Roaring Plains Oct 4-5-6

“How about a nice new thread with a proper name to it?”

“well OK but how about moving the good info from the old thread to the new”

“hoi-are you going too? that would be cool.”

“there is a good chance that I will be there - I am a little unsure what to use for shelter - I may just tarp it instead of hammocking but it is a tough call”

“A link to the maps would be nice.

I plan to tarp it and pack light.

baume 66-
Do you go by eay of Route 33 through Harrisonburg?
Have you been to "The Gendarme"?
I think we should get "Gendarme" window stickers for all who go.”

“Local Weather Forecast

Regional Radar Image

Regional Satellite Image

Topozone Map of the Area Below link will take you to a more detailed trail itinerary links.

Link to Trail Itinerary page Scroll down to my "Does This Sound Like A Plan???" posts for links.

Local Wildlife”

“Sorry I'm gonna miss this one, but everyone should have a great time, which it would be hard not to. Are you planning to do Porte Crayon as well? Or the rim trail?”

“Regional Radar Image showing precipitation.

(Satellite Images show cloud cover)”

“and them planes are always roarin right over my house....”

“And the point is ...?”

“Que-est que c'est, le Gendarme? And why does it sound familiar to me? And is it something I (a female) am going to want to have for a window sticker? Or is that going to have to go on G00SE's truck?”

“You will want a sticker skully. It's the premier climbing shop in the region, if not the east coast. Named after a rock formation atop Seneca Rocks that appeared in the notch. It fell down about 10 years ago.”

“Thank you for refreshing my memory Geobeet!

And thank you for that last link Buddur. Now that's scary.”

“The Gendarme(the rock) fell in '86.
The dude in the climbing shop of the same name heard it and his son, in the Seneca Rocks Elementary School down below, SAW IT!!!
The falling of the rock was a million year event.

Look for "The Gendarme" on the web.”

“The dude in the climbing shop has retired from climbing.”

“Pretty cool piece of local history there.”

“It's not all. The first settler (whose homestead was reproduced by the Forest Service in what is now the picnic ground) was a man named Sites. He is buried in a tiny graveyard downhill from the meadow at Seneca Shadows. Unfortunately, vandals broke the stone in half about five years ago. It had only been there for some 250 years.

There is also a native American site near where the current visitor center sits. It was partially dug by archeologists when they built the center, but they left most of the site untouched for future investigation when techniques and knowledge might be better than now.”

“Can you cite that?”

“i was out there last year about this time.”

“The shop is not always open when I pass through.

Speakin' of large suspended shafts of rock....
Have any of you ever been to Big Schloss?
......and seen the big schlong there?”

“Big Schloss is the same formation as Seneca Rocks, the Tuscarora Formation. I've been there.”

“i got a guide book for the Mon out there. it was like a $25 book and they gave it to me for 10 cause the lady used to babysit one of the girls i was with or something.
good guide, once you figure out how it's written.”

“Geobeet-

So you've walked on "The Schlong"?

Wolf Gap is a lovely little place, no?”

“What's the chances of getting a map from someone? I have the time to go now 'cause I quit my job! Anyone going near Springfield?”

“Springfield?
See if Homer wants to go.”

“I get it.”

“I'll send you a map! Shoot me an Email including your address and I'll send it out tommorrow.”

“Kewl Wolfsister!

I finally got to sit down with my maps and plot out our trip. I ended up printing out the topo map on water proof paper (hope I won't need it to be water proof). I'm so looking forward to this trip!”

“Waterproof!?!?!?!?!

Defeatist!

Just keep de' feet dry and everything is gonna be alright.

The weather's got to be good.
I struck out on the way there weekend of 9/14-15-16.
The van croaked just west of Hagerstown, Maryland.
There were scattered showers that weekend.
The kharma for Oct 4-5-6 should be good.”

“Yeah, Wolf Gap is cool if the spring on the other side of the mountain is running. I use it as a base for fossil trips. There are several good sites up in that neck of the woods, and there will be more when they finish blasting for Corridor H.

Re maps, the custom made jobs that advertise on this site are great, and when you set up a map with four or more quads they pay for themselves. And waterproof too.”

“Yep, we bought the National Geographic topo program, for Michigan, last year and it came with a sample package of waterproof printer paper. It works great if it doesn't get ripped.

Those custom maps are pricey. Especially if the chances of one returning to the spot, in the near future, are slim. I don't hesitate to order them up for places closer to home.”

