19E to Dennis Cove

On Friday of Labor Day weekend I loaded up the mighty Osprey and found myself outside of Hampton, TN waiting on friends at the Laurel Fork Lodge.  About ten minutes after I arrived the friends from Clarksville, TN arrived, we found our cabin and were off to bed.

The next morning we packed up, found our ride with a Derek Webb look-alike and were off for a three day hike along the Appalachian Trail from 19E to Dennis Cove.

This was the first section of the Appalachian Trail that I have actually finished.  The first attempt at a section (Newfound Gap to Fontana Dam) was cut short by the occurence of Carpel Tunnel in my right hand.  This time there were no bizarre injuries and we enjoyed the challenge of the trail and the camaraderie found in spending nearly three entire days together.

Some highlights were walking along the quiet Elk River during the first day, the first night on the trail at the Mountaineer Shelter (the best shelter I have seen) and meeting Louie at the second shelter.

School Bus Mayhem

This week some friends discovered something amazing happening in Charlotte that none of us ever knew about…School Bus Races!  Once our mistake was realized we quickly corrected it by heading out to Lowe’s Motor Speedway for an evening of rain, lightning and school bus racing!

Hooker Falls, Triple Falls, High Falls, …

Saturday morning four others (Julie, Suzanne, Charlie and Andrew) accompianed me (Rob) on a visit to five of the waterfalls found in the Dupont State Forest.  I guess I really should say we accompianed Julie since it was all her idea.  We were out of Charlotte with a bang and after a short detour at Ingles in Shelby we were preparing for the hike around 10 A.M.  We walked somewhere around nine miles and took in five waterfalls. Out of the parking lot we walked a little less than a mile to Hooker Falls.  Here we were far from alone as it is a phenomenl swimming hole.  This particular falls is less known for its height as it is its width.

Once we finished at Hooker Falls we walked for a time until we reached Triple Falls.  Here I attempted to climb the entire falls by descending from the trail to the falls base but found my climbing skills lacking.  So instead I took a picture.

After leaving Triple Falls the path (or was it a road) took us to High Falls.  I’m not sure why this particular falls is known as High Falls; maybe because it’s taller than Hooker Falls.  Possibly it’s elevation in relation to the other falls?

The walk from High Falls to Bridal Veil Falls took us by Lake Julie.  Here we ate lunch. After lunch we found our way to Bridal Viel Falls.  It is aptly named.

Up to this point we had only walked around four miles. Considering the distance and the number of waterfalls we were able to enjoy this absolutely astounds me. During the remaining five miles of the walk we only encountered one waterfall, Grassy Creek Falls.  This fall took a bit of walking and boulder hopping to find.  We found it and I took a picture before I startled a Copperhead and it launched toward Andrew.

Sorry Andrew

All in all, as far as days go, this was one of the best.  Great weather, wonderful waterfalls and fabulous people made this day a day to remember fondly.

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Browns Mountain

This morning I woke up at 7 AM.  This was an accident.

I decided I should use the time wisely so I went to Kings Mountain National Military Park for a quick hike through some of their trails.  As I perused the map online I noticed a nice 5.2 mile walk from the Visitor Center to the summit of Browns Mountain at an elevation of 1,045 ft.  The walk was nice; I started at the Visitor Center and quickly reached a road.  Once across the hike became wonderful.

Soon I decended into a small valley and walked along a creek.  This is by far one of the top joys in my life.  Being a short trail soon I climbed out of the valley and found the summit of Browns Mountain.

I think this hike would be better in the winter.  Even still it was great today.

Lookout Tower Challenge

Last month I came across the Lookout Tower Challenge on the Carolina Mountain Club’s website.  Since I’m nearing completion of the South Beyond 6,000 Challenge I decided I could start this new challenge and so far I have climbed two towers.

The first tower was on Moore’s Knob in Hanging Rock State Park.  The hike was nice; Steve and I made the 2.5 mile climb fairly quickly.  The lookout tower was beautiful.  One unit of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built this stone lookout tower on top of the Knob in order to detect fires in the viewing area.

 

Lookout!

