Jun
20
2010
0

Trail Days and More…

Another month of May has come and gone, and although I didn’t get out to the woods as much as I would have liked to, there were still a few camping and hiking trips to make note of.

TRAIL DAYS…

First off, there was ‘Trail Days’, the hiker festival in Damascus, Virginia.  I didn’t get over the mountain until Saturday afternoon, and missed out on the parade, but did receive reports about it, including ‘the good, the bad, and the ugly’.  It is not unusual for some of the hikers in the parade to dress up in strange costumes, like the fellow who wore a trash can that one year, or ’Pirate’, an infamous trail-hiker, who is known for some of his ingenious and creative getups, but having heard of the fellow wearing a pink tutu (not sure who he was), I wasn’t very upset about missing out on the parade, after all.  I also missed out on the hiker’s talent show.  Oh, well…

Trail Days 2010

Trail Days 2010

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Written by in: Trailstealth |
May
24
2010
0

Latest Waterfall and Mountain Adventures

Twenty years ago, when I first began working as a trail maintenance volunteer on the ‘Jerry Cabin’ section of the Appalachian Trail with the legendary trail maintainer Sam Waddle and his trail maintenance protégé, ‘Rat Patrol’, I suppose I was in fair physical condition—not exactly ‘Superman’, but somewhat resilient, if not mostly indestructible.  Even then, however, the aches and pains of maintaining a trail were apparent–it is hard work.  Today, unlike  the ‘man of steel’, I feel more like the ‘man-of-duct-tape’, as it seems I am constantly rehabbing  strained muscles, sore shoulders, jammed fingers, or trying to healing some other assorted physical or mental abrasion.  Having a nice trail you can be proud of is worth a little pain, I suppose, but getting the time to hike it and enjoy it is even better.   My former landlord told me once that if you live long enough, you are going to have to deal with some pain, and I believe him; he lived to be 98.  I suppose the theme I am searching for here is that ‘it is important to try to take care of our bodies, regardless of age’.  For me, hiking is a good way to get some exercise, fresh air, and possibly meet interesting people.

View from Sampson mountain of Clarks Creek valley

View from Sampson Mountain of the Clarks Creek Valley

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Written by in: Trailstealth |
Apr
07
2010
1

March Adventures

There are quite a lot of trail adventures to talk about, so let’s get right to it.

Back to Buckeye Falls…

A couple of days after getting back from Buckeye Falls (see previous blog), I showed the foggy waterfall photos that I took from the ridge to my trail-hiking buddy, ‘Rat Patrol’—he said he ‘fell out of (his) chair’ when he saw them.  It was soon apparent that he wanted to go back and view the falls from that vantage point for himself.  After counseling, we made plans to leave on our expedition early on a Saturday morning (March 6th).  The weather cooperated, and despite being plagued by insomnia, we were on the trail by 8 a.m.  His son Tyler, who had never been to the falls, also went on the adventure.

Buckeye Falls

Buckeye Falls

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Written by in: Trailstealth |
Mar
14
2010
1

Buckeye Falls…2010

Conventional geologic theory suggests that the Appalachian Mountains were formed about 420 million years ago when two pre-historic continents crashed into each other, causing the crust of the earth to be splintered, folded and uplifted into what became the Appalachian Range.  Some of the oldest mountains on the planet, the Appalachians used to be much taller, perhaps more than three times as high in elevation as they are today.  One can only imagine how rugged, desolate and majestic this remarkable range of mountains once appeared.

Likewise, it is difficult to comprehend what the ancient-complexions of specific places within the range itself must have once appeared, such as the phenomenal ‘Buckeye Falls’ on Rich Mountain, part of the Unaka Range.  It is unimaginable to know just how tall and how sheer the cliff that these amazing waterfalls now navigate must have been like millions of years ago.  Even today, at an estimated 600 feet tall, Buckeye Falls is technically the largest waterfall in North America east of the Rocky Mountains.

buckeye falls

Buckeye Falls

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Written by in: Trailstealth |
Feb
08
2010
1

Big Pine Ridge and the Unaka Waterfall Hikes

Groundhogs Day was just the other day, and it got me thinking about just how early do those people in their suits and hats start hitting the bottle anyway?  I imagine you would have to be quite snockered to stick your hand in a groundhog burrow, drag him out, and parade the poor li’l critter around.  If you tried that in East Tennessee, someone would be groundhog bitten— seriously!  And who could blame them?  I imagine if I were a groundhog, or any kind of hibernating creature, I would bite the hell out of somebody if they woke me up when there is still snow on the ground.  The furry li’l varmints here didn’t even wake up, roll over, and as much as poke their noses out of their burrows–and why should they?  It is still winter.  There isn’t any sweet clover or acorns to eat.  Go back to sleep, ‘Puxatony Phil’…

Indeed, it is still winter, and the mountains here are covered in snow right now, and a couple of days ago when I started to write this (Groundhogs Day) the clouds were so thick on the mountains that they were completely buried beneath them and I couldn’t even see the closest one.  It is very scenic, however, if you can get up into the mountains, but that can be a bit of a problem; and with the intermittent melting snow waters, rain and more snow, the creeks and waterfalls are moving at a fairly high volume.  With that in mind, my trail hiking buddy, ‘Rat Patrol’, wanted to hike out to a few of them and take photographs.

