We got up around 6:00 and immediately went to check on our bear bag.  Thankfully it was still there……

We immediately started heating water for for coffee and tea and broke out the Granola bars.   Gotta love this photo with my head lamp on…..

The leaf colors were fairly dull early on in the hike, but as we moved further South, they became more and more colorful.   They were especially nice early in the morning and just before dusk as the sun would kiss the tops of the trees….

We cleaned out the tent and folded it down into this amazingly small bundle…..

I found this cool tree that was covered in Lichen….

It was even cooler when I put the camera under the lichen and took a photo of the underside….didn’t expect it to be brown…..

We left camp around 8:00 and headed on toward our destination.  We had a good laugh about how our trekking poles would pick up leaves along the way…..

We felt a bit like trash collectors doing community service!!!

We found this cool den built into the base of a tree……

Interestingly, the tree was still alive, even though much of the trunk was gone!!

We also passed this mass which I originally thought was a dirt covered rock….

As we passed it, we realized that it actually was a root ball from a fallen Pine Tree…..amazing size!!!!

We walked by a tree stump that had two large gallons of water sitting on it.  This was an example of “Trail Magic”, where non-hikers will go in and leave special treats for the passing hikers……

We arrived at our destination (Dick’s Creek Gap) at 12:05, covering 6.8 miles in four hours…..not a bad rate considering that much of this part was either up or down……

In total, we hiked 16 miles and were both a bit sore when we got back to the truck.  After driving 2-1/2 hours to get home again, we could barely get out of the truck!!!  Now, four days later, we are once again walking normally!!!

It was a fun two days!!!!!!

 

This past weekend, Michael and I enjoyed a two day backpacking trip on the Appalachian Trail.

We left our truck and met our “shuttle driver” at our destination (Dick’s Creek Gap) and were driven into southern North Carolina to Deep Gap.  We donned our backpacks at  9:40 and headed off for our adventure……

The first part was hard for me….first of all, I was worried about whether or not I would be able to make it thru the entire trip.  Also, the trail was fairly rocky and was covered in wet leaves, making it really slippery.   I was SO happy to realize that we had covered the first mile…that was truly a milestone for me!!!

I loved these leaves that were tucked away under a tree and were still covered with frost.  I really like how the veins are so well defined…..

We had to be careful to stay on the trail and not end up on a side trail, but fortunately most of those were pretty well marked……

The foliage varied through out the trip, including several Rhododendron tunnels….

We stopped for lunch at 12:05 at Muskrat Creek Shelter (about 4 miles into the hike) and decided to break out the stove and make some Cup-A-Soup.

We were interested in the table inside the shelter.  You could easily see where so many hikers had set up their stoves …..

The leaves were beautiful, however there were not a lot of good overlooks.  This was about the best one that we passed…..

 

We reached the North Carolina / Georgia border and had to take a photo of the famous “Twisted Tree”……

We stopped at our campsite about 3:30…..9.1 miles since we started this morning!!!   Michael started setting up our camp……

……first getting a rope into a tree to hold our food bag up away from any roving bears…..

Next was to re-fill our water bottles from the water source…..if that is what you would call this tiny trickle of water coming from a pipe……

Michael was able to use our filtration system to dip water out of the pool at the base of the drip.   It came out looking like this……

GROSSS!!!    But, after putting it thru the filter, it comes out looking like this…..

MUCH better!!!

Next was to get the tent set up…..

…..and inflate the sleeping pads.   Our friend, Lyn, had given us this wonderful invention to use to blow up the pad.   You simply blow into this tube a few times, attach it to the pad and roll up the bag to inflate the pad……

SO much easier than having to blow it up manually!!!!  

Michael got out the stove and cooked up a Rice, Brocolli and Cheese dinner for us……

By this time we were so tired that we simply hung the food in the tree, and crawled into bed…..it was 6:30!!!!

The night passed slowly, mainly because our tent was on a slight slant and we both kept sliding to the end of the tent.  It was fun to listen to the silence in the woods, with occasional interruptions from Owls, Hawks and other birds.  Fortunately, we were NOT visited by bears!!!!

Day two to come……