H
HikerBob
Guest
Finally got my pictures finished and blurb written! After feeling washed out most of the day it's now 1am and I'm wide awake! Go figure.
My original plan was to have an early (5-5:30am) pre-dawn start to give me plenty of time to go up Lowes and Randolph path to Jefferson. Well, the forecast right up to 2am when I got up was still calling for strong winds and big wind chills. I decided to leave later and scale back my trip to an "as far as I get" scouting run.
After a wild and windy start up the highway from Lowes Store the forest was very pleasant. Bumped into, OK was caught up by, Ed and we hiked and chatted together for a good part of the easy lower stages. I had him go ahead when I started huffing and puffing as the gradient increased.
When I reached the Randolph Path junction I found the trail unbroken. Went in a few yards but post holed badly up to a couple of feet in the unconsolidated snow. With my late start I decided against donning snow shoes and breaking trail with the chance I would not hit treeline before my turnaround time. Opted instead to carry on up Lowes Path and visit Gray Knob Cabin.
Was beautiful up near the Cabin with cloudless skies, sun and little wind at ground level. I could hear the wind howling not far above ground. Another benefit of being short
Chatted with Adam, the caretaker at the cabin, while I munched and drank. He said it was -7 outside and a balmy 20 inside. After thirty minutes of inactivity that started getting to me so I headed out again.
Briefly flirted with the idea of doing Adams but decided to save it for another day and headed down instead. I made amazing (for me) time down. The climb up from the Lowes Path sign to the Quay had taken me 4 hours and 32 minutes, including a food break at the Log Cabin. I came down in an hour and 50 minutes!
Even more blurb and a mixed bag of pictures can be found HERE
Bob
My original plan was to have an early (5-5:30am) pre-dawn start to give me plenty of time to go up Lowes and Randolph path to Jefferson. Well, the forecast right up to 2am when I got up was still calling for strong winds and big wind chills. I decided to leave later and scale back my trip to an "as far as I get" scouting run.
After a wild and windy start up the highway from Lowes Store the forest was very pleasant. Bumped into, OK was caught up by, Ed and we hiked and chatted together for a good part of the easy lower stages. I had him go ahead when I started huffing and puffing as the gradient increased.
When I reached the Randolph Path junction I found the trail unbroken. Went in a few yards but post holed badly up to a couple of feet in the unconsolidated snow. With my late start I decided against donning snow shoes and breaking trail with the chance I would not hit treeline before my turnaround time. Opted instead to carry on up Lowes Path and visit Gray Knob Cabin.
Was beautiful up near the Cabin with cloudless skies, sun and little wind at ground level. I could hear the wind howling not far above ground. Another benefit of being short
Chatted with Adam, the caretaker at the cabin, while I munched and drank. He said it was -7 outside and a balmy 20 inside. After thirty minutes of inactivity that started getting to me so I headed out again.
Briefly flirted with the idea of doing Adams but decided to save it for another day and headed down instead. I made amazing (for me) time down. The climb up from the Lowes Path sign to the Quay had taken me 4 hours and 32 minutes, including a food break at the Log Cabin. I came down in an hour and 50 minutes!
Even more blurb and a mixed bag of pictures can be found HERE
Bob
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