After work Hike with Paris. Every time we do one of these hikes I think we both wonder why we don't do it more often. It does not get much better than this!

I have been talking up this hike to Paris ever since the first time I stumbled on it and we finally got up there together. He concurred that it was all I had said it was and then some.

Felix trying to find a cool shady spot.

 Paris is one of my favorite hiking buddies. One reason is he is willing to explore some places even I will not go and there are not many places that I will not go,This cave is a perfect example. I aint crawling in there!

8/8/2015 Loop around Mt Mitchell and a little bit of MTS Trail just off of 128 near the Parkway. It was a Misty Mountain Hop kind of day.

Boyd is going out to the Rockies for an Elk hunt in about a month and he asked me to help him get ready for the high elevations out west. The best we can do for elevation training around here is the Black Mtn Crest. I invited Jon to join us on the hike. Jon is one of the new engineers at Conti,originally from Sweeden who also likes hiking and is eager to discover some of the local hikes. Everyone knows how I like to share the special places!

My Beautiful Girls, My Pride and Joy, Noel and Starla

Noel is home for a short break between her second summer session and Fall semester. She'll have to go back to Greenville to work on Saturday but I'm going to enjoy every second I can during her visit.

Gingercake Mountain Hike

 I searched Gingercake for a connector over to the Brushy Mountain Trail but I ran into several dead ends or over-grown trails. I even ended up following trails out to roads on the side of the mountain opposite where I started. Any way I ended up at some of my favorite overlooks and was out in the woods for 5.5 hours. Even if I didn't find the elusive trail down to the river, I'd say it was a successful outing.

Starla and I met up with Andy, Autumn, Forest and Mary Ann for a little hike around Mt Mitchell

Andy and Autumn were in from Montana and wanted my opinion on where they could do some car camping with Forest and Mary Ann. They wanted a spot near a mountain creek to cool down in. He was thinking about Upper Creek or Gragg Prong but I suggested down FS 472 by the South Toe since it is high elevation which equals cool temps this time of the year and some great hiking close by. They got a sweet site right at the bottom of Bald Knob Ridge Trail. Starla and I headed out to meet and hang with them on Saturday morning. I brought my acoustic and picked a little bit while we hung out for a while and swapped stories. After about an hour or so of note bending / rhythm and blues and tales of high water escapades, we headed over to the MT Mitchell parking lot and hiked out to Mt Craig then Star and I headed up to the Mt Mitchell peak. The last I saw Andy, he and Autumn were heading back to Forest's campsite to chill in the creek for awhile before heading back to his moms. Good to see all and glad they took my suggestion and were "Happy Campers". 

Good times were had by all!

Just as we left the parking lot and embarked on the trail who do we spot doing the same thing but Dan "The Hiking Man" Narten! And he was on a date with a lovely lady who I had the pleasure to meet. Great minds think alike. It was as close to as perfect a day as I can imagine to be up on the Black Mountain Crest!