Shenandoah: Rapidan Camp, Laurel Prong, Cat Knob, Hazeltop Loop
We’re on a role. Week after week, we have venture into the forests to hike. The fresh air clears our minds. The exercise invigorates our bodies.
And once again, we found ourselves in Shenandoah for a tough (but forgettable) excursion. The game plan was Rapidan Camp (where President Hoover used to hang out), Laurel Prong and Hazeltop – two peaks. But we wound up hitting Cat Knob too.
The hike started out pretty standard, coming down off the ridge along a creek. Three or so miles down the valley and we came to Rapidan Camp, which can be reached by roads and wasn’t that interesting. We just grazed the edge of the camp, and then headed back up to Laurel Prong. Summit number one.
At this point, the trail hitched up to a saddle where we faced a “T” junction. To the right was our destination, the Appellation Trail and Hazeltop Mountain. To the left was uncharted territory and, according to the map, another summit: Cat Knob. Mrs. Link thought we were done with the uphill, and with more energy to burn, she opted to tackle Cat Knob. I was pretty impressed by the gutsy move, so off we went. Cat Knob wasn’t an epic summit, but it wasn’t easy either. And it turned out to be a longer detour than either of us expected.
The summit was empty, and other than the fact that the land fell away in every direction around us, it wasn’t that special. No good views or anything. Still, we felt strangely accomplished, and we stopped to eat a quick PBJ lunch before we descended down to the saddle for our second ascent, this time toward Hazeltop.
At this point, we hooked up with the famous Appellation Trail, which we’d be on for the remaining 1/3 of the hike. After another mile, we ascended our third summit, Hazeltop Mountain. This peak had some rocky outcroppings that afforded us a commanding view of the Shenandoah Valley below. It was a great spot to take some pictures. So we did.
After that, it was a simple, mostly downhill return to the car. What made this hike a little different was 1) three separate summits; usually in Shenendoah, you start at the highest point and never really crest any mountains, and 2) the fact that the hike ended in the down hill (it was basically down, up, up, down), again abnormal when hiking from Skyline Drive because usually your starting place is the highest point of the hike which results in a completely up-hill return to the car.
Oh, and when we were all done, it was sea-salt fries from Carousel.
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