Trip Report: A Very Foggy Nightmare (Tuscarora Trail Sections 7-10, C&O Canal to Cowans Gap State Park) (April 19-21, 2024) (38 miles)

I was surrounded by a deep, thick fog. The worst fog I had ever seen. I didn’t know whether to blame Mother Nature or David “Spiderman”, but I had a pretty good idea that it wasn’t Mother Nature’s fault. The problem was, I could barely see my hands in front of my face. I had no idea where my hiking buddies were, either. As their fearless leader I had to find them. We were a team after all, right?

I yelled. “MATT!! AUSTIN!! VERONICA!! SOPHIE!! WHERE ARE YOU??”

I called to them for hours. I yelled until my voice became hoarse. I walked until my legs could hardly move anymore. I was all out of food and water. After what felt like days, I stumbled past a very familiar looking tree. “No…no..it can’t be..” I mumbled. But it was. This was the same exact spot that I had walked by a hundred times before. I had been walking in circles forever. I was lost, and the fog was only getting worse. Would this be my final stand?

I slumped against a tree, utterly spent. I cursed David “Spiderman” for causing this stupid fog, and myself for not being able to find a way through it. I thought about my hiking friends. Would they be okay? We were so close to finishing the Tuscarora Trail, and I had let them down. I said one final goodbye to my precious honeybuns and waited for the fog to consume me.

Meanwhile….

Austin, Matt, Sophie, and Veronica were sitting in a lovely restaurant nearby eating breakfast. Matt smiled merrily as the waitress placed another stack of pancakes in front of him. It was his fifth stack. “Guys, oh my gosh, these are soooo good.” He quickly poured more Maple Syrup over his little babies and dug in. Veronica nodded as she took another sip of her steaming hot coffee. “I couldn’t agree more Matt. And ya know what? These eggs and bacon are just perfectly cooked. MMMMM!” Sophie was a little sore, but she was in peace as she buttered her toast. Austin had just took a bite of his french toast but perked up with a sudden thought. “Guys…aren’t we forgetting something?” Everyone looked puzzled, unsure of what he meant. “Nevermind, just a brain-fart.” And with a shrug of the shoulders, everyone went back to enjoying their breakfast.

*************

According to Michael “Uturn”, the most dangerous part of a DCUL trip is the drive to the trailhead. Not bears, getting lost, or hypothermia, but the drive. And I can’t think of a better example of that being true than the situation we found ourselves in Friday night. After leaving Cowans Gap State Park, myself and the others were quickly surrounded by a nasty fog. I’ve seen a lot of fog in my life, but this might have been the worst fog I’ve ever seen. The visibility didn’t seem more than 10ft. The darkness and curvy mountain roads made everything much better too, of course. /sarcasm

Matt was driving with the focus of a brain surgeon. Austin was in the front seat similarly focused. I was gripping the seat, hoping we wouldn’t get ourselves into a ditch. And Sophie was…sleeping!? How could Sophie sleep when the three of us were dealing with this terrible fog? The audacity! We all envied her though, as the drive was actually quite stressful. In the fog we mistakenly missed a turn, and it wasn’t easy to simply turn around because of the fog and guardrails on the narrow road, so we ended up driving several more miles before finding a safe place to turn around. So we did and then we missed our turn AGAIN. We repeated the process and finally, after many maddening and stressful miles, we made it off the mountain and out of the fog. We walked about a half mile to the Little Pool Hiker-Biker Campsite on the C&O Canal trail and tried going to sleep, but our woes didn’t end there. On one side was the noisy I-70, and on the other was a railroad. And the trains went by all night long, preventing most of us from getting a good sleep. Matt slept like a baby though. We awoke on Saturday morning and got a timely start of 6:30am. Not the best sleep, but we were all ready to tackle the day…and our 24+ miles.

After our short walk on the C&O we walked some backcountry roads for a while. The combination of perfect weather and fine company helped the miles go by quickly. This road walk section was quite nice though unlike the previous River Rd. section. Matt joined the group recently and is an all around stud. He recently did a hiking trip in Iceland and does photography on the side. He showcases his art at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria as well. Cool stuff! The roads were quiet and we got some beautiful miles in. We crossed the Mason-Dixon Line and crossed into Pennsylvania-the last state of the Tuscarora Trail.

We took a lunch break next to a lovely stream right before beginning our ascent of Tuscarora Mountain. I pulled out a David specialty….Mcdonalds double cheeseburgers. Austin judged me heavily. I had bought them the previous day at around 4:30pm, so I’m not sure what all the judgement was about. This was high quality, super fresh food! I also pulled out some Dollar General brand gummi bears which may or may not taste like soap. Perhaps one day he will understand the power of a Mcdonalds double cheeseburger after a long hike.

The ridgeline proved difficult with the up and down. And it was rocky. But we did eventually make it to the Reese Hollow Shelter. Unfortunately it was a mile off-trail…and downhill. But we had to get water somehow. The Tuscarora Trail continues to impress with its wonderful shelters and this one was no different. The only problem was that there weren’t too many flat spots for tents, but we made it work. Matt pulled out a chicken sandwich from Chick-Fil A with chick fil a sauce. I was so proud that someone other than me makes lazy (and smart) backpacking food choices. And if there’s one thing better than packing out a Mcdonalds double cheeseburger, it’s certainly a sandwich from Chick-Fil A. We were all pretty beat up so we all opted to go to bed early.

We were once again hiking by 6:30am and marched back uphill to finish off the Tuscarora Mountain Ridgeline. Thankfully the second half wasn’t as rocky, and we were rewarded from the previous days efforts with wonderful views from the Tuscarora Mountain and Big Mountain overlooks. They were quite spectacular. This area is worthy of a future DCUL trip I think. With some careful planning I think someone could make a nice adventure out of these overlooks and some of the many intersecting trails in the area, and Cowans Gap State Park seems attractive–and has a beach. We finished up our remaining miles, squeezed into my lovely Chevy Cobalt, and reversed the shuttle back to Hancock. The drive was much more pleasant this time around without the fog, I must say. After a late lunch at Potomac River Grill in Hancock, it was unfortunately time to say goodbye and get back to our normal routines. Bah humbug. Overall a wonderful weekend and hike.

Congratulations to Matt for crushing our 24+ mile day and earning Veteran status! And a huge thank you to Matt and Veronica for helping me drive people around and making this trip possible.