Signal Knob Hike

[BlueTrain]

At last, a hike worthy of a trip report. This was my first trip up to the Front Royal, Virginia, area is at least a year. It was worth it. Sorry but there are no photos.

Signal Knob is a mountain less than ten miles east of Front Royal and is at the northern end of George Washington National Forest. There are lots of trails in that area, all more or less of the same difficulty. This was a circle hike of about six miles but that doesn't include actually going as far as Signal Knob, which would add from two to four miles, depending on which trails are taken. There is some kind of electronic facility at Signal Knob, inside a chain-link fence. I had been that far twice before but this time I wanted to take a different trail.

There is a large gravel parking lot from which two of the trails begin. There is a so-called family campground just a little further down the road where hikers can also start. Even further down the road is an old iron furnace, Elizabeth Furnace, with an even larger paved parking lot and picnic benches and shelters and other trails lead off from there in the other direction. There were no other cars there when I arrived in the parking lot at about 6:30 this morning, a little later than I had planned on being there. Anyway, I undressed and started hiking nude. I got back to the car about 11:45, just as it started sprinkling. Here at home, we had a terrific thunderstorm at about 3:00, so timing is everything. I saw no one else on the trail and so was able to do the entire hike nude.

The trail is fairly rough and rocky for most of the way, although most of it is in the shade. This morning was warm and humid with virtually no wind, just the sort of conditions that usually ends in a storm, which was forecast. It is one of my favorite places for a long hike away from home but the roughness of the trails makes it somewhat strenuous. Extreme care must be taken to avoid a fall or twisted ankle, which might be worse. I have long maintained that there is no physical danger in hiking nude, provided suitable footwear is used, but also that the greatest danger of hiking, especially on trails like this one, is in falling.

The different trails leading to Signal Knob have their own names and there is a lot of good information about this hike and lots of others on a website called Hiking Upward, which is mainly about trails in the Mid-Atlantic Region but also includes New Hampshire. My time in completing the hike was maybe a little longer than the time given in the details for Signal Knob on their website.

The first third of the hike is uphill, the second third more of less level, following ridges, and finally the easy part, coming back down, but the entire trail is rough and rocky and in a few places, is virtually unrecognizable as a trail. You also pretty much have to keep to the trail, too. The return trail comes out at the other end of the parking lot and you can begin at either end.

I have been on these trails several times, always hiking nude. I try to arrive in the parking lot just as it's getting light and usually I'm the first one there. But twice I have passed people, one a trail runner, the other some campers, and both times there were no cars in the parking lot. I guess they parked at the family campground. And another time there was a car in the parking lot and yet I saw no one. And finally, on one hike I had just returned to my car, having hiked the entire trail nude, when a school bus full of grade school students, probably 5th and 6th graders, pulled into the parking lot. As I said, timing is everything.

[John P]

A hike worthy of a trip report, and a most worthy hike! Excellent to hear about.

[jbeegoode]

Ya know, you often give me the impression in your writing, that you are old and maybe too feeble to manage a hike like this. So, I'm grateful for this trip report, but also happy to know of your good health.

Looks like a I have a resource to dig into for...whoah! Nice website. Do people kayak the James River?
Thank-you,
Jbee

[BlueTrain]

I expect people do kayak and canoe the James River but the Shenandoah River at Front Royal bills itself as the canoe capital.

Well, as regards my age, I push myself and try to get out as much as I can. My wife, though, who would never dream of hiking nude out in the woods with all the insects and the mud and the smells, gets out an walks for an hour and a half every morning and again for a shorter walk in the evening. And she does lap swimming at the pool we belong to. But she's six years younger than me.

There are lots and lots of good hikes in the northern section of Shenandoah National Park and the northern part of G.W. National Forest where I went yesterday and which parallels the park ten or fifteen miles to the west. What I don't like, though, is the drive to get there. From home, it is over an hour's drive to Front Royal. If I go to the park, it is another fifteen or twenty minute drive to the trailheads. I do like the park, however, and there's something magic about being up there. It's very hard to explain but the spell is broken once I leave the park. But it's also a fairly busy place year round, at least on weekends. Most visitors confine themselves to Skyline Drive and the trails absorb a lot of people.

I am fortunate in living where I can take walks in the suburban woods around here and I generally see as much wildlife and other interesting things as I do anywhere. I have seen any bears but there are occasional reports of bear sightings in the county, so it's probably only a matter of time. We've been seeing a remarkable number of foxes lately, too, something we never used to see.

That website is very useful and they grade the hikes in both solitude (important if you like to hike nude) and difficulty, only I don't know what the scale is or if I would agree with the grading. I mentioned in my post that the trail was very rough and rocky, which it certainly is, but it isn't mountain climbing (more like hill walking) or anything technical. Judging from aerial views on Bing Maps, it may get a lot more visitors when the leaves are changing, because the parking lots were full.

I am by no means feeble but I can tell I'm not eighteen anymore. It might be that my grousing is related more to having to drive 75 or 80 miles to hike nude than anything. But, oh, to be 70 again.

