Phil's Wedding then onto Tsali for a quick 10 mile ride

Pics soon.

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Exceptional Evening Ride: Chestnut Mtn, Bee Hive, and Upper Creek

Total distance: 12.7 miles
Total time: 2:55 Moving time 2:06 Stopped time: 49 min # of stops: 8
Avg moving speed: 6.0 mph
Starting and minimum elevation: 1,267' Max elevation: 3,324'
Start time: 5:22 pm Finish time: 8:17 pm

From B' Day Knob:

Climbing up Chestnut I came upon this site just off the trail:A cool campsite I was not aware of and a new trail out the back of the site to come back and explore soon: The location of the long gone Chestnut Fire Tower.

Onto Bee Hive:Roadside Attraction:

The Tunnel Trail

Fly fishing Upper Creek:

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Back to my favorite Pisgah NE trails including the Chestnut climb, Raider Camp, Long Ridge / Yellow Buck - the Spike, it's all good!

I parked at Wilson Creek and started with a warm up on the FS road. After about 10 miles I made it to the South Harper Creek waterfall. Unfortunately someone has been riding on Raidercamp with a 4 Wheeler. There were fresh tracks for a few miles.
By the time I got to this point it was all good trail:

From the falls looking back:

Ride stats:

Distance: 25.1 miles

Total time: 5:17 Moving time: 4:04 Stopped time: 1:12 # of stops: 15

Avg speed: 6.2 mph

All the hike-a-bike was well worth it.

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The Upper and Narrows of the Green then onto Kitsuma for a quick 10 mile loop

Judd, aka J-Dub and I decided since neither of us had our Green River keys, we would put in on the Upper and run it to get a nice warm up before hitting the Narrows. The Upper section was beautiful. We only saw one group of two people. A nice rain storm came through and actually had the water brown for a little ways but it cleared up and turned out to be a beautiful day.Steven caught up to us at Chief. It was good to run into him out there.
Common view of Steven on the river:J-Dub hittin the boof line:

In the Groove Tube:

J-Dub coming out of retirement and droppin' Sunshine:

The scene at Sunshine:

Steven Hughes, the Paddlin' Man-chine:

Keith Sprinkle:

Matias Nunez- good to see him out on the Green again, he's about to move to Argentina and start a new job:View of the Green Drys from High Bridge below;

Steven and I ran this years ago when the water was spilling over the top of the dam up rivier and this was all a long slide:

After the Green run, J-Dub and I stopped for a bite to eat in Hendersonville then I headed onto Ridgecrest for some evening mountain biking.

From Old 70 after riding Kitsuma:Distance: 10.1

Total time: 1:31 Moving time: 1:24 Stopped time: 6 min

# of stops: 4

Start time: 6:01 p.m. Finish time: 7:32 p.m.

Avg moving speed: 7.1 mph

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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