Dick Creek Falls

Dick Creek Falls

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Written by in: Trailstealth |
Jan
19
2010
0

More Trail Adventures

The holidays are over and the New Year has arrived, along with quite a bit of snow, especially in the mountains.  Despite several distractions, I finally made it out to visit a couple of wilderness trails.

Bol'Dar on Longarm Ridge

Bol'Dar on Longarm Ridge

The first trip was a nice walk to the falls on Jones Branch near the Nolichucky River.  Fresh storm damage to the Appalachian Trail was obvious as soon as I entered the woods, with several large branches piled up and blocking the trail.  Not only were there large branches, but entire trees had fallen during the recent snow storm, including a 80-foot-tall oak tree that fell right beside the trail, leaving a 15-foot divot where the roots had been, another 60-footer that fell across the trail, and a large pine that fell right in the center, blocking about 50 feet of the trail.  There was also laurel thickets pushed over and across the trail, and evidence of recent flooding where the snow-melt waters had eroded certain portions.  The water levels were still quite high; the Jones Branch stream was moving briskly, and water was even springing up out of the ground in places.  At the second creek crossing, I had to do some slippery log-walking (something I used to enjoy) to avoid getting my feet wet.

White Fungus on Log

White Fungus on log with nuts

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Written by in: Trailstealth |
Dec
16
2009
1

Devil’s Fork Falls and More

Well, Thanksgiving is over, and the winter and holiday season is looming just ahead.  As always, there was much to be thankful for this year, including a great season of backpacking here in the Southern Appalachian Mountains.  Hiking through the Virginia Highlands, for instance, was like winning the Super Bowl, and standing on the ‘Monkey Head Rocks’—the Sill Branch Overlook—was like walking on the moon.  And how could I forget the awesome Hairnt-fest in Damascus, two incredible bear encounters, and the amazing waterfall hikes in the Sampson Wilderness?  Now, there were more such hikes to write about.

Inspired by ‘Rat Patrol’ to hike up to the upper Devil’s Fork Falls, as we used to do with the hiking club quite often back in the late 80’s and early 90’s during the ‘waterfall tour’ hikes (which began in Sill Branch and ended at the foot of Longarm Ridge, some 9 miles later, after viewing at least 8 waterfalls and countless cascades) I met up with him and his son, Tyler, around noontime on a Saturday in mid-November.  In the ‘old days’, we used to take various people up there to the gorge-like upper falls just to blow their mind, which happened every time without fail.  After looking through the photos of trips past, it is amazing to think that we actually took his dog, Schwartz, down those rough, steep and narrow trails in the Devil’s Forks.

Lilybeth Falls

Lilybeth Falls

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Written by in: Trailstealth |
Nov
11
2009
0

The October Hikes

Autumn is now upon us, here in Tennessee, and the harvest season is mostly past, while winter lurks ahead in the winds and shadows–awaiting to pounce upon and shred our fading dreams of summertime.  For me, it has been a great year for hiking in the southern Appalachian Mountains, harvesting the good experiences as well as dealing with adversity at times.  As ever, I am learning new things about the mountains and trails, and attempting to adapt these fresh outlooks into a lighter weight, more efficient, yet ‘fun’ctioning approach to hiking.

autumn_blog

Autumn colors near Curly Maple Gap

Anyway, if we can just skip the long introduction, there is several trail stories to write about, including a maintenance trip to Big Bald with ‘Rat’ and Doug, a pair of Unaka Mountain hikes, a couple of Sampson Mountain Wilderness hikes, trips to Sam’s Gap, Spivey Gap, and Cliff Ridge.

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Written by in: Trailstealth |
Sep
23
2009
0

Hiking the Highlands of Virginia

There is a tradition for ‘Rat Patrol‘ to take some time off every year and go hiking sometime around his birthday.  Last year, him and I hiked the Appalachian Trail from Devil Fork Gap to Allen Gap–a 20-mile stretch over Flint, Coldspring, and Viking Mountains–all part of the Bald Mountain Chain of the Appalachians (see ‘Birthday Hike 2008‘ in the photo gallery).  This year, despite having an opportunity to hike the southern section of the Smoky Mountains with some friends, he decided to hike a 40-mile stretch of the Virginia Highlands from ‘Fox Creek’ to Damascus.

grayson40 (more…)

Written by in: Trailstealth |
Sep
01
2009
0

Snowbird Mountain Hikes

Inspired by the trek up to Big Bald, and camping in the meadow above 5300-feet in elevation in July, I decided to embark upon another adventure for August.  It had been 13 years since the last time I had hiked up Snowbird Mountain, just north of the Great Smoky National Park, and after much consideration, decided to go there anyway.

snowbird

I have always considered the hill-climb off the Pigeon River up to the summit of Snowbird Mountain rather challenging.  It is much easier to walk that section of trail from north to south, beginning at Max Patch, but never-the-less, I decided to park a car at Standing Bear Farm (on the gravel road that the Appalachian Trail crosses) about a mile from I-40, and the GSNP.  I had heard rumors of rogue bears and closed trails in the park, and would have felt more comfortable with a trail partner; not only would it have been nice to have someone to talk to, but sharing equipment can lower pack weights significantly.  But, since none were available, I found myself climbing that steep 5-mile hill alone, missing all my ‘Hairnt-fest’ trail-friends.

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Written by in: Trailstealth |

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