January 2, 2010 - 8 AM Condition: Temp at Trackrock: 16 degrees. Temp at Lake Winfield Scott: Considerably Colder Winds: Blowing hard, maybe 20 mph gusts Out of the car, we see a couple of snowflakes. We didn't expect that. We quickly wrap up with the remainder of our jackets, hats, and gloves, but too late for the quick chill of cold winds whipping across the lake. It is not too hard to get moving in order to beat off already numb hands and frozen ears. We move over the footbridge and on to...
Hiking, Slickrock Creek Wilderness, Southeast / 26.12.2009
Stiffknee Hike
Stiffknee In December Day 1 December 20th 2009 Why would I leave on a snowy December weekend to go on a solo hike in a seldom visited North Carolina mountain wilderness area? Could it be that withdrawal symptoms are taking hold? A return to the solitude of the mountains and the adventure of the hike seems the best cure. It is time to notch another new trail on my backpacking waist strap. At 4:30 AM on a Saturday morning I am pulling out of the neighborhood. Two and a half hours later, I am on the Tapoca Dam...
Hiking, Western US, Yosemite / 01.11.2009
Yosemite Hike October 2009
I was in San Ramon, California on a business trip to meet the people who worked in the Voice Mail Tier I/II support center who I had just been assigned to manage. Since I was conviently close to Yosemite, I stayed over an extra week to backpack through the wilderness for 8 days. My first day of backpacking was on October 17th, a little late in the season with many facilities closed or cut back in an area famous for its heavy snowfalls. The positives was were vanished crowds and...
Hiking, Smoky Mountains, Southeast / 27.09.2009
Eagle creek double loop hike
Eagle Creek Double Loop Hike - Smokey Mountain National Park This hike starting at Fontana dam completes a double loop formed by hiking up to the Appalachian Trail on the NC/TN divide 2 times via Eagle Creek, then by Hazel Creek, returning to the NC valley via Jenkins Ridge and Welch Ridge respectively. Highlights of the trail are the areas documented by Horace Kephardt in "Our Southern Highlanders" when he lived near Hazel Creek / Jenkins Ridge near the settlement of Medlin for 3 1/2 years in the early...