Has it been hot? Oh, yeah…
Way back, when I was still in High School, I had a job delivering newspapers. There was this one ol’ fellow on my route that I would see almost every day, as he and his be-sweatered Chihuahua awaited my inevitable arrival so he could impart some important new wisdom upon me. He and his wife were good people, but the funny thing is, what I remember most about him, is how he was always grumbling about the weather. It was always either too hot, too cold, too wet, too dry, too something—always. As a friend of mine recently pointed out, a positive attitude is a valuable asset; just once I would have like to have heard him say, “Wow, what a great day!’ I learned that it was best to just agree with his dissatisfaction, but I suppose that through it all, despite his atmospheric discontent, I also learned to appreciate the subtle variations of weather, and have tried to refrain from making any negative remarks in that regard, and instead will leave that sort of business to the weather prognosticators and aficionados (aka,‘weather orcs’), after all, this is a hiker-blog, and not a weather-blog. In other words, I have decided to spare you my essay on ‘global warming’, Al Gore, and the price of tea in China, and will now get on with the recent trail adventures, instead…
Jones Branch Overlook…
I suppose the most ambitious trail escapade of the summer (so far) was the hike to the Jones Branch Overlook, a quite scenic cliff-boulder overlooking the peaceful Jones Branch, where the Appalachian Trail ascends/descends the southernmost ridges of Unaka Mountain near the Nolichucky River. From the secluded overlook, there are also some very good views beyond the river gorge, out to the Bald Mountain Chain of the Appalachians. I accidentally found the overlook a few years ago, perhaps after a Jones Branch Waterfall adventure, and have been going back every year since. My hiking buddy, ‘Rat Patrol’ had had never been there, however, and despite some sore ribs from a recent motorbike accident, decided to brave the elements (mostly heat and ‘bugs’) and check out the overlook.
View from the Jones Branch Overlook