Welcome to the AppalachianTrailCafe.net!
Take a moment and register and then join the conversation

Took a walk today

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.

    • 10 miles round trip on the VA AT today. It was a gorgeous day! I fell again but luckily it was on my butt, after slipping on leaves.

      Car camping so brought my inexpensive fiddle to play around the campfire, fun times.
      Images
      • F4F541BE-C3A9-4589-A0D8-2148C6C2BB35.jpeg

        207.6 kB, 800×600, viewed 74 times
      Lost in the right direction.
    • There’s a reason I should never, never plan group hikes…I suck at it!

      I’m a very casual person and most often don’t bother to plan my hikes, I just head in a direction that looks good with whatever gear I throw in my pack. Sometimes it turns out bad but when I’m alone, who cares but me?

      Today I met Time Zone for a 10 mi hike on the East Lakeshore Trail. I told him all about the trail and how great it is to hike next to the lake.

      But the section I chose didn’t go near the lake, it went through a golf course (literally, the trail was on the golf cart path. It was my first time ever seeing a sign that hikers must yield to golf carts, lol!), paralleled a road, and went through some uninteresting woods.

      After 2 miles, we finally got near the lake but stumbled upon a hunter, field dressing a deer. Ummm…is it hunting season? Did I even bother to check? Of course not! Not only is it hunting season, but the hunter’s buddies who were further down the trail are “trigger happy”. So we turned around.

      Epic fail, and super embarrassed.

      So we drove to a different trailhead, hiked 3 miles round trip to bag the short Canal Branch section, and then hiked 0.6 mi the other direction to an amazing overlook, so I think I redeemed myself.

      Despite my screw up, it was an amazing day with great company.
      Images
      • 3B0C12F0-FD0D-4719-AE83-8CE72DA8EFAC.jpeg

        178.32 kB, 474×600, viewed 71 times
      • E831341D-8D51-4C94-B182-EC5E705B846B.jpeg

        288.69 kB, 800×600, viewed 67 times
      • BE734B19-5A5B-45B5-8767-8358ACF9B2C4.jpeg

        308.85 kB, 521×600, viewed 73 times
      • ED13497D-2FCF-45BE-9235-913CC3B80A17.jpeg

        408.02 kB, 800×600, viewed 76 times
      • 8FC9C3E2-B312-4500-A705-8580A0080638.jpeg

        190.17 kB, 800×600, viewed 77 times
      Lost in the right direction.
    • odd man out wrote:

      Traffic Jam wrote:

      jimmyjam wrote:

      You learned to make fire! You camping in VA ?
      Car camping…it’s easy to make a fire with a starter log!
      It's easy to start a fire with Girl Scout Water, at least that's what we called lighter fluid in the Boy Scouts
      Hand sanitizer is another Boy Scout favorite most hikers are already carrying. :)
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Tuesday,I hiked in a place I hadn't been to before, the Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Westchester, NY near the CT border. It's 4700 acres of mostly hardwood forest and roughly 42 miles of trails. As all of the leaves are now down, the footing was tedious. The trails I hiked were really kind of boring, but rugged enough to give me a good workout, even though I only hiked 7 miles.Couple of good viewpoints where I could see a few mansions (apparently Pound Ridge is one of the wealthiest towns in NY)Saw a couple of deer and a few turkey vultures.
      The only reason I'm glad I went was to check it off my list of unexplored trails. I won't be back.
      nynjtc.org/park/ward-pound-rid…n#dialog-park-description
      its all good
    • Traffic Jam wrote:

      There’s a reason I should never, never plan group hikes…I suck at it!

      I’m a very casual person and most often don’t bother to plan my hikes, I just head in a direction that looks good with whatever gear I throw in my pack. Sometimes it turns out bad but when I’m alone, who cares but me?

      Today I met Time Zone for a 10 mi hike on the East Lakeshore Trail. I told him all about the trail and how great it is to hike next to the lake.

      But the section I chose didn’t go near the lake, it went through a golf course (literally, the trail was on the golf cart path. It was my first time ever seeing a sign that hikers must yield to golf carts, lol!), paralleled a road, and went through some uninteresting woods.

      After 2 miles, we finally got near the lake but stumbled upon a hunter, field dressing a deer. Ummm…is it hunting season? Did I even bother to check? Of course not! Not only is it hunting season, but the hunter’s buddies who were further down the trail are “trigger happy”. So we turned around.

      Epic fail, and super embarrassed.

      So we drove to a different trailhead, hiked 3 miles round trip to bag the short Canal Branch section, and then hiked 0.6 mi the other direction to an amazing overlook, so I think I redeemed myself.

      Despite my screw up, it was an amazing day with great company.
      Funny trip report TJ.

      I await TZ's view on things.... :)
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • Tempted to reply with sarcasm and feigned frustration, but don't want to give anyone a heart attack. No, it's a pretty neat area and I didn't mind the brief crossing of the golf course (from one wooded area to another); I've experienced that before at Sewanee's Perimeter Trail. Though this was a longer diversion, but still, not a bother.

