Linville Gorge Trip-Scouts

We went to Linville Gorge Nov. 7-9 for a 3 day hiking/backpack trip. You always worry about Linville this time of year because the weather can be unpredictable at best. We hiked in the East side on Friday night to Shortoff mountain. We had some minor rain after we got in the tents but woke to cool temps and clear skies on Saturday. We hiked up to Table Rock and had lunch on the summit in bright Sunshine and a cool breeze. Lots of other folks were up there too. That's the trouble with the drive up areas, its a lot of visitors. But after lunch we descended into the Gorge and away from the constant day hikers. We crossed the bridge that was constructed across the Linville River a few years back. We stopped for a while and the entertainment for the day were 2 college age kids jumping into a swimming hole with icy water. Brrrrr. We hiked up the Linville Gorge Trail which parallels the River. As we neared where we had wanted to camp, we noticed a lot of campsites were taken. But we finally got to our site below the Pinch in Trail just before dark. We figured between 16-20 miles. Quite a day in the Gorge. Sunday was supposed to be an easy hike out with a river crossing. We ran into 2 fellows who we thought to be expert trailsmen in the Gorge. Apprently they were not true experts because they pretty well had us lost on a "new" trail. Once we figured out this new trail we got a little "misplaced" on what we thought was the Mountains to Sea Trail. We ended up on private land that borders the Southern end of the Gorge. (The theme of Deliverance is playing in the background). But after an almost vertical climb down a "trail" and a walk out on a road, we were very grateful that one of the guys had his truck nearby. He took two adults with him and picked up our cars. It was a great weekend. Just like they all are in the woods.

20 Mile Hike with Scouts

On Labor Day Weekend, I and 4 other adults went on a 20 mile hike with Scouts who were attempting to earn their hiking merit badge. We picked an area we thought would be "easy" for a hike. We stayed at Mt. Rogers area on Friday night then hiked towards Damascus on Saturday for 20+ miles. Easy is relative as we thought we were going to be downhill all day. But we realized we had to go up before we went down. AND: down wasnt down all day. It was "rolling". All in all the boys had a great day and we got them all back to the camp area (after a little mis-communication on where to pick us up) tired, safe, but satisfied. We had great food that night but most of us were asleep by 9.

Grand Canyon Trip

Wow I need to update this thing more often. Since I last reported, I have been to the Flagstaff area twice. As a family we spent a week in Flagstaff with a sidetrip (twice) to the Grand Canyon. Once we were there with my parents and did the tourist thing. Then we went back as a foursome: Laura, Hannah, Kyle and me. We hiked a little over halfway to Indian Gardens on the Bright Angel Trail. Since it was June it was brutally hot. We decided that a mile and a half up hill in 90+ heat would be tough enough. There was no reason to add to that. We were very glad we did that. On Friday before we came back, Kyle and I hiked to the top of Mt. Humphries. It is a 5 mile almost straight up ascent of a ~13,000 ft peak. It was definitely one of the highlights of my life. Then in late October I had to go back to Phoenix for business. I went out early and did a hike to the river on the Bright Angel. I also did Mt. Humphries again just because it was so cool the first time.  The picture above is Kyle at Mt. Humphries.  It appears to be a lunar scene but that kind of what Humphries looks like.  My 2 trips there were almost identical weather wise.  Funny considering one was in June and the other was almost November.

Scout Trip to Roan Mountain Area

A group of Scouts went to Roan Mountain over the weekend of April 25, 26 and 27, 2008. A group started at 19E near the Apple House Shelter. We spent the night about 3 miles up in Doll Flats. On Saturday we hiked across Big Hump, Little Hump and over to Carvers Gap. We spent Saturday night at the Roan Mountain Shelter (which is the highest Shelter on the AT). On Sunday we hiked up to Cloudland and had a great view from the deck up there. We hiked back down and picked up the cars at Carvers Gap and met the other group which had traversed the same area in the opposite direction. Our group spent most of Saturday hiking up and the other group spent most of the day going down. The Roan area is a really nice area and the views up on Big Hump and Cloudland are awesome. The total hiking for the weekend was about 20 miles. Most of the miles were done Saturday and everyone was pretty tired.
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Day Hike to Charlies Bunion

On Wednesday May 7, 2008, I took some time during the day to make a great hike up to Charlies Bunion. I started at Newfound Gap which can be accessed off of State Road 441 through Cherokee. There was quite a crowd at Newfound Gap but as I have always heard and witnessed, most of the millions that go through the Smokies never get out of their car and really explore. I hiked up the AT to Icewater Shelter. Then on up the trail to Charlies Bunion. The Bunion has some really great views. It is at about 5800 feet and looks down into the valley below which settles in at under 4000 feet. The sign at the Bunion says to make sure you have control of children. I think this is excellent advice. I spent about 45 minutes talking to a few folks (there was agroup of students from Indiana university up there exploring plants in the Smokies). I hiked back down pretty quickly so I can get to TN by dinner. The entire trip was about 8 miles an took me a little less than 3 hours. Its a great hike for a day hike and can be made into an overnighter but the camping up there is limited.

Walnut Bottoms-Trip Report

6 of us went up to Walnut Bottoms in the GSMNP (Big Creek Trail) On Friday March 28 to Sunday March 30. We stayed at campsite #37 on both Friday and Saturday night after hiking in Big Creek Trail on Friday evening. On Friday night after we got in the tents, it rained a little and then early on Saturday morning we had a thunderstorm and about 45 minutes of really hard rain that was pretty well over by 7 AM. We hiked up Swallow Fork Trail to the gap at Mt. Sterling. Its about a 4 mile hike up a pretty steep/strenous trail with a few overlooks but mostly in pretty deep cover with old growth trees. We then did about 1.4 miles to the top of Mt. Sterling and climbed up the fire tower for a really cool view of 30+ miles in every direction. It looked like it was going to pour on us so we started back to the gap. At the gap a few of us were thinking about going up and over the Mt. Sterling Ridge trail and back to #37 via Gunter Fork. But we decided it would be well after dark before we reached our camp so we bagged that and walked back to camp to work on a fire with wet wood. Jim and I tried to start a fire "survivorman" style with a magnesium stick and tinder. We would probably have done it but we needed fire. So we used the conventional method of a lighter. We had a great dinner and swapped a few lies around the fire. After dinner we listened to UNC play Louisville on an AM radio. Well Robert listened on headphones and gave us play by play. Sunday, 3 of the guys needed to get back to Mooresville so the other 3 of us hiked up Low Gap to the AT. Then North on the AT to Crammerer for another great view of the Smokies. Then on to Chestnut Branch and a major decent back to Big Creek. The total hiking for the 3 of us for the weekend was about 27 miles. 14 on Saturday and 13 on Sunday. Its still one of my favorite places to camp. If you love large forests and remote camping, its the place to go. We probably saw 20 other folks during the weekend which is a lot for the backcountry. The Smokies is overused as a camping area but is still a nice place to go. This group had a great time and we were all pretty whipped Saturday.