I had done hike from Chester Gap on 21st March 2015 . It is located in Virginia State near Shenandoah National Park.
Hike Location
Name: Chester Gap
Distance: 113 miles from Richmond(approx)
Total hiking distance: 7 miles(approx).
Altitude: 2000 ft.
Hike Team: Gnaneshwar, Krishna, Rajtilak, Sandeep, Shubhendu, Thiruapathi and me.
Hiking Experience: Started around 6:40 am in two cars and picked few from different location and left to destination chester gap. Reached the destination around 9:00 am. There was not much parking and parked the car on the side of the road. As per trek plan we were supposed to start from Chester gap and reach Jenkins gap(8.5 miles). However we found out that Jenkins gap is far from Chester gap and the road to Jenkins from the national park is closed. So we decided to trek around 4 miles from chester gap and then return to starting point. We stated to hike around 9:39 am. The climate is cold and we could feel the morning cool breeze.
The trail is on Appalachian Trail and it is known as the last part of the Appalachian trail having white marks on trees. The trail is covered with ice on both sides and the path muddy and slippery. The trail is narrow. There is a wooden bridge at the start of the trail. After the bridge, the trail is surrounded with white fence on one side for around a mile. The slope gradually increased as we hiked further. Soon we reached a small creek. The temperature of the water is very cold. We crossed an intersection at 4H center and then at the next intersection we took right and it is a blue blazed trail. Actually we were supposed to continue on our trail but we have take right at intersection due to which we lost the route in half way. We still kept on hiking as we have decided to turn back once we are done around 4 miles.
The sun slowly started coming and the slope of the trail is very steep making it much hard to hike. Slowly with small steps we reached a Shelter point near the main road, from where there was no route to go further except for the main road. We went on main road for around 0.2 miles to see if we can connect to our trail but could not find any. We have decided to have lunch there. Around 11:45 we sat for lunch and then had tasty home made upma, fruits. Around 12:10 pm started the return journey to chester gap following the same route. The first mile was very steep and we could feel the hot sun light. By now we know the route so the return journey was done bit faster and slope slowly decreased and it was more like a flat walk downhill. By 1:38 pm we reached chester gap parking. Had some food on the wooden bridge and then left for home around 4:15 pm. Overall it was a very good trek for the start of the 2015. All is Well.
