Here's an old digital photo I took from way back. November 30, 2008. I shot it with my first digital camera. I think it was 4 megapixel Canon. I recall it had a pretty good installed lens and was built like a tank. It was heavy, made of metal. I dropped that little camera off of boulders half a dozen times. It got some dents but kept taking photos. If you dropped a modern Canon ten feet off of a boulder onto another boulder it would shatter. Not that one. It eventually gave up the ghost, or else I'd still be using it for casual shots.

This one was taken on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Rocky Knob in Virginia. We had gotten onto the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way home from the Peaks of Otter and a sudden ice storm had struck the high ridges. If we hadn't had four-wheel drive we'd have been stuck, but good. As it was I paused to take some photographs and then edged my way down to lower elevations and the heck off of the Parkway to safety.

 

 

Rocky Knob, Blue Ridge Parkway, Virginia.

 

Towns I Like.

Find a city. Find myself a city.
To visit.

When I go on vacation I tend to stay as far from population centers as I possibly can. There are many, many reasons for this. I have almost always lived in cities with lots of people, so it's the old "been there, done that" mentality. But I also just do not like crowds. You could argue that I am a misanthrope and I would not waste any time defending myself of that charge. But to boil it all down, I just don't like crowds of humans and I'm not fond of participating in group-think and being stuck within throngs of people.

However, from time to time I have been known to enjoy being in some towns and cities. I often can't explain exactly why I like these places, but I do.

So...here's a brief list.

New York City.

I used to visit NYC at least once a year. It should be everything that I hate, but for some bizarre reason I get a kick out of the joint. Once I was almost mugged there, but I got away. I'll never forget the expression on the faces of the two asshole would-be muggers as I escaped. Eyes in the back of me head, as they say. One of the most vivid experiences I ever had was walking all over downtown Manhattan in the depths of night during an impressive snowstorm with several friends. Gee whiz, I am glad I have that experience stored in the old gray matter.

Columbus Circle, where I almost got mugged the last time I was in NYC. Still love the place.

My mom was born in Manhattan. Maybe that's one reason I like it? As good a reason as any other, I reckon.

I have not been back to New York in many, many years. My wife has never been, so I'd like to take her there to see the place and do the whole tourist thang. We'll see.

Damascus, VA.

This is a small town by any stretch of the description. It sits in a valley in the very high mountains of southwest Virginia. It doesn't hurt that this is one of my favorite places to vacation. Carole and I have been to this part of the state too many times to count, and we always find something new to see and do. Damascus is called "the friendliest town on the Appalachian Trail" and while I can't say that I've visited every town the AT runs through, I would figure there are high odds that Damascus deserves the title of friendliest.

Yeah, this is a town that has embraced Mother Nature. The annual Trail Days event in downtown Damasus wherein they celebrate the Appalachian Trail, the Virginia Creeper Trail, and the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area.

Back in the 70s some of the locals didn't like the idea of things like National Parks and Biking Trails and outdoor outfitter services being part of their town. Terrorists even burned down a vast train trestle being used as a biking trail rather than allow it to become something to attract tourists. But those ignorant jerks were either swept aside or were convinced of the advantage of the town becoming a tourist mecca for outdoors enthusiasts.

These days Damascus can help lead you to biking, hiking, backpacking, fly fishing, kayaking, canoeing, hunting, rock climbing...hell...you name it. There are places where you can rent a cabin or pitch a tent or park a travel trailer/motorhome. Forests surround it. A river runs through it. And the people really are friendly.

St. Augustine, Florida.

Generally I stay away from the places in Florida to which most people are drawn. You won't find me in Orlando or Miami or even Jacksonville. I don't like amusement parks and I can't find a good reason to brave traffic to hit any of the big urban areas in Florida.

Back in 2007 we saw this couple getting married in downtown St. Augustine. Seems like the church was Greek Orthodox. Not sure.

However, I have always enjoyed St. Augustine. It's small enough that I don't get frustrated being stuck in gridlock, and the place is genuinely fun. They claim that it's the oldest continuously inhabited European town in North America. I'll take their word for it.

The downtown area of the city is really cool. Shops and walking streets where no vehicles are permitted. You can see the oldest house in North America. There's a huge Spanish fort mainly intact that you can tour. And all kinds of beaches and state parks and waterways all over the place. If you're not into the whole camping routine there are some great hotels where we have stayed. And the seafood is wonderful. There are a host of good seafood restaurants in the town. In fact, I've never had a bad seafood meal in St. Augustine.

