Whiteoak Canyon, Cedar Run (link), Skyland-Big Meadows Horse Trail, Hawksbill Summit,  and AT

Day 1:  The plan was for a three day hike starting with a short hike on Friday.  We both left early from work and attempted to get to the park as fast as we could.  Unfortunately there was a sizable thunderstorm over the park.  As I drove in to the storm Marcus drove up beside me and we pulled over to discuss waiting it out.  The storm passed quick and we drove over to the trailhead.  Unfortunately I made a planning error  and the trail that section to Whiteoak that I wanted to take had no parking.  We parked over by the main area and headed down the trail.  The hike would be longer but I was still hoping to make the camp site off of Cedar Run Link by nightfall.

Whiteoak Canyon trail is a beautiful trail, but heavily used.  All stream crossings have a built bridge and sections of the trail actually have poured concrete between the stones.  We made our first stop at The View to look at a wonderful waterfall.  As I was sitting there munching on the snacks I saw a couple of trees on the far bank shake violently - when this black bear came sliding out across the rock face.  I believe he may have fallen off the ledge.  He looked a little shaken but after a moment started to walk around.  It was the first bear I have seen in Shenandoah.  We continued down the trail; I took a nasty fall backwards.  Unfortunately my foot jammed in a rock and I hyper extended my knee.  I was OK, but I can tell Marcus was already mentally debating whether to shoot me or leave me for the bears.

 We bumped in to a couple of guys just starting there hike from the lower section.  They were hoping to make the fire road and a legal campsite (There is no camping allowed within Whiteoak Canyon).  It was getting dark when we finally got to the stream crossing and trail junction.  This trail junction has no bridge so we kicked off our shoes and waded across.   We stopped on the other side to pump some water since I figured it would be a dry camp.  It was already 9PM by the time we started again.  We donned headlamps and headed up the trail;  The overcast sky contributed to the early dusk.  We didn't go far before I spotted an open area under the trees overlooking the river.  We decided to stop here as opposed to trying to find the spot I wanted to stay.  It is debatable if this place was allowed, but we were pretty beat.  We set up camp and turned in without any dinner.  It rained a little that night but for the most part it was a pleasant evening.

Day 2: I hauled my self out of the tent early as usual.  I could have easily have slept in, but the day called for 9.5 miles and most of it up hill on Cedar Run.  The site we chose was actually magnificent overlooking the falls.  I enjoyed my coffee overlooking  the river.  We headed up Cedar Run Link and saw the site that we were originally trying to reach; it was far off the trail and we would never have spotted it in the dark. 

We started our climb out of Cedar Run.  There are numerous falls on this trail, but there are no switchbacks - it is a straight haul up out of the valley- we were doing about a mile per hour.  Portions of the trail have rocks steps planted to assist in the climb out.  We took a break at this one fall and pumped some more water (by day's end I would go through 200 fl oz).  We started to see more and more hikers the closer we got to the top; including a group of about 15.  As we climbed to the top this trail dog came running down the trail and right passed us for the stream.  The dog jumped around in the water like a little kid.  The pooch cracked us up with its antics. 

We eventually started to follow Skyland-Big Meadows Horse Trail and took a break just below Skyline Drive.  We were both tired and decided to change our itinerary and cross over; ascend Hawksbill and camp at the AT shelter on the other side below Hawksbill.  The hike up to Hawksbill, highest elevation in the park at 4051', follows a maintained trail.  There is a shelter at the top with a finished overlook.  The view is great and worth the detour.  Hawksbill can be accessed by three summit trails; one from Sklyine and two from the AT (south and north spur).  We lounged around a bit - we were pretty tired.  After a little debate we decided to take the north spur to the AT and cut the trip short.  We realized we were only a few miles fro the car.  The hike back to the parking lot was fairly uneventful, however the humidity was increasing and storm clouds were moving in again.  A good storm would hit the ridge that we were planning to camp - so maybe all the better.

Total Distance:  Approximately 12 miles - 3.9 miles on the first day and 8.9 on the second day.  I