Overnight Backpacking- St. Mary’s Wilderness!

OVERVIEW

If you missed the trip to Saint Mary’s last weekend, here’s your second chance!

Saint Mary’s Wilderness is part of the George Washington State Forest, which is about an hour from Charlottesville. We’ll hike a 17.5-mile loop over 2 days, heading out early on Saturday morning, camping in the forest on Saturday night, and hiking out and driving home on Sunday.

This hike is rated only “moderate” difficulty, so it’s great for beginners! It is also a great opportunity to learn how to use a water filter and a stove! I have set the trip up as “waitlist only” and will add people as quickly as possible according to the number of cars we have.

Some things I’m looking forward to:
– most of the trail follows a river
– seeing the abandoned mining sites along the way
– saturday night ghost stories- campfires are allowed!

Plan on meeting up friday night around 6 or 7 to check out gear and pack everything up for the next day.

The club provides:

-Transportation: gas if you drive and a seat in a car
-Food: saturday lunch and dinner, sunday breakfast and lunch
-Gear: backpacks, sleeping bags, tents, headlamps, water filter, cooking pots/stove

You bring:

-music for the car ride
-hiking boots (we will have to cross some rivers)
– 3 pairs of socks
-appropriate clothing (think layers)
-long pants (there’s a possibility of poison ivy)
-bowl and cup
-fork
-water bottle (1-2 liters)
-toiletries
-extra snacks
-money for dinner on the way back
-a good attitude
-see http://www.outdoorsatuva.org/resources/?BackpackingChecklist for a more detailed list of what to bring