July 6. Andy Layne Trail to Appalachian Trail to Tinker Cliffs and back. 7.2 miles
What got us up to the wonderful viewpoint was a compelling image of said viewpoint – at full fall foliage – taken by BRC art director Caroline’s honey Chad. That image became the cover for the September/October edition. And the view – at full green – was as eye-catching as always. There has been considerable re-routing and tree-planting over the first mile or so of the Andy Layne Trail, and new signage seems to indicate that the trail’s namesake is indeed Layne, not Lane.
July 12. Apple Orchard, forest road and Cornelius Creek trails loop. 6.2 miles
It had been a long time since we took the short cut of the forest road between the two trails of this loop, and I was pretty confident that the tick-avoidant Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All would go ahead and do the extra mile or so up to and down from the Appalachian Trail, as is our usual path on this walk. But no, the shortcut won.
July 20. Mill Mountain Star Trail up and back. 3.4 miles
Hiker chick Lily, just seven, has decided she wants to backpack with the fellas come the family Dolly Sods hike pretty soon, and this was her test hike with her cool new Osprey backpack. Also along: sons Eric and Carl and Carl’s soon-to-be-four son Grayson and 11-year-old grandsons Aden and Matthew; and we were met at the top by Carl’s wife Jen, who took Grayson back down via car. Lily pronounced herself ready for the big one.
July 27. Appalachian Trail from U.S. 220 in Daleville to “Hey” Rock and back 5.2 miles
It had been another long time since we did a “dinner” hike, replacing the fairly responsible lunch ingestibles with the likes of roast beef sandwiches and Cheetos. Mmmm. The graffiti we discovered a few weeks back was much less prominent by virtue of the brownish paint someone had used to diffuse the bright blue and green lettering.
