Thursday, September 25, 2008

AT and Benton MacKaye

First off, couldn't resist another sunrise picture. I just love the sunrise's here! Today I got to fulfill a life time dream- to hike on the Appalachian Trail. Actually Wood and I snuck in hiking on both the AT and the Benton Mackaye (say eye). We started at Three Forks and actually hiked towards Springer Mountain on the AT and then turned around when the Benton Mackaye crossed it and headed back to Three Forks. The AT is very well maintained with either wooden bridges or nice rocks stepping stones across all creeks we forged. This particular section was next to a creek most of the way which made the gradual uphill climb very pleasant. There were rhododendrons and pine and fir trees everywhere. I LOVED it. In fact I loved it so much I forgot to take any pictures of the foresty area. Take my word for it, it was gorgeous. I'm coming back here again. More mushrooms in this area-caught a slug on this one. The Benton Mackaye section where we crossed was a totally different type of forest. No ferns, not pines, or firs. Lots of trees and undergrowth it was just different. Also it seemed more like the everyman's trail. It was wonderful but not as fancy as the AT... if fancy is really the right word...upscale maybe??? We saw this tree on the Benton M. part and Wood and I were both speechless because of the bark. It was so weird and unlike any other tree we had ever seen. It kind of looked like a whole flock or 10 flocks of woodpeckers had had their way with the tree (if woodpeckers would ever think of flocking that is ;-) ) See there are plenty of trees and plenty of green for me everywhere, it was just very different from the AT out of Three forks. I had to get this shot just to prove I actually made it to this crossroads. Not really how long this hike was... maybe 4-5 miles, but it was ever so much easier that several of the others we have been on lately. The uphill AT part took us about 1.5 hours and the downhill Benton M. part took just about an hour. Oh I forgot- getting there was half the fun. We took a small country road (paved) and then turned onto a smaller country road (hmmm paved for only a mile or two), drove on it for about 3 miles until we turned onto the forest service road (definitely not paved) which followed a creek through some of the prettiest country every. Beautiful camping spots beside a creek along the whole road. The way back was even a little more adventurous. We took our FS road out and then took a little country road which ended up really never being paved (dirt and gravel) along another river and canoe launching spots. Without a map I would have felt very lost and clueless about where we were. But (tadah!) with a map even though we felt lost, we were free to enjoy the remoteness of it all knowing all along we were in the middle of beautiful no where which was really somewhere :-).

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

At the top

We finally made it! Doesn't seem very high, but man was it difficult in some spots!. We did go through some really really gorgeous forests though. There was a really pretty little wildflower spot on the top of the ridge with bees and butterflies cavorting among the flowers. This shot is from another trail- Black Rock Mountain lake - which we took later - just .85 miles...whew. Not sure what kind of little wild flower it is but loved the cornucopia look of it See the lake right behind the goldenrod (at least I think that is goldenrod)

Black Rock Mountain

I love the rock there at the top of the park! We decided to take the moderate 2.2. mile "more difficult" compared to the James Edmonds, 7.2 most difficult. Normally a 2.2 miler takes us about 40 minutes at Redtop. This one took us 3 hours. Granted we stopped for picture taking (but a lot of that was a ruse to catch my breath) Gorgeous view at the top but definitely strenuous for the likes of us!) I am really seeing a lot of different mushrooms these days. Isn't this a cool shot!I wonder what the history is here?

AT and Popcorn overlook

Wood and I both really want to hike part of the Appalachian Trail. This year it will happen. Got this picture of the map up at Dick's gap. Click on the map to make it larger and then look at the topmost right corner. We spent most of the day at Black Rock Mtn which is still just a tad North of there. Woody's gap will be next. This brief interlude is from Popcorn Overlook. Beautiful wildflowers!!!

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Flat creek loop trail

One of the flat places at the beginning of the trail Leaves are just beginning to turn Ah the 5.7 mile loop trail. Just the kind moderate trail we were looking for. Hmmm Wood and I decided that moderate means 'occasional flat spots with lots of creek bed rocky hiking' and not the flat creek bed rocky climbing, but up and down the hills on rocky rocky trails. We were wupped when we got back. But it was beautiful, in spots, and actually I am ready for another today. No residual sore muscles. Which really is amazing. For some reason, I seem to be spotting lots and lots of mushrooms these days. Could be from looking down a lot trying not to trip and fall. But there are just so many kinds I have never seen before. Wood got us some walking sticks and I am hooked. Especially for the up and down hill climbs. I LOVE having one.

The Views

From this year's cabin. I just can't get enough of them. Going to be hard to do without these in the future. BUT there are no rocking chairs on the porch! Can you believe it? Otherwise this is my favorite one yet. Can't get enough of the peace and quiet and the gorgeous long distance rolling mountain ridges with wispy clouds lounging in between them. Sunday we went into town for an Arts, crafts and wildlife festival. To my delight there was a border collie herding demonstration. I do love border collies. They are so smart. Lots of artists displaying their wares. Could have spent lots of money on paintings, photographs and pottery. Then I thought how talented all my children are and how much they could sell at festivals like this. You are should go for it!!! Really!

Friday, September 19, 2008

the Visit

Jill, Gavin and Anne came this past weekend to help celebrate the not-too-far off appearance of little Emerson. We had a great time at the shower and Kim and Bry got some really wonderful presents for Emerson. On Sunday we all got together and hung out. I keep forgetting that places are closed here on Sunday so we had to drive around for awhile before we found your regular ol chain restaurant that was open. We explored the lake just a bit, which was pretty nice and just hung out. Bry brought over a game to share with Gavin and Jill. I think they liked it.