MO: All the Devil Stairs and Compton Peak in SNP (~28 miles)

My 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.
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