THE PINNACLE

AT Day 057:  Saturday June 3,  2023

Mile 928 + 23.5 miles /37.8 km

Total Distance Hiked: 951.5 miles/1531 km

Franklin Cliffs – Skyland Resort – Little Stony Man Cliffs – Pinnacle Picnic Ground – The Pinnacle – Byrd’s Nest Shelter #3 – Mary’s Rock – Thornton Gap/US Route 211 – Skyview Drive –  Camp 

A:4610 ft /1406 m  D: 4915 ft /1499m

My coffee was a bit more special this morning as it was accompanied by the delicious home made choc-chip cookie we got from Firewalkers family yesterday. I was tempted to eat Hammers as well while he slept. But I was strong and resisted. The day was off to a good start,  can it get any better or have we peaked early? It was predicted to be a hot day with a late afternoon thunderstorm.

Last night I was thinking that the AT through Shenandoah  National Park has been a little bit underwhelming in terms of it’s environment in some sections. I know the history of it having been farming land, mainly orchards, before families living here were resettled and the park was largely reclaimed and replanted.  But we were surprised that even to this day sections of what we’ve walked through  have been somewhat degraded and the trailside weed infested.

Even the spot where we camped last night, there was some sort of caterpillar infestation in the tree canopy. All night long thousands of caterpillars were munching through the leaves and we’re not sure if it was the sound of the caterpillars eating or their droppings or little bits of leaf were falling on the tent. It made a sound of tinkling raindrops   The tree canopy is being eaten away. 

And then this morning, our day four in Shenandoah National Park, produced a surprise, a pinch me I’m dreaming moment.   About an hour into  the mornings hike,  I was stopped in my tracks by the sight of a bunch of Lady’s Slipper orchids  right by the trail. When I first saw them I couldn’t believe it, I thought I was dreaming. So beautiful and so elegant and so surprising. There they were, standing tall and proud shining in their glory. Hammer waited patiently while I photographed them from every angle I could think of. Still feels unbelievable.   

With a spring in our step we headed to Skyland Resort, another development in the park a little way off the trail, with a dining room and a Starbucks cafe.  

We made it to the resort around 8.30 and it was enormous. And just like yesterday afternoon, so tempting to stay and eat town food and then be further tempted to hitch a ride to city comforts.  But we were strong, a takeaway from Starbucks – a sandwich and coffee for me and Pepsi for Hammer –  and we were on our way. 

A group of schoolkids with big backpacks left the resort about half an hour before us. We caught up to them at the first overlook offering fantastic views  of the Shanandoah  Valley. And that’s where I thought we would leave them. But alas, they started to chase us down. After days hiking alone we were pursued down a mountain by a bunch of kids. I think they were just caught up in their own day and probably did not even give us a second thought.  I said to Hammer just let them pass and we will give them a bit of time to get ahead.  Luckily the sight of a Pink Lady slipper orchid came to our rescue. I stopped to photograph it,  they passed, we waited and then continued on. Only to find that the group had stopped at an overlook about five minutes down the trail. 

Anyhow we managed to get ahead, stopping at the many rocky ledges with changing angle of views of the valley. We stopped for lunch at the Pinnacles picnic area by which the trail passes. We were just finishing lunch when the school group arrived.  Time to get going while they’re resting.

From the Pinnacles picnic area we hiked along a ridge with multiple spots with rocky ledges and overviews of the Shenandoah Valley spread down below. A busy section of trail with so many people huffing and puffing and so exhausted they couldn’t reply to a greeting in passing. 

As  we wound our way along the ridge,  the angle of the view changed. We got to Mary’s Peak which was at the end of the ridgeline. Here the trail got very, very busy. It was a sunny Saturday and hundreds of people were on their way up or down from Mary’s Peak. A destination hike we worked out. We didn’t take the small side trail to the peak as there were simply too many people there. 

The descent off Mary’s Peak was long.  It’s the most hikers we’ve have ever seen on trail: young people, old people,  people in flip flops and people in hiking boots, kids and dogs. It was a long descent and rocky underfoot most of the way.   At the bottom the trail separated, with one trail leading to the trailhead parking and the other the AT, continuing to descend. As we separated it suddenly felt weird to be all alone. The AT crossed US highway 211 at Thornton Gap. There was a zebra crossing here and a little bit later on we crossed Skyway Drive.  For some reason the zebra crossing on a Highway also felt weird to me.

For the rest of the afternoon we had not seen any other hikers. We were  all alone again hiking up towards another ridgeline.  It was not a difficult climb just long and gradual. The revised rain prediction is for rain after midnight. So that was a relief, we could just enjoy the warm sunshine. We stopped for the day about a mile and a half from Elkwallow Wayside. Another spot where we wanted to stop for some town food when they open in the morning.

Hammer set about doing some repairs to the leaky tent fly while I finished the days journal.