This hike is an out-and-back trip of roughly nine miles, most of which is on the Appalachian Trail in northern Virginia. It took me about five hours of walking, or six hours car-door-to-car-door, including breaks. Continue reading Post #2144: Thompson Lake to Whitehouse Overlook hike.
This is a reasonably easy hike, with lots of level trail, starting from Linden VA, where the Appalachian Trail crosses Route 55. Just enough uphill and downhill to make it interesting.
There’s nothing in the way of views. Just a lot of close-in woodland scenery. Perhaps the outstanding characteristic of this hike is the pervasive scent of honeysuckle.
Above, that used to be an overlook. The trees have grown up, blocking what used to be the view. So now it’s just a nice place to eat lunch.
(Edit: Seasonal Tick Danger. Some time after this photo, I flicked a dog tick off my clothing, picked up what was left of my lunch, and split. Until that time, though, this was an idyllic, off-the-trail spot for lunch.) The Tradition I was Taught holds that Ticks and Mosquitoes appear in June. We get ’em two weeks early now, thanks to climate change. Plan accordingly.
Some sections of trail were more-or-less running streams, despite the last rain having been days ago. Glad my boots were waterproof.
But mostly, this was just a pleasant walk in the woods.
There was one hard stream crossing. Big creek, many fallen trees. It took a while. But not a stopper.
I did this hike in two days, Sunday and Monday. Roughly 2.5 hours of hiking Sunday, and 5 hours Monday. I hiked part of the route round-trip, went home, and hiked the rest of it round-trip, the next day.
Two weeks ago, that would have been unthinkable, for the simple reason that my hips and knees would have been too sore after the first day of hiking. They were too sore for walking around the house, for the next several days after a hike. I could not imagine going back on the trail.
Two weeks ago, I began eating an ounce a day of hydrolyzed collagen peptides. That, after briefly reviewing the research literature on joint supplements.
Joint tissues (ligaments, tendons, cartilage) are primarily made of collagen. The idea was that by eating collagen protein in bulk, I’d provide myself with the right amino-acid building blocks for collagen, in abundance. And that, eventually, that should help my joints.
This is not a huge dose of this protein-derived material. This is about as much collagen as you’d find in a pound of steak (figuring that beef muscle tissue is about 6% collagen). Or maybe a half-gallon of Jell-O. So, chemically, this is providing collagen amino acids at about the same rate as eating a pound of beef a day.
To put this in perspective, this ounce-a-day of protein powder is maybe 30 times the typical 1-gram (1000 mg) glucosamine & chondroitin joint supplement capsule. (Acknowledging that these amino-sugars are different substances entirely from the chunks of amino acids in hydrolyzed collagen.) Weight-wise, it’s like popping 30 of those daily.
I had no idea that a collagen-based supplement of this sort would help right away. That is, help with acute post-exercise recovery. There seems to be nothing in either the medical literature or the popular literature to suggest that this should occur.
But I swear it’s true. FWIW. I went from three days’ recovery for my last hike, prior to starting collagen supplements. To now being able to hike on two successive days.
In any case, I went from a diet that was deficient in some of the key amino acids needed for collagen (e.g., glycine), to one that has an abundant supply of the right amino acids. At that time, I went from taking three days to recover from a hike, to recovering overnight. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
I have no idea whether this ounce of protein powder will produce some long-run improvement in my joints. But it hardly matters. The short-run improvement has been so marked that I’m already sold on the concept. I may reduce the dose, over time, but this is now part of my daily routine.
Old people tend to lose muscle mass as they age. As a result, ways to build muscle mass in the elderly have been studied extensively. That body of research shows that protein supplements do not build muscle mass unless you also lift weights (or otherwise do “resistance training”). If you take protein supplements, and don’t do weight training, the effect on your muscle mass is nil (or close enough to it).
I bet the same thing applies to protein supplements for your joints. I’ll bet that this combination of protein supplement and intense, prolonged exercise is exactly what my joints need. And that, as with protein supplements for muscle mass, it’s the combination of the physical stress and the dietary supplement that gives results.
Addendum, early the next morning, my feet are sore, but my leg joints are essentially back to baseline. The exercise-induces soreness in hips and knees is … gone, for want of a better word. In addition, maybe some long-standing knee tendon soreness has been resolved. But, for sure, this won’t cure everything. A long-standing hip problem seems completely unphased by the amino-acid onslaught.