The ancient Spanish fort in St. Augustine.

Well, there you go. There are other cities I like, but those are the ones foremost in my mind. I also like Atlanta GA, San Diego CA, Estes Park CO. Maybe I'll talk about them another day.

Campground Review: Hurricane, Jefferson National Forest, Virginia.

Carole and I have used a LOT of National Forest campgrounds in our years. Both when we tent-camped and after we got our Casita travel trailer. We have had almost uniformly wonderful experiences using the campgrounds in our National Forests, but some of them stand out above the others.

While not our all-time favorite campground, Hurricane--located in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area--is easily in the top three. What it might lack in some of the things some people expect in a campground, it more than makes up for in others.

As luck would have it, we were able to grab our favorite spot in the campground (#19). All of the sites have paved surfaces for your vehicles. We were able to back into our site with our truck and had much space to spare. There are no hookups (neither water, nor electric), so if you want to use electric appliances you'll have to have a generator. Also, fill up your onboard water tanks at home, or use a water spigot at the campground. These minor drawbacks (for some, not for us) are made up for in the campground's isolation from paved roads and subsequent lack of traffic and the peacefulness of the forested surroundings.

The campground has two bathhouses with flush toilets and warm water showers. But there is no dump station. Just a couple of miles down the road from Hurricane is Raccoon Branch Campground, another National Forest facility. It does have a dump station and it is open to campers at Hurricane.

We like this campground so much for many reasons. But at the top of our list is that it is very, very quiet. There is no noise from passing autos because the only nearby roads are gravel Forest Service roads and not heavily used. The forest is deep and lush, classic Southern Cove Hardwood. Plenty of trees of an amazing variety and lots of flowering plants in spring and summer.

There is no shortage of things to do here. I love to hike and there are hundreds of miles of amazing trails. You can access the Appalachian Trail from the campground. One can drive to Damascus and bike the Virginia Creeper Trail, which I very highly recommend. Start at the Whitetop Station and you can bike pretty much all downhill to Damascus. A very inexpensive and gorgeous way to spend part of a day. Grayson Highlands State Park is nearby, and the trails there make you feel more like you're hiking in Montana than in Virginia. Seriously. I have shown photos I've take above Massie Gap to people and they think I took them in the Rocky Mountains.

To our way of thinking, Hurricane Campground is one of the best options in the southeastern USA for camping. Trails. Quiet. Solitude. Waterfalls. Wildlife. Deep forests. What the heck else do you need?

Entrance to Hurricane Campground.

Our site was level. All we had to do was park and use the tongue jack. Level as could be!

Carole is always in charge of the campfire. She does about half of her cooking over the fire.

Unlimited firewood was provided free of charge by the campground hosts! They did this on their own. They had permission to cut up and split downed trees. Then the hosts would pile it up in a huge stack near the center of the campground. Take all you want!

Our favorite site: #19. Streamside.

Bathhouse with shower.

I didn't see much wildlife on this trip, but I did get this photo of a grouse.

A hike I took to bag a 4,500-foot peak. I got lost. This was actually taken after I'd gotten lost.

Hurricane.

We just reserved a spot at one of our favorite campgrounds. Late Fall. We haven't been back there in quite some time. In fact, not since we had our old white Nissan Frontier. We're really looking forward to getting back there. In fact, we even got the same campsite we had the last time were stayed there! Woo-HOO!

Carole and our reliable Casita the first time we went there.

Plenty of trails, plenty of waterfalls.

Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel.

Mountain Lake Lodge and White Rocks Campground

After I hiked the War Spur Trail, Carole and I drove to take a look at a National Forest facility called White Rocks Campground. It's a pretty nice spot deep in the forest. Unfortunately, there's a lot of clear-cutting going on in the formerly mature hardwood forests around it, totally wrecking some of the scenery and the illusion that our National Forests are a haven for peace and tranquility. But the campground itself and the forest immediately surrounding it remains unaffected.

We were both surprised that there was only one family camping in the entire place. There are no hookups for RVs, but the place does have a dump station and there are water sources placed around the campground. Also, it has several bath houses where there are flush toilets, and sinks, but no showers. I wish I'd taken a photo of the inside of the bathhouse because it had some clever decorations inside, including sinks made from galvanized tubs. Also, it charges an amazingly low price of $4 for overnight stays! There was a spot for a campground host that was conspicuously vacant. Not sure why no one would want to host the campground.

