Epic Pre-Easter Cranberry Wilderness Intermediate Backpacking (Few Survive)

OVERVIEW

Friday March 29 – Saturday March 30

Do you hate spring and all that is green (except exuberant moss carpets, ferns, and spruces)? Did you miss out on some good-old-fashioned winter backpacking this season? Well I’ve got news for you – your last chance to experience all this has not yet evaded you. Join Chris and I on our journey through the remote and frigid microclimate that is the Cranberry Wilderness of West Virginia and all your dreams will come true.

Cranberry Wilderness is one of the largest designated wilderness areas in the Eastern United States. With 47,815 acres of land and 70 miles of hiking trails, it is huge and remote. Its vast moss-carpeted forests and open glades make an excellent home for black bears, turkey, mink, bobcats, foxes, and plenty of other fauna. Many ecological parallels can be drawn between Cranberry Wilderness and its heavier-trafficked cousin, Dolly Sods. Cranberry is more remote and sees far fewer visitors, meaning that it provides a bit of an extra challenge. Trails are often quite hard to follow and in poor shape. You may wonder if the trail designers have ever heard of a drainage, or if they just get a kick out of trench foot. You may wonder if the trail designers have ever heard of a trail.

In all likelihood conditions won’t be crazy extreme, but it will likely be below freezing at night and light snow is in the cards. Don’t expect a light jaunt in the woods. Do expect awesomeness. Neither Chris nor I have been here before, which will add to the adventure factor. If you’re inexperienced with backpacking this may not be the trip for you, unless you’re really psyched about this then maybe it is but probably shoot one of us a text (540-810-2824 (Evan) 434-942-5532 (Chris)).

Neither of us have obligatory classes on Friday so we plan to skip and leave in the morning. If you’re interested in coming but do not have the same freedom, let us know. We’re flexible.

Here’s the plan:
9:00am: Meet at the corner of Echols, begin light banter
9:05am: Enter the straggler. The straggler hurriedly jog-walks to the congregation of excited backpackers-to-be and issues a brief apology. Light banter is replaced with dismissal of the straggler’s apology.
9:07am: Embark en route to Cranberry Wilderness. Begin heavy banter.
9:43am: End heavy banter. Begin one person sleeping, one person tying loose ends in homework, rest sitting in silence.
11:18am: Begin light banter, gradually crescendoing to heavy banter as we approach the trailhead.
12pm: Arrive at North-South trailhead. Start hiking. Put 9-ish miles behind us before making camp for the evening.
7:30am (or whenever): Wake up. The sun has grown 10x in size and engulfed the world in flame. We must collect and assemble the 7 holy stones in order to defeat the evil wizard Dark Shalbador.
8:30am (or whenever): Begin hiking the remaining 9ish miles.
When We Have Become Slaves to Our Hunger: Lunchtime!
7pm: Given the nature of the trails here, it is difficult to estimate hiking pace. This schedule gives us a large buffer for slow hiking and shenanigans. Additionally, Dark Shalbador may try to play evil tricks on us which will further slow us down.
10pm: Arrive in Charlottesville late Saturday night, just in time to celebrate the rebirth of Christ(opher Griffis) should you choose to do so or get caught up on homework for the week.
Forever: Keep our mouths shut about Dark Shalbador. If we reveal the truth, they’ll call us crazy and throw us in jail.

Times are approximate. Do not plan anything important (job interview, doctor’s appointment, Wednesday afternoon tee time) for late Saturday night – we could be back later.

Non-exhaustive packing list:
backpack, sleeping bag (suitable for below-freezing temps), sleeping pad, tent (? we will figure out sleeping arrangements that are comfortable for everyone), headlamp, at least 2 liters of water, water filter (optional, we will bring this too), medications, parachute, lots of layers (hat and gloves, rain gear just in case, note that it might be somewhat warm during the day), toiletries that you want, sturdy shoes (waterproof or not you might be kind of screwed, it’s only one night it’ll be fine), spare socks, spoon, bowl or tupperware, stove (optional, we’ll bring), mug, phone/gps device with trail map downloaded (optional but can’t hurt) ***not exhaustive hit us up if you have questions don’t pack too heavy***

We plan to do the loop that can be found here:
https://www.alltrails.com/explore/trail/us/west-virginia/north-fork-and-middle-fork-loop

For now we will allow one car’s worth of people on, if there is high demand we can consider adding another car.

Drivers get priority off waitlist