About us
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DC UL Backpacking hosts an average of 80 backpacking events each year, specializing in high-mileage, lightweight backpacking trips throughout the Mid-Atlantic region and beyond. Our membership structure helps backpackers gain or enhance their outdoor skills. In general, our trips are quite challenging but you’ll find a wealth of experienced backpackers who are eager to share advice. Visit our website (www.dculbackpacking.com) to learn more about our group and our membership and trip ranks, and to read our FAQs.
Our goal: To cultivate a community of independent outdoorsmen and women who want nothing more than to have a fulfilling backcountry experience–to wake early, to walk far, and to travel light.
Join us. We look forward to meeting you!
When applying to join our group, make sure to fill out our questionnaire fully. We also require that your profile photo is of yourself.
*** Read our liability waiver (https://dculbackpacking.com/about/liability-waiver/) and COVID-19 guidelines here: https://dculbackpacking.com/about/covid-19-guidelines/. ***
Upcoming events
9
MO: Reddish Knob (28 miles, 17/11 split)
Vienna Metro (North Parking Lot), 9490 Virginia Center Blvd, Vienna, VA, USStill planning this a bit but wanted to go ahead and post. RSVPs open 10/17 and I will be manually moving folks off the waitlist
Join me on a Halloween excursion in the GWNF North River area! This will be a shorter, two day version of this trip from Brightside. I'm looking for hikers who are okay with a long Saturday with a 3 hour drive and a 17 mile hike. Also read this hike could be difficult to follow so hikers should come prepared to navigate with a map/caltopo etc (DM if you need help here)
You should be at Member rank to join this trip, please see here for more info.
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(copy + pasting some text from last trip)Day 1 Saturday:
- Leave EARLY 7am from Vienna metro station (North side)
- I realize this is early for most Metro riders (myself included) but this is just how early I would like to leave. I recommend Ubering to metro station. If you do metro also make sure to check for metro maintenance. This is also just default meet up spot, open discuss alternative once get closer.
- Plan get to the trailhead around ~11am
- It will be a small parking area at the Timber Ridge trailhead on Tillman Road, just after Hearthstone Lake (https://goo.gl/maps/ZfQMbduWp6beYF71A)
- Have \ ~7 hours of sunlight to hike 17 miles. Expect get to camp in the dark.
- We'll climb to summit Reddish Knob. After taking in the view, we'll descend into the valley along a few forest roads and follow the North River Trail down to its terminus at Forest Road 95. We'll turn LEFT (where different from last trip) and hike a few miles along the road to our stop for the night at Camp Todd, with reliable water.
Day 2 Sunday:
- HIke out 11 miles
- In the morning we'll climb up Little Bald Knob on the Wild Oak Trail and then turn right, descending along Chestnut Ridge until we hit the Groom's Ridge Trail, which we'll take down to the cars. We'll decide whether we'd like to have lunch in Harrisonburg based on everyone's comfort level. Waffle House is an option(!!!)---
Resources*NatGeo Trails Illustrated Map 791: Staunton/Shenandoah Mountain. You can get it from some DC area REI stores or from the NatGeo website: https://www.natgeomaps.com/ti-791-staunton-shenandoah-mountain-george-washington-and-jefferson-national-forests
- CalTopo: https://caltopo.com/m/VT6EQCF
*Weather: https://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?lat=38.4623&lon=-79.2419 - Driving Directions: https://goo.gl/maps/ZfQMbduWp6beYF71A
Disclaimers
** Waiver*: By RSVPing to this trip or any other DC UL trip, you agree to these guidelines and to DC UL's waiver liability terms (https://dculbackpacking.com/about/liability-waiver/)
*** Dues: **Members and above, don't forget to pay your annual dues. You can check if you need to pay dues by seeing if the current year is listed next to your name in your DC UL profile. Applicants do not need to pay dues for their first trip. To pay your dues via PayPal, use this link: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/JenniferAdach/15 (10 annual dues plus a 5 suggested donation to City Kids Wilderness Project.)- Carpool:* As per our carpool policy, riders should pay drivers $0.10/mile.*
*I am a co-participant, not a guide or expert and have no formal training in navigation or first aid. I have been to this area before, but this is my first time on this route and on most of these trails
6 attendees- Leave EARLY 7am from Vienna metro station (North side)
LM: Trout Run Valley Halloween Trip (27 miles)
Vienna Metro (North Parking Lot), 9490 Virginia Center Blvd, Vienna, VA, US"Join us on the classic Trout Run Valley circumnavigation, but this time with a twist: let's have a Halloween costume party on trail. What will you dress up as: Smokey the Bear? Alan Dixon in a trash bag on his 5lb BW winter attempt of the AT through Shenandoah? A (gasp) traditional backpacker?"
This trip copies a 2019 Halloween trip that sounded fun. Check out the trip report including photos of some of the costumes!
I'll bring some Halloween treats. You'll get to see Tibbett Knob, Halfmoon Mountain, and Big Schloss over two days, with splits of about 13/13 (or 16/10 if we choose). We'll all get to take some fun group photos.
Saturday, we'll gather at Vienna Metro and leave as close to 8 a.m. as possible. We'll head to Wolf Gap Campground, and then start our journey by heading up to Tibbet Knob and then setting up camp near Trout Run. We do have the option, if people are up for it, to go another three miles on Saturday--maybe even a little more to camp closer to Halfmoon Mountain. We can see how the day goes on Saturday.
