Sunday, November 8, 2020

Wolf Gap WV and the Big Schloss Trail

 Vanlog, Wolf Gap WV

October 31, 2020

It was Halloween and a blue full moon. We got up at 5:30 and left home by 6:20 in the van for Wolf Gap, WV. We arrived around 10 AM on a cold morning (34 degrees). There were two campsites freshly available in the Wolf Gap CG in the Washington and Jefferson NF out of the nine there. The hiking parking lot was full. We chose site 5. The other was site 6, where I stayed last time I was here. Both had just opened up as people had recently left. We immediately set out on our 4.4-mi RT hike to Big Schloss. The leaves were mostly down already and it had the look of a brown November day. There was still frost on the leaves on the trail. The trail goes up about 1000 ft in elevation in the first mile and then there are views at the top of the ridge. You hike along the ridge a while and it goes up and down and then through a fairly open area in the woods. Finally you arrive at a rocky cave, cross a bridge, and then you are at the massive rock outcropping known as the Big Schloss with 270-degree views of the surroundings. 



















It was fairly crowded when we arrived out there around noon. We donned our masks and explored the area. It was warm hiking up hill but cool along the ridge. I had my bright orange Turkey Hollow hunting jacket on. We turned back then and hiked back while many hikers were coming up the opposite direction. We got back to camp and I gathered some firewood while Jessica made us salads. We ate around 2 PM at the picnic table in our site. I started a fire. It was breezy and very cold. I continued to grab firewood and stoked the fire. I read the entire new National Geographic magazine on the pandemic and then started the charcoal for dinner. We had steaks on the grill and a cooked onion from our garden. Then we sat by the fire until about 9 PM. It was VERY COLD camping. Because of scattered rain, we drove right home the morning of Nov. 1. 




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