Shenandoah Shortcut – The Hike

June 23, 2026

Getting blown off the trail by yesterday’s storm sets me up for a long day today. I have a couple of disturbing encounters with wildlife.

Wake up in the clouds

W.Who knows what I was thinking when I set the alarm at 5:15 a.m. It took a moment of clarity at 1:45 a.m., when I woke up and felt the need to check the time, to silence the alarm. There was an east-facing overlook about 4-tenths of a mile down the trail from my tent spot, but even if I had managed to wake up, pack my things, and walk there, I don’t think I would have been able to see anything remotely resembling a sunrise. What I saw instead starting at 6:30 am were raindrops falling on my tent. The rain intensified and I checked my phone for a forecast update. It looked like the rain would let up in about 30 minutes or so, which was enough for me to stay put until then.
Around 7:00 am I started packing and the rain did indeed let up by the time I was ready to leave my tent and undertake the unpleasant task of packing. The inside of my tent was almost dry, so I quickly cleaned it and put it in the tent bag, which I then placed inside my backpack. I removed the rain fly and shook it out along with my ground sheet. It was hardly raining and the bottom of the ground was quite dry. I was pretty lucky with the rain again. There was only one problem: I couldn’t find my second bungee cord. I didn’t think I would be able to securely attach my tent to the bottom of my backpack, but it was good enough although it bounced around more than usual. There was enough rain and wet vegetation along the trail that I knew I’d better wear my poncho, so I put it on and started walking.
My plan was to walk just under 5 miles to Pinefield Hut for breakfast. During a break in the rain I updated today’s route in FarOut to reflect the correct starting point. It showed that I would now be hiking over 25 miles with just under 6,000 feet of elevation gain. I couldn’t get over the fact that I still had five days’ worth of food in my backpack. Adding “just a few” miles to today’s hike had turned it into a monster day. I began to contemplate other options, but decided it was best to walk as planned until I could think clearly about what to do.

long haul day

It felt like a long 5 miles to Pinefield Hut. The rain alternated between light and moderate, although I noticed that my shoes did a decent job of keeping the water out. My socks were damp, but not soaked. Around 10:00 am I arrived at the cabin to find Twisted Mullet and Widowmaker getting ready to start the day. They had determined that the cabin was their best option for the night after their team got showered in the rain yesterday. I felt lucky to be able to get to the camp store yesterday when I did. That allowed my team to survive virtually unscathed. Twisted Mullet was playing Bob Marley on his phone and I appreciated the good vibes I needed after walking 5 miles in wet conditions before breakfast. I took my time at the shelter, enjoyed my breakfast and even finished some of my snack from yesterday knowing I would need strength. I looked for other viable campsites near water sources, but realized that cutting short today’s hike would only mean postponing tomorrow’s hike. I didn’t want to add any more hiking time because I knew I would be stopping at Big Meadows Wayside at some point during that day. There were no roads today, so it would make more sense to do extra miles today. Therefore, I left Pinefield Hut with the intention of walking a total of 25 miles to catch up after yesterday’s rain-induced deficit.

900 miles completed!