“I haven't been by that way since last year.
I have been going out I 70/I 68 to Garrett County Maryland and south on Route 219 to WVa.

The spring at Wolf Gap has been dry for a few years......drought.
The place is crawlin' with daffodils in Spring.”

“And there are whippoorwills that set up shop down the hill.

Yeah, figured that spring had dried.

I use the 219 route as well if I'm headed in that direction. In my case the Turnpike to Bedford and then 219. It's a valley route, so easier. And you can do grocery shopping in the Walmart in Keyser. They have everything.

The maps are pricey Sass, but like I say, if you need four or more quads the price evens out. If you have the program and the paper, what the hey??? You're good to go.

I ordered the medium sized map that shows the entire Dolly Sods from above Stack Rocks to below FS Route 19, then I drew in the trails from the WV Highlands Consevancy's mapping project that shows updated trails not on the topo. Kewl beans!”

“There's a nice HUGE liquor store along 219 somewhere near Oakland, Maryland.
And they're open until midnight!

Geo-
You somewhere east of Bedford, Penn?”

“Good to know Tom. ;)”

“This trip is shaping up very nicely, isn't it? Looks like we'll all have a long list of names to add to our "Who have you met?" lists. Surely that's got to be good for a little karma boost.”

“I don't know whether that's the store I stopped at or not, but I stopped in the last one in Md. before Keyser and their scotch prices were as much as the State Store prices in Pa. I only bought some Peach brandy which I never opened. Now it will have to wait til my spring trip. I will have a stash of booze for the spring geology trip.

I'm in Philly, which is indeed east of Bedford ... way east. Bedford is better known as the southern terminus of Bud Schuster's monument to himself. He has a way to go to catch up with Bobby Byrd thought. I hear they're changing the name of the state to West Byrdginia.”

“yo! we'll be coming up 33 from 81. i reckon that takes us through harrisonburg. is this place right on 33? do the window stickers have some type of phallus meaning to them? like this maybe:

”

“The Gendarme is just off 33 at the intersection in Seneca Rocks. There is a lane between Yokum's and Harpers stores, and the Gendarme is right behind Harpers. Do not go to the place with the climbing wall across the road.”

“Is this the Gendarme?”

“Not quite. That's red sandstone. The Gendarme was Tuscarora (white-gray) sandstone. I have a large print of Seneca Rocks taken before the Gendarme fell in my living room. It is precious.”

“Yeah, I know. The color and how its eroded reminds me of the Entrada ss of the Colorado Plateau, Utah.

One of my first papers I wrote was on the upper Ordovician sequence in central and eastern PA, the Juniata, Bald Eagle, Reedsville Fms, and how the shallowing sequence of deep-water shales to nearshore sands is shown in them. These are found just below the Tusc in PA. And seems to me most of the ss in the Tusc in PA is considered quartzite.”

“OhMyGosh - I can't resist....so is the Gendarme STILL in your living room? And was there much damage to the roof?”

“The photo is in my living room, not the Gendarme. One embarassed word merchant here!”

“The Tuscarora seems to be listed as either quartzite or hard sandstone, depending on the source. It is not quite the same as the Antietam quarzite, but harder than normal sandstone. I guess ya pays yer money and takes yer pick, kind of like the eternal question: is it limey shale or shaly lime?

The Reedsville and Martinsburg formations are under the Tuscarora, the very best Ordovician fossil beds around. Good Reedsville exposure on 33 coming off North Fork Mountain beginning at the overlook. Found five species of gastropods there and a big hunk of orthoceras, not to mention amorphous bits of fish bone. There are many species of brachiopods there, and supposedly some trilobites, but I've never found them.

The Martinsburg crops up along the road near Big Schloss, but not a very productive site, and scrunched sideways so the fossils are deformed. Bits of cryptolithus here, but not very big hunks. More like cryptolithus chowder.”

“I'm still LMAO !



My sense of humor.....”

“Sometimes I only open my mouth to change feet!”

“Geobeet-
It would seem that you will have to settle for just one foot until the cast comes off.
I'm in Baltimore(nothin' to brag about)so we are practically neighbors.

baume 66-
The Gendarme window stickers are just cool.
I'm not a rock climber(don't you have to wear tights for that?) but I have been known to scramble a few.

It looks like there will be no moon Oct 4-5-6.......hoohoohahahaha!!!”

“I was nearly a Baltimoron once. Lived in what Charlie Eckman called beeyoootiful Laur-el., rooted for the Cotes and Oreos. Had a tough time in the 1983 World Series. My team won and my team lost.”