Hiking Season

The winter is the best hiking season because you don't get so hot, there are no bugs, fewer snakes, no poison ivy and oak, it rains less often-even if the rains tend to last for days on end when it does rain-and there's usually no burn ban in the winter, so a lunch break campfire is possible.  Water is easier to find, the views are wide open, the sky has color, sunrise and sunset are crazy vivid, the clouds are more dramatic and the trails are less busy.

Melissa has latched on to hiking part of the AT next spring and I was all for seeing her off on her crazy early-March plan.  Hiking is one thing, camping quite another.  Now she's move the date to later in April and well...I'm thinking about it.

I ordered a custom made quilt from Enlightened Equipment that should arrive in late February (done screwing around with cold sleeping issues).  I upped my rehab (foot has been really painful of late) and bought Essential Wipes (https://www.essentialwipes.com/).  So basically, I am trail ready. hahaha!

I have been walking the 11 miles Richard Martin once a week, or more.  Last week I walked it twice.
Yesterday we knocked out 8.5 miles on a 15 mile trail over at Tim's Ford.  Melissa had to be home by 4 or we could have done the whole thing time-wise.  Not sure energy-wise.  Climbs are just harder than flat trail.  Karen and I carried 15 pound packs, Melissa planned to and her water bottle leaked and soaked it through.  So we kept our spirits up by making fun of her slacker ways.  I have been doing the treadmill and the local track some.  What I need is our trail to be opened back up!  We let the pasture grow over because we were told it would be bushhogged 'in 6 weeks' from that date and here it is...18 weeks later and nothing.  Grrr.  So that's going to be a full day of solid work to cut the path through those briars again.  So far, I have found other places to go just so I can put off the hand shredding.

Tims Ford is on a lake, it's a state park (TN) and it has a long trail that I have never heard of and last year, the rangers built a campsite on it.  So we went to check it out.  We did not make it to the campsite, despite being a fairly easy trail, the up and down terrain was more taxing than we'd anticipated (especially with a pack on!) and the rocks made us have to watch every step, no one had poles because no one thought ahead...anyway, we got about 4 miles back and had to turn around.  The trail is a lollipop trail, one long path in and out with a long loop at the end.  We got to just before the loop.

We got back to here, where we started and Melissa and I opted to hike on to the VC and Karen was going to drive around.
That worked out really well because there were 2 swinging bridges on that 1.3 mile stretch and Karen does not like those!  Melissa and I do.  :)