Ain't been around much

1CAVCCO15MED · #1 07-24-2004, 10:28 PM

It's been a busy summer. I have spent about two months camping in my camper at various times and places. I have had three hikes, a twenty two mile day hike, a 50 mile hike in the Great Smoky Mountains and just got back from another 50 mile hike in the Mount Rodgers/Grayson Highlands area of Virginia. Grayson Highlands is something else. It is the highest place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and is the nothernmost of the southern balds. It seems to be above the tree line but is not. They aren't sure why these open areas exist on top of mountains. The best explanation I have heard is they were once grazing areas for eastern elk and woods buffalo. Grayson Highlands is kept grassy by wild ponies brought from Assoteague Island on the coast of Virginia. The vegetation consists of Frasier firs which are similar to Canadian balsams, red spruce, Catawba rhododendron and wild blueberry bushes. This bald area is about 5500 acres. Wild strawberries are the first to ripen. You sit down in the grass and your pants seat is dyed red there are so many. After the rhododendron bloom, the blueberries ripen. It is very hard to make any time hiking during this period. They are about half the size of cultivated blueberries but have twice the sweetness and flavor. I have seen three bears, several deer, a beaver pond, great blue herons, one fat toad and about twenty buzzards that circled me. I stank pretty bad by then. One morning I woke up in the heaviest fog I have ever seen. Actually it wasn't a fog, we were in a cloud.

frisco-kid · #2 07-24-2004, 11:59 PM

Doc, it's all good. I hope you came back rejuvinated and with the world in perspective again. I know I usually did after stints with Nature. Like you, I've stood in the middle of some of the most beautiful spots in this country. Many times I've come away knowing that I had just rendezvoused with God. Hope you had a good dose of the Peace that you so richly deserve, Fred.

chilidog · #3 07-25-2004, 07:17 AM

Golly Fred,
It sounds like a little piece of heaven. Did you get any pictures?

Chilidog

1CAVCCO15MED · #4 07-25-2004, 11:09 AM

Thanks, guys. I'll try to post some when I get them developed. Nature really is a great healer.

SEATJERKER · #5 07-25-2004, 07:12 PM

...good to see your still making tracks, in the "foothills"

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...would hope to invite everyone up to the Adirondacks Mtns here in New York one of these days, We have whole different world up here form the preconceived notions,...

...everyone thinks we're skyscrapers, and concrete,...

...Our camp, (only 6) is between Long Lake, and Newcomb, on 3200 acres,...

... www.adirondacks.com , and you'll see a slide show,...

...www.newcombny.com wil give you the maps, and elevations of all of my mountians, under "scenic overlook"...

...enjoy,...

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