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

http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/images/13p2s1v6.jpg

saw three of these peeking out from a tree and was just like "do not want to be eaten by the inevitable mom" and ran through a trail junction

yeah you want the azaleas in bloom for sure.

the contours of the chimneys is why i never did it. once i got out there i wanted something more immersive than that, i guess. i love the rhythms of a nice long hike.

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

Strange to say, the experience was very interesting and focused my attention very powerfully, but the fact of the distance and intervening water removed most sense of danger or intimacy from the encounter. What was left was me trying as hard as I could to figure out if what I was looking at was what I thought it might be, and not succeeding in fully convincing myself of its reality. After all, the USA has a million dogs for every wild wolf, and even if 99% of dogs do not look anything like wolves, the odds against were too big to ignore, in spite of my patient sorting of the evidence in favor.

Just coming on here to check when I last bought a pair of walking boots! Bought my (amazing) Lowas Renegades 2 years ago, it seems. Is 2 years about what y'all would expect from a pair of boots? I've covered the best part of 1500 miles in them; both boots have split in the same place (outside, about where a bunion might be, just above the outsole). Just huffing at having to shell out the £200, tbh.

1500 miles is a more than reasonable lifetime for hiking boots. They have to absorb a lot of banging around and abrasion.

I just picked up a pair of NOS Vasque Skywalk boots on eBay for $62 - made in Italy. Still breaking them in but I think they will make the cut

living a more hikey life, as i can ride or rollerski with my fourth broken right clav.

so while my right arm is slinged? slung?--
packable trail hiking pole recommendations? thinking of going for a 14er, but it seems riskier without a safety pole/net.

er, "cannot" obv

lol i tried very gentle safe roadriding through fracture for 4.5 weeks, all i did was displace a prev nondisplaced fracture, it was-- yeah it was dumb, but when you old and on the 4th one, you wanna experiment and hold the little fitness you got. lesson if you wanna do that, get the plate.

(but i already had a plate there once, it was causing problems in joint after a while, and then i had to have it removed and the holes grafted, so i wasn't getting another plate and risk that again).

Now that it is winter, a few thumbnails from this past summer:

https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/55/77/MGzCjSfi_t.jpg
https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/6e/1d/PwfXoAmy_t.jpg
https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/8a/d2/FcMNOdFa_t.jpg

Nice. Where is the snow?

Not sure how to interpret your question.

Sorry, I meant where are you in the photos with the snow?

In the Wallowa mountains of NE Oregon. It's a place I've visited almost every year for the past two decades. I've gone there so often that I know a great many of its trees individually (no kidding)!

Thanks. Sounds and looks lovely.

Sad thing is that several wonderful old high elevation trees I loved that had survived upwards of 200 years (I'd estimate) have died lately and I blame global warming. Bare dead branches that I used to find shade under.