So it’s not a miracle-in-a-bottle. I’ll settle for half-a-miracle.
Long term, I never would have guessed that the amino-acid-mix of your proteins could affect joint repair this much. There’s no question that this now becomes part of my diet. But an ounce a day of this stuff is too much. What’s the right maintenance dose? I’m guessing one-third of that, but that’s just a guess, based mainly on 10 grams being what the manufacturer terms “a serving”.
This is a short, relatively easy mountain day hike with a some excellent views, a good workout, and nice trail.
It took me four hours car-door-to-car-door. That was about three hours of walking, to complete the 6-mile round-trip, plus an hour for eating and looking at the views.
In hindsight, for me, this was a more-fun-less-challenging hike than the “direct route” to the Sky Meadows State Park overlooks, the Sky Meadows Piedmont trail. If nothing else, there’s just more hiking “stuff” than you get from walking straight uphill, in a grazed meadow: stream crossings, trees, and so on.
In addition to a less-steep slope and more variety in the landscape, this AT-based route gives you better views as you walk. With the Sky Meadows Piedmont trail, the view is all behind you, as you walk straight uphill. But with this longer approach, you get a lot of nice views as you walk along the top of the mountain. E.g., your classic pipeline cut, from this hike:
Start from the parking lot/trail head just north of U.S. 50, at Ashby Gap. That is, on the other side of U.S. 50 from your destination, Sky Meadows State Park.
Take the short blue-blazed trail from the parking lot down to the Appalachian Trail, and turn left.
This takes you down to Route 50. Cross.
After you cross 50, and walk alongside it for a bit, then do the long uphill slog to the top of the mountain. The grade isn’t bad. I recollect that I did this without stopping.
I also recollect that the thrill of trudging uphill ran out long before the uphill did.
But the grade was moderate enough that I could, in effect, pick a slow pace and keep going. Just breathe hard. By contrast, the other access to the overlooks — via the Sky Meadows State Park Piedmont trail — is short steep climb, during which I run out of breath and stop a few times. As do most, I think. Or at least, would like to think.
Most of the trail is pleasant walking, with only the occasional rocky bits.
Around mile 1.5 or so, you start to see signposts for trails in and around the state park. At that point, just follow the signs to the Whitehouse overlook.
You pick up the Ambassador Whitehouse trail in the middle of a large open area. That takes you down to the Whitehouse overlook. (On some older maps, confusingly, Piedmont memorial overlook.) This land is not part of the state park, but is owned by the Piedmont Environmental Council, a trust of some sort. The odd tableau, behind the wire fencing, that (as of this writing) you cannot access, appears to be mainly a paean to the founders of that trust. I believe the overlook is currently named for Charles S. Whitehouse.
From there, continue on the Ambassador Whitehouse trail, then follow the signs to the Piedmont overlook:
If you want more exercise, walk down this hill to the visitors center. It’s a stiff walk down, and a stiffer hike back up. Or just turn around and hike back to your car. (Or, any of several color-blazed trails in Sky Meadows park will take you back up to the Appalachian Trail. I vaguely recall that anything that says “Ridge” will do that. As long as you turn right (north) when you get to the Appalachian Trail (blazed white), you’ll get back to Ashby Gap.)
The weather forecast called for rain showers moving in around 11 AM. Then rain for the rest of the week. If I wanted to take a hike this week, I needed a short hike, plus an early start, in order to be back at the car by 11 AM. To avoid the rain.
My wife mentioned Sky Meadows State Park, for a nice short hike. Lovely hikes there, but the 8 AM park opening time makes for an awkward trip. Instead, I parked at the Appalachian Trail (AT) access, just the other side of Route 50 from Sky Meadows, and walked to the “top” of Sky Meadows, from there, via the AT.
This allowed me to start as early as I pleased. Which plays to my strengths as an old guy, as I wake up early. In any case, I left Vienna VA well before dawn (about 5:15 AM). There was an orange-colored full moon, just setting, with enough cloud cover to make it look smokey. Nice. But consistent with rain in the forecast.
I-66 West was fast-but-orderly traffic. I did my best to fit in with the pack. By Gainesville, traffic density had moderated.
