Tag Archives: AT

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AT – VA Dripping Rock to Rockfish Gap

Backpacking with my gal pals last weekend! How is it to know these women, these outrageous trail bitches who understand this is not a frivolous hobby? We understand each other in a deep way even our life partners don’t get. We see the desire burning in each other’s heart for the outdoors, for the forest, for walking in and not having to walk out right away. Hiking and backpacking is something we do because it is what makes us whole! and it is what makes us reasonable human beings in all the other areas of our lives.

With that in mind, we all piled into Akela’s minivan, WHICH HOLDS ALL SEVEN OF US AND OUR GEAR!! Headed south to Dripping Rock, one of us has forgotten her cell phone…turn around, back to Rockfish Gap…OKAY, now we headed for Dripping Rock … for real! 😀

A sunny, but very chilly morning, at 20 degrees! Thankfully, climbing first thing. It is a lovely stretch of trail up the mountain. Some of us hike a little faster, some a little slower, … all of us hike with optimism, smiles, and support for one another.

The views at the top were amazing, of course! We stopped for lunch at the highest point of our hike. A nice break on the sun splashed rocks until the sun went on hiatus and the wind decided to pick up and play chicken with us. Okay, okay, we are going, seriously! Gloves and hats back on! Ladies, someone has an issue with letting us soak in the sun!

We felt good as we started down towards Paul C. Wolfe Shelter. Golden leaves covered our path in spots as we hiked one way, then the next, zigzagging down the mountain on a kazillion switchbacks. A big nice trail for the most part!

It was a great day filled late Autumn forest magic. A gust of wind showered us with leaves, a beam of sunlight warmed us for a few minutes, a deer silently sneaked a peek at us, and birds called out to each other as we passed. I arrived at the shelter free of all regular life stuff. No place but here, no time but now.

I got my tent up and had dinner as the forest went dark. The moon was almost full giving me all the happy vibes. 🙂

A couple of dads and their sons were camped at the shelter. “NO worries about bears tonight”, I thought, as those boys ran up and down each side of the creek having the time of their lives.

I crawled into my tent, broke open some ‘hothands’ to warm up my tootsies and my sleeping bag, then fell promptly to sleep…at 7:00 pm. Woohoo! Hiker midnight!

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Morning now nigh…Dang, it is always a tough time getting out of the bag on a cold morning!! Deep breath and up I was. Packing up warms you up, so move, move, move! And, oh crap, I have to filter water…oh, but what a nice view I had!!

Hot oatmeal warmed my insides and coffee made me a little more coherent, then it was down the trail we went. It was much warmer on Sunday morning and with temps climbing we were soon plenty warm. The trail had some disaster blow downs which gave us an aerobic edge to our hike. We were shedding layers like crazy! “Lost&Found” had to do an extensive striptease on the trail since she needed to get her long johns off…if that would have been me, I know a fricken entire boy scout group would have appeared! Luckily, she got it done without any such embarrassment!

We spent several minutes at the Lowe cemetery. Akela suggested that it would be a good cleanup project. I have to agree. A tree had fallen over a few graves in the back of the cemetery.

Next stop was Mayo Homestead…a very nice place it must have been with that big fireplace! I can imagine riding a horse up to the cabin and seeing smoke drifting up out of the chimney. A promise of freshly baked bread or other delight waiting for me!

Along the last stretch we met ‘Walking Spirit’, a south bound thru hiker. He was sitting by a nicely flowing spring, enjoying his break. That is what is great about solo hiking. You hike, you break, you eat, you sleep, all without needing to check in with anyone. On the flip side, you get to an amazing view or beautiful tree and you want to share the awe with someone, but all you have is you.

I love solo, but my trail gals…awwwww yeah… that’s my heart!

Hike on!

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AT – NC Wayah Bald to Winding Stair Gap

Day 6: June 29, 2017

A quiet morning to hike.  Ten miles, then boom, my trip to North Carolina would be over. Back to Maryland, back to everyday life.  I was looking forward to getting back home even though the mountains in NC have been delightful to hike.

This hike had Momma Puma shuttling me to a trail head for the last time.  Afterwards, she would be off on her own adventure and we planned on meeting up at Google’s cabin in the evening.

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A quiet morning with sounds of grass brushing against my hiking pants broken by the occasional cry of a bird or crunch of tires on the fire road.  I watched as the sky clouded up, to the point I thought rain was imminent, then, in a blink, the sun would break through and make the forest glow.

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The trail passed by a campsite before the Bartram trail diverged to the right.  I took a little break there.  I sat back against a tree and thought about the week I’d had hiking here in NC.  The mountains are just so darn dramatic!

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Rounding a corner near Wilson Lick trail, I heard a crash and looked up to see a bear butt running up hill! How exciting!

I moved on down the trail with a smile…yes, wildlife, finally!

The AT crossed the fire road a few times before reaching the paved road at Wayah Gap.

Now, I was going to be headed uphill for awhile and hopefully, hopefully I wouldn’t miss the turn-off for Siler Bald!  More people, actually a lot of people were on this stretch of trail.  That made the trip up seem shorter and the variety of body types made me think this “up” wouldn’t be too bad.  The uphill did go up for a good ways, though! Definitely break worthy, so I found a nice log and had a snack.  It was getting humid, whew!

And I missed the turn-off for Siler Bald!!!  Unbelievable. I saw the sign for the shelter, but nothing for the bald.  So I backtracked. ugh! But I knew I would regret not going to the bald!

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This is why I missed the turn-off. So overgrown! It got worse, before better…and I was separating grasses with my hiking poles to check for snakes before plowing through!

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Once climbing to the top of Siler Bald, I was happy I had backtracked! What a view! I didn’t stay long because it was unbearably HOT in that field!

Having had my most excellent view from Siler Bald, I was ready to hoof it down to Winding Stair Gap.  However, I had to cross through Panther Gap first…and I was in a silly mood by then as I was on a very warm and humid mile 8.  Coming down into Panther Gap, I thought, “why do they have to call it Panther Gap?  Why not kitty cat gap? or Hello Kitty gap?…what if there really are panthers in Panther Gap? Wait, is a panther the same as a cougar? a mountain lion? I wonder if they are black?…”

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Then I stopped to stretch my neck…too much looking at the ground.

OH. MY. GAWD.  I looked hard, not believing what I was seeing.  Tan color…Is that a bobcat?  No, that is a long droopy swinging tail!!!  The cat, kitty, panther, cougar, mountain lion, whatever you want to call it was about 25 yards in front of me casually walking down the AT away from me!!! Holy moly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  He paused for a moment to look over its shoulder at me.  A sweet little head with rounded ears, no tufts, definitely NOT a bobcat,…I quickly inhaled then clicked my hiking poles together.  (No need for him to get too curious.)  He turned back around and began to trot down the trail.  I waited, gave him time to find a safe spot before I walked on.

He was no where to be seen when I passed through.

I felt so blessed, wow, so, so blessed to have this cat make his presence known.  exhale. We all share this one world.  All creatures great and small.

Hike on.

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On the Trail with Sidekick Pauli and Little Caesar! June 21-22, 2014

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Last weekend was the FIRST weekend of “ahhhhhhh” that I have had since we started getting the house ready to sell.  Well, the house is now on the market! It went on the market on June 17, our anniversary…it wasn’t planned that way, but is so symbolic as remodeling the house just about killed our […]