeve REI trail running shirt, and hat. Silk tights and a Nike running jacket for insulation, though not needed at all. Patagonia Houdini Jacket, which is a new item I'm trying this season. Really like it so far. Equinox poncho tarp and spare pair of socks. A trail running hat and balaclava rounded out the clothing setup.
Total weight without food and water was 8.5 pounds. Right around 14 pounds with food and water.
Wife's packed weight was around 11 pounds.
