Overnight in George Washington National Forest

I took a trip where I was introduced to a type of camping I had never done before - call it wilderness car camping. When I think of car camping I envision something like a state park with a certain degree of infrastructure: defined campsites and conveniences such as water spigots and bath houses. And of course, you can drive your car to your campsite and so you go in heavy with lots of gear. In contrast, when wilderness camping (backpacking or kayak camping) the campsites are remote, have little to no infrastructure (maybe an outhouse), and you have to get yourself and all your gear to the campsite under your own power - in a backpack or a boat - so you travel light. Wilderness car camping sits somewhere in the middle.

For my friend Steve camping used to mean only backpacking; however, as his hips and knees have aged he's become more open to car camping. But, he still doesn't like the idea of going someplace as developed as a state park. What he and his usual camping buddies (economists all - don't get them started talking about economics) do is drive out to lesser developed places to camp. Our original plan was to go to Red Creek campground in Dolly Sods Wilderness in West Virginia, but we made a game-time decision to head instead for George Washington National Forest (GWNF). 

National Parks are managed for preservation and recreation, and typically have the kind of higher camping infrastructure I described above. National Forests, on the other hand allow a wider variety of uses (hunting, cattle grazing, lumbering) and since they're not parks, their level of camping infrastructure is lower. The GWNF has well defined and blazed hiking trails, but there aren't many defined campgrounds or sites. Rather, it seems you can just pick a spot and camp anywhere in the Forest. Over time, I guess from use, obvious campsite locations have taken shape: maybe someone camped in a spot and built a fire ring, then successive users, by driving and walking around the site tamped down the vegetation, and a clear campsite emerged. Again, National Forests are not as concerned about maintaining nature in its pristine state and so they're fine with campsites being carved out ad hoc, But there's no infrastructure - no water, no outhouse, no nothing.

We met at Steve's friend Dave's house and discovered he had already prepared by loading his SUV with a ton of firewood - five or six of the bundles you buy in the supermarket. Then we added all of our gear. I was packed fairly light, since I mostly just grabbed the stuff I had recently packed for a kayak camping trip I dropped out of at the last minute due to coming down with COVID. But still, I had a pretty big amount of stuff (I packed a lot of layers!), and Dave and Steve had even more gear than I did. After loading everything into the car we really didn't have a square inch to spare.

A full car

Once we made the decision to go to the GWNF we headed for a place the two of them had camped before, which they claimed was almost always available, only to find that despite it being a Wednesday, there were already three different parties camped there. We could have squeezed into that area, but that would have meant a more crowded experience than we were looking for. Plus, Steve wandered into the spot where he and Dave would usually set up and noticed that whomever was camped there had a chainsaw and a half-empty magnum bottle of cheap gin. They had left a half-eaten meal out on the table (not a good idea in the woods), there were filthy kids' toys strewn about and their car was a decades-old beater filled with junk. We got a feeling that these might not be people we would enjoy camping next to, so we got back into in our car and continued up the forest road, where we found an unoccupied spot with a fire ring at the Scothorn Trail trailhead (Lat 38.691750, Lon -78.58007). There were really two campsites carved out there - one to the left of the trailhead, the other to the right. We set up in one and parked the car in the other, which turned out to be a good move. While we didn't see anyone else come by looking to camp, we had quite a few day hikers come by and the presence of our car on the right side cued them to use the right side for parking and stay away from our campsite on the left.

I have mentioned in the past that Steve is the least gear-headed outdoorsy person I know. I was pleasantly surprised to see that he had finally replaced his 1970's A-frame tent, though he still had some of his stuff packed in a backpack of similar antiquity. He brought along his hiking sticks - which are actual sticks. Dave seems to be a more gear-oriented camper and in fact has all brand new gear as a result of having recently lost all of his camping gear in a fire (long story). Still, they were both impressed with some of my gee-whiz gear - particularly my beloved Helinox backpacker cot.

After making camp we hiked the Scothorn Trail (very convenient, since we were camped at the trailhead!), exploring a couple of side trails along the way. Eventually Steve's back started to hurt so he decided to wait while Dave and I ascended the rest of the way to the peak, where he and I were rewarded with a nice view of the Shenandoah Valley and the mountains beyond (Massanutten is a small mountain range - a monadnock, actually that pops up as an interruption in the middle of the Shenandoah Valley, so valley views abound). At the summit our trail intersected with one which runs along the ridgeline. On the way up we had chatted with some hikers coming the other way who said the ridge trail along the ridge offered lots good views, but was rocky and difficult. Given the late hour we decided not to explore the challenging ridge trail and instead headed back. At the agreed-upon meeting point we picked up Steve who, in an only-in-Washington moment, while sitting in the middle of the woods at the trail junction waiting for our return, had fielded a call from a Politico reporter looking for a quote for an article on inflation and potential spillover effects of Fed monetary policy (Steve is a former high-ranking Fed official).

Scothorn Trail - likely an old forest road

The beginnings of fall colors

View at the top

I will also mention that we ran into another hiker on our way back - a young woman who was backpacking with her dog (which was wearing a little doggy backpack - adorable!). I noticed that she had a pistol within reach in one of the outside pockets of her pack. I understand why a woman hiking alone would feel the need for such protection, but I'm sad that we live in a world where this is the case.

Anyway, we got back to camp in time to relax with a cold beer then started making dinner. Steve's idea of camping cooking is, like his gear, mired in decades past - hot dogs cooked on a stick over the campfire, served with baked beans. That was dinner for the two of them; I had vegetarian chili I had brought along, knowing that Steve's food wasn't going to be to my liking. After that it was a pleasant evening of hanging around the campfire. Unlike my kayaking friends, who turn in super early, these guys stayed up almost to 11, and so I didn't have to resort to my usual group camping routine of reading and watching videos in my tent until it was late enough for me to go to bed.

Around the campfire

Different people have different camping ideas and rhythms. I'm used to camping with my kayak crew, who all rise early and immediately get started on the day. I slept pretty well, waking up only at midnight, 2 AM, 4 AM, 5AM, and then finally getting out of bed 6-ish. Once awake I got the stove going to make coffee (Starbucks Via Brew instant), then quietly began packing up some of my gear. When Dave and Steve finally rolled out of their tents about two hours later Steve was surprised to find me mostly packed. But we evened out the timing a little over breakfast. I happily lounged and had a second cup of coffee, and Dave's and my breakfasts (instant oatmeal and grits, respectively) took more time to prepare, eat, and clean up from than did Steve's Pop-Tarts. 

We stopped to enjoy another view on the road back

We broke camp and loaded the car, a task made easier by the fact that we had burned most of the firewood which had taken up so much space the day before. On the way out we stopped and did a short hike - an hour or so - and then headed back to civilization. When we got to Front Royal Dave and I had a good diner brunch at L'Dees Pancake House, while Steve, who is still very COVID-cautious, avoided going inside the busy diner and instead ate a sandwich in the nearby town square (I felt comfortable being a little cavalier about COVID since I presumably still have good immunity from recently having had it).

All told, a fun couple of days in the mountains with an old friend and a new one. Good hiking, and we saw a little bit of early fall colors.  

With Steve

With Dave