Some pics and vids from the first part of April

[OwenM]

Much as I would like to make more detailed TRs, it would just take too much time.
Week before last, I hiked the Bear Den Point loop from the AL trailhead at the Walls of Jericho, and camped at the site by the TH. Hiked into Walls of Jericho from the TN trailhead the next morning, and did multiple rappels into the amphitheater of the Walls from the lower cliff line, since setting up from the top into the Grotto and amphitheater was going to be very dangerous without finding an alternate route that involved a lot more time and distance.
I've already got threads with tons of pics from here.
I have pics from the Bear Den Point Loop, and may add those, or make a separate thread later, though I did upload some videos.
Overlooking this trail(particularly when the leaves are down) is a mistake, and I've done that very thing half a dozen times over the past few years.
Also have some from the hike in from the TN trailhead. I put all those pics on a USB thingie to clear my memory card, and hid it from myself...

From the Bear Den Point Loop.
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From Walls of Jericho.

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[OwenM]

Last week was all dayhiking, as I was doing a family trip with my parents, who extended their stay into when I'd thought to be overnighting. This made for fairly short hiking days, as we ended up having breakfast and supper together every day.

Monday 4/8:
-Drove from AL to SC in the morning after working all night. Pinnacle Mtn. trail to Mill Creek Falls spur.

Don't know that this one has a name.

This one is called Spring Bluff Falls, though it isn't much of a fall...

This is Mill Creek Falls

I get fascinated with little stuff like this...

On the way out. Lighting was much improved vs. on the way in.

Carrick Creek Falls.

 

[OwenM]

Tuesday 4/9:
-Whitewater Falls. Quick stop to check out the overlook on the way to DuPont State Forest turns into 6hr off-trail jaunt down the side of the gorge, upriver to the base of(and behind) the falls, then back along the underside of the cliffline with many deadends and backtracking. Loved it!

I'd made a video before this one, and was coming down some steep stuff off the Foothills Trail, talking about it being at a 70-80 degree angle in some places, and when I broke out onto the water, said "There's a dadgum bridge down here!"
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This last video...right near the end I said "I can go right there, but there'll be nothing." But that time there was a place that I could slide down about 30ft on my butt, then another little drop, and I was at the bottom. When I came out onto the water, there was that stinking bridge again!

 

[OwenM]

Wednesday 4/10:
-Rim of the Gap Trail from Caesar's Head SP to Jones Gap SP, then to DuPont to hike and ramble around Grassy Creek Falls and Wintergreen Falls.
80F outside, and these fruitcakes had the trail closed due to ice.

Modeling my ZPacks chest pack at the first waterfall, which is right where the trail branches off from the Frank Coggins Trail.

 

[OwenM]

-DuPont State Forest:
This is the top of High Falls from the covered bridge.

Grassy Creek Falls.

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Wintergreen Falls, which my pictures do no justice. The falls, and the area below, are beautiful.

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[OwenM]

Thursday 4/11:
-This hike was suggested by a local, and supposed to take me to the Green River Narrows. THs aren't marked, and I got on the wrong trail on the wrong creek from the wrong bridge. Nice hike along, around, and across the creek, but the trail ends up at the parking lot were kayakers have to portage .6 miles to the putin well above the Narrows, and I hiked along the road about 2.5 miles back to my car.

A debris pile.

On the other side of the debris pile is a gorgeous waterfall!

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These are at the start of the hike, but the light was better as I was leaving.

 

[OwenM]

Friday 4/12:
-On the way to Panthertown Valley I visited Connestee and Eastatoe Falls. After checking out Schoolhouse Falls at Panthertown Valley, and a cascade while taking the Panthertown Valley Trail to the Green Valley Trail just to look around, my hike up the Devil's Elbow Trail turns into another off-trail romp with multiple creek crossings, and lots of crawling through rhododendron. Missed some of the falls, but had a blast, even though my pics all suck.

Connestee/Batson Creek Falls

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Eastatoe Falls. I would never have found it if not for the sign!

From Panthertown:

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This is actually on the road in to the Cold Mtn Gap TH, and taken from my car window.

 

[OwenM]

Oh, and here are the snakies of the week...
From Table Rock:

It's headed right for us!

From Panthertown:

 

[HikingMano]

Much as I would like to make more detailed TRs, it would just take too much time. [...]

I hear ya. I must say, I'm getting increasingly lazy myself in posting trip reports, let alone narrated ones. Plus, sometimes I catch myself failing to enjoy the moment because I'm trying to take pictures that I can share when I get back. It's a balance...

Anyway, thanks for making the effort to share these! I definitely appreciate your reports. You got some great shots over the last couple of weeks, some nice scenes in there where you really capture the motion present. I like the shots of Carrick Falls and thereabouts in particular. And off-trailing to check out Whitewater Falls must have been awesome! Man that looks like a blast, I'd be all over that too. :thumbup:

Going to have to wait to check out the vids tomorrow.

 

[OwenM]

Thanks; this year has been going pretty well, think! I'm having a ball, and loving getting pics right now, too. Otherwise, there wouldn't be any!
I stopped fighting with the sunlight, though, and will just take what I can get. Sometimes it's easier to take a quick video.

 

[HikingMano]

Yup :thumbup: Sometimes, if I'm out with the GF, I can't get out at the crack of dawn like I like for day hikes, or stay all the way until sundown. Usually it ends up encompassing the worst time for pic lighting, haha.

Side note, the only thing I don't like about being the first on a trail or off-trail is all the damn spider webs/strands my face collects. So annoying.

 

[Mistwalker]

Awesome photos Owen, thanks for sharing them! Reminds me of some local places I need to get back to soon.

Plus, sometimes I catch myself failing to enjoy the moment because I'm trying to take pictures that I can share when I get back. It's a balance...

Russell, I think it is important to keep some moments in time just for ourselves or we lose perspective of why we enjoy going out there and it becomes something entirely different to us. Because I do a lot of documenting of plants for myself and do a lot of gear testing, I almost always have a camera on me of one sort of another. But I don't "photograph" every trip I make because then it changes from "wow that's awesome" to trying to capture that awesome in a photo (which isn't really always doable) and that causes the hike to lose some of it's magic. Without fail, any time I leave the camera at home I always run across perfect examples of some things I have been wanting to capture in images, but I do sometimes take only a p&s and leave it in the pack until I run across those examples, and spend the rest of the time enjoying the hike.

 

[HikingMano]

Yes, I agree completely, Brian :thumbup: You nailed it.

 

[lambertiana]

Aaahhhhh, now that hit the spot! I sure wish I could have been there.

 

[OwenM]

Glad y'all enjoyed the pics.

Aaahhhhh, now that hit the spot!

Definitely did for me, with new places and family time every day-not to mention lots of rocks and water

 

[milani74]

Awesome pictures Owen.