Alexandria

Sandy and I left Raleigh this morning and headed up for our spring break trip to Washington, DC. We had lunch in Alexandria then checked in to our hotel, the Courtyard Marriott. After checking in, we took the Metro to Old Town Alexandria and walked up and down King Street from the Metro to the waterfront. We checked out a few shops and had a drink at an Irish pub, then headed back to the hotel. We used the fitness center in the hotel before heading to bed.

AT Hike from NOC

There was a thunderstorm at some point in the night, but by morning had cleared out and sun was trying to break through the clouds. We woke up, had breakfast, broke camp, and headed to the NOC and Tellico Gap to set up the shuttle. For hiking, we started at the NOC and began hiking up the Appalachian Trail southbound.

And up and up and up. The trail gains more than 4000 vertical feet over the course of the section. The elevation gain combined with the humidity and above average temperatures (around 70°F) made for a strenuous hike. But despite the burning in my legs and lungs, the gorgeous views of the mountain scenery made it all worthwhile and the lack of foliage on the trees made the views that much easier to see along the trail. We hiked about half way and stopped at Jump-Up Overlook for lunch.

Then continued on for a few more miles of steep uphill. Near the end, we stopped for water near intersection with Wesser Creek Trail, then on to Wesser Bald, the high point of the hike. We climbed the lookout tower for amazing views of the mountains in all directions.

It was actually a little chilly up here; after sweating so much making the climb up and a light breeze, I had almost forgot what cold felt like.

After some pictures at the top, we made the descent to our shuttle cars at Tellico Gap. This last part was all downhill and seemed quite easy after what we had already done. Driving back to the NOC, we stopped along Wayah Road to see a Camp Branch Falls.

It was a pretty big waterfall, but hard to get a good view. 

It was time to head back home, but along the way, we stopped in Asheville for a well-deserved dinner and beer.

First Camping Trip of the Year

This past weekend, I did my first camping trip for the year to knockout hikes #74 and 82 from the 100 classic hikes.. We left the Triangle area just after 7 and headed out west, arriving in the Cataloochee area of Great Smoky Mountains National Park around noon. We had lunch at the campground, then started on the Caldwell Fork Trail. After crossing the first bridge, we saw some hikers returning who warned us that bridges were out and we would have to wade through the river - but that wasn't going to stop us. We turned left on the Boogerman Trail and started hiking up. It was a gradual ascent with a few steep parts that continued for a while before heading back down.

Coming back down, we could see an old stone wall, evidence that the "Boogerman" had lived here before it was a park.

Past the stone wall was a very big tree with a cavity in it, big enough to fit in.

We continued back down to the end of the trail and turned right back on the Caldwell Fork Trail to head back. After a short ways, we came to the creek crossing with no bridge. When I was here in October, the bridge was broken, but crossable - now there was no bridge at all. So we took off shoes and socks and waded across at the horse crossing.

Although the water was very cold, it was only a foot deep or so and the weather was warm enough that it was not an issue. The next bridge we came to was there, but broken and we had to shimmy across the log. After that, the rest of the bridges were fine and we made it back to the trailhead. From the park we headed to our campsite - Brookside just west of the Nantahala Outdoor Center. We set up camp and headed to Robbinsville for dinner - unfortunately, the county is dry in the area so no beer (even on St. Patrick's Day!). Then back to the campsite to rest up for a big hike in the morning.

Windy Day at Hanging Rock

Yesterday, Sandy and I headed up to Hanging Rock State Park with the Raleigh hiking group for two more hikes in the 100 Classic Hikes series (#38 and #39). We parked at the visitor center and split into two groups with Brian leading the faster group and I led the slower group. This was fine with me, since I was carrying a backpack, which slows me down, especially on the steep climbs up to the mountains. Our group went to Hanging Rock first. We headed down the trail, which was paved at first then turned to a dirt road for a ways until a bench - the last resting point before the steep climb up he hill. Most of the elevation gain along the Hanging Rock Trail is in this last half-mile or so up to Hanging Rock.

It's mostly steps, but quite steep. But we made it up to the top and surprisingly, there was almost no one else there. At Hanging Rock. On a nice day. Well, it was a little cold and very windy, but I was still surprised to see no one else there. We all hung out on top of Hanging Rock for a while.

It would have been a great day for pictures, but the strong winds made it difficult to hold the camera steady - I'll have to go through pictures tonight and see how they came out. This was Sandy's first time to Hanging Rock and she enjoyed seeing all the interesting rock formations up there.

We climbed out and around at various spots and enjoyed wonderful views of the surrounding Piedmont countryside. We didn't go to far out on the rocks, though, because of the strong winds

After a short while, we headed back down the trail. At spot just under Hanging Rock, I stopped to see an interesting tree. It had grown straight up until it hit the overhanging rock, then made a 90° turn and grew out past the overhang, then starting growing up again. At the "elbow" where the tree hit the overhang, the tree had grown roots up into the rock.

We continued heading back down and made a quick stop at the visitor center to use the facilities, then continued on towards Moore's Wall. We followed the road into the family campground and then got on the Moore's Wall Loop Trail. Almost immediately, there is a stream crossing, then the many stairs up to Moore's Wall. We saw the other group here who were just coming down from Moore's Wall. Then the climb. The wind and temperature made the walk chilly, but at the same time, I was sweating from climbing - a peculiar sensation of being hot and cold at the same time. Finally, after a long climb, we made it to the top.

I ate my lunch here and we took some photos on Moore's Knob and from the lookout tower, then finished up the loop. After the lookout tower, the trail follows the ridgeline for a while with more interesting rock formations along the way, then descends down. After descending down the from the ridge, the wind was a lot lighter, as this part of the trail is protected on both sides by Moore's Wall and Cook's Wall. We followed the trail back towards the campground, through thickets of rhododendron. This would be a great hike in the late spring when the rhododendrons are blooming. Finally, we hiked along the lake and back to the parking lot to make the trip home.

Nags Head Woods

Yesterday, we did the next hike in the 100 Classic Hikes series - #1 in the book, Nags Head Woods Ecological Preserve. We left early in the morning and arrived at the preserve at about 11. We took the Center Trail around a couple very green ponds and across a couple bridges then took the Sweetgum Swamp Trail.

There was actually a fair bit of elevation gain for so close to the ocean.

We came out and followed a power line for a short ways, then back into the forest where the swamps were visible.

We took continued straight were the trail looped and followed it around to the Blue Berry Ridge and followed that around several small ponds.

Then back to finish up the Sweetgum Swamp loop and back to the visitor center.

We had lunch and few people went in the water, but it was too cold for me. We also tried to find Pungo Lake in Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, but got lost, so we'll have to do that hike at another time.