Post 900 Hike #108: Low Gap II--2.5, Low Gap I--2.5, Big Greek--~1.0, Camel Gap--4.1, AT--2.4, Low Gap--2.5

This is a hike that BZ Lane recommended; I encouraged him to select something for his second map because he hiked with me the past two weeks on hikes that I needed for my Geezer Map. I submitted this Thursday hike to our Wednesday Hiking Group; John Hutsenpiller, Judy Gross, and Ramsay Roth indicated that they wished to do this hike too. I picked up John at Cracker Barrel ~07:05, Ramsay picked up his fellow Gatlinburg resident BZ, and Judy drove in from Ashville NC.

We got started on Low Gap II ~08:32 and finished it (>2000' of gain) at 09:42. My new boots felt great; however, on Low Gap I (~1300' of down, I realized that my sock selection was not appropriate; I had to stop to administer 1st aid. (I caught up with my cohorts; in an unguarded moment at lunch, they are: Ramsay, Judy, BZ, & John.)



On Camel Gap (~1700' of gain), my feet felt good; towards the end of Camel Gap I pushed and got my HR up to 150 on two different occasions. The section of the AT that we then did had both ups and downs; that's where this picture of the rhododendron was taken.



I decided to lead on our final leg (Low Gap II--going down this time) in order that I could ice my knee prior to leaving the GSMNP. If one gets a little advanced of the group, one is more apt to encounter surprises unless one talks to oneself very loudly. In many of my early hikes shortly after starting hiking back in 2005, I often led in hopes that I would see a bear; today it happened. I rounded a curve and low and behold there was a good size male (I think--he did not expose self that much) on the trail. (If you look carefully at this picture you'll see some "extra black" just to the left of his head--you can enlarge by clicking on it.) This I subsequently learned was another bear (assume female or one large cub) who quickly left the trail on the downhill side after seeing me.



I had frozen in my tracks upon the initial citing, after all, bears are supposed to be scared of people. However, the male bear obviously did not know what his reaction was supposed to be when he saw a human; he just eyed me for what seemed to be a very long time! Turning around and running on my part would have totally been inappropriate because the literature states that such a behavior could result in being chased (when I worked for the Forest Service back in the 50's we were told that at least Idaho bears could beat a race horse in 50 yds); having nothing better to do, I zoomed in on him to get the next picture.



Although it seemed like quite awhile, he eventually followed his mate (or offspring) down the embankment. I moved cautiously forward down the trail yelling as I went until I had well-passed the point they had originally defended; I also frequently looked back to ensure that I was still alone on the trail.

I was icing my knee ~16:00 and enjoying a soft drink (that John provided) when my cohorts arrived at our vehicles; it was then that I took out my camera and asked BZ to look at my last picture; although I had not looked at it yet, by his exclamation I knew that I had captured the moment. Shortly thereafter we left the Cosby parking lot; I dropped John off at the Cracker Barrel ~17:35 and arrived home ~18:05; I had put on ~150 miles roundtrip.

Pedometer trivia:
15.69 mi.
33,154 steps
31,367 aerobic steps
1,224 kcal burned

Post 900 Hike #107: Old Settlers Trail--15.8, Madron Bald--1.2

This was a hike proposed by Doug Jerger; he is one of several whom I have endeavored to help attain their 900 Miler certification. Selfishly I must admit that this is a trail that I needed for my Geezer Map (i.e., doing the 900 miles after age 75).

After Doug announced this relatively arduous hike, four responded including me. I then called one of my best hiking buddies BZ Lane, who played a most critical role in my completion of the 900 miles; he said that he would be most willing to do this hike even though it is not one needed for his second map. Readers of this blog will note that I hike with BZ quite frequently; he is a very strong hiker and one great guy. I should mention that most do this hike in two sections with the Noisy Creek Manway as the division line; however, Doug, who is also my X-C ski buddy and has run marathons, does not shy away from arduousness.

