by Susan Bly
Shivering but Loving It
In spite of below freezing temperatures, 10 winter travelers and a big black dog climbed a mountain and discovered a frozen wonderland. Parking at the first Forest Service gate on the Laurel Spur Trail, we began our warming exercises by ascending a gentle rise on the road to the true intersection with the woods. This extension added a couple of miles to the hike overall but we were nonplussed.
The 2.5 mile climb up to the crest of Great North Mountain caused all of us to warm up in the 20+ degree sunshine. We took a couple of rest breaks; first, to admire the view of Great North Mountain from a meadow (excellent camping spot except for lack of water nearby) and secondly, at a frozen pond with camping spot as well. No one was foolhardy enough to walk out on the ice.
We continued to follow the footsteps of three or four travelers with dog who had gone before us in the freshly fallen skiff of snow. We stopped a couple of times for views of the Shenandoah Valley spread out to Skyline Drive. We didn’t stop for long as wind blew across the top of the mountain from the west. We were actually hiking the warmer of the two weekend days as Sunday was to be colder yet.
Thinking Stack Rock Trail’s first overlook would be a good spot for lunch, we headed there. But alas, there was a bit too much snow and the sun had not warmed things sufficiently, so after admiring the view, we trotted back up 200 yards to the Great North Mountain trail again and ate in the sunshine and drier leaves. Lunchers did not linger long over their tasty meals due to a slight wind chill, and so, without a siesta period, we strode on.
Down the Falls Ridge trail, leaving the mysterious three or foursome behind on their descent of Stack Rock. However, the dog tracks continued down Falls Ridge and disappeared into the bush, which makes me wonder if we were following coyote tracks. Quite likely. Stopped to look at the official campsite on Falls Ridge, at the source of the stream which would produce our waterfall later.
Reconnoitering the troops, we continued our descent with the junction of the purple hair clip. This visual jolt told us without a doubt that we had come to the unofficial waterfall trail. After a brief consultation as to the continuing stamina of the participants, we all followed the trail. I accidentally went too far and had to backtrack 150 yards to where the trail splits at a barely noticeable turn. Otherwise, we would have continued to the stream and then to the lip of the waterfall. Knowing that ice usually forms at the bottom of falls, we headed towards the bottom.
Down, down, down along an even more obscure but definite trail to the base. From a distance one could see the glint of wedding dress white, draping the shoulders of several boulders at the base of the aerie falls. We were rewarded with a massive chunky cliff face with weathered boulders stacked between us and the base. We took our time gazing at and snapping photos of the ice and falls. Rattlers and copperheads probably call this their summer resort but for now they were in Florida or more likely, on the semi-permafrost setting deep in the rocks.
We tore ourselves away after a one half hour (frozen to the rock you were sitting on anyone?) and completed our descent to the Laurel Spur Road. It was a mere march of the troops back to the car along a “less than scenic” road as one lady put it. We arrived back safely and all headed for their car heaters to warm any fingers and noses that may have been pinched by the cold.