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Kurt Rheinheimer
The view from Big House Mountain, 8/13/17.
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Kurt Rheinheimer
Gail with cairn at Carvins Cove, 8/26/17.
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Kurt Rheinheimer
The Greatest Day Hiker of Them all, hiking away from Kurt as usual, up the Star Trail, 8/27/17.
August 6. At Carvins Cove, Horse Pen, Gauntlet, Brushy Mountain and Royalty trails loop. 5 miles.
This relatively easy loop. from the Timberview parking lot, provides a look at the reservoir, a good climb, views across