I arrived at Food Lion ~07:15; I rode with Doug and Dave Amendt was also a passenger. We arrived at SVC ~08:05; besides BZ, Dana Murphy and Ramsey Roth (both of Gatlingburg--BZ and I met Dana last week as she hiked ~17 mi. alone) were also wanting to do this hike. BZ, Doug, Dave, and I went in Dana's SUV to the Old Settlers trailhead in Greenbier; Dana and Ramsey went in BZ's SUV to the Madron Bald trail head relatively close to Cosby.

We were on the trail at 08:55; this trail goes through what was part of the most densely settled area of what eventually became the GSMNP. The trail is relatively easy except for length; it includes nominal gains as well as declines in altitude with numerous stream crossings that for the most part are relatively easy. It also includes many chimneys and rock fences that remain from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.



At ~12:10 we met Dana and Ramsey; our group backtracked a bit so that we could all eat lunch together. (Regret not taking a picture here, Dana would have brightened up the group of old men.) Assume we started back on trail ~12:30. Shortly we came to the most impressive stone fence (there are many) that parallels this trail; by my pacing the one pictured is ~350 feet in length (Brownbook states that it is >100 yds).



This most unique fence took an inestimable number of hours to construct. I assume that every member of one family (and probably descendents) took part in its construction.

Close to the end of our hike we took ~0.2 mi. sojourn to a barn estimated to have been build ~1876. Attached to it but not seen in the picture is what appears to be very well constructed corn (or other grain) storage compartment.



We arrived at BZ's vehicle ~16:00 and I iced my knee. It was then back to SVC and into Doug's SUV; I arrived home ~18:00 after stopping to pick up dinner. It was a great day and a good hike; it's length and difficulty was about the same as last week's hike (rock-hopping stream crossings instead of elevation were its bane).

Pedometer trivia:
16.67 mi.
35,217 steps
33,124 aerobic steps (with all the stream crossings, some steps quite short and not interpreted as being areobic.
1,308 kcal burned.

Post 900 Hike #106: Cataloochee Divide--4.6, McKee Br--2.3, Caldwell Fork--1.4, Hemphill Bald--3.0, Cataloochee Divide--6.4

Our hiking group had two alternate hikes scheduled (including a 16.9 mi. one) in the Catalooche area when BZ Lane and I offered one of 17.7 mi. I left home ~05:50, ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel (our meet-up site) and left there ~07:00 with no one opting for our hike and thus I drove alone. (We had an additional taker from NC who had planned to meet BZ and me at the trailhead but she had to cancel.) I picked up BZ at Exit 440 at 07:45; an exit that he and I had met at many a time as he engineered my completing the requirements for membership in The 900-Miler Association in late 2006 and early 2007. We arrived at Cataloochee Divide trailhead at the entrance to the GSMNP off Cove Creek Road and began our hike at 08:20. (My roundtrip vehicle mileage from home to trailhead and back home was ~195 mi.)

We finished McKee Branch at 11:22 (4.6 mi.& 2.3); somehat to our surprise we had met an attractive young lady chugging right up the most difficult McKee Branch Trail. We stopped for lunch after completing the 1.4 mi. section of Caldwell Fork; There we talked with two other hikers; we were surprised that they had not seen the other hikers from our group who had started at the N-end of Caldwell Fork. We shortly came across a Northern red oak with a 6-foot diameter trunk (see Brown Book. That is BZ standing by it.



We met the young lady again and found that she was the daughter of one of our hikers from Gatlinburg that BZ knew. We finished the 3.0 section of Hemphill Bald in ~78 min.; at this point my pedometer registered 11.6 mi. (map distance was 11.3).

As we were debating leaving a note for our cohorts whom we thought might have had a problem, Doug and Ellie came into view; the reason that no one we met had seen them is that they chose to go up McKee Branch (it's an unpopular trail either way). After talking with them a few minutes we learned that (a) we would meet the rest of their group shortly and (b) the young lady we met probably intended to hike with them (she had just been added to our mailing list) but decided to hike alone.