[BlueTrain]

One more thing I wanted to add to my report. One of the trails is now apparently popular with mountain bikers. There are relatively new signs on the trails, too, placed there with the bikers in mind. In fact, I was sitting on a bench after returning from my hike, even before going to my car, when a biker whizzed past me. Surprisingly, he wasn't a teenager or young man but rather, a middle-aged bald-headed man. So misconceptions abound.

One of the signs at the place where the bench was said it was bear country. I was ready to tell anyone who might have "caught" me nude that it was "bare" country but the opportunity did not arise. Regarding the bears, though, I have seen them in Shenandoah a couple of times but nowhere else. I may have seen signs but I'm not certain of what I saw. I did see a few deer tracks on the trail but I always see them where I walk here at home. Sometimes I even see the deer.

[nuduke]

I do like the park, however, and there's something magic about being up there. It's very hard to explain but the spell is broken once I leave the park.

That's the very feeling I tried to explain at length in my last post in 'A Couple of Things' thread.

How old are you if I may be permitted to enquire?  I'm 65

John

[BlueTrain]

Me? I'm only 71. Will be 72 in another month.

When I said there's something magic about the park, I was really referring to Skyline Drive and the extension further south, the Blue Ridge Parkway. I've been to other parks out west, including the Grand Canyon and Yosemite, and they have the same feeling. All the lodges are really grand, too. It's pure escapism, a temporary respite from the junky, commercial and unsightly everyday places of "real life." All of life isn't like that, to be sure, but the parks I've visited have been really nice.

I also like to get out in all seasons and some of my most enjoyable visits to Shenandoah National Park have been in the winter when it was snowing. One well-known eastern national park I haven't visited is the Great Smokies.

[BlueTrain]

I just thought I'd include a few more things about this trail, this hike and hiking in general while I have them on my mind.

These trails have several good places for camping in the backwoods, with nice, flat cleared-out spaces, all with fire rings. And because this is in a national forest and not a national park, you can build a fire. In fact, you don't need a permit to do anything, except for hunting and fishing in season. These trails all originate in the parking lots and go uphill from there, which is much better than any trail that goes downhill first and then you have to climb back up the hill to go home. There is at least one place in Shenandoah like that worth doing, which is the trail to President Hoover's Camp.

Insects were no worse than usual and I used a liberal amount of insect repellant and wasn't bothered too much. Gnats are the worst bother.

I carried only the minimal amount of gear, including a snack, water, a little first aid bundle, a bandana, a piece of plastic to sit on and a poncho. I naturally brought along my keys and wallet. I think I mentioned that I carried a pair of cotton gym shorts in my hand the whole way, used mostly for swatting insects and wiping my face. I also always carry a walking stick. I also wore a baseball cap and regular hiking shoes. Nothing out of the ordinary. I stopped to rest and eat my snack more or less half-way through the morning. It was easy going once I reached the top of the ridge, although the trail was even rougher from there on.

At some point on trips like this I always ask myself why I'm doing such a thing. The nude part is easy but the long part is harder. I think I do things like that just to prove I still can. But that's really all I think about, philosophically-speaking. The rest of the time I think about what I brought (which I had, etc.) but I'm mainly there to see things and so I concentrate on the trail (because it's rough) and the woods around me. Also on the trail ahead, in case I see someone else. That sort of puts an edge on the trip but not much of one. It's a case of assuming away any social or legal problem with regards to passing someone while I'm nude or nearly so. But there's no physical danger, provided I don't fall down.

[nuduke]

Gosh, Blue train,
You do seem to have a great deal of what we old timers on the forum, and TSNS before, used to call Secret Naturist Craft (freehiking craft today, probably) i.e. the mindset and simplest equipment/supplies to make your hike safe, enjoyable, in connection with nature, out of sight of textiles and naked.  All that attention to what's before and behind and scanning the territory frequently you allude to were often subjects of discussion and experience sharing amongst us in times past.  Trouble is most of us regulars on the site have talked that subject into the ground.  It's nice to have it illustrated again in your posts.
I'd love you to post a few pics of the hike.  Just the terrain, although a pic of you on it might be nice. 


John

[jbeegoode]

I surely hope that we have not talked stealth into the ground! I hope that we are just getting better at it, more comfortable and confident. The next TFRN website post is a stealth stroll in a very public riverside trail system. There are a couple of twists learned along the way. There is always something to learn and often a surprise. Free Range territory boundaries are expanded, places previously felt dangerous are liberated, by using learned craft, balls, common sense, creativity and inner guidance, and more. It all adds to a life moving about, living nude and natural. It also flavors mundane and safe, like spices do...sweet, fragrant and/or peppered hot.

When I don't get out and do it, my memories becomes staid and I can forget just how new and exciting each adventure feels. It is like when I can walk safely inside my home nude, I can even forget the heightened awareness. Then, when I finally step out my door, it is like night and day. Then, leaving home is better, and new places are better still, etc. After days spent nude, complacency is lost. When I have to dress again, it often feels wrong.

I enjoyed this post, the elements are not old hat for me. Reminders and keeping fresh are in there.