After that we headed back the way we came because Carole wanted to visit Mountain Lake Lodge where one of her favorite movies was filmed ("Dirty Dancing"). I had been past the lodge many times, but had never stopped there to walk around the grounds, which are impressive, I must admit. It's an old-style turn-of-the-century (19th/20th Century, of course) lodge that has a lot of the charm one thinks of when considering those old places. At some point I want to stay a couple of nights there, which we may do in a few years. Time will tell.

In White Rocks Campground.

I wish I'd taken a photo of the interior of the bathroom.

Lots of shady campsites.

Mountain Lake Lodge. Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Gray slept here!

Set a spell.

War Spur Trail

I have visited the Mountain Lake area a number of times. And every time I go up there I always mean to hike the War Spur Trail to the overlook, and each time something keeps me from accomplishing that goal. So, this time I was determined to do the hike. It's an easy one. Very little in elevation gain or loss. Except for a couple of hills, it's pretty much a level hike without even much in the way of rocky terrain. At a little over two miles, there's nothing difficult about it, at all.

Most of the trail is located within the Mountain Lake Wilderness Area, administered by the National Forest Service and protected from development and abuse by an act of Congress. The place is pretty much about as green as a place can be. You're already very high...close to 4,000 feet above sea level, and you find yourself exploring a forest mainly of northern hardwoods with a few evergreens mixed in, those being mainly Eastern hemlocks. For some reason there are a lot of healthy hemlock trees in the wilderness. Either some party has been up there treating them against the hemlock woolly adelgid, or the winters are severe enough that the bugs can't survive to kill the trees.

As I said, the hike is very easy. I didn't even feel the need to carry any water with me. All I took was my camera, a hiking staff, and some camera accessories. If you like ferns, parts of the trail passes through some lush expanses of those, some quite large (almost chest-high).

Carole waited in the truck while I journeyed to the overlook and wound my way back to complete the loop hike. It was very easy and I barely broke a sweat.

At the trail head.

Classic National Forest wilderness designation sign.

There were lots of these little American chestnuts throughout the forest.

Ferns and a world of green.

The rhododendron were in bloom!

Part of the view from the War Spur Overlook.

Time for a selfie at the overlook.

Good signage along the trails.

Video of the hike along the War Spur Loop, and a visit to the nearby Mountain Lake Lodge (where "Dirty Dancing" was filmed in the 1980s.

Camping and Kayaking.

Carole and I are going camping and kayaking for a few days. To the mountains of Virginia. We hope to do some kayaking on the New River. We booked a campsite with the National Forest Service where we stayed back in 2009.

Nice campground with great facilities.

This place is called "Monster Rock".

We were there in late May in 2009, so the blossoms were still in the process of opening.

Hiking along a series of peaks called "the Seven Sisters".

I took this selfie on a trail that was once part of the Appalachian Trail. But the AT was rerouted because this section had too long a stretch with no reliable water source. It was a tremendous ridge hike with no drops into any deep gaps or valleys.

The Cascades Video

I don't have a lot of time for blogging right now. Busy with various projects.

However...here's a video of a 2011 hike Carole and I took to see The Cascades near Blacksburg, Virginia. It's an extremely impressive waterfall with a fantastic plunge pool at the base that is perfect for swimming on a hot summer day (which we did).

The famous Cascades.

A leisurely hike and swim.

A truly well engineered hiking trail.

Magic at the Peaks of Otter

The world is a hard, unforgiving place. But fortunately it is also a vast and beautiful place. This is why I go out hunting for that beauty which seems to be standing around turn of the trail.

At the Peaks of Otter.

Wandering around the Peaks of Otter.

The magic of a winter ice storm.

An Old Section Hike of the Appalachian Trail

Over the years the Appalachian Trail has become more and more crowded. Often it's so crowded that I have found that I am completely unable to find anything like the solitude that is the main reason I go to hike and backpack. The last time I backpacked a section of the Appalachian Trail was in late May of 2009. The Trail remains a unique and physically beautiful place, but the crowds I encountered there convinced me that it's not really the place for me to spend a lot of time in anymore.

Obligatory shot on the precipice of McAfee Knob.

The warmup hike we took to McAfee Knob before beginning the backpacking trip.

The scenery was indeed stunning. But the opportunity for peace and solitude was hard to find.

The three-day backpack that took us to Mountain Lake.

Newer Videos

Here are a couple of more newly created videos of older hikes. One to a virgin forest on the slopes of Mackey Mountain here in North Carolina, and another featuring hikes to see some isolated corners of the mountains of Virginia and West Virginia.

