Day 17 - Thursday, March 4, 2021

Today is expected to be another nice sunny day with temperatures in the upper 40’s. We will be entering the picturesque Skyline Drive; famous for it breathtaking panoramic views of the Shenandoah National Park. 


We are resuming hiking from CCC Road (975.3 NoBo) to Skyline 15.9, North Marshall Mountain View (960.4 NoBo) which is on the Skyline Drive in the Shenandoah National Park for a total of 14.9 miles. This will be our longest hike to date 😁😬.

We began hiking at 9:15 am at a balmy 41°.  

So it turns out there is still plenty of snow in the area.  We weren’t 100 steps into the hike when we encountered an ice flow that covered the entire trail for approximately a mile long. To compound matters it was a very steep ascent as well. We put on our ice cleats so we could continue. We were able to negotiate the trail with no issues. Thanks again to John & Sharon Riccio who bought my YakTrax!  They are easy to put on  and worked great-I would even use them to check the mail on a wintery  day 😉. 






All the snow and ice that we  encounter now is either on a northern facing slope that doesn’t get the sun or at higher elevations over 2000 feet.  



Trail markers in the park are concrete pylons with stamped engraving. 



Typical AT trail... minus the rocks.




Northern Shenandoah National Park looking west. 


Just a little more local trail history...




The AT crossing the Skyline Drive at Compton Gap. 





Stopped for lunch at 1:15 pm at the Tom Floyd Shelter. Only 7 miles to go. 


No, my feet haven’t turned blue. Just changing my sock liners and socks. 



Typical trail advisory marker. 


Just a walk in the woods... sunny and  47°.

We finished hiking at 4:15 pm, averaging over 2 mph today with some pretty adverse conditions. I think we got our trail legs back. 

We have several more days of hiking through the National Park - it’s over 100 miles long. Looking forward to the many amazing views to come...

Till next time... Happy Hiking 🥾 

😋

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