Sunday, we will continue along our merry way with a pause at Big Schloss for views before heading back to our cars. I'd like to stop at Vibrissa (formerly Front Royal Brewing Co) on the way home.
Hard to know what the weather will be, but expect it to be potentially cold and windy. If you haven't done much cold weather backpacking or are uncertain if your gear is going to up to the task, send me a gear list for some feedback.
Remember: DCULers have maps!! The map for this is PATC Map F (https://www.patc.net/PATC/Our_Store/PATC_Maps.aspx). Mid-Atlantic Hikes gives a good look at our route (http://midatlantichikes.com/troutrunvalley.htm), although we'll be doing it in the reverse direction. A great description of the route also is in a certain book: (http://www.amazon.com/AMCs-Best-Backpacking-Mid-Atlantic-Multiday/dp/193402886X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1460832552&sr=8-1&keywords=best+backpacking+the+mid+atlantic).
Applicants (meaning this is your first backpacking trip with DCUL) will need to send me a gear list by Oct 27. If not, I'll have to move you to the wait list.
The fine print:
- As per our carpool policy, riders should plan to pay their drivers $0.10 per mile. At ~180 miles RT, that comes to $18 for the trip.
- By RSVPing to this trip or any other DC UL trip, you agree to DC UL's waiver liability terms (https://www.meetup.com/DC-UL-Backpacking/pages/Liability_Waiver/).
12 attendees
MO: All the Devil Stairs and Compton Peak in SNP (~28 miles)
Vienna metro north side, Parking lot, 9493 Virginia Center Blvd, Vienna, VA, USMy band concert date just got changed to Sunday instead of Saturday, so you know what that means - I can go backpacking now! However, I do have to get back to DC in the afternoon on Sunday to make our call time so this will be a short one. Also, sorry for being a dictator but trail time is going to be 6:30 on Sunday, if you know me you know how much I hate to do this but my hand has been forced :(
This will be an opportunity to do some weird trails I haven't done in SNP like the Bluff trail and the Big Devil stairs which as far as I can tell is just a trail to nowhere and doesn't connect to anything at the boundary. So if you're working on your SNP 500, this could be a good trip! The highlight will be the east side of the Compton Peak summit, which has a pretty awesome columnar basalt formation (think Giant's Causeway-esque) created by ancient cooled lava flows that are older than the mountains themselves. If you haven't been, it's definitely worth a visit.
We'll meet at Vienna at 5, or whenever people can make it after work, and hike in via Little Devils stairs. This will be steep and dark so be prepared. We'll camp at rock spring hut Friday and Saturday night and on Saturday do a big loop with the AT and bluff trail up to Compton peak, with an optional dip down Big Devils stairs. (Unless anyone is familiar with nice campsites that would make sense for the route let me know. I don't make it out to this area very often.) And on Sunday we'll go back out the way we came and will stop somewhere for breakfast on the way home. Early November can be very pleasant or it could be quite cold, I might upgrade this to W1 as we get closer. Please PM me or comment with any gear questions. Splits are 4.5/19/4.5. You also don't have to do the big devil's stairs side trip, which knocks Saturday down to like 16. Also, if any VMs want to do this as a Saturday morning trip, you could easily make that work and catch up with the group.
Since this is Shenandoah, I'll get a backcountry permit when numbers are solidified, it will be about $10-12 per person depending on how many of us there are. You can venmo me @Madeline-Beaudry.
Map: PATC map 9
Caltopo
Weather
Drivers: Drivers are to be compensated $0.10 per mile, which for this trip will be $13.
I’m just a co-participant on this trip, not a guide or an expert. I have no survival or medical training.
By RSVPing to this trip or any other DCUL trip, you agree to these guidelines and to DCUL's waiver liability terms (https://dculbackpacking.com/about/liability-waiver/)
Dues: Members and above, don't forget to pay your annual dues. You can check if you need to pay dues by seeing if the current year is listed next to your name in your DCUL profile. To pay your dues via PayPal, use this link: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/JenniferAdach/15 ($10 annual dues plus a $5 suggested donation to City Kids Wilderness Project.)10 attendees
IO:VMO+ Ouachita Trail (223 miles)
Talimena State Park, 50884 US-271, Talihina, OK 74571, Talihina, OK, USThe Arkansas trails have been calling to me for a while, and late fall sounds like a good season to hit them. Figured the Ouachita (WOSH-ih-tuh) will be the first one tackled, starting at Talimena State Park in Oklahoma and heading east to Pinnacle Mountain State Park, about 30 min outside of Little Rock, Arkansas. Planned daily mileage will be in the high teens. Expect ridge walking with regular water carries similar to what you'd expect on the Massanutten, with many in the 10-15 mile range and a couple potentially being around 20 miles. Current plan is to have resupplies mailed to locations at miles 51 and 122.
I'll be flying into Tulsa to visit a cousin who will give me (and potentially 1-2 others) a ride to the trailhead. The normal way for most OT hikers to get to the western trailhead is to fly into Fort Smith, AR, and take a shuttle from there. I plan to finish up a day or two before Thanksgiving, then spend a few days in Little Rock. FarOut has a trail guide and there are several resources available around the web with Friends of the Ouachita Trail (FoOT) being a good start.
To join you should be VMO+ and ideally have hiked with me previously, already have done a thru-hike, or regularly have tales of your backpacking exploits sung around the campfire by the DCUL bards or recounted with awe and respect over pints of cold ale. This will definitely be run thru-hike style where each person is expected to be self-sufficient and able to extricate themselves on their own if needed.
4 attendees
Past events
1250
