Overnight Backpacking Trip to Ramsey’s Draft (with Lunar Eclipse!)

OVERVIEW

The little-visited Ramsey Draft trail, which is about an hour west of Charlottesville, is said to host “what may be Virginia’s most impressive virgin hemlock forest”. It’s a 17 mile loop hike (though we may shorten it, if needs be), half of which cuts back and forth along the draft, so expect to get your feet wet! In addition to the fall foliage and secluded area there will be a lunar eclipse at 8:00 on Saturday night, which should look especially impressive from this wilderness region. The club will provide gas money, breakfast, dinner, and backpacking equipment if needed.

What you need:
-lunch (cold, Sat. & Sun.)
-WARM clothes (could get to 30 on Saturday!)
-light hiking clothes
-flashlight
-dry socks
-mess kit
-rain gear (in case the weather goes sour, it’s nice to at least have a poncho or, worst case senario, a garbage bag or two)

We will be picking up gear tomorrow at 2:00pm at Echols. If you need to borrow gear from the club and cannot make it at that time, and you can contact me before 2:00pm on Friday, the 8th, then I can pick it up for you. Make sure to include specifically what you need in your email to me so I can pick it up. Otherwise, you can try emailing the officers to see if someone can let you in to the equipment room at some other time on friday, but this isn’t guareented since none of the officers might be free at the time you want on such short notice.
Finally, I plan to go food shopping on Friday, so if you want to have some say in food choices and want to come along then let me know what times are good for you.