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 :-).
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 :-).
There was a really pretty little wildflower spot on the top of the ridge with bees and butterflies cavorting among the flowers.
I love the rock there at the top of the park!
