April 10 (Sunday) Hiking the Great Discontinuity with David Spears - State Geologist (A/1)

State Geologist David Spears will accompany us on a hike across the Great Discontinuity to provide insights on the geology of the Skyland, Hawksbill and White Oak Canyon portions of the Blue Ridge.  The complete circuit hike is approximately 15 miles (+) from White Oak Canyon to Skyland to Hawksbill then down Cedar Run to return to the starting point.  Hikers that don’t want to do the entire circuit are invited to work with other hikers to position vehicles in order to join / leave the hike through individual sections of the circuit.  There are three vehicle drop points: White Oak, Skyland and Hawksbill.  Please note that the car pool(s) carrying hikers that intend to hike the entire loop will not be shuttling section hikers back up to Skyland or Hawksbill due to the time required to complete the circuit. The entire circuit hike is rated "A-1" (strenuous and over 13 miles).  The sections from Skyland to Hawksbill and Hawksbill down Cedar Run are more moderate but some of the trail going down Cedar Run can be a bit rugged in spots.  The complete circuit hike has over 3,500 feet of elevation gain between the bottom of White Oak Canyon and Hawksbill summit.  I would like to limit this hike to 10 in addition to myself and David Spears so there will be a manageable “class” size when David Spears is talking about things (also in keeping with LNT guidelines).  I estimate the complete circuit hike will take about 8 hours so we’ll be getting an early start.  I will work out a starting time once Daylight Savings Time begins.  Contact me at dvgrimes.54@gmail.com if you are interested in this hike