Aqua Blazing

Aqua Blazing is a thru hiking term that means completing a portion of the journey via water instead of trail.

The Shenandoah River, which flows in Virginia and West Virginia, is one of the few rivers that flow north. It also parallels the portion of the AT in Shenandoah National Park in northern Virginia, making it the perfect candidate for an AT aqua blaze. For a few days at the end of May, I did just that, in a canoe along with my wife and dog. 4 members of my tramily joined as well.

Is it cheating?

Thru hiking purists believe that a thru hike is only a thru hike if you make a continuous unbroken foot path from start to finish. By canoeing instead of walking for a 50 mile section, I technically broke that continuous footpath. I’m personally not too bothered by this. After thinking it over I came up with several reasons why I wanted to aqua blaze, even if it did offend the purists:

The biggest reason was that I have already hiked that particular section of the AT, not this year but on a previous backpacking trip. So I’ll still be able to say that I’ve hiked every mile of the AT.

I also took care to make sure I hiked all the way to the same latitude as the canoeing start point, instead of taking the convenient option of getting off the AT in Waynesboro where the trail enters Shenandoah National Park. The boat ramp is about 30 miles north of there. Though most people who aqua blaze do get off the AT in Waynesboro, my conscience didn’t like the idea of skipping those 30 miles. We all make up our own rules.

Finally, canoeing 50 miles is still a human-powered journey and it is still hard. As it turned out, it was even harder than I anticipated.

Day 0

Andrea picked me up at Ivy Creek Overlook in Shenandoah National Park and drove us just a couple miles south down Skyline Drive to Loft Mountain Campground where we met up with the rest of my tramily and camped for the evening.

Day 1

We had to get up early to pack up the Subaru and hit the road by 6 am.

Q: How do you fit 6 humans, 1 dog, 6 backpacks, and 10 trekking poles into 1 Subaru Outback?

A: 2 people up front and 3 in the back. Dog in the front passenger’s lap. Put 2 packs and 1 person in the trunk. Wrap the remaining 4 packs in a tent rainfly and strap them to the roof.

After a hearty McDonalds breakfast, we arrived right on time at 7:15 to the canoe outfitters’ property. We were told on the phone the day prior that we would have to cram into the back of a pickup truck to ride to the boat ramp, but we were pleasantly surprised when there was a small school bus there waiting for us. This was the first of many surprises.

The details for the advertised 3 day trip were confusing on the website and calling prior to arriving for information had done little to clear it up. We figured we’d get all the information when we arrived. We didn’t. The bus driver didn’t have much to tell us, but we did learn that the intended campsite was actually back where we had parked and loaded onto the bus. In other words, we could have left all of our camping gear in the car instead hauling it in the canoe all day. Oh well.

The toothless bus driver assured us that all the remaining details would be explained that night when we arrived back to the camp. Spoiler alert: they weren’t.

Our convoy of 3 canoes hit the water and headed north. Once on the water I immediately realized that the river was more technical than I expected. I had pictured a relaxed float. You know, feet up, with a beer in hand perhaps. But the river had different plans for us. The water was both low and full of sporadic rapids, making it a challenging paddle.

Day 1 was also a LONG day of paddling, longer than any of us were expecting.

Late in the afternoon when everyone was tired, we were shocked and disheartened to figure out that we still had 6-7 miles to go. Andrea and I did our best to stay positive despite our aching arms. (Remember thru hiking is leg day all day every day. I haven’t used my arms in months).

Unfortunately some tricky rapids toward the end of the day got the best of us. Our canoe whipped around and smashed into a rock, launching me into the water. I landed hard on my back on a rock in the river. After regrouping on the riverbank, I changed into some dry clothes and we pressed on.

We finally arrived at camp shortly before 8 pm, exhausted. The good news was that because we were back where we started, we had our car. Andrea drove the gang to McDonalds for the second time that day and we all stuffed our faces before bed.

I was a little shook up from my little swim and was seriously considering not getting back on the river. I had hit my shoulder pretty hard on a rock and wasn’t sure how it would feel in the morning, nor did I want to risk further injury. I would be devastated to have to stop hiking due to a boating injury!

Day 2

I woke up still unsure what to do. My shoulder felt ok, but the thought of another exhausting day on the water was overwhelming. Ultimately I didn’t want to quit and miss out on the rest of the experience and my FOMO got the best of me. The river conditions were similar to Day 1 but this time I was more mentally prepared.

Towards the end of the day we passed a riverside campground. Some nice folks let us tether our canoes to their campsite’s dock so we could go to the camp store to get some snacks. Armed with an ice cream bar, chips and dip and Miller Lite, I returned to the canoe to continue down river. Andrea and I took it upon ourselves to find a place to camp for the night while the rest of the group lingered at the camp store for a few hours. As was expected by this point, the camping information given to us was vague and confusing. Nevertheless, after some backtracking upstream, we found a decent spot. The rest of the gang joined us later in the evening and we all enjoyed dinner and a campfire together.

Day 3

Due to unclear directions and conflicting maps, we started the day unsure of how far we had to go to complete the trip. The best we could figure out was it was somewhere between 4 and 10 miles. At any rate we found the boat ramp in Luray by early afternoon. The canoe company gave us thru hikers a ride to a hiker hostel in town and took Andrea and Shaggy back to the car. I stayed at the hostel that night and got back on the AT the next morning at Thornton Gap on Skyline Drive.

All and all I’m really glad I did this trip. I think in 5 years I’ll be much more likely to remember the canoe trip than another 3 days of AT monotony. Best of all, it was an opportunity to share a portion of my thru hiking adventure with Andrea (and Shaggy). I think they got a little taste of thru hiking life, without even having to hike!