I put together a little "retrospective" of our hikes from 2007. We did a lot! I look forward to many more outdoor adventures in 2008.
I don't know about you, but I've not been doing much but driving and eating the past few weeks. I'll probably be hiking the weekend of January 5-6 as well as on January 12 - join me if you can.
January 12th may be a loop which will include Abrams Falls in Cades Cove. More details soon!
Happy New Year!
December 19th - Tour de Lights bike ride downtown:
http://www.knoxtrans.org/plans/bikeprog.htm
January 12 - Second Saturday Hike
January 19 - Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum Volunteer workday 9:00 – 12:00 noon
January 27th - Supper Club & Clothing Swap at Kris's, details forthcoming
We welcomed three new Striders today: Melissa (birthday girl), Melissa (and canine pal Chip), and Ellen joined us for House Mountain's five mile hike. (Catherine, was this your first hike with the Striders? I don't think so, but possibly so..) I was especially psyched since Melissa and Ellen are near neighbors, and this was my first opportunity to get to know them better.
Despite the chilly rain, a good time was had by all.
I broke in my new day-glo orange cap and CD-holder mittens. Not sure what I think about it all yet..Corinne took a group photo so I'll post that later. Join us January 13 for the one year Strider anniversary!
It was quite chilly throughout the day, and the very icy trail made for a long ascent. We ran out of daylight hours to get all the way to Cliff Tops - meaning we must go back in the spring. The drive home was also eventful, what with the final 30 minutes of the 4th overtime of the UT game on the radio (can you tell a man came along this time?) running into Hannah Montana traffic snarls and Trena's newfound phobia of driving a manual up very steep hills.
Anika took more photos than I did, so watch for hers soon.
Full photoset here.
December 8th hike: House Mountain!
Renee and I decided to bag our second peak today (highest point in Georgia) as this month's Strider hike. The thing about the peaks in the southeast states? You can drive to the top of them all. Which sort of seems like cheating. Thus we've been making a special effort to identify some way of hiking up rather than driving. We hiked Newfound Gap to Clingman's Dome (highest peak in Tennessee) in August with Debra, which was most rewarding.
We identified a 12 mile round trip hike along the Wagon Train Trail, and left early this morning to make a day of it. However, this is something that would have been good to know before we drove three hours to hike up Brasstown Bald, Georgia via Young Harris' Wagon Train Trail.
We headed up the trail, thinking the fire looked far enough in the distance that it wouldn't bother us. After hiking about three miles uphill, the smell of smoke became stronger and we could see smoke floating above us. Not to mention the constant drone of helicopters flying by with water bags. As much as we hated to do it, we followed the "safety first!" principle and decided to turn back and drive up to the summit in Hrmn. When we asked at the ranger station at the summit, we found out the fire had been burning a few days, had destroyed 300 acres and was only 60% contained. The smell of smoke was in the air and we were glad we turned around when we did.
The .6 mile hike from the parking lot to the tower was quite steep, so we figured that the 6 miles we did hike, plus the 1.2 mile summit trail, prove we made at least some effort to summit in a legal manner.
It was another beautiful fall day and a lot of fun. Bonus: Finding the ancient petroglyphs at the Track Rock Gap archeological site.
We had a fantastic Babes in the Woods weekend during which we celebrated Wimberly and Susan's birthdays (next year I will keep in mind that Corinne and Miss Wiggy's birthdays are also in October!) Many scones were eaten, birthday cake candles blown out, and new phrases learned (bats in the cave, interdependence, non-metaphorical sawing logs all night long, the Nasty). Despite a few wrong turns by car and on foot, we completed the 14 miles with minimal hobbling.
We drove to Roan Mountain, parked at the Mountain Harbor B&B, were shuttled by Mr. Talkative to the trailhead, and hiked in 5 miles to a spot near the Yellow Gap shelter, found a campsite and set up camp (yes, all in one day, all before dark). We braved and survived quite a cold night - several of us trying out our new sleeping bag liners with much success, others of us belated experiencing all the glory that is a sleeping pad (!), and still others experiencing all the sadness that is a punctured thermarest. Fallen leaves and a cautiously roaring (given the drought) fire were our friend.
We also braved and survived Sunday's 7-which-turned-into- 9-or-for-some-of-us-10 mile hike with much elevation gain and loss, wildly whipping winds, and spectacular vistas. Well done on the trail selection, Miss Wiggy and Corinne! Without even really trying or expecting it, we hit a peak weekend of fall colors, azure skies and perfect hiking temperatures.
We carefully observed each other's gear and generated a list of essentials to buy (Marmot dry clime shirt, fabulous wool sweaters, fingerless gloves, down jackets, aquamir) and planned our future careers as gear designers.
Finally, we enjoyed post-hike fellowship if not fabulous food at the Mayflower Seafood Restaurant. Future weekend ideas were generated including:
1. Hot springs weekend in February
(3rd weekend?)
2. Future strider hike or spring Babes trip down near Fontana where
we take the boat shuttle (Susan, let me know which trail you are
thinking of down there)
3. Future strider hike on the Sugarland Mountain trail (when Clingman road is open)
4. Saturday's November hike (Nov 10) might be LeConte or Baxter Creek
5. December hike (Dec 8) at Melissa's request may be House Mountain
Striders/Babes -
1. I hope you are as excited as I am about our upcoming backpacking trip! The plan is to meet Saturday morning November 3rd here (Friday night is Miss Susan G's birthday):
Mountain Harbour Bed & Breakfast
9151 Highway 19 East
Roan Mountain, Tennessee 37687
http://www.mountainharbour.net/
I am confirming this location with Miss Wiggy. Perhaps we should plan to leave Knoxville around 7 a.m. to get on the trail at a reasonable time. It's just over a 2 hour drive, plus we have to be shuttled.
2. I have space for one person if anyone wants to do trail maintenance on Sunday on the A.T. towards Charlie's Bunion. We'll leave my house at about 715 a.m.
3. Here are some photos from my teaching gig in Quito. It was a really
hard two weeks, but I'm glad I did it (we know I love adversity!) I
didn't really get to enjoy any of the natural wonders of Ecuador, but
this one day I got out a tiny bit.