Falls at Camp Creek State Park, WV.

A gorgeous virgin forest high in the North Carolina mountains.

Catawba rhododendron beginning to bloom.


Great hiking and waterfall wandering in VA and WVA.

A Dick Move

There are all kinds of outdoorsmen. Fishermen, hunters, hikers, kayakers, backpackers, canoeists, boaters, swimmers, climbers, runners, joggers, etc. I've met just about all of them in my rambles though the mountains and my trips kayaking down rivers and springs. And for each group there are sub-groups. For instance I have met hikers who specialize in things like orienteering and bushwhacking; that is, traveling where there are no trails by way of map and compass (or GPS device). And hikers who only go into the mountains to bag a list of peaks--for instance, only mountains in the South that are over 6,000 feet in elevation; or only summits that are the highest in a county or state. You run into some weird, specialized stuff. But it's all okay. Whatever makes people happy.

One group that I have encountered and even hiked with are the waterfall wanderers. These are people who only go into the forests to seek out waterfalls. An admirable endeavor that I very much enjoy myself. And I've spoken about how some of these guys are intense assholes. One of the things that I would encounter when speaking or interacting with them is that they would share photos of "secret" waterfalls that they had located by exploring on steep mountain slopes that have no trails, or scampering down into deep gorges to find waterfalls that were unknown to most people. These guys are among the most annoying and bothersome of outdoorsmen. "Look what I found! See these gorgeous photos? I'm not telling you where it is! HAHA!". Yeah. Real pricks.

On the one hand I can understand that they want to keep a place untouched by crowds a secret. They want to enjoy it in an unspoiled, uncrowded state. My problem, then, is with these jerks who brag about finding such a spot and then taunting their fellow hikers with the fact that they will never spill the beans. Such an act is, as they say, a dick move.

I have never discovered a waterfall that I wanted to keep secret. If I did, I'd do just that and never mention it and never show photos of the damned place. What I'd do is never tell anyone and go there from time to time to enjoy solitude. Similarly, I have found out of the way spots where I have not encountered other people and found great natural beauty. Sometimes part of me wants to keep these places a total secret. I watched as the once secluded Panthertown Valley has become a Mecca for hikers and backpackers and horseback riders and waterfall seekers and fly fishermen and whitewater enthusiasts and photographers and...well...crowds. For a while I was sorry that I'd ever mentioned the place in any of my blogs. But, of course, it wasn't my fault that the place became crowded. It's a beautiful spot and the National Forest Service promotes it and wants people to see the place and to use it as an outdoors destination. It's no one person's fault that the word got out and that so many people want to go there and see the beauty of it.

So I will continue to find beautiful wild places and brag about them. If that causes me to lose a little bit of solitude the next time I visit that spot...all I can say is that this is a big world and there are still a lot of wild corners of it where I can find some peace and quiet and some of my precious solitude. And when I do, I'll tell you about them.

View from Salt Gap, Panthertown Valley, North Carolina.

Bushwhacking near Montreat, NC.

Rowland Creek Falls, Virginia.

Rock Jock Trail, Linville Gorge.

Green Knob, Middle Prong Wilderness.

Talus field at Sherando Lake Recreation Area.

Frolictown Falls, Panthertown Valley.

Southern Mountains

"Hey, Bob! Why do you like hiking the southern mountains so much?"

Well...this is why.

Peaks of Otter, VA.

Table Rock Mountain, NC.

Alligator Back Rocks, NC.

The Amphitheater, Linville Gorge Wilderness.

Apple Orchard Falls, VA.

Big South Fork River National Recreation Area, Tennessee/Kentucky.

McAfee Knob, VA.

Backbone Rock Falls, Tennessee.

Bald River Falls, Tennessee.

Pisgah National Forest in the Black Mountains of NC.

Rowland Creek Falls, Virginia.

Blackwater Falls State Park, WV.

Hawksbill Mountain, NC.

The Pinnacle, NC.

Jacob Fork Falls, NC.

Twin Arches, TN.

Black Mountains, NC.

 

Blue Jay Falls, NC.

An unnamed cascade, NC.

Waterfall near Thurmond, WV.

Behind a waterfall, Du Pont State Forest, NC.

Dolly Sods Wilderness, WV.

Seneca Rock, WV.

On top of Seneca Rock, WV.

Citico Creek Wilderness, TN.

 

Middle Mountain, VA.

Helton Creek Falls, GA.

Charit Creek Gorge, Kentucky.

And so on...