Saturday, December 5, 2009

Wilderness Experience?


So I knew that snow was coming, maybe. When I woke up here in the foothills it was raining, and didn't look like it was going to let up. Hmm, pack up the truck with Arwen and head to Mount Rogers for a hike in the cold? Um, yes!



12 degrees...ouch. Plus with the wind, that you can hear in the video below, made for a frigid hike.

Mount Rogers from Barry Stevenson on Vimeo.



We started off up the AT towards Mount Rogers, but the wind was howling. If you've never been to this area, for the most part, above 4500 feet near Mt. Rogers, there are very little unexposed places. Most of the area is kept in check by the grazing ponies. It gets crazy windy up here because of the exposure. I felt bad for Arwen because she kept leaning into the wind and shaking her head. I think it may have been burning her eyes. So we turned around and headed down into the woods (respite from the wind) and decided on the Elk Garden trail.

Down the Elk Garden trail for a while, double back and onto the AT again, just in the opposite direction. After hiking here for a little while, we turned back towards the truck. I dropped her off at the truck because I wanted to go up in elevation some more. The wind was crazy, some parts of the trail were nearly bare of snow, but some were knee deep from the drifts. I only saw one other out today, he was much like myself...well bundled. I figured that I wouldn't see a soul, so that was pretty cool!
I snapped this picture of the only other hiker I saw today.


Self-Portrait, enjoying the snow.





I'll have some more photos to upload, I may even make a slideshow, but for now, I'm gonna go get a shower and some coffee, hooray!

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