Wilson Creek, Mt Rogers
On Oct 10-12, 2008 the NC Chapter ran an educational basecamp outing instructing in the art of backcounty navigation. Our focus was learning basic map & compass skills in outdoor classes held over the weekend. We honed our new skills during a day-hike on Saturday and a workshop Sunday morning. Our Saturday hike wound it's way through the Wilson Creek basin, crossing Quebec Branch, and ascending Wilburn Ridge for some focused map and compass work, plotting bearings to the Scales and to 1st Peak. Afterward a large part of the group scaled the highest rock outcropping for a 360 degree view of the area, and stayed up there until completely oriented to the area, or perhaps because the view with clear skies was astounding.
We had lunch near the North end of Wilburn Ridge and afterwards shared a didactic talk about navigating using input from nature, say how to estimate your latitude from the position of the North Star above the horizon.
The outing was well attended with 13 participants, including some old hands, several new Sierra Club members, and Maria Bowling, Outings Chair for the New River Group in Virginia. Mt. Rogers proved to be a perfect location, with cooperation from all the folks at Greyson Highlands Park, and cooperation from the mother nature as well.
This area offers challenging terrain, with hiking trails and horse trails intersecting or sharing territory, and ridges folding into each other: "is that Wilburn Ridge, Pine Mountain, or 3rd Peak?". As we saw around Wilson Creek, it also contains the "Bermuda Triangle of the AT", where North is South, and South runs North!