Once you veer off I-66 — at 17 North, to Paris (via Delaplane) — things get downright picturesque. On this trip, dawn was breaking, the clouds were rosy above a shadowed landscape of rolling hills and foggy pastures and creeks. It looked like an illustration from a children’s book.
But I was driving. This is not a good road for driving. So I have no photos. But it is a scenic drive, at that time of the morning.
In any case, I parked at the trail head around 6:15 AM. Got back four hours later, around 10:15 AM. The return hike goes about half an hour faster than the outbound hike, owing to its being mostly gentle downhill.
The big question for me is whether my leg joints can take the stress of mountain hiking. To that end, I’m (quite rationally) eating an ounce of hydrolyzed collagen a day (the equivalent of about a half-gallon of Jell-O every day, protein wise. I’ve gone through the details in just-prior posts.)
On the morning of the day after this last hike, I think I can say that providing an abundant supply of the amino acids needed for building collagen seems to speed the healing of my hips and knees post-hike. I spend less time, in less joint pain, than I did with earlier hikes. This morning, I pass my “ADL test” — I can perform the normal activities of daily living without making old-man noises about my joint pains. That’s new, and I attribute it to my new-found goal of eating an ounce of hydrolyzed collagen powder a day. The reasoning and rationale for this are in just-prior posts here.
But it’s not clear that it’s smart to continue with these mountain hikes. The jolting, weight-bearing exercise of mountain hiking is just the ticket for building strong leg bones. Bones respond to that shock-loading by getting stronger. Joints, on the other hand, simply wear out. Maybe all I’m doing with this better recovery time is putting a smile on my face, as I hasten my progress toward debility and the need for joint replacement.
It’s a tough call. But I do like to hike. In Virginia. In the spring. For a whole lot of different reasons.
All said and done, I think I’d best hike while I can. Let the long run take care of itself.
Meanwhile, I’ll do what I can for my suffering hips and knees. First, good boots. Then, trekking poles. And now, a diet abundant in the amino acids needed to repair collagen.
This roughly 8-mile mountain day hike is good exercise, but not much more than that. It starts from the same trail-head parking as the last hike (where the Appalachian Trail crosses the steep, gravel, one-lane Morgan’s Mill Road, a few miles from Virginia Route 50).
This hike heads south on the Appalachian trail, to the Rod Hollow shelter. There are no views to speak of. But there’s a lot of uphill and downhill (2200 feet of elevation change), and a few nice creek crossings.
You have the option of turning this into a ten-mile hike, if you manage to get lost and end up backtracking on the trail. Which I did, with the help of the not-so-friendly rattlesnake pictured above.
Luckily, a rattling rattlesnake makes a lasting impression. If, at some point in your past, you’ve managed to piss off a rattlesnake, and been rattled at, close up, you’re not apt to forget the sound.
If nothing else, rattlesnakes show that God has a sense of humor. Why else would you create this poisonous snake with a high-decibel warning system, then fit it out with excellent camouflage so that you can’t see the damned thing?
The microphone in my phone does not do it justice. Above, I had to amp up the sound to be able to hear it. But even with the distortions, you can tell that this isn’t something you hear in the woods every day. It sounds more machine-made than animal.
In any event, I heard this rattlesnake long before I spotted it. That’s typical, in my limited experience. It took about three steps for me to go from “what’s that odd noise” to “oh crap”.
In the course of those three steps, that rattling got a lot louder. That’s how you operate the volume control on a rattlesnake. If you’re having trouble hearing it, just step a bit closer.
Once I realized what I was hearing, I froze, and moved nothing but my eyes until I spotted the snake. It was maybe 20 feet away, just minding its own business, sunning itself next to the trail.
We looked at each other, the snake and I. Between the now-quite-loud rattling, and those beady little eyes, it was clear there was no way I was walking past it.
So I did what any red-blooded modern American hiker would do. I took a quick video — because, you know, photos or it didn’t happen. You will note that the video is brief. In hindsight, I’m surprised I had the presence of mind to take it at all.
I slowly stepped back a few paces, until the snake stopped rattling. Then bushwhacked a wide detour around it, and went on my way.
And managed to get turned around — I still don’t know how.
