GET Section 1e Trail Report

January 1, 2011

Siler to Basores Ridge Shelter Parking, 3.6 miles
      This is a 3.6 mile section of the Tuscarora Trail between two road walks. It is all on private property, and within the Shenandoah Valley, so the highest elevation is about 1000'. We hiked north to south, and Basores Ridge Shelter is at the south end, and it was obvious the closer we got to it, the more the trail had been hiked on.
      With me on this hike were my AT hiking partners, David, Susan, and Nancy, plus my dog Sid and Nancy's dog Aslan. Although north of my 12/31/2010 hike, there was no snow here, but the ground was not very thawed. It was not muddy, but it easily could have been.
      There were only minor blowdowns, the trail was mostly well-blazed, and not too much ingrowth by plants. Our biggest problem was getting over all the stiles. There are 12 of them, although 2 we didn't have to go over--one was knocked over as the fence was removed, and the other was next to an open gate. The people could use them as intended. But getting a Lab and a Boxer through is another matter--they can't climb the ladders. Most of the time, they could get under the fence. Some of them were quite a squeeze--we really had to pull up on the bottom of the fence. One of them I just had to lift the dogs over the fence. That was easy enough for the Lab--my dog, but the Boxer is not only bigger, but he kept putting his feet into the fence as I'm trying to get him over. I'll need to make note of this problem in the Guidebook. Another stile we had to get a place a distance away to get the dogs under.
     Some other observations:

The trail is not too heavily hiked, and it doesn't have a clear tread. It's hard to tell exactly where you're supposed to walk.
There are plenty of blazes but there are some spots where I wonder why there aren't any.
There is some greenbrier growth into the trail in some southern spots of this section.
The trail is not graded (is that a problem on private land?) in most places. There is just one bad place, not too far south of Siler. The trail crosses a road, and makes a big step up. It was a challenge for the women in the group.
There are only minor blowdowns, and we tossed off a few branches--not too many for this time of year.
I saw poison ivy vines on trees, but not on the ground, although it is harder to tell in the winter.

Guide for this section

Contents page for GET Guidebook