Post 900 Hike #3: Ace Gap, Beard Cane plus

Helping Dennis McAdams get all of his trails. Met Dennis at the entrance to Foothills Parkway in Walland ~8:00; in both of our cars we proceeded to Happy Valley and left his car at the end of Gold Mine Trail. We then proceeded in my car on Rich Mountain Road to the Ace Gap Trail Head; we were quite surprised at the number of vehicles there even though we knew it was my Wed. group which was doing an in-and-out on Ace Gap.

After about 1-2 hours we caught up with a few stragglers of this group; then we started bumping into more, most on their return trip. Many from the group (>30) planned to eat their lunches in Martha Sundquist’s yard; those that did not did a slightly longer hike.

After Dennis and I finished Ace Gap (5.6 mi.), we went Southwest on Beard Cane (4.2 mi.). Then we went on Cooper Rd 1.8 miles and ~0.5 mi. further until we reached its junction with Goldmine Trail (0.5 mi.). We then went in Dennis’s car back to my CRV at the Ace Gap Trail head.