We started out on the S-end of Cataloochee Divide at 14:48 and we both estimated that we would complete the 6.4 mi. and arrive at my SUV by 16:30; we got there at 16:28. We stopped at the SWAG's picnic area and took a few pictures; the next one presented here includes the trails of the Maggie Valley ski resort.



The fallen dead tree just off the trail with the spiral grain we believe must be a chestnut. The last picture presented are mountains outside of the GSMNP in NC. When we arrived at my vehicle BZ drove in order that I could ice my knee. In the first few miles the road is in essence a one-lane gravel road that is 2-way. Until we reached the pavement BZ was a gentleman and pulled near the road's edge to make it easier for up-hill traffic. As he drove on I-40 we were able to survey the extensive repair done on the mountain that closed the road for about half a year.

I dropped BZ off, picked a sandwich after ~ 40 mi., and arrived home ~19:00. My Airedale Terrier Winston, who had been couped up most of the day, expected to play and we did.






Trivia:
Age 75 yr 10 mo.
Ht 6' & Wt 157.2 lb., % body fat 12.9
Max. HR ~138--ups and down rather than continuous ups
Today's hike:17.7 mi.
Omron data:
17.77 mi.
37,547 steps
33,982 aerobic steps
1,384 kcal burned

Post 900 Hike #105: Rainbow Falls (6.0), Bull Head (5.9), Old Sugarlands (0.4)

After my air conditioning was fixed ~17:45 this passed Tuesday and I was freed for hiking on Wed., I called Vicki Watkins to see if there was a space for me in her Newfound Gap to Cosby Hike (~25 mi.) relative to logistics. There was and I was ready to go; however, when my wife returned home later that evening she reminded me tht one of my two local granddaughters was in her school play on Wed. evening; had I gone on Vicki's long hike I would have been far too late to see any part of Marilee's play. Fortunately I had also made arrangements with John Hutsenpiller to do Rainbow Falls and Bullhead on Friday. John needed Bull Head for his 1st map; I had done both trails for my 2nd map but needed both for my Geezer Map (i.e., trails completed after age 75).

John picked me up at Lakeside Market at 07:30; we started on Rainbow Falls at 09:00 and we would have ~2700 ft. of gain by the time we reached Bull Head junction. The parking lot was relatively full, but evidently we got ahead of most. The first picture in my not too good picture taking day was of Rainbow Falls. Subsequently we met a father and two sons (possibly we saw his wife too) and later two couples, all who had spent the night at LeConte Lodge.



About one half mile of reaching Bull Head, I put it in what was my highest gear in my endeavor to reach this trail by noon. I got there at 12:01; however, I only got my HR to 146. (I wanted to get to 150 on my new Omron HR monitor.)



Both of us aired our feet at lunch; mine were sweaty and I put talcum poweder and fresh socks prior to our departure at 12:30. Much to our surprise we saw much more traffic on Bull Head than Rainbow Falls (two couples going up, ~10 at the Pulpit (not sure which way they were going), and a couple taking some "serious" photographs (assume they were doing and in-and-out on just part of Bull Head). At 14:50 we had finished Bull Head and had ~0.4 mi. to go on Old Sugarlands to get to the parking lot.

In addition to my new HR monitor (which seemed to work great on my hike today and on my treadmill Wed.--my old one would often show spuriously high readings particularly at the start of running workouts), while ordering it I also ordered an Omron pedometer (HJ-72ITC). This one does not rely on the pendulum technology seen in most; moreover it can be placed in a pocket (as well as on the belt) and collects data that can be downloaded to a computer. (For those who have followed this blog for some time, I also had one of these ~one year ago but lost it after a hike in Colorado.) The data that it provided me on today's hike were: Steps--28205, Aerobic steps--26238, kcals burned--1041, miles hiked--13.35. (I may have to tinker with stride length; however, I may have had it on when I walked my dog prior to hiking this a.m.)