I also would enjoy seeing pics of the 'Ol Virginny that I grew up in. I'd like to hear the details of the place. I haven't been in an environment like that it decades. The next couple of years will put me back there to sit under tall oaks and put acorn caps on the tips of my fingers like puppets with hats. I need to remember, things in my mind gone dusty with time, like rain that doesn't come sweeping in for a short time, but stays for days. Cloudy days, not knowing when the rain comes because the vistas are blocked with forests. Feeling cooped it by tall things. A different set of bugs, where they hang out, things not drying out in less than an hour. Poison ivy, no rattlesnakes, the utter, bowl me over, grenenity (sic.) of that heightened verdant everything, and the smell of fresh cut grass. I may visit this place myself.
Jbee

[BlueTrain]

Hello, everyone! I just returned from our beach vacation on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I'm really not interested in the beach anymore but everyone else (wife, daughter and son-in-law) is. I'm just the designated driver. It's the sun, mostly, although two days of rain didn't help. The family used to own a cottage there but that was finally sold a few years ago, chiefly because none of us were able to make that much use of it.

It doesn't look like I missed that many posts, though, even though it's summertime.

I've never though of my nude hiking as "stealth hiking," although I suppose it could be. In most cases, it was nothing more than hiking without wearing anything but shoes, usually, but not always, with a pair of gym shorts ready to cover up with. Even though I have generally planned to hike nude on specific trips, it's first and foremost a hike. When conditions are favorable, they were nude hikes. "Favorable conditions" were also usually a guess, just like the weather forecast. Only a few times have I hiked nude without having planned to do so from the beginning.

These hikes have always been day hikes, although I have hiked nude from a campsite once or twice. Equipment or gear-wise, I'm forever trying to pare what I take down to the minimum. Of all the things I take, water is always the heaviest part. In fact, I'm beginning to think that on a hike in the hills, nude or otherwise, there is next to nothing that is really essential except water, contrary to all learned advice from the experts, none of whom I expect would dare hike naked. If rain is possible, which I guess it always is, I'll take a poncho and I have hiked wearing nothing but a poncho, too. I still have to carry something to put my wallet and keys in, too, in the obvious absence of pockets. I guess my hiking style is continually evolving, though some would argue I have no style.

[BlueTrain]

To Nuduke, alas, I have no photo-taking equipment, not even a camera and that is, ironically, in spite of having worked in the photofinishing industry for about 20 years. There is, however, a photo taken by my wife on a snowy trip on Skyline Drive a few years ago that I can post, if I can only find it and figure out how to post it.

As far as the trail itself, there are directions but no real descriptions on the website "Hiking Upward." There is a single photo, though. Perhaps later I will post some descriptions. Generally speaking, the descriptions would also be accurate enough for a lot of trails in nearby Shenandoah National Park. In theory, there may be more hikers on trails in SNP but that's only a guess. There are lots of trails in that area and I have by no means tramped over all of them. In fact, I tend to hike on certain trails more than others because I happen to especially like those particular trails.

And you know what?  As I lie here stretched out on the bed making this post, my wife is out walking. She will walk for an hour every morning and again, for a shorter time, in the afternoon. She will even go swimming for an hour sometime today, too. But she doesn't care for the woods. I realize there are insects galore, mud, a creek to wade and bad smells in places, but that's not much of a reason to avoid the woods. Anyway, I get to mow the lawn for exercise, too.

[nuduke]

I hope that we are just getting better at it, more comfortable and confident.

I think there is an element of that, Jbee.  In the early days of TSNS it was the fairly early days of internet interaction too.  I think the original TSNS people tentatively discovered each other and I suspect a significant proportion of them (us?) thought they were the only one that did this nude hiking in nature.  Thus comparison of what we did, how we did it and how we felt about it was a natural way for the conversation to go.  I have noticed that recent new joins to our community are more seasoned free rangers with lots of free hiking history and so the matter of questions about craft doesn't arise so often.  Do you think that's a fair observation comparing then and now? 

Blue Train....

I have to be impressed by a lifestyle that has no equipment for visually recording the moment.  Have you not got a cellphone?  Has one been produced in the last 20 years that doesn't have a camera?  'Chacun a son gout' as the French have it.  Shame you haven't got photos to share though.  Your thoughts applied to the forum will be therefore an elegant sufficiency and our thoughts must deck your exploits with the glittering gilding and the chiaroscuro renderings of the mind's eye!

John

[BlueTrain]

I don't have a cell phone. I also don't wear a watch. I don't listen to NPR. Don't watch TV, either. I like Slovenian folk music. I'm weird--but not wired.

[jbeegoode]

I don't have a cell phone. I also don't wear a watch. I don't listen to NPR. Don't watch TV, either. I like Slovenian folk music. I'm weird--but not wired.

I don't have a cell phone. I also don't wear a watch. I don't listen to NPR more that twice a year. Don't watch TV, either. I like all kinds of music, this week it has been classical India, electrified Mali desert "Timariwen" at Womad from youtube, and what has been on eclectic KXCI when I'm driving. Slovenian folk music? I'm not so sure what that is! I'm not weird--but not wired, but wifi-ed.
Jbee