After dropping the kids off at the bus, I finished packing up and took off to the starting point. The familiar rolling hills greeted me as I headed west out of Leesburg and eventually I was heading up the Shenandoah Valley with Mountains rising up on both sides of me. As I approached my starting point, I passed Liberty Furnace. This gorgeous building is nestled on private property. I would love to have gotten closer.
I made the trail head just at 10:00, a little later than I wanted, but I was psyched to be there none the less. I quickly geared up and was on the trail just after 10.The trail was a little thick to start as I headed through a meadow, but the trail opened shortly and the orange blazes were easy to follow. The ascent of Falls Ridge started in earnest, and became increasingly steep. I was soon well above the valley floor. As I climbed I began to notice spots of Autumn colors. Beautiful oranges, reds, and yellows shown brilliantly in the bright sun. Surely the cooler weather I have been anxiously awaiting is in the not so distant future.
The trail became pretty steep in spots, making the Maryland Heights climbs pale in comparison. There were a few glimpses of views and I could see how fast I was climbing up. At just over a mile up, I came to a trail heading off to the left below the top of Falls Ridge. There is supposed to be a waterfall to be seen, though it has required bushwhacking in the past. I thought maybe this was now a trail. This trail was also blazed yellow, and though overgrown a bit, was quite easy to follow. The blazes were fairly worn but also easy to follow and quite numerous. About 15 minutes into the trail, and no waterfall, I decided to head back so as not to get too far off my planned route.Shortly after the side trail, the ascent began to ease up, but it became quite overgrown. It was becoming thick enough to get a bit annoying at times. I passed a tree with a tent painted on it. I followed this little trail a bit to see a nice little campsite and then moved on. Just before I reached the junction with the North Mountain Trail, the trail became sandy in spots. I thought it interesting at the time.
The junction with the North Mountain Trail is among some rather large boulders, and marked at the corner with a small cairn. It was noon at that point, having gained the ridge now in a bit under 2 hours. Fairly strenuous climb! I sat on one of the boulders and ate an energy bar and looked over my maps. I decided to wait for lunch until I reached a nice spot with a view.
Nearly a mile later, I came upon a nice rock outcropping. I had views to both the east and west.
I was surprised at how much haze there was down in the valley despite the brisk wind and lack of humidity.
Still, nice views. The cool thing with this spot was the rock outcropping itself. The rock had been worn by countless winds and rain which left beautifully smooth grooves and "bowl" like appearances. I stayed for a while to check it out.
the wind was strong and cool enough to make me decide to move along and find a sheltered area to stop for lunch. About 10 minutes later, a nice little grove with flat boulders appeared, and I stopped for a well deserved lunch break. It was about 1:00 at this point.Lunch lasted about twenty minutes or so. I ate a chicken salad sandwich and mixed up some Gatorade. Another check of my maps and I was moving on. In another mile, I came upon another open area with views to the east. The sun was high and I was starting to feel some of the heat on my face. I really need to start wearing a hat. I use a bandanna, but it is not enough when i am exposed to the sun's rays for lengthy periods of time. I polished of the last of the Gatorade, and started to think about my water supply. I was doing fairly well, but knew the streams along the way were likely dry. I pressed on, the trail now had become well worn and maintained.
I passed by some amazingly large, if if not disturbingly large, ant hills. These things were about 3-4 feet in diameter and 2 feet high. The mound seemed to move on it's own with all the ants crawling over it. I can't imagine the time it took to build such a huge mound!
My pace was back to above 2 miles an hour. I passed a nicely established campsite. Someone had spent some time here and apparently on a regular basis. It would have made a nice place to stay for the night on a backpack. 
Within 20 minutes from the campsite, I arrived at the communication towers atop Great North Mountain. I had brought clues for a letterbox, and they led me further south on the North mountain Trail. I felt pretty good on time, so continued south. A mile later, I was coming up empty on the clues and I was starting to feel the fatigue from my journey. I was drinking more water and now I was concerned with my supply. I knew I still faced a tough descent at the pipeline swath. I turned around and headed back to the towers and to continue my trek back to the car.The journey down off of Great North Mountain began with a switchback descent down a dirt road from the communication towers. My legs were feeling it soon enough, but I soon faced an even more painful drop when I hit the pipeline swath about a mile later. The pipeline .... it is hard to describe. Upon reaching the turn to head down, I had to stop. The "trail" was simply to head down the swath. It reminded me of a ski slope that was over grown during summer months. The angle of descent dropped so rapidly as to make one lose sight of it until it leveled out almost a mile below.
A line of trees split the swath up the middle. I opted for the right side as it seemed clearer. This was true, but loose scree made for poor footing at times. Loosened stones would roll, and then keep rolling in small avalanches due to the steepness. 
My knees were screaming at me almost immediately! The fatigue of the journey seemed to suddenly reach a high point. I crossed over to the left side of the swath through a break in the trees, looking for better footing. I found it due to thicker ground cover near the tree line to the left. This also hid ruts and other obstacles which challenged my balance with almost very step. I finally made towards the bottom and more even terrain. The ground cover, however, became knee to waist high grass and brush. Satisfaction and awe was felt as I looked behind me to see what I had just climbed down. 
I finally came upon the blue blazes on the left side tree line showing me the way onto the Laurel Run Connector Trail.I was pretty happy to be getting off the pipeline. Unfortunately, I was running low on water. As soon as I entered the woods again, I crossed a bone dry Laurel Run. It wasn't a surprise. I was now fairly tired and getting sore. My right shoulder was feeling my pack. I was hoping for water at one of the other stream crossings , but not holding my breath. I was only a few miles out now, so I wasn't doing too badly. The Laurel Run Connector Trail started as a very uneven and washed out fire road. It would have required a fairly large construction vehicle to pass through. The trail curved back towards Great North Mountain, and thus, back up. It was very evident how fatigued my legs were. The ascent was short and I was soon on improved dirt bed and moving along pretty well. I was supposed to turn onto the Fat Mountain Trail at one point, having crossed two more streams (also lacking water for me to filter). There had been recent construction of the road bed and placement of a huge drain pipe under the road. Between this and my fatigue, I must have missed it. I eventually came to a newly placed trail marker which was blazed blue on three sides. A trail veered off into the woods to the right with another new marker, this one blazed white. None of this was showing on my topos. A small National Forest sign was hidden by overgrowth and read "Foot Traffic Invited" along with something about the need for logging roads. The trail disappeared into the woods in the direction that I wanted to be going. Without reference on the map, decided to take this trail. My GPS showed I was less than two miles from the car, so I figured I was good enough to get back if problems started. The trail was well packed, but I did not see any more blazes. I kept an eye on my GPS which had my car marked as a waypoint. I was still heading in the right direction. I suddenly came upon a small stream running along the trail. There was good water flow! I stopped and filtered a liter and a half! I drank the first half right there! I had drank the last of my water just a few minutes earlier.
Relieved to have ample water for the rest of the journey, I moved on. I no sooner got going, when I came upon a purple blaze on a tree. I was on the Fat Mountain Trail after all, something I was suspecting anyway. Within a few more minutes I reached the Falls Ridge Trail where I had started earlier. I was elated! I was also drained. I ached, and I was ready for the hike to be over. I was getting clumsy with some of my steps as I passed over some rocky terrain. I had my GPS in hand, and as I reached the car, the mileage clicked to 14 miles. I had completed my second longest hike this year. I felt it.
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