3 days of Backpacking and Hammock Camping on Virginia’s Tuscarora Trail.
For this backpacking trip, I decided to head down to the border of West Virginia and Virginia to check out a pretty cool mountaintop lean-to shelter and do a little airplane scavenger hunt in-between the occasional rain showers that always tend to follow me around. On day one I would hike up to the ridge using the Tuscarora Trail, day two I would base camp and explore, and on day three I would hike back out via a different set of trails to complete the loop.
My options for shelter would be to either use the Gerhard Shelter lean-to if I had the place to myself, or a lightweight tarp and minimalist hammock if I decided to wander out further into the woods and camp near the search area and nearby spring.
My April temperature range for this trip was between 40° and 75°. This allowed me to get my backpack’s base weight down to around 10 lbs, while still including my puffy jacket and ultralight rain jacket for supplemental warmth at camp if needed.
The details of the aviation accident site that I was looking for can be found here. It was a small Cessna 150J that went down due to engine power loss and fortunately their were only minimal injuries to one of the two passengers. I’ve never read any reports of anyone actually finding or visiting this site, so I really had no idea if there would be anything to be found. But hey, it was a good excuse to get out into the woods, so I grabbed my pack and headed out for some adventure…
For an easier read and GPS info, check out my full blog post
www.sintax77.com/lean-to-shel...
sintax77-official-merch-store...
Trailhead Used: Tuscarora Trail Waites Run Rd, 39°00’55.0″N 78°36’17.8″W
Waites Run, West Virginia 26851
This is an easily accessible parking area with room for a half dozen cars.
Trails Used, Day 1 Hike In
Tuscarora Trail North
Camp at Gerhard Shelter
This is a very nice small shelter with a fire ring and space nearby for several tents or hammocks. Water can be obtained at the spring down the hill, but keep in mind that it’s a 1.2 mile round trip.
Day 1 Mileage: 4.7 miles
Day 1 Gross Elevation Gain: 1,474′
Day 1 Gross Descent: 1,003′
Day 2, Search for Cessna 150J crash site
Head down Gerhard Shelter Trail
Search for evidence of the 2017 Cessna 150J Incident
Approximate location via the NTSB report is 39.039722,-78.555831
Return to Camp at Gerhard Shelter
Trails Used, Day 3 Hike Out
Gerhard Shelter Trail
Bushwhack through accident site coordinates directly towards VCC Trail (optional of course)
Vance’s Cove Connector Trail
Wilson Cove Trail
Return to parking lot via forest road
Day 3 Mileage: 5.1 miles
Day 3 Gross Elevation Gain: 427′
Day 3 Gross Descent: 893′
Total Trail Mileage: 9.8 Miles
Total Trail Gross Elevation Gain: 1,901′
FTC Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission for purchases made through some of my links.
Notable Backpacking Gear
ULA Ohm 2.0 Backpack bit.ly/2Sq1FPH
Dutchware Pack Cover bit.ly/2O8N7AL
Dutchware Gear Half-Wit Hammock bit.ly/3yShE0I
Hammock Gear Phoenix 30 Underquilt bit.ly/3LzBPDv
Hammock Gear Burrow 40 Top Quilt bit.ly/2qlZgJn
Hammock Gear Dyneema Hex Tarp bit.ly/3GadwLh
DIY Cat Can Alcohol Stove
Vargo Windscreen Pot Stand amzn.to/2M3uRuG
Toaks 750ml Titanium Pot amzn.to/2GR7AJX
Sea to Summit Long Handled Spork go.magik.ly/ml/v9xv/
Potable Aqua Water Purification Tablets with PA Plus amzn.to/3uYZ1TP
Outdoor Research Helium III Rain Jacket amzn.to/2BiSnB1
RevolutionRace Men’s Norwand Pants amzn.to/3G53ief
La Sportiva Wildcat Trail Running Shoes amzn.to/3hyKrMi
Wright Socks amzn.to/2XqbOSP
Nitecore NU25 Headlamp amzn.to/2YVsp0A
Spot X Satellite Messenger amzn.to/3adSjBr
Baofeng UV5-R Radio amzn.to/3R53gbY
Casio ProTrek FR-30 Smartwatch amzn.to/3dtY7Xj
Benchmade Bugout EDC Folding Knife amzn.to/2JVfBS5
Packit Gourmet Backpacking Meals www.packitgourmet.com/
GoPro Hero 8 Black amzn.to/2D8n6lL
GoPro Shorty Tripod Grip amzn.to/2MPhGOM
30 июн 2022