Shenandoah Shortcut

As soon as I left the shelter, the rain began to fall harder than it had all morning. On top of that, the trail began a long, steady climb. This was followed by a short descent and then another long, steady climb. It was evident that my legs were not used to the extra weight of food in my backpack. It took a lot of effort to move steadily along the path. As I headed down the second descent, I looked at the FarOut app and saw another big climb up Hightop Mountain about 2 miles ahead of me. I also saw that the trail would cross Skyline Drive at the base of the mountain and then cross again at the end of the descent. This meant I could backtrack onto Skyline Drive between the two trailheads and skip the climb up the 1,300-foot mountain. With the dense cloud cover, that would have been nothing to see on the mountaintop anyway. Plus, I could just climb the mountain during my trek south when I would have a lighter pack. This would save at least 1,300 feet from today’s total climb and would probably save about 2 miles as well. This was just the opportunity I was waiting for. I’ll still be able to do the entire trail in the park, but I now had a much more reasonable path to catch up on my itinerary.
During this stretch of trail, I encountered a light brown snake with a distinctive burnt orange pattern on its scales. I immediately identified it as a copperhead snake. This was the first poisonous snake I saw not only on my hike this year, but also in my previous life. It was actually a rather impressive looking creature. Its bright color gave it a friendly appearance that belied its danger. Of course, he knew that it had some hostile poison inside it. I spent a few moments admiring the creature and reassuring myself that I must always remain diligent as I walk the trail. While this particular snake stuck out like a sore thumb, others may not be as easy to spot.
I carefully found a way around the snake and followed the trail toward Skyline Drive.
The retro glow was sketchier than I was led to believe. Skyline Drive has no shoulder and the edge of the road was primarily grass between 8 and 12 inches tall. Fortunately, traffic wasn’t heavy, but I questioned the safety of retro lighting on a busier day like a Friday or Saturday. Every time a car approached in my direction. I made sure to stay as far off the road as possible. The trailheads were only about a mile apart, so it was a pretty quick shortcut. Soon I was back on the road, going through the typical ups and downs of the various mountains and hills.

Super period

The rain continued steadily until midday, when it began to slowly let up. At 1:00 p.m. it had already stopped. I stopped on the trail around 2:30 pm to take off my poncho, move my tent to the top of my backpack, where I prefer to carry it, and fill up on some snacks. There was no dry place to sit or put my backpack, so I just had to stand and apologize to my knees and feet. It was now less than 10 miles to the Bearfence Mountain shelter. I was making steady progress and my shortcut had saved the day.
Little by little, more and more sunlight peeked through the clouds. At roughly the same pace, I completed mile after mile. I knew signing up for a six-day backpacking stint would mean carrying more weight, but now I was doing it while trying to tackle a tough day of hiking. I would never have signed up for 25 miles and 6,000 feet of elevation gain while carrying five days’ worth of food. This would be especially true if I were trying to slow down and enjoy my time in a place like Shenandoah National Park. But here I was, having to muster as much strength as ever to get through the day.

Bearfence Hut lives up to its namesake

About a mile before Bearfence Hut, a camper who was supposed to be staying at the nearby Lewis Mountain Campground had left a stash of bottled water on the trail. It was nice to be able to quickly get a half liter of water into my system without having to hunt it down and filter it for once. I arrived at the Bearfence Mountain shelter at 7:00 pm. I had hiked for eight hours straight with only a 10-minute break while standing. I quickly found a nice flat spot to start setting up my tent. The rain fly and ground tarp were as wet as when I packed them up in the morning. I lifted the rainfly and opened one of the doors to let them dry off while I took care of the rest of my tasks, the first of which was to find the spring and collect some water. The spring was right near the shelter, and as I passed by, a voice called out to me to make sure I knew there was someone in the shelter. The hiker, Lennon, was hiding in a corner bunk so I couldn’t see him. He seemed friendly enough and had already heard about my hike. After collecting water from the spring, I walked up the trail and took a few steps toward the cabin when I noticed something about 50 feet up the trail toward my tent. A bear following its scent had just arrived on the trail. As soon as he saw me standing near the shelter, he took off towards the forest. For half a moment I was shocked. This was a much clearer look at a wild bear than I had last Friday. It was also about 15 feet from where I would sleep tonight. Lennon didn’t flinch. We agreed that since the bear had immediately run away, it was unlikely to bother us any further.
I finished setting up my camp in no time. I even found my missing bungee cord this morning, which had fallen inside my tent without me realizing it. I had spent about five minutes combing the tent site this morning for the bungee cord before leaving, so I was happy to see it appear between my tent.
There wasn’t much to see on the trail today partly due to clouds and my detour, but because that’s just the way the trail is some days. It was a huge relief once I set up camp and was able to sit down and enjoy my dinner. I was grateful for every ounce of mashed potatoes I pulled out of my backpack to lighten the next day’s load.

-See you tomorrow

Total: 25.1 miles, 54,534 steps

• Hike type: Backpacking
• Camp: Tent, Bearfence Mountain Hut

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