Shortoff Mountain Overnight Day 1 4K
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- Опубликовано: 7 фев 2025
- Fourteenth backpacking trip of 2024 ... December 14-15, 2024
Linville Gorge ... Shortoff Trail, Ricks Crossover, Olson, MST to Rock Peak and back to Shortoff (camp),
Shortoff Trail, Jeep, Shortoff Trail to return to Wolf pit
Day 1... 6.83 miles / 1,936' elevation gain
Day 2... 2.5 miles / 59’ elevation gain
We arrived at the trailhead and a bit of fiddling and sipping coffee ... we hit the trail! I didn't have a plan ... so we started out going up Shortoff Trail which had no noticeable changes from Helene. We then decided to jump on Rick's Crossover ... which was a great trail other than when I lost it going through a rocky patch. But we found it a short time later and the rest of the way until we connected to the MST was really nice - there were some stepover logs but nothing too difficult. We then turned right onto the MST... and l'll note both the MST and Rick's Crossover had great views of Lake James! I sat for a spell along the MST - checking the weather trying to decide if I wanted to start pushing myself and get to the Chimneys or if I was feeling lazy. Well, we opted for lazy .. so we reconnected with the Shortoff Trail then almost immediately zagged onto Olson trail (one of my favorites! and it was probably in the best shape that I'd seen - someone had even trimmed some of the pines that had encroached on the trail a bit. We finally turned the corner and saw the southern part of the damage on the west rim and also noted that the river looked wider.
Continuing along below the rock cliffs of Shortoff... we saw some ice laying on the ground and water dripping from the cliffs. Then we entered John's Kitchen and just enjoyed all the scenery here and at Unbelievable Point. We then continued along - finally turning right to re-emerge on Shortoff Trail again. We then passed by gully pipe which had some water, passed by my friend's favorite campsite, then entered into the Camp Shortoff area. Unfortunately, some idiots had decided to chop live stuff to try to burn - they'd left the green rhodo limb and pine limb laying by the firepit area - don't do this!! There's plenty of deadfall and stuff around to make a fire. Chopping live trees is never okay and neither is leaving your garbage behind in the firepit after you unsuccessfully attempt to burn it! Anyway, we kept going on the trail and decided to visit the overlooks and make our way to Rockpeak. You can definitely see notable damage on the west side of the gorge. After a break at Rockpeak... we backtracked to the Water Tree to get water for camp.
After some thought ... I decided to camp at Camp Shortoff for the night. So, we got to camp - cleaned up the firepit area and settled in. We made our way to the couple of overlooks near our camp for sunset. Afterwards, we settled in by the fire (where I'd forgotten my Firestarter bricks and had to use Vaseline and pine needles to get the fire going). Enjoying a meal of Caribbean smoked chicken with dirty rice and cabbage along with a ricemilk crunch bar and hot chocolate by the fire...before retreating for the night to our trail palace.
We woke up to the sound of rain on the tent and after a short while we had a small break - where I was able to run out to the overlook (see the wall of fog), grab my food bag, then settle back in the tent! While making my coffee and eating breakfast - the rain/drizzle started again - it was kinda peaceful. Thankfully, once we were mostly packed the rain let up - so we could get the tent all rolled up without everything getting soaked. We hit the trail - making our way north back to some of the overlooks along Shortoff before retreating back down the trail. But instead of taking the Shortoff trail back - we took the Jeep trail down ... this trail was in probably the best shape l've seen it (this was also my first time on this trail) but typically it's overgrown at both ends. It is a very rocky trail and with the wetness - made it a bit slow going for us (well me). We reconnected with the Shortoff trail and returned to our car.
Overall, it was a great overnight. I always recommend Olson because of the scenery - but do not do this if you're not comfortable with unblazed/unmarked trails. Camp Shortoff is a great camping area - but tends to have garbage in the fire pits so I always check and try to clean out as we go. And it's a very popular campsite - so it's best to arrive early if you want a spot. Also, in the vlog it'll be the debut of Sally cam - where it's her perspective of the trail!
Nice video Angela... Great to see you back in the Gorge and loved the Sally cam🙌🐾🐾
Randy, it was certainly great to return! Glad you liked Sally cam too :)
Nice video! You are the only person I know in recent years that has been through Ricks Crossover. I sort of looked for it back in early September when climbing back up the MST from the river but really blew right by it without noticing. And I agree with the other comments - the Sally cam needs to be a staple!
I'd intended on including it on a couple other trips - but I know at least one of those times I just didn't see it before I passed it. I definitely think it's a hard one to spot - especially coming up from the MST. But I'll say - other than the misstep a short ways into it - it was a really nice little trail with great views this time of year of Lake James. Sally cam will definitely be in future videos :)
Seriously Like Sally-Cam!
Awesome...we're glad you liked it! Thank you for watching!