 

 

The second was last Saturday on Flat Top Mountain off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Moses Cone Memorial Park.  This time Albert, Andrew and Steve joined me as we started at the old Cone home (which is now the Craft Center) and took an old carriage road for three miles up to the summit of Flat Top Mountain.  On the summit the Cone’s built a lookout tower.

The hike itself was gorgeous.  We spent much time walking through an open meadow but the hike paled in comparison to the beauty we found on the tower.

The tower extended just above the treeline and we were able to see Grandfather Mountain, most of the Black Mountains (Mt. Mitchell), the Roan Mountains, and even Mt. Rogers in Virginia.  This was by far the best view I’ve seen in North Carolina.

I’m looking forward to finishing the LTC.  Two down and twenty-two to go!

The Southern Festival of Books

During the fall of 2001 I made my first trip to Nashville’s annual Southern Festival of Books.  I went with my old friend Bill and enjoyed the splendor that is Legislative Plaza filled with book publishers, authors, and book lovers.  It was a good day.

This weekend I was in Nashville visiting my family and attending a wedding and it happened to be the weekend of the festival.  So on my way to the wedding I stopped by to enjoy a few hours among the books.  When I was there I learned something about myself that up to this point in my life I did not think defined me but alas it does.

As I was walking around Legislative Plaza browsing each tent I ended up at the Davis-Kidd Bookstore tent and noticed they had Ron Rash’s latest novel Serena.  I bought it.

My faithful readers will know that Ron Rash is my favorite author.  I own and have read all of his books and have enjoyed all of them.

After I bought the book I walked up to the War Memorial Plaza and saw the area where authors were signing books so I walked over.  It was 12:20 PM.  As I looked over the list of when authors would be signing I noticed Ron Rash’s name in the 12:30 PM slot.  I was becomming giddy.

I got in the line for his spot and the queue quickly moved along and I was standing before him and he was signing my book.  I was officially giddy.

Before I believed that I was not a person to become excited around celebrity.  I grew up around a particular person that was important in the bluegrass world and grew to realize that these were simply regular people.  Because of this whenever I would see famous people in Nashville, and elsewhere, I would never be that excited.  That was until Saturday.

It seems that I am starstruck by authors that I enjoy.  It seems that instead of being extraordinary I am very much extra ordinary.  I’m alright with that.

Blackstock Knob (again with a twist)

Saturday evening I capped off what may be the greatest hiking month of my life. Well, that is until I’m finished with June 2008.

Saturday morning I picked up Joe and after we drove over to Bob’s we were off to summit Blackstock Knob. Faithful readers of my blog will remember that this is a peak I have already climbed. I went again for several reasons…

1. Hiking may be my favorite way to spend a day.
2. I own a camera now so I could take pictures of the hike.
3. I really wasn’t 100% sure Albert and I had made the summit last Labor Day. This time Joe brought his GPS so I knew we would find the summit.
4. I wanted to see the plane again.

Once we reached the trail head along the road to Mt. Mitchell we prepared for the hike and were off.  The trail was very much like my memories of last Labor Day.  During the initial climb we walked in and out of the forest and while out of the forest were granted fabulous views of the Craggy Mountains.  After the second climb we were along the ridge that would take us to the summit of Blackstock Knob.

On the hike back I very much wanted to see the plane that the Asheville Four told Albert and I about last year.  I veered off the trail and took the same path to the plane that Albert and I took but there was no plane!  I was sure that was the spot but knowing I could be wrong I continued to check similar places along the trail.  Sure enough I never found it and ended up descending to the car.

First I was rather frustrated that I was not able to see the plane and show it to Joe and Bob.  Then I realized something…maybe the plane was only there that day.  Maybe the Asheville Four were only there on Labor Day.  Maybe they crashed the plane on a Labor Day many years ago and their ghosts come out only on Labor Day to tell of their fateful crash and point hikers to the remains of their ghost plane. Since Saturday wasn’t Labor Day the Asheville Four could not have shown me where to look therefore I couldn’t find the plane!

Now that I am 100% certain that I have seen ghosts I wonder if the stories I’ve heard about ghosts are true.  I’ve always been told that ghosts are typically full of hate toward the living.  The Asheville Four acted quite the contrary.  Instead of wishing us ill will they offered us snacks.

It looks like there is hope for ghosts yet and that makes me glad.