Off for a Cold Weather Mountain Trek with Mapper66 Tomorrow!

Brian Jones

Brian Jones

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Tim, Jedi, and I are doing a 10-mile hike tomorrow in the Pisgah National Forest, that will take us from the Black Balsam area through the Shining Rock Wilderness, Pisgah Game Land, and Graveyard Fields with elevation gain of over 3600'. I'm pumped! It's expected to be mid-30s in town, so it will probably be 20 degrees colder up in the mountains, with gusty winds up to 40 mph. We expect to be on the trail at 9 am, after a 45 minute drive up there. I'm pumped! We will get lots of pictures. Courtesy of Tim, here's our planned route (in red):

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Estimated return to our starting point at 2:30-3 pm. We will check back in here tomorrow eve.
 
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Sounds like a great trip, wish we had areas like that around here to hike in.

Don't know if you guys have a lot of snow, but keep an eye out if you do and the wind picks up. It gets dangerous very quickly in whiteouts, trust me. Just took a short hike today, 20-30 mph winds and -5F ambient temperature and that wind is brutal. Easy to get disoriented.

Stay safe and have fun!
 
Looks like a really nice outing. Was the purpose to cut as many contour lines as possible? :confused: JK, have a great time and be safe.

Doc
 
DOC-CANADA said:
Looks like a really nice outing. Was the purpose to cut as many contour lines as possible? :confused: JK, have a great time and be safe.

Doc
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Yes, that's how I like them! ;)

I just roughhanded the trail in on the map. That's not the exact route, so there won't be so many little ups and downs.
 
Have fun, be careful. Wish I was still there, I'd love to join you.
Watch out for bees!!!
 
That sucks! :) Thats just about 3 miles from where I used to live! Pisgah Forest is where I started my hiking . I'll be there in spirit with you guys!
 
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Dammit.

Scratch all this. My F@#$&#*#&! stomach flu is acting up again and my fever is back up. If I could punch the living sh*t out of a virus I would be pummeling it right now. Our hike will have to wait.

God F***ing Dammit!!!! It's back up to over 100.
 
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Brian Jones said:
Dammit.

Scratch all this. My F@#$&#*#&! stomach flu is acting up again and my fever is back up. If I could punch the living sh*t out of a virus I would be pummeling it right now. Our hike will have to wait.

God F***ing Dammit!!!! It's back up to over 100.
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Couldn't be all those cut contour lines brought it back? :rolleyes:


JK, bro. Hope you feel better soon.

Doc
 
Brian Jones said:
Dammit.

Scratch all this. My F@#$&#*#&! stomach flu is acting up again and my fever is back up. If I could punch the living sh*t out of a virus I would be pummeling it right now. Our hike will have to wait.

God F***ing Dammit!!!! It's back up to over 100.
Click to expand...

Nothing ruins a trip worse than that...that really sucks as I don't get too many opportunities, so I feel for ya Brian. Hope you get better and back on your feet bro,

ROCK6
 
i think you need some more moonshine :D. that would kick its butt and if it didnt you wouldnt care.
 
So ended up flying solo on this one, as you can see from Brian's post.

Was even colder than I expected, with steady 20-30 mph winds, with gusts to who knows per hour? Got blown over a time or two on the ridges.

This area is just a mess of unmarked trails between the trailhead and Tennant Mtn. Made navigation a bit of challenge, especially when the clouds blew in early on in the hike and caused a white-out.

Was having so much fun up on the ridges that I just stayed up there instead of dropping down into the drainage like we planned. Just kept heading north, pretty much a nice ridge walk the whole way, 10 miles are so round trip.

So this trip above treeline just reinforced a couple of important lessons:

1) It's important to have a map and compass and know how to use them, even on a hike with no cross country nav. Whiteouts, and trails that look like spaghetti junction make it imperative. Also, I need a new compass, my trusty Suunto has a bubble, and by the time I was at 6000', it was so big it began to interfere with the needle. Luckily I'm a compass freak and had 2 others on me.

2) It's a different world above treeline when the temps are in the 20's and the wind is blowing like a freight train. I tend to the go lighter weight when I hike, and I was glad I brought the long johns and the Marmot hardshell on this trip. I wore them the whole time.

3) When your boot laces freeze, you can't get your boots off. Truck heater took care of that. :D

Good times, and didn't see another soul out there. Sorry you couldn't make it Brian, but there is always next time! :thumbup:

So here are some pics:

Clouds departing to the east in the AM:

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The last tree before treeline:

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What's a little rockfall when you want to get home?

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Way to trek on Mapper :thumbup:
That rockfall looks like it coulda caused some major damage :eek:
I enjoyed the pics ... thanks for sharing
 
Have a blast fellas! It's mid 20s here tomorrow, I think I'm heading out also.

Take plenty of pics and be safe.
 
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