      Frankly I should have read up more about the area - that there are times when you might want to wear blaze orange because it's on public land, and consequently, there are hunting seasons that apply. The website (Watershed Association of the Tellico Reservoir) has this info buried in a wall of text on the landing page:



      WATeR wrote:

      There are several hunting seasons in Tennessee. You may wish to wear blaze orange or other easily visible clothing (from both front and back) during these seasons. However, to our knowledge, there have been no reports of anyone being shot while hiking the East Lakeshore Trail.


      Encouraging! So when we came across the hunter field dressing the deer, and he told of the other trigger happy hunters in the area, it eventually occurred to me that I wouldn't have wanted to continue on even WITH blaze orange on (which I normally have in my car but forgot). Anyway,that encounter made for a good story, more interesting than if we just had another 1.3 miles of woods before turning around. I mean, how often do you stumble upon such a scene? And without blaze orange on?

      The 1.5 mi (3 mi RT) Canal trail had a stretch with a nice soft bed of pine needles. I could hike on that stuff all day. Unfortunately it also had the requisite stretch of exposed,rutted out ATV trail near power lines.

      Finally, the overlook was terrific too as you could see from TJ's pix. Here's another shot - showing my fondness for rocky outcroppings. But not cliff diving. Not in that hat.

    • It was a Deliverance moment.

      We’re approaching a horse-shoe bend and I see an unmanned boat in the small cove. There’s no obvious bank or clear spot for anyone to disembark so I turn to TZ and say, “That’s weird, I hope there’s no one dead on that boat.” The next thing I see is a deer with its entrails spilling onto the ground and a good ole boy brandishing a knife.

      But he was very nice and we chatted for a minute about safety and he agreed we should turn around due to his trigger happy friends. Wouldn’t want to be the first hikers shot on the ELT. :D

      Fun times!
      Lost in the right direction.
    • Got a late start, so did an urban walk today. 70 degrees at 4:00.

      Lousy picture. The mountains were much more impressive in person. Looks like to me disc golf is as boring as regular golf. Throwing a frisbee in an open field with friends is much more fun. At least it was 50 years ago. At least nobody sliced or hooked a "drive" in my direction.

      I admit to being a lousy photographer, but in my defense I had no idea what I was shooting because of the sun.
      Images
      • PXL_20221117_000130779.jpg

        238.59 kB, 800×600, viewed 77 times
      • PXL_20221117_002953388.jpg

        148.81 kB, 450×600, viewed 70 times
      2,000 miler

      The post was edited 2 times, last by max.patch ().

    • I did a 6 mile urban walk yesterday. Nothing noteworthy about it so I didn't mention it. But a few hours later I got a notification from Fitbit that I earned the coveted Great Wall badge :) having walked the 5,500 mile length of the Great Wall. I wonder what's next.

      ETA Actually some of the graffiti was quite good but I didn't take any pictures.
      2,000 miler
    • Sabino Canyon. Nice day, 60 degrees and sunny. I prefer hiking with plenty of trees and water over the desert but I'll be back. Lot more to see here.
      Images
      • PXL_20221124_213814512.jpg

        267.5 kB, 800×600, viewed 65 times
      • PXL_20221124_220024684.MP.jpg

        218.17 kB, 450×600, viewed 73 times
      2,000 miler
    • Well actually it was yesterday we took a walk. It was 8 miles in a state park here on Long Island. The first half of the day was in light rain but during our lunch break the rain stopped. Like much of Long Island it was very flat. During the day we saw deer, and on the lake geese, ducks, and swans. We even ran into a few other people. All in all it was a very low key and relaxing day.
    • I did another section of the local-ish lakeshore trail. This time I wore blaze orange. As soon as I started hiking, there were repetitive gunshots close by and it freaked me out. It sounded like someone target practicing but I’m a stubborn fool and decided to start and see what happens.

      In the first mile, I hiked parallel to a road and it sounded like someone was shooting on the opposite side of the road but there were houses over there which was weird. I just kept going.

      Towards the end of the hike, I met a hunter and his young son and we chatted for a few minutes. It made me feel better that their blaze orange made them very visible through the trees…mine must be working too!
      Lost in the right direction.
    • I had to make a run to Chattanooga so met TZ for a hike at White Oak Mt. It was one of my favorite types of hikes, no plan, just meander and go where it looks interesting.

      We hiked up the steep Christmas Top trail, went to Points Unknown, and practiced our balancing skills on the teeter-totter bike ramp. We also discovered that the Pacific Northwest tree octopus has made its way into Tennessee!

