Welcome back for another amazing backpacking adventure! For this trip, we spent three days in the lovely state of Virginia doing the full Triple Crown loop. This loop is called the Triple Crown because the trail system has three of the best mountain views in the state of Virginia. A little over half of this trip was along the Appalachian Trail, with the majority of the rest being the North Mountain Trail.

Day one started off with about eleven miles of hiking along the AT. We saw some awesome rock formations and two rattlesnakes along the way, but the highlight of day one were the first two prongs of the triple crown. Stop number one was McAfee Knob, which is a rocky outcropping overlooking the valley below. This view offers a 180 degree view of the adjacent mountain ridges and is one of the biggest views I've seen in the eastern US.

The second attraction was Tinker Cliffs. Similar to McAfee Knob, the cliffs offer over 180 degrees of sprawling mountain views of the valley and mountain ranges below. We moved on from Tinker Cliffs to our shelter area where we set up camp for the night. Unfortunately, the "reliable" water source at the campsite was NOT reliable and we ended up pulling water from a mud puddle.

Day two we woke up to some rain, but it was no match for the Hammock Gear dyneema tarp I hang over my hammock. The papery sound of rain dripping on the dyneema fabric made for a good nights sleep. We started off with some moderate rain, limiting my ability to record footage. The first part of the day revolved around finding water, because we were completely out for about the first hour of hiking. We finally crossed a reliable stream and filled up with four liters of water each to get us through the next dry stretch.

We covered the most elevation we've ever done in one day on this particular stretch of trail. We made multiple 1,000' ascents and descents throughout the day. After stocking up on water, we began the climb up to North Mountain Trail, which is roughly a twelve mile stretch of dry trail along a mountain ridge. Despite being a ridge trail, there were quite a few short, challenging climbs along the trail. Towards the end of North Mountain, the wind began picking up quite a bit with gusts up to about 35 mph.

Our planned mileage for day two was 16.5 which by covered by 6pm. We rolled up to our camp area to find that the entire area was fenced off and no camping was allowed. Exhausted, and again out of water, we pulled more water from a stagnant pool and began another 1,000' climb towards Dragon's Tooth to search out another campsite. After making the climb, we managed to find a suitable campsite. We sat down our packs and then I noticed there was a huge widowmaker in the middle of camp. With the 35 mph wind gusts, we didn't want to risk it, so we pressed on.

After almost 19 miles of hiking, including over an hour in the dark, we finally found a huge campsite that was suitable for our group. There was already another group of people set up, but they were kind enough to let us post up next to them. We sat down to eat and then it started raining, so we ended up just going to bed early.

Day three we woke up while it was still dark in an attempt to get a head start on the Dragon's Tooth summit. We managed to catch an amazing sunrise on the hike up, but we didn't make the summit before sunrise. There was a group of 3040 college kids day hiking up to Dragon's Tooth, so the going was very slow was there was a literal traffic jam on the way up. Once we reached the top, the sprawling views from atop the rock spire made it worth the rock scramble up. We enjoyed taking in the views and then began the scramble back down the AT.

The hike out was similar to the rest of the trip, with the exception of hiking about a mile through a cow pasture which was very cool. The open meadows were a nice change of pace compared to the rest of the very wooded trail system. All in all, this was one of my favorite backpacking trips I've ever done and an experience I will definitely never forget!

Click the link below to view my packing list for this trip!
https://lighterpack.com/r/6bq4el

Click the link below to download the GPX file for this trip!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Sgnt...

Join our Facebook group and ask us some questions and tag along on our annual trip!
https://www.facebook.com/groups/13624...