If not for the fact of this little wooden bridge, on the trail, I might still be walking south. I knew I’d already passed it, heading home. So when I came to it again, it only took me a few disoriented minutes to figure out that I’d been backtracking for some time. And that, contrary to my first impression, space aliens had not somehow built a new footbridge, on the path back home.
Between that, and getting off the trail earlier, I think I managed to stretch this 8-mile hike into a ten-miler. All told, it was 8 hours car-door-to-car-door, of which about 7 hours were spent walking. So, my average hiking speed was something like one-and-a-third miles per hour. The remaining time was spent eating, as I finished 3 big PB&J sandwiches, 3 apples, and some candy, in the course of the hike. And wished I’d brought more.
I was pretty beaten down by the time I made it back to the car. Which was part of the plan. In particular, my knees and hips were thoroughly sore from the hike, and had been for many miles.
To my surprise, the answer seems to be yes.
My joints ached for days after doing the prior hike, to Hollow Brook Falls. More generally, this spring, it seemed like the more hikes I took, the worse my joints felt afterward. At any rate, after that prior hike (Hollow Brook Falls), there were a couple of days where I didn’t want to be on my feet, let alone walk anywhere, for the joint pain, particularly my hip joints.
But one day after this hike, and my joints are … fine. Just a bit achy. Not remarkably different from how they are normally.
The only change between last hike, and this hike, is that I’ve begun eating an ounce of this collagen-derived protein powder per day.
So, does hydrolyzed collagen help with repairing my leg joints, after mountain hiking? So far, my joints say yes.
My wife has given me a better, if less rapid test: Will an ounce a day of hydrolyzed collagen fix my fingernails? I have thin, brittle, splitting fingernails. Adding whey protein to my diet did nothing to fix that. I now realize that whey provides the wrong mix of amino acids for building collagen and other connective tissue. But hydrolyzed collagen protein powder provides the exact right mix, and in addition contains a good mix of amino acids for making keratin, the protein that makes up fingernails. If I have obviously stronger fingernails in a few months, after years (decades) of brittle nails, I will attribute that to the hydrolyzed collagen protein supplements.
Edit, the next morning: Answer, heck yes. I expected to be in pain for days yet, after that last hike. But here it is, the second morning after the day of the hike, and I’m fine. Pain-free, or as close as my 66-year-old joints ever get.
Instead of looking at to two or three more days of limping around, waiting for my joints to recover, I’m ready to go back out on the trail.
Maybe that’s a one-off fluke, but I don’t think so.
I now think my previous slow recovery was due, in part, to a diet that (accidentally) skimped on some of the key amino acids needed for rebuilding connective tissue. Now that I’m providing those necessary amino acids in super-abundance, my joints recover from a day of hiking much faster.
So it’s not unreasonable. Think of it as a supply-chain issue. I realize that, except for the nine essential amino acids, your body can re-arrange incoming protein to make all the varieties of amino acids that you require. But that process has to be a lot faster, and so able to complete far more effectively for the available protein in the diet, if you feed it the proper raw materials from the start.
And yet, as with whey protein for building muscles (Post #2023), I expected this to take weeks or even months to have any noticeable effect on my musculoskeletal system. For the simple reason that muscles (etc.) don’t grow very fast.
I did not expect it to help materially with recovery from the wear-and-tear of hiking, overnight. But it does. Or certainly seems to.
If anything changes to lead me to a different opinion, I will come back and re-edit this. But as of now, this stuff gets an enthusiastic thumbs-up from me. It’s now a permanent part of my diet, though I may dial back to more of a maintenance “dose” daily.
1: You are what you eat.
2: Chicken soup is good for you.
3: Eating an ounce of this cheap hydrolyzed collagen protein powder, per day, is like eating a half-gallon of rich chicken broth, per day, protein-wise.
4: Better, actually, because the protein fragments are shorter — and so, more readily broken down into their individual (and absorbable) amino acids — than is the relatively intact protein in gelatin, in chicken broth.
If my body’s joint repairs had been held back from a lack of the right amino acids in my diet, that should now be decisively fixed. This is vastly more protein than you would get in (e.g.) your typical dose of patent-medicine joint supplements.
It’s just a question of whether the resulting changes in my joints (and nails) are big enough, and consistent enough, that I can reasonably attribute them to this most recent change in my diet.
So far, the signs are looking positive.
