March 1. Home to Valley View Mall via neighborhoods and the Lick Run Greenway and back. 6 miles.
On a cold winter day when The Day Hiker would rather stay inside, you can talk her into walking out to the movie theater to see “Bridman,” even it it turns out to be a bit uneven. The movie that is, not the walk, as with a destination, she is always a demon.
March 8. Appalachian Trail from U.S. 220 to “Hey” Rock and back. 5.6 miles.
Highlight of this walk, in addition to the pleasant view down onto a full and still snow-ringed Carvins Cove was the half mile of rerouting that has gone on just beyond where the AT crosses Tinker Creek and then the railroad tracks. The new section heads off to the left as you head south, away from the rocky, rutted stretch and instead up onto the hillside for that half mile. The new route bypasses the old kiosk that is/was about a mile in from 220.
March 14-15. Mount Pleasant/Mount Pompey Loop and Old Hotel-AT Loop in the Mount Pleasant National Scenic Area. 12.4 miles total.
The Day Hiker gets a weekend off, as the “men” of the family (Kurt, Ben, Eric, David, Carl, Adam, Aden, Matthew, Lily and Tyler) headed off into the rain for two day of hiking in the, um, rain. And yes, Lily is da man for sticking it out bravely at age 8, as did Tyler, age 7. No view from Mount Pleasant, but a decent fire at the shelter and by the time we got onto Cold Mountain, we got the good east and west views.
March 21. Catawba Valley Trail onto North Mountain Trail and back. 6 miles.
We hadn’t been on North Mountain for years, and hadn’t remembered the Catawba Valley Trail much at all—was it part of the North Mountain Trail last time we were on it? Didn’t remember the streams along the climb either. As usual, a fairly lonely place to walk, though we did cross a set of hikers doing the whole 13 miles of the Catawba Valley/North Mountain pair.
March 29. The other end of the North Mountain Trail (from Dragon’s Tooth parking lot), up a ways and back. 5.6 miles.
Odd that this end of North Mountain was entirely familiar, despite its having been that long time since we were there. We quibbled, as usual, over which knob to pick for lunch, and ended up with a nice one, with the views still open as the trees were just beginning to leaf out.