      ;)
      Images
      • 9DE05D51-BD2E-4DB8-959D-50E3AE6C5C8F.jpeg

        391.05 kB, 800×600, viewed 67 times
      • ACD1B14C-1C78-46FA-A05B-1575354E359E.jpeg

        221.35 kB, 479×600, viewed 59 times
      • 0F85147E-A844-4FED-B914-9D3930878B2B.jpeg

        261.71 kB, 509×600, viewed 54 times
      Lost in the right direction.
    • Yesterday Kathy and I took a 6 mile walk in New Jersey's South Mountain Reservation. We'd never been there before and really hadn't set out to walk there yesterday. We had to go to NJ for other reasons and then were driving secondary roads when we came across the place. We didn't have a map of the place but there was a large trailhead map where we parked. The map said the park was 2100 acres and it was crisscrossed with woods roads and trails. We picked a route and set out at about 11AM. Since we'd had 2 days of heavy rain the days before there were lots of puddles and mud and the Rahway River was running high and fast. We took a break in an area with 2 beautiful waterfalls. We got back to the car around 4PM after getting a little off course. We backtracked until we got back to our original route, which took us back to the parking area.
    • Between the end of the Kennesaw basketball game and the start of the Georgia football game had time to wander 4 miles thru the desert. That gives me an even 600 miles on the year. Disappointing total, but a number that starts with a 6 is better than one that starts with a 5.

      Hopefully more next year. Can't complain; had a couple of extended trips to Tucson, a knee that didn't respond to my annual injection very well this time, and a significant amount of time staying current with the findings of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
      2,000 miler
    • Started the New Year with an 8-mile hike in the playground of my youth, the Middlesex Fells Reservation, north of Boston.


      Skyline Trail


      Wright's Tower, Medford. Unfortunately it was closed :(

      The view of Boston from Pine Hill, Medford, MA

      'The Sheepfold,' now apparently a Dog Park.


      Bear Hill Tower, Stoneham, MA. Locked up :( Now apparently it is considered unsafe. Trust me, it was never safe. We loved hanging out here as kids anyways.
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • Traffic Jam wrote:

      Started to head out to the East Lakeshore Trail, my first hike of 2023, but decided to bail. I strained a dang muscle while running on NYD, ugh. I expected it to be better today.

      I want to hike as much as possible before foot surgery but my body isn’t cooperating.
      Unfortunately can relate. After 15 miles to complete the original Ozark Highland Trail last Wednesday my plantar fasciitis it letting me know I wasn't stretching enough leading up to it. With age comes more freedom, but the body can throw its own challenges at us.
      The road to glory cannot be followed with much baggage.
      Richard Ewell, CSA General
    • Took an 8.5 mi walk on the BMT yesterday with Time Zone. We met at Hiwassee Outfitters and hiked to Lost Creek Campground and back. It was overcast with a chilly start but very pleasant nonetheless.

      Of course there was a snafu. I screwed up the beginning in the exact same way that I did last time…went under the first trestle and crossed the stream, taking time to change shoes…and it was the wrong direction and wrong crossing. Ugh. Ugh. Ugh.
      I think TZ has learned to expect my screw ups.

      The water wasn’t the coldest I’ve experienced but it was cold, causing painful toes for a while.

      It was a really nice day and was awesome to get out to the woods.
      Images
      • E3C302D8-C198-44D6-8210-465D8CD27530.jpeg

        303.85 kB, 800×600, viewed 49 times
      • 3D8C8A75-2DC7-4A62-964F-E3D28C1E3DE1.jpeg

        244.05 kB, 489×600, viewed 48 times
      • 1D73C0FA-4D4A-430E-BE29-598402DA55B9.jpeg

        270.78 kB, 490×600, viewed 51 times
      Files
      Lost in the right direction.
    • Took a Walk Yesterday in Corona Park, Queens, site of the 1964 World's Fair.



      Atlas Shrugged (my daughter Siobhan).


      The ruins of the 'Tent of Tomorrow,' New York Pavilion.

      That does not look UL?
      “Of all sad words of tongue or pen,
      the saddest are these, 'It might have been.”


      John Greenleaf Whittier
    • Met my friend at Mayberry State Park yesterday morning and we hiked 4.1 miles. Walked on some of the horse trails and they obviously haven't been out much lately as there was hardly any horse apples on the trail and what little there was, looked to be weeks, maybe months old. Only a handful of cars in the parking lot so we never saw another hiker until the last 1/2 mile and he was a jogger.

      I have Leki poles and one of them has stopped being tight so I can't get it to stay the length I need. Any suggestions on how I can get it repaired? Should I contact Leki directly or would there be anyone at REI that might be able to fix it?
    • LIhikers wrote:

      I remember going to the 64 world's fair as a kid
      The thing that impressed me the most was the helicopters coming and going to the fair.
      When we went into the Country of Monaco pavilion, an attendant started talking to me. My Dads friend was with us, and of course he was scoochin' with my Dad. And then I told the girl that my Dad owned this country! ...............................for those that don't know.....my last name is.....Monaco!
      Cheesecake> Ramen :thumbsup: