Monthly Archives: July 2011

Visiting the waterfalls in NC and TN have taught me a valuable lesson: I need to add water shoes to my backpacking list. This is the 3rd time I’ve ended up killing my feet either by taking my shoes off and beating them up on the rocks, or leaving the shoes on and walking around in soggy shoes for a few days. I also can’t wait for Caleb to be able to get bigger so I can quit lugging around the tent and go back to my “hooch” aka hammock and rain fly. In the one picture, we camped over on the left side, across the river. The other picture is a good picture of Mark smiling and Caleb, well, being Caleb.

Laurel Falls is a 55 ft waterfall located on the AT (Appalachian Trail) about 5 miles outside of Hampton, TN. Caleb and I met Mark at the Kincora hostel. We closed up the vehicles, loaded up the packs, and away we went. The hike to the falls was approximately 2.5 miles in. We encountered several foot bridges across the small streams that crisscrossed the trail, and of course the big foot bridge that crossed over the Laurel Fork river. The trail wound up the ridge on the other side of the bridge and crossed the ridge through what looked like an old rail road bed. We climbed down to the valley floor where the river was flowing and finally got to see the falls. With not much space to set a tent, we crossed the river and set up on the other side. Noodles, spaghetti O’s, and coffee were on the menu. Getting a fire started was difficult due to all the rain, but Mark finally got it blazing around midnight. Caleb and I turned in around 2130 hrs. We woke up Sunday morning around 0700 hrs and got the fire going again for some more coffee and then packed up to hike out. Crossing the river back to the other side was a task due to all the slippery rocks and ice cold water. Caleb led the way back up the mountain to the ridge. He climbed very carefully for a 4 year old and enjoyed leading the way. [SinglePic not found]The scenery was very impressive with high cliff walls and blooming rhododendron. Mark spotted a hornet’s nest and Caleb offered up some great advice, “Dad, let’s just leave it alone.”

Even through all the “Caleb, stop.” and “Caleb, put the knife down.” and “Caleb, get out of the fire.” we had a good time. Caleb had a great time and is well on his way to becoming a great outdoorsman.

Wow. I am too tired to really type anything. Andie and I went up Yankee Boy Basin and hiked the blue lakes trail. Although not technically a shelf road, Yankee Boy trail definitely provides some “pucker” factor. There was a TON of water coming down Angel creek from the snow melting up top. There is still plenty of snow at the top; you can see where people have been skiing recently and Andie and I had to traverse a snow field to get to the blue lakes. The views are breathtaking at 12,000 feet and the alpine vegetation was unique too. Being tired, I’m going to post a few pictures below and you’ll have to check back when I get home to see the rest. The ones below are by far not the best pictures, just the ones I really like.

Leaving Lake City, CO took us by lake San Cristobal, a beautiful lake. We then took state road 30 towards the American Basin and Cinnamon Pass trails, part of the “Alpine Loop”. The road was well maintained at the start and offered incredible views of the creek down below and the mountains we were heading in to. The starting altitude was 8,000 ft and the terrain varied from rocky cliffs to rolling meadows. The sky was a brilliant blue, but rain was in the forecast for the afternoon. There are a ton of camping spots all along the road up to the trail head. Some of the land is private property, but the public areas are well marked and they even have pit toilet huts along the way. In the form of wildlife, we saw deer and marmot. We also saw several dams on the creek (obvious signs of beaver), but no beaver. (more…)

We left out of Lake City and headed towards Cinnamon pass. I got a great picture of the jeep and Andie. I will post more pics later, but its safe to say this has been the most breathtaking and exciting part of the journey. From amazingly rugged country to nose bleed altitudes to major pucker factor driving, its been by far the best time in Colorado.

We got up on Monday with Pike’s Peak and on to Silverton for the agenda. Pike’s Peak is 14,110 ft high and famous for being the first fourteener encountered when coming west. The entrance to the park stated the temperature was 37 at the summit, so I was glad I put on my long sleeve shirt with my shorts. The views going up were amazing. I’m not sure whether it was the thin air at 14,000 ft or the insane views, but was not comfortable driving up there. I accumulated a long line of vehicles behind our jeep going up because I wouldn’t go faster than 15 mph. We made it to the summit and it was truly difficult to breath.

We headed down the mountain and turned west towards Divide, CO then on to Buena Vista. After leaving the small town of Divide, we dropped down to a high mesa and the views just kept getting better. On to Buena Vista, then down to Poncha Springs, then over Monarch Pass where it snowed on us coming down the western side. We headed into Gunnison, CO then turned south to Lake City. Along the way, we stopped at a spot along the Gunnison river and man was it full! I got a beautiful picture of my beautiful daughter.

We are heading out to climb Pike’s Peak, then start the trek to Silverton. Our route will take us through Lake City and over Cinnamon pass!

I woke up about 0500 hrs ready to go. Although the time zone is MST, my internal clock is still on EST. I decided to go on a hike to the top of some rocks that were on a nearby ridge. After climbing a few hundred feet, I had to stop to take a picture of the boulder field I was going to have to climb in order to get to the top. On the other side of the boulder field was a clearing (too small to be considered a meadow) that would have made an excellent camping spot. I stopped to take a picture of the view through the trees. The view from the top was worth the hike. I could see forever and got there in time to catch the morning sun coming over the eastern ridge. Our camp was at 8,140 feet and the top of the rocks was 8,630 feet.

The Jeep was packed and we left out by 0830 hrs. We made it to Mark’s at 1230 hrs after stopping at a tire place to get the front tires balanced. After getting the tires rotated the day before the trip, the front end developed a nice little wobble between 50 and 55 mph. After having lunch with Mark, we took off headed towards Lexington, KY. Andie saw a sign for her sister We blew through Lexington and set our sights on St. Louis, MO. It turned dark on us and the rain started falling in Indiana, right before we crossed the Illinois state line. It rained on us all the way through Illinois. We rolled into St. Louis around midnight and stopped to stare at the Arch. We got a pretty good picture of the Cardinals stadium. Being in Missouri, we gained an hour on the time and wanted to keep going. We rolled over the “Big Muddy” amidst flood warnings and stopped at a rest area on I-70 on the Kansas City side.

Andie was thoroughly underwhelmed at the nothingness in Kansas. After leaving Kansas City, the road west kept climbing in altitude and the semblance of life here on earth kept fading. I think the spork that Mark gave Andie was the only thing that kept her awake. She kept thinking about pictures to take with the spork.

We finally trudged our way across Kansas and headed to Limon, CO. Heading into a huge storm in Limon, we decided to turn southwest towards Colorado Springs. We got excited when we saw the front range at about 60 miles out. We ended up camping with a JeepForum buddy, Raynmaker and his family. We had an AWESOME time. It was a great welcome to Colorado.

This is the first opportunity to post anything since leaving out Thursday morning. Andie and I made a “mad dash” across the US from NC to CO. We stopped in TN along the way and my brother Mark let me borrow some much needed camping equipment; I don’t car camp so I didn’t have all the equipment I should have had. We spent the afternoon with him, then headed out for St. Louis, MO.