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Kurt's Hikes: Sept. 30, 2012
View west from Tinker Cliffs looks across North Mountain, Potts Mountain and into West Virginia.
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Kurt's Hikes: Sept. 30, 2012
Cranky man, food-awaiting dog and drying shirt form strange Tinker Cliffs still life.
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Kurt's Hikes: Sept. 30, 2012
View west from Tinker Cliffs looks across North Mountain, Potts Mountain and into West Virginia.
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Kurt's Hikes: Sept. 30, 2012
Day Hiker packs up lunch, with Catawba Valley far below.
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Kurt's Hikes: Sept. 30, 2012
Double blaze marks turn in the Appalachian Trail on Tinker Cliffs.
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Kurt's Hikes: Sept. 30, 2012
Asters along the Andy Lane Trail.
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Kurt's Hikes: Sept. 30, 2012
Aww, they got matchin' Keen hiking shoes.
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Kurt's Hikes: Sept. 30, 2012
The Day Hiker and her dog cross Catawba Creek near the bottom of the Andy Lane Trail.
The thing about The Greatest Day Hiker Of Them All is that when it comes to hiking, she likes a known, dependable entity.
Bushwhacking? Maybe a minus 3 on a scale of 1 to 10.
Infrequently used trail in the warm months, with all those weeds and the ticks they carry? Minus 2.
Any piece of trail we've never been on? Maybe a 1 to a 5, depending on how well maintained and blazed it is.
A popular trail with its own parking lot and to a chunk of the AT? At least a 6, and on this day pushing toward 10, as, after a pleasant first mile through cow territory, she took off through the second-mile steeps and the third-mile switchbacks of the Andy Lane Trail, which was in as good a shape – mowed, fences back up, styles back in use – as we've seen it for a long time.
So we were at the first rocks of the cliffs in an hour and a half, and on along to our favorite rock five minutes later, for a good lunch. Well, pretty good, as The Day Hiker had some minor gripes about the less-than-full-time sunshine on a coolish day.
The walk down – also a known quantity – got knocked out equally quickly.
Andy Lane Trail to Appalachian Trail to Tinker Cliffs and back. 7.2 miles
How to get there: Va 419 west from Salem to Va. 311 to Va 779 to the parking lot halfway between 311 and U.S. 220