New River Gorge – Day 8

14 March 2021

I got up enough motivation to attempt Pilot Mountain this morning. The things that have gone wrong this trip have stressed me out and until I had my first cup of coffee I didn’t know if I would make the attempt. This pandemic has also paid havoc with my mind. I’ve been idle as far as hiking is concerned for almost two years and I was beginning to have a crisis of confidence if a 72 year old man could still get up and down a mountain in one piece. Let’s just say my confidence received a boost today.

Pilot Mountain sits at an elevation of 2, 421 feet. That’s not so bad but the hike I chose – Grindstone – basically starts at the visitors center and goes up, up, up for an elevation gain of 1,558 feet. The very most elevation gain I’ve ever done is 3,000 at Guadelupe Mountain in Texas. It almost killed me. The trail up Pilot is 3.5 miles one way.

I started the hike at 8:49 am and made the first mile fairly quickly – for me. I reached the summit of Little Pinnacle around 11 and that’s a very fast pace for me. Anytime anyone tells me the average pace is 2 1/2 miles per hour, I generally say mine is 2 1/2 miles per hour and a half. I’m a slow but steady hiker.

The first sign that I was doing OK was I only made one rest stop for the first mile in spite of some fairly steep climbs. I wasn’t too winded. About 3/5 of the way up I hit the steepest and longest incline. I also noticed my left hip was beginning to bother me. I will admit to numerous rest stops on that section and I noticed my energy lagging at the apex of that.

When I got to Little Pinnacle, I sat on a bench for a good 15 minutes just to get my heart beat back to normal. I ate an energy bar, gulped down some water and then walked around the “base” of Big Pinnacle – the actual standout feature of Pilot Mountain. It’s 0.8 miles around the pinnacle.

Then, just because I could, I walked back up to the overlook of Big Pinnacle from Little Pinnacle like I did two days ago. In for a penny, in for a pound.

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After that, I hiked back down the way I came up to a pavilion with picnic tables and had lunch – another energy bar and water. As I began to descend, not only my left hip but my left knee started to nag. I was still 3 miles away from the bottom.

I had to rest about six times on the way down just to get the pain in the hip and knee to abate so I could continue down the trail. I made it back to the jeep by 1:30 pm, so all total, I spent 4 hours and 44 minutes up and back. The rangers suggest allotting 4 hours.

On the trail, some wore masks, some didn’t (I did not). There were may hikers with dogs, some on leash (required) and some not. There were four joggers that ran up the mountain and ran back down. Two were young women jogging and as they passed I asked if Tucker Carlson knew about what they were doing. Invariably, there were several hikers in groups closer than 6 feet sans masks. Even more worrisome were the people I saw hiking up with either only one water bottle or no water at all.

The trail was pretty quiet when I started but by the time I started back down the mountain, the trail became a freeway. No one seemed to note the rules of the road – up hill hikers have the right-of-way but the trail was mostly wide enough to allow everyone to get by if necessary.

It was. a perfect day for the hike. I started at the bottom with a temperature of 39F. By the first 1/2 mile I came out of my jacket. The temp by the time I reached the top was 63F. There was a beautiful blue sky for the hike up and very kindly, the mountain gods provided an overcast sky on my way back down. Grindstone is rated by the state park service as strenuous. AllTrails rates it as moderate. I would go with moderate but with the caveat that it is a lot of elevation in so short of time.

I made it back to the hotel by 3:15 and immediately showered, shaved, and took 2 Advil. I hit the bed for about an hour but didn’t sleep. Thank god for Advil!

I drove to Jimmie and Stephen’s and we sat and talked a while and they then continued to feed me. I was also sent away with munchies for the trip. It was so good to see both of them. It’s been two years since we were last together. Hopefully, the country will soon be back to “normal” whatever that was and we won’t have to worry so much about Covid.

Tomorrow I head for Fernandina Beach and Amelia Island for a stay at the Addison Bed and Breakfast. This will be my second stay at that particular B&B but I think it has changed hands twice since I last stayed.

Stay tuned!