Cresting and Cruising

Sunday was hike day, and after a less-than-spectacular (and extremely nasty) run on Saturday, I was looking forward to getting out for some serious fun with my boys.  The day dawned bright and clear, one of those amazing October mornings that hurt your eyes to look at the sky because it's such a brilliant blue.  We had planned on getting an early jump on the day, but were both so exhausted, we lingered over our coffee late into the morning.  Finally around noon, we set out.


We had decided to explore the section of the Appalachian Trail that runs from just north of us to directly above our house, along the crest of Iron Mountain.  We've hiked that section several times before, but only about a mile or so, and never far enough to get to the actual crest.  The hike itself is beautiful, but does run through a few boggy areas that they have built up with small bridges to lift you out of the mud as you cross.  Gojo loves them; Luggie hates them.  Not sure if it's the metal mesh they use to give you traction, or just because he hates climbing on anything (takes after his mother in that...I have terrible vertigo), but he'd rather wade through mud up to his armpits than get on those bridges.

We were determined to hike to the Grindstaff memorial that we keep hearing so much about, which is about 3 miles from the Cross Mountain trailhead we started from, but it was so late in the day when we started out, we decided to hike as far as we could and still be able to get back before we started losing the light.  It took about a mile and a half for us to make it to the crest, and it was obvious when we got there.  Although the trail was still wide and heavily wooded, there was a steep drop-off along both sides that left no doubt we had arrived.  What we could see of the views were spectacular, but still fairly obscured by the still-heavy foliage.  The leaves are really just now starting to turn good; we've lost a good bit, but not a lot by any means.  My bet is that in about 3 to 4 weeks, the views will be clear and breathtaking.

We made it about another mile or so before stopping to take a short break.  By that time, we were about two and a half miles in, and it had taken us about an hour and a half to get there. There was much debate as to whether we should chance another half mile or so to try to make it to where we'd been told the memorial was, but in the end, the lengthening shadows won out, and we began making our way back out.  The trail was really navigable for the most part, but there were a few very steep parts on the crest itself that made us very happy to have as much light as possible to pick our way back down. 

On the list of equipment to purchase soon: trek poles.  It's very hard to hold back a moose on a leash.  Just sayin'.


The boys had such an awesome time bounding around chasing chipmunks, their very favorite thing to do when we go on hikes, right behind getting wet.  There was no water to speak of (other than a small creek) on this hike, so chasing chipmunks was high on the list.  We have worked very hard (and continue to do so) on their trail etiquette, so we only unleash them when there are no other hikers near.  If we hear others coming, we immediately leash them, lead them off the trail, and have them sit quietly until the other hikers pass.  They know this is the drill, and pretty much do it by rote when they see others coming now, but there are times when they still need a bit of encouragement here and there to do the right thing.  Like when they get a 'munk treed.

All in all, we wound up with a really nice four and a half mile out-and-back hike that took us a little over three hours.  The plan is to try again next weekend to get to the memorial, and possibly even the Iron Mountain shelter that is directly above our house, but that is probably another mile or two beyond the memorial.  Still...if we can make it that far, the potential exists that we can plan a spur from there down to our property.  There used to be one; faint remnants can still be seen on our end.  Our oldest daughter, Jessica is coming up with her boyfriend Nick to spend the weekend with us, so we're hoping they'll want to help.

The map was on drugs.

Since I had been so active on both Saturday and Sunday, I made the decision to rest on Monday, which would have normally been a run day for me.  I had the day off, and spent it running errands with Keith, and enjoying the beautiful fall weather.  Tuesday night, however, I was back at it, and actually wound up with my best run time ever; 3 1/2 miles at a 12:09 pace!  The run felt great, I was pushing, but not straining, and had no aches or pains....just a good, solid run. I could not have been more pleased with my results, or with my progress as a whole.  Good things just keep on happening...and I'm so stinkin' excited to see what's around the corner!