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Posted at 06:59 AM in Motivation | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
A trip I've been planning for months finally came to pass. It was actually a two part adventure. The first part was cycling, the second part was backpacking. All of it was in my favorite place in the world: Western North Carolina. Time permitting I'll post some of the bike trip.
My cruise director for the backpacking adventure was my Bradenton friend George Isiminger. He devised a 3 day trip in the SW corner of the Smoky Mountains National Park. My cycling companions John and Scott and I set off from our base in Dillsboro (Cynthia & Jim's house) to pick up George at the Knoxville airport (and drop off Scott). The highway there has to be the most winding road I've ever driven. We stopped along the way at a convenience store. How do you like their dumpster?!
Here's a few critters inside the Knoxville airport (Scott, bears, and John).
After our airport exchange (dropping Scott, getting George) we drove back to the Twenty Mile Ranger station trail head. On the way we stopped for a spectacular dam overlook shot.
Here's our before shots. Before we started the hike, and before I remember how to use the camera's timer:
Our first trail sign/marker:
Our first of many river crossings:
Here's John pumping our water from a stream behind our campsite the first night:
Here's what our first night's accommodations looked like in the morning. Pretty posh. eh?!
While I took a more conservative route, here's John taking the narrow bridge crossing:
Here I an crossing a creek with full pack on back:
I found evidence of Smoky Bear:
When we got a little higher up the mountain we encountered blueberry bushes. I'd never seen a blueberry bush. I thought blueberries only came in little cardboard or plastic pint containers?!
We stopped a little later for a major break. That's one when you take your pack off and reach for some fuel. In this case I wanted to test the "Trail Monkey" concept. You've heard me rave about my post-workout recovery drink - the Monkey Shake right? It's the best all-natural recovery drink on the planet you know.
But Monkeys come from blenders. So I wanted to see if I could duplicate the drink on the trail. I had the Monkey Grinder make some single serving bags, and I bought some powdered milk to mix into it. Here's all the various parts to this process:
While my trail partner George can attest to the burst of energy I demonstrated after this break, I have to admit that mixing Monkeys on the trail is a little cumbersome. We'll get the R & D guys going on the Monkey Bar.
I know what you're thinking. "Is that all this guy ever does is work, work, work?" It's my cross to bear.
Before we made it all the way to the top of the mountain, the Gregory Bald, we had one last decent water stop. So we unpacked, had a snack, took turns pumping water.
Thankfully, John volunteered to carry this 2 gallon jug up our last climb.
After this climb we arrived at our destination - the Gregory Bald. Words and pictures can't describe the splendor of this place. On top of a mountain at just under 5000 feet we could look down below to see the open area of Cades Cove. In the other direction were mountains as far as we could see. And in front of us and everywhere were blueberry bushes - loaded with berries. Apparently peek picking time is August, but we had no trouble finding fruit. All three of us were immediately drawn to the bushes to pick.
After we'd each had a couple mouthfuls of berries, we stopped for a picture:
Then we picked some more:
That's when I whispered to John "John". I was on the other side picking when I discovered we had company:
Here's another shot that I impressed myself with ('cause I'm a lousy photographer):
George spots another one coming through the bushes:
Then John spots more deer. We had a whole tribe, pack, clan, family, whatever of deer to share the bald:
This was truly an amazing experience, and I could post a lot more pictures but I'll cut 'er down to just a few more. We nicknamed John the "deer whisperer" as he was able to attract a doe, feed her a few blueberries, and even get licked by the deer. Which also birthed his trail name - Salt Lick.
We left the exposed and windy side of the bald to an area that had a tree barrier - so we could fire up my camp stove and make a pot of Ramen Noodles. While here the deer found us again, and one really wanted to know what George had in his lunchbox.
After the Bald time it was time to find our next hotel. This one was about a mile down the trail. I set up my hammock, a Christmas present from Hopie, and John and I took turns:
Here's the view of our second night camp sight:
Here's the kitchen shot in the morning. Bet you can guess what's in those pancakes?!
And here's my self portrait of breakfast over our morning fire:
After packing up our stuff, here we go, time to come off the mountain:
John snuck ahead with the camera and caught George and me making our way down the trail:
And here I shot John back:
Nearing the bottom, our trail now followed the creek which we crossed on log bridges several times:
Though we'd only been out there two nites, and because it was relatively cool up there, we weren't terribly ripe. But I couldn't resist the pool we encountered. Out came the soap and off went the clothes:
It was cold but worth it. That's refreshment!
Now nearly at the bottom we encountered a ginormous rock formation. Photo op!
Last sign out. Whew, we made it. And so did you. Are you exhausted from the trip?
Thanks George for being our cruise director. It was an awesome and blessed trip. God is good!
Hopefully we can do it again next summer. Y'all come!
Posted at 10:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Thanks to all my peeps who joined me this Saturday for a workout at the Robinson Preserve. Coincidentally, there were 10 of us in our 10:10 Wellness group.
Have you missed Tyler Althof like I have? Turns out the boy does have an excuse. Or is it an alibi? Actually it's a baby - a little man named Eli. Congrats to Kelly and Tyler. I expect to see Eli in a chest sack hangin' with Miss Cassidy soon.
If you don't remember, here's our youngest walker, Cassidy:
Some of the "action" shots from yesterday include Pete on point:
Donna & Julie:
Julie & Donna:
Jason at the run finish:
The Gazebo's almost done. Could this be our new meeting spot?
Can Debbie and Sheila talk or what? They walked too:
We had a record bike turnout including newcomers George (my backpacking leader) and Cheryl:
And here's the whole crew, just after listening to me tell the 10:10 story. Notice the sleepy eyes, especially on Julie. I'll have to spice up that talk next time.
Thanks for coming everyone! You guys are kickin' it! See you next Saturday.
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