|
Weekend Hikes - Week 82
WEB EXCLUSIVE
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
| |
 |
The weekend hikers: Gail and Kurt Rheinheimer stand on top of Rice Fields, a bald southwest of Blacksburg, Va. along the Appalachian Trail. They were photographed in May by a couple who were thru-hiking the AT with their two children. |
Week 82: A perfect-day variation on an old favorite, as The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All and I headed back to the scene of Week 1 – the Apple Orchard/Cornelius Creek loop on a shivery February 14, 2004 – with several distinct variations from that original hike:
1. The weather was nothing short of ideal – temps in the 70s and skies ranging from partly cloudy to deep blue.
2. We’d never before done this loop clockwise, starting up the Apple Orchard Trail and coming back down along Cornelius Creek.
3. The falls loses none of its 200-foot height at the dry end of summer, but it does lose a huge portion of its volume. We’ve seen it frozen and we’ve seen it in post-big-rains cascade; never before had we seen it as we did this day – its flow as skinny as a fire hose’s, its sound as quiet as a whisper.
4. The best variation was the rare presence of hiking companions. Y’never know, when you encourage those not so addicted/afflicted as yourselves to join you, what pieces of that hiking obsession might reveal themselves in the company of saner, more balanced folk. But when further descriptions of those people include enthusiastic and gracious, then you have the formula for a great day in the woods.
And occasional hikers Richard Wells – publisher of Blue Ridge Country – and his wife Alison are the perfect combination of indulging-the-obsession/taking-on-the-day-for-itself, immediately adopting the spirit of Gail’s wildflower obsession and stepping into the sort of pulling-in-close of a hike – to the rocks beneath your feet, the stinging nettle at your knees, the trees and breeze above you.
Lunch – leisurely and tasty – was on the second of the Apple Orchard Falls overlooks, though between the still-dense foliage and the modest flow, we looked not once in that direction. As we started again, TGDHOTA had to be admonished lightly, taking off, as is her wont, a bit too briskly for the rest of us, up the rest of the mountain toward the gently sloped fire road that would take us over to the Cornelius Creek Trail. Cornelius Creek was also quieter than usual, though with a bit more flow than Apple Orchard.
Back at the parking lot – at the end of Forest Road 59 – we were all pleased to see the evidence that we’d been in the forest a good long time. On this pretty Labor Day Monday so perfect for a walk in the woods, all the cars but one were gone.
Click here for the archive of Kurt's Hikes
|
|
|
|
