Ramsey's Draft

Ramsey's Draft

 July 12, 1997

Tino's car was broken into, and we got a really late start. This put us at Ramsey's Draft Wilderness at 3pm. At that point, we found that the water pump at the Mountain House Picnic Area had no handle. We continued on to the trail head (Confederate Breastworks), and found no water source there. We knew that there was no water on the chosen circuit for 3 miles, and we had been counting on that pump. We had to drive up and down WV 28 until we found enough water in the creek to pump and purify 10 liters to carry in with us. We got back to the trail head at 4pm, strapped on our stuff and started up the hill. We got about 100 yds up and realized that we were in for 3/4 of a mile of hill, minimum. We were heavily loaded because of the water, it was 4pm, and it was HOT. We were on a mountain ridge instead of deep forest. We turned around and decided to go to Laurel Fork and hike into a place we didn't see on the last trip.

 August 22, 1997

I decided to re-read the descriptions to see if there might be a better approach or a better circuit. Something immediately struck me (I was using Hiking Virgninia's National Forests): at the beginning of the description for the Shenendoah Mountain trail it warns you that there is a washed out gully going uphill that looks like a trail head when the weather has been dry. This is not the trail, it's actually off to the right after the Confederate Breastworks. D'oh!

We arrived late in the day again, but we had a plan and plenty of water. We figured we would hike in and take the first campsite, and then we'd have an early start in the morning. I've never hiked in the dark before, and that was...interesting. We found a campsite about 3/4 of a mile in and just a teensy bit up from the Confederate Breastworks hike turnaround point. It wasn't much of a campsite, but any port in a storm. As it turns out, the next one was at least a mile away, and the trail quickly became a railroad grade on the side of a mountain. There was nowhere to stop until you got to the wilderness boundary, and there was a terrific campiste there under the spruces.

Anyway, I digress. Since we were up high on a mountain and everywhere else we've been has been in a river valley, the flora and fauna were quite different. Since it was August, it was very dry, and our particular location was full of grass, scrubby bushes and young trees. We lit a fire because it was really, really buggy and there was a ring and firewood already there. It was totally unchallenging to light a fire there, unlike the Laurel Fork where everything seems a bit wet. Obviously, this means that extreme caution is in order. As long as I'm preaching, that lovely campsite in the spruces would also require a hell of a lot of caution to light a fire. The ring was established and well-walled, but the ground was entirely dry pine needles.

We got up the next day, bright and early, and figured we'd hike up to Jerry's Run and over to Ramsey's Draft. We originally thought we'd find a site for the night there. The Shenandoah Mountain Trail is a really easy hike in this section, and we proceeded a pace. There are a few really nice views off the mountain before you enter the woods. Shortly after entering the heavily forested area, you cross into the Ramsey's Draft Trail proper, and Jerry's Run isn't too far from there.

Jerry's Run is a 2 or so mile trail that is quite typical of Virginia - it follows a stream and crossings are required to stay on the good trail. There is a site of an old house on this trail (I believe it's called the Sexton Cabin), and the guys just ahead of us on the trail had found a spot here. I was impressed they'd made it so far in the dark, but once I saw them in the light, it was obvoius they were in better shape and far more experienced hikers than we. Unfortunately, they were not alone at this site. Eventually, we arrived at Ramsey's Draft. At this point, there were a number of developed campsites with fire rings, and a nice spot to drop into the creek itself. We set up at one of the rings to make lunch. There were people EVERYWHERE, and since it was only noon, we decided that we'd hike out today, even though it meant we'd have to cover 8 miles in a day - a lot for us soft rookie city kids. We usually count on 4-5 and at that rate, we sleep well. I think we carry too much stuff, but I haven't figured out what to get rid of. When we know we have to bring water, we tend to overdo that too.

Now I had been told that Ramsey's was a tough hike, and my field guides also said that. According to the PATC, that was greatly exaggerated. I also found this to be true. Perhaps it was tougher when there were more washed out spots, downed trees and fast river crossings to be made. An extensive amount of trail maintenance has been performed, and it made the hiking a lot easier. Even without the maintenance, the RDT is part old woods road, and is practically paved in some lower portions. The only thing that would keep me away is the fact that the area is obviously overused. This is bad for the woods, of course, and it also defies the reason to drag your happy ass into the woods with a miniature version of your house on your back. If I wanted to see people, I'd stay in Washington.

Anyway, we were now out of water after cleaning up from lunch, so we dropped into the stream bed to pump some. I took the opportunity to put my bare feet in the cold stream. This always refreshes me and deters hot spots from developing. This was the absolute last trip for these hiking boots (They were light-weight jobs that I'd never used for backpacking), they were completely destroyed on the last three miles of this trip, and so my feet appreciated the cool break.

We hiked down the RDT to the other parking area. At this point, we realized that we were tired, but we didn't want to camp here either since that would require using a yucky campsite by the parking lot or backtracking a great deal. We sat down in said yucky campsite and refueled and talked. Our choices were to walk the road or use the trail that the Forest Service had built to avoid hiker's using the road. The road was shorter, but not safe, and, of course, a road. We decided to hide our packs in the bushes and drive back to fetch them with a car. We figured that this trail was easy (yeah, right), and dropping the packs (which we'd packed for two nights out) would compensate for our tiredness. Well, our logic was flawed somewhere, and we didn't bring even close to enough water to keep us hydrated on the Road Hollow Trail.

Let me just say that I'm not a fan of the RHT. It seemed eternal, partially because it's really boring, partially because one can hear the road from it, and partially because I was absolutely exhausted. There's nothing much to look at, and it's very rocky and repetively up and down. It's carved out of the side of Shenendoah Mountain, and it's quite narrow. Also, in my dehydrated delirium, I lost my lucky red bandana that I've had since I was a kid at Camp Fire Girls (in my day, there were no boys) camp in Wisconsin.

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