To help my soul bounce back from the weather from the hurricane
weather down on the mountain in West Virginia I choose to go wave a stick in a
river on Tuesday.
I recall my youth and want to catch as many fish as I could.
I can remember the excitement of the possibility of it.
I can recall the feeling of being so excited to see what
adventure lay ahead of me for the day.
Today’s adventure would lead me to explore a few creek
mouths that could have fish migrating from the Allegheny River.
I took my 5-weight switch rod and my 6-weight single hander
too.
The winds where still an issue today. I watched trout jump
out of the river to mock me. That was funny to see. They were in currents that
I could not navigate with my fly rod.
After six hours of trying to redefine insanity, it was time
to call it a day. No fish were hooked or brought to hand and that was ok for
me.
On day 3 (Saturday) in the morning the effects of the
hurricane were felt. What I did not know at the time but these 20-25 mph sustained
winds would turn into 35-45 mph winds with 60 mph gusts thrown in overnight
with hard rain.
I had hoped that the hurricane had enough energy to climb
out of the Ohio River Valley and continue northerly.As, it would work out it followed the Ohio
River Valley instead because it lost a lot of energy.
I decided to travel to some other forest roads today to mix
it up.I hope you enjoy the artwork.
I returned and was thankful I took down the tarp awning. The
tarp would have been torn by the nasty winds.
I wanted to eat a hot meal tonight. I dug out an old fire pit
and that did not work. I piled up the dirt nearly 20” high and it still did not
do the trick.
I then thought ok Bess “my Outback” lets put your hood into
the wind and open the tailgate to cook! It worked like a charm!
I stayed up as long as I could before I hit the rack. I knew
once I was in that tent I was not coming out. I moved Bess so no tree would hit her overnight
if one came down.
I need to digress here for a moment. I knew the risks in
choosing to camp at this location. I take full responsibility for myself and acknowledge
that the weather is one of a camper’s best friends and worst enemies.
While in my tent you could hear the wind howling. You could
watch the sides of my tent get punched repeatedly as the light dances in the
video! My tent is a 3 season MSR Hubba Bubba 2-person tent.
I finally fell asleep after I didn’t know after an hour of
listening to the wind howling.
I then woke up on Sunday, and the winds were not as bad, but
they still had a lot of punches left in them. I am going to assume they were 20-25
mph winds with some gusts well above that.
I woke up and it was finally Sunday. I outstretched my arm
and let it lay on top of my Marmot 15-degree bag, and I lined it with a military
grade poncho liner. When I did this my arm got cold and I thought “that’s strange”.
I realized it was cold because my sleeping bag was wet. I
sat up and turned on the little flashlight that I hung from the canopy in the
tent. I could see water everywhere.
It was not standing water, but rain had blown in between the
rain fly and the ground. The winds were brutal up on that exposed face of the
mountain.
I know if I did not break camp quickly, being cold and wet
could be a real issue. The other issue could also be hypothermia! With wind
speed of 25 and the air temperature being 48 that would make the wind chill
temperature 40 degrees!!!
I got up and put on
my nano-puff that was in a dry bag. I then raced to put my boots on and then trying
to stay calm I got all the camping gear accounted for.
I then puy all the stuff in dry bags so it would not soak
the inside of Bess. I also purchased 3 mil contractor trash bags from Walmart.
These bags would be stuff with other wet items.
This felt like it took an eternity to get all the gear back
in the vehicle as organized as I could.
I chose the high ground for the tent site, and you could
tell because all other areas had inches of standing water in them.
My nano puff was wet all the way through as I finally put
the last bit of gear and trash into Bess.
I headed out to get changed somewhere and get out of these
wet clothes!!
I loaded up Bess “the Outback” and headed down to West
Virginia.
I want to start off by saying with all the hurricanes
forecast models I knew the risks and went anyway. The way I thought about it
was either is was going to have enough evergy and keep going north of the Ohio
River Valley or it was going to run out of energy to climb out of the Ohio
River Valley. As, fate would have it the
hurricane did not have enough energy to climb out of the Ohio River Valley. It
followed the valley and brought its fury with it.
I will continue to talk about hurricane Isaias throughout
the remainder of the blog entry.
This would be my first trip ever since I contracted contact dermatitis.
I would be primitive camping in the Mower Basin.
As I arrived at the area, I noticed that a lot of people had
the same idea. I had checked out all the campsites I knew of and found them to
be all occupied.
I knew this was a possibility and I was happy to see others
enjoying the resources.
I finally found home for the next 11 days well it was
supposed to be for 11 days, but it was cut short by remnants of hurricane
Isaias. I will get into details later of why I heeded the warning signs.
The campsite had great views of the valley and the other
mountain ridges of the Allegheny’s and beyond.
I had chosen this time frame because of the new moon, and
this is one of the darkest places on the eastern part of the United States here
are the coordinates 38.572083, -79.924741.
Day 1 (Thursday) I arrived at the camp site, I was overjoyed,
no one was there. I set up camp and in choosing this spot at 4166 feet in
elevation I knew I would be extremely exposed to the elements. The winds aloft
where a playful 10-15 mph and nothing to major. The tent canopy was holding her
own from the way I installed it.
I set up my tent awning which was just a tarp and then my
MSR Hubba Bubba 3 season two-man tent.
The guy lines for the tent awning were staked with 8” x 0.375”
spikes and were driven in with a 5-pound maul. This would prove to be so
important with the 20-30 mph gusting winds. I would end up taking it down because
it was too much load on the tent poles.
After the campsite was all set up, it was time to drive into
town and get some firewood.
The leaves on the trees looked amazing but only maybe 50
percent of the leaves had color on them.
It was still beautiful with all the driving I did from the asphalt
roads and the forest roads.
I got back to the campsite and unloaded the wood. I prepped
the fire pit and dug it out to get down to a fresh dry bottom. I rearranged
some rocks so that I could heat up my bath water.
I never prepare food or eat near my shelter. I also never
use the facilities near the shelter either.I always hang my trash in a tree away from the shelter, but not in the
same areas as the other activities.
Weather wise Thursday night was the best night. I could not
see the northern horizon only in the southerly direction. This would hamper the
sunrises, but not the sunsets.
On day 2 (Friday) I would choose a very small hike at the
top of Spruce Knob. This would be the first legit hike since the injury.
The winds on Spruce Knob (SK) were noticeably stronger and was
a precursor to that evening.
Spruce Knob was an extremely short hike and with some tiny
amount of rock scrambling made is a real treat for me. As I got out on a small flat down from the
Knob and was graced with one of mother nature’s wonders.
The sun had a 22° halo, Sun Dogs, Parhelic Circle, and 120° Parahelia!
It has been over 30 years since I have seen one of these. It was a real treat,
and I will never forget it. I hope you enjoy the artwork.
I arrived back at the tent, and the awning was really being pushed
to its limits. To hold the awning in place I needed to pull down so hard on it with
the guy-lines the tent posts were getting shorter by just the tension I had
them in.
I choose to remove the canopy until this weather gets better.
I had some dinner and heated up some bath water. I took care
of my details, and the hot field shower was amazing!
I have had new areas pop up on my body. While for now they are manageable I'm afraid if I hike long distances it will not go so well for me.
I will loose another month of hiking because of this health issue.
At least I will be able to camp and drive to locations to take photos and videos. This will unfortunately limit me in what I really wanted to accomplish on this trip.
I have made another doctors appointment for when I return.
