still fuckin with climb cuz climb pays: the ILX hiking thread

i think cucumber gap is the best short, completely easy hike

also love house mountain in south knoxville, so cool that a hike like that is just right there

hahaha, i must hike this!!!!

http://www.localhikes.com/Hikes/Haw_Ridge_3840.asp

house mountain is more northeast than south, isn't it? out rutledge pike? but yeah that's a nice near one. that's where i saw a whole flock of wild turkeys try to take flight. they made it up into the lower branches of the nearest tree.

i did some hikes around oak ridge, don't remember if it included HAW ridge.

also good: frozen head.

Haw, I totally meant East Knoxville

http://www.gajos.org/travel/hikes/uploaded_images/DSC_3973-737723.JPG

and big south fork! site of my bachelor party. granted there was less hiking than drinking and whatnot involved there. but there's some great hikes too. east tenn. is really A+ for hiking.

hahaha

i wish i had a pic of the sign at abrams falls

"four people have died here! please do not be next"
xpost

20 miles in one day? that's some serious hiking. what kind of elevation gain?

there's a million place to hike in the East, and it's good to get out there in the fresh air (smokies haw) and go up and down and such, but there's not a lot that's as interesting as most of the stuff in the other half of the country. i gotta start doing some stuff here though in preparation for out there.

in hawaii there were massive warning signs about swimming in waterfalls and getting caught in riptides and swept out to sea. it was scary but also kind of gnarly and awesome.

we've been out to the marin headlands a few times this year (san francisco), i like it because it's all open hills, beautiful views of the ocean, and this totally weird-ass old military stuff (like forts and stuff).

re that nalgene drink bottle: nalgene is responsible for making a lot of the equipment involved in animal testing (battery cages, immobilisers, restraints etc), fyi.

i dont know how to calculate elevation gain but it was mostly an easy hike with a couple uphill climbs, i.e. definitely climbed straight up pine mountain

xpost i did not know that

i want to hike the Tennessee Valley at some point, but the other parts of the headlands i saw weren't super exciting

guys!
http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m163/bl82/ColcaCanyon.jpg;
omg

it's true that hiking the smokies is not like hiking the tetons or rockies (or i assume so, i haven't done any western hiking except walking up camelback mountain in phoenix). a lot of southern appalachian/cumberland hikes are sort of just uphill walks in the woods with occasional spectacular views. but they're really nice walks in the woods.

i dont want to hike a place that isn't woodsy!

i suppose 20 miles isn't that bad if you've got real boots and just a daypack

that's one thing i love about the southeast! on christmas day we went on a little light hike/walk on paris mountain in the afternoon. it's nice to have that easily accessible.

mt. mitchell (in the apps) is the highest point east of the mississippi. i don't know what my point is there...

well, i dont have boots, i have tennis shoes, and my ankle was pretty fucked afterwards

lesson learned

i do have a very light pack though

yeah, the woods are nice, but i'm spoiled by early exposure to alpine scenery and i want some wow views when i go hiking. i imagine smokies vistas are a little better than most new york area hikes, though.

alum cave bluffs views are O_O

were those just something like skechers (sp?) you were wearing for 20mi???? U CRAZY

yeahhhhhhhh i will not do that again though!

smokies have great vistas

charlie's bunion:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/18/24124971_7c24732bd9.jpg

mt. leconte:

http://www.outdoornewswire.com/v/current/htdocs/publish/public/2008/06/1213742981/cliff%20top.JPG

but then on the hikes up you also get things like this:

http://greek.wunderground.com/data/wximagenew/g/guardian75/435.jpg

yeah, those don't do much for me

katahdin and maybe jay peak are probably the most interesting things in the east, as far as i can tell, but it's probably just as easy to go west as it is to get to them from where i am

thats the kinda stuff i love, the interior stuff

do y'all use poles at all? i never have

also:

esbit stoves: yay or nay
recommend a camp stove?

jordan asked me if i wanted poles, since i'm fairly clumsy over rough terrain, but i refused since only corny old ppl use them

btw: jordan says nay to esbit stoves (they stink and take a long time to boil water); the optimus crux or the MSR pocket rocket are 2 of his recommendations - super small stoves, fairly cheap for what they are.

if hiking poles are corny, that's what i want to be

never used one myself tho

Was meant to be going up Ben Lomond yesterday but the weather was rubbish, will do it next time the weather is half-decent on a Saturday. Summit view looks nice:

http://www.doc.govt.nz/upload/13462/Ben%20Lomond%20018.jpg

I've never used poles, but my hiking buddy does, and says they distribute the work load of hiking all around your body so that you don't end up with gargantuan legs and skinny arms.

so that's why

i guess! he might be nuts

I should really get a pole, last time I went hiking my calf muscles were absolutely pummeled. I've got a sweet walking-stick but it was my granddad's and I don't really want to take it up a mountain in case I lose it or whatever.

Poles are also supposed to take some of the impact off of your knees, which is why they interest me as my knees are completely shot.

My left ankle is the only thing that gives me any real trouble, although after a very long hike my whole lower left side is sore in the joints (ankle, knee, hip). I am certain that I walk stupid.

hahaha

http://i623.photobucket.com/albums/tt313/rutherfordmills/881of1.jpg

i want to hike breakneck ridge some time in the next coupla weeks

aw that was one of my friend's favorites when he lived in beacon!
i never went :(

out shufflin, same clothes for days

!!!!! hahaha

i always use poles when i'm backpacking. i usually don't take them if i'm just going hiking unless i know the hike is going to be especially rocky or steep.

also, i always use a hydration pack... tza said that makes me lame, but i can't stand carrying water bottles.

i was always jealous of my friends' water packs. carrying bottles sucks.

i dont get the water packs, how can that work

not trying to be tuomas here

it goes on your back, eazy-peazy. less hassles than nalgene bottles knocking around. (whoa rei is selling a 70-oz.er for cheap. i think that's what my friend has.)

anybody use portable water filters? one of my friends had one that we all used, it seemed to work fine. (i.e., nobody ever got sick.)

everyone is building staircases up mountains now and i hate it

stairs not staircases

I hiked 95 miles recently on the Ouachita National Recreation Trail. Here's 97 minutes about how it went:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwEa_1wNVdw

oof that’s a ways! nice

A good day for me is 22 miles or so. When I think about marathon runners who complete 25 in half a day, man. I'm just walkin' out here.

It's very warm and green right now. Hiking in June is always an interesting choice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngzCUaUBRWQ

lol going hiking in the Smokies tomorrow, at their most subtropical. Summer is my absolute least favorite hiking season here, but a friend wants to go. It’ll be fine, just humid and sweaty.

Have fun with the cobwebs.

I hiked a day in TN with like 3k of vert at like crazy hot and humid in July once and my recollection is just sweat and rhododendrons everywhere. Could be totally wrong I had heat stroke tbh

Sweat and rhododendrons everywhere is pretty much right, yup. We're doing right about at 3,000 elevation gain tomorrow too. But it's a trail I've done a whole bunch, it'll be manageable. Just ... hot. Damp. Grimy.

enjoy. i was a youngish bike racer then from CO. my dad was like 73, and he suffered it out. i was just like, “what a sick old bastard.”