July 2: Day 2 at the Red White & Bluegrass Festival and Mountain Heart gets Tied To The Whipping Post

Fourth of July shut down at work and I've used the time out of work to clean and paint the deck. Thursday I stepped it up a notch and made some good headway. I finally got to the festival at about 7:00 and left at 11:30. I couldnt get Clara Ann or the girls to go along so I went solo. I got to see The Grascals, IIIrd Tyme Out, then both bands together:THENMountain Heart.
MH mentioned that they have been doing some shows with Tony Rice (I saw them together at Merle Fest) but he didnt make it this evening. They still did Me And My Guitar and it was a great version but Tied To The Whipping Post sealed the deal. A old guy sitting in the same general area told his lady friend he was not staying to hear Mountain Heart. When she asked him why he replied they are too rock. I was glad he left before Mountain Heart started, as I was tired of trying to tune his loud mouth out while listening to The Grascals and IIIrd Tyme Out.
Mountain Heart did use more reverb / processing on the vocals than any other band Wednesday or Thursday and they were noticably louder. Also he has a more bluesy rock quality to a lot of his vocals which is great but not as common in Blugrass. I didnt mind any of these, they rocked the house!
July 3: Painted Deck - no concerts

July 1: Day one of the Red, White and Bluegrass Festival

First day of the Red White and Bluegrass Festival is over and my favorite group was The SteelDrivers. After checking out every SteelDriver nugget I could find on YouTube, I expected a lot and they delivered. I consider them Bluegrass Honkeytonk. An Angel on each shoulder. Whiskey, Guns, and Guitars. Corn Liquor. Yes I bought the CD and got the autographs.
Clara Ann's favorite was the headliners, Dailey and Vincent, their harmonies and polish is amazing. Not many groups are half as tight as those guys. Starla went with me early in the day and we saw the three sisters out front and dad on the bassGold Heart, and then some of Heather Berry's set. Clara came back with me and we got to seeJr. Sisk & Ramblers Choice, The SteelDrivers, Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers, then the main act Dailey and Vincent. Gold Heart was nice, Jr. Sisk sang his butt off, Heather Berry had a beautiful voice and could go to town on that Autoharp and Larry Sparks was about as traditional as they come. It is no wonder Dailey and Vincent head lined the first night here, they took home seven awards at the 2008 International Bluegrass Music Awards Show, including Entertainer of the Year and Album of the Year. They were really tight when I saw them at the Merle Fest and were to night as well. An all around great start off to an awesome 4 day line up!
Amos' Epics

A SoulO Ride of my favorite MTB trails in the Wilson Creek Area of Pisgah

My first creek crossing of the day:

Some nice waterfalls upstream of the creek crossing:

I am very thankful to who ever adopted this section of trail:

Some old growth forest.Something for everyone on this ride:

My second creek crossing:

Rhododendren is starting to bloom:

The only people at the falls were 2 guys up top and a small group in the big pool below the slide. I had the middle pool all to myself.Perfect place for a little swim to cool down:

Scopeing out the move:

He started sliding before he was ready but ended up ok.

Distance: 23 miles

Total time: 5:31 Moving time: 3:37 Stopped time: 1:54 # stops: 19

Min elevation: 1,364' Max elevation: 2,852'

Avg moving speed: 6.4mph

Amos' Epics

Wednesday Afterwork Ride with Johnny Calhoun

It was hot but the heat and humidity was not nearly as bad as when I made this climb on Saturday. It is much more fun when you can breathe.
Looking back at the stuff we climbed up to make it to the parkway:

Above was the last time I saw Johnny. I stopped to get a shot of him riding by with the fire tower in the background. The fire tower is right at the top of the picture. It is barely visible in the photo above but you can see it pretty good from the parkway at this point. He shouted fire tower when he went by me and I assumed that he meant that was where he was going. I was wrong and never saw him again.

Distance: 13 miles

Total time: 2:59 Moving time: 2:27 Stopped time: 32 min

Start time: 5:32 Finish time: 8:32

Min elevation: 1,646' Max elevation: 4,769'

Amos' Epics

Fathers Day. The girls got me an I-Pod and two runs on the Watagua. I dont know how they did it but they got the level just right.

The first run with Gaston and Layla felt like about 400 cfs thanks to the extra water Beech Creek was dumping into the river. A guy dislocated his shoulder at Split Decision before we got there. Lucky for him John Fuller, Mack, and Mike were there to help him get across the river and to hike out to the road. Those guys deserve some good karma over that. By the time we got to the scene they were out of their boats and were walking through the yard of the closest house on river left. We were not sure what was going on but they gave us the everyone's ok helmet tap which we saw as our exit signal and proceeded to run Vernon's Folly which was incredibly fun, the eddy was exceptional at this level.
Gaston at a little rapid we call Hydro: Next Layla:

The photo of the day, Layla with a great boof:

After driving Gaston and Layla back to the put-in, I waited for a little over an hour before Alex showed then Michael and Brian also made an appearance. We had a great group for a 2nd run. Milton ran the van back to the takeout for us and we were set. The level was at least 25 cfs lower but still a great level.
My second run:

Michael:

Alex droppin' it in the Crossfire:

Thanks to Brian for taking the shots at the falls:

On my drive back down Hwy 181:

A Box Turtle was laying eggs in our backyard:

Amos' Epics

Saturday, June 20: Solo Heartbreak Ridge Loop - I forgot my camera

It was a hot and humid day. Trail conditions were exceptional although there was a couple of blow downs on the climb, only one new tree down on the Heartbreak downhill. On the climb I stopped to adjust my brakes for a few minutes and got eaten up by mosquitoes. A little more elevation thinned them out significantly.
Total Distance: 23 miles
Total time: 5:02 Moving time: 3:45 Stopped time: 1:16
Min elevation: 1,483' Max elevation: 4,757'

Amos' Epics

2 Runs on Wilson Creek After Work

Steven "the machine" Hughes left me a message about heading to Wilson Creek this afternoon. I made it after work and caught up with him and RB running shuttle. We got one run in with RB then Steven and I did one more: his 4th, my 2nd. Steven was on fire. I was looking at his back most of the 2nd run. I'm glad we were not in a race because I doubt I would have been able to see him at all after the first or second turn in the creek. The man is a paddling machine!

If this looks like fun thats because it really, really is:

I never looked at the gage but it felt like +2". I hate I missed the exceptional level on Wednesday. Next time...

Amos' Epics

Friday Afternoon Wilson Creek a little below 0

I made two soulo runs and jogged my shuttle twice. There was a lot of "wildlife" on the creek today but very few boaters. I'm sure some of the groups enjoying the beaches and granite out there were celebrating the end of the school year - I actually got mooned by one of the more vivacious young ladies - crazy times at the creek. The entire time I was paddling or jogging my shuttle, the ony paddlers I saw was one group of Duckies at Razor Back on my first run and Knut and a couple of other guys taking off the creek after I ran shuttle for my second run. The weather and water temperature was great.

I waited for awhile at Triple Drop hoping to get a picture of someone running it but no one came through. It was a good day to just hang out on the rocks, eat a few snacks and chill out.Amos' not so Epic but so much fun...

Big Ride Starting From Upper Creek up Chestnut Mtn to Raidercamp, Upper Harper Creek to North Harper Creek to Yellow Buck to Sinkhole/Goat Trail

Whatever:Thanks to Johnny Calhoun for bringing the camera and taking some pics. It was a helluva hot day and a big ride. The Morganton weather forecast was high temp of 85 and the "feel like" temp of 95. I don't think it was much cooler than that where we rode. The trail conditions were very good especially considering the amount of rain we have had recently. We chose the trails that drain well. Sinkhole was the most wet out of all the trails we rode and it wasn't too wet except the slippery slope which was treacherous and the normal moist section. The steep down hill was in great shape and totally ride able.

Total mileage: 26.3 very hard earned miles
Total time: 6:06 moving time: 4:06 # of stops: 16
Avg speed: 6.4 mph (that avg includes the hike a bike of which there was plenty)
Start/min elevation: 1,259' Max elevation: 2,854' Total elev gain: 7,074'
Start time: 1:06 p.m. Finish time: 7:13 p.m.

Amos' Epics

Vacation day Friday: Early Afternoon Watagua @ 375 cfs then Wilson Creek Soulo at +2.5"

I met up with Johnny Calhoun, Woody, Chris, and Frank at the Watagua around noon.
Woody sportin' the double six shooter helmet, click on the pic to enlarge and note the silhouette on the flags:Chris (Crankee) Roberts and Johnny Calhoun Blue Angeling the falls:
Post a great Watagua run and on my drive to Wilson creek, I loaded up on a Cheeseburger from the put in store. The old mgmt called it a Country Boy, now it is just "all the way", still one helluva sandwich:

3"; An excellent level at Wilson Creek ^. A most excellent SoulO run after a Watagua run. Thanks for the shuttle help Michael E. and congrats on Graduation.

Amos' Epics

Thursday Watagua Run with Johny Calhoun

Johnny Calhoun running it.

This guy talked me into another after work Watagua run.

Amos' Epics

Monday After Work SOuLO Ride

Still trying to figure out what kind of snake this guy is:

I didnt get started until about 5:30 but managed to ride up Craig Creek Road to Chestnut Mountain to Raidercamp, and onto Upper Harper Creek and right down to Harper Creek.
Amos' Epics

Sunday, May 31: Wilson Creek in the Full Tilt then ride the Figure Eight with Mike Huggins

Mike and I met up at Wilson Creek with the intent of a paddle and MTB ride. We were not dissapointed. The level on Wilson Creek was still about 1.5 inch above 0. Fun Times:

We took turns getting some full on surfs in the Full Tilt.

Onto ride the Figure 8 starting with Sinkhole/Goat Trail:We are having an incredible spring!The Views from Birthday KnobThe next two are from The Big O: Amos' Epics

Saturday at Wilson Creek: 5 runs at 4.5" to 3.5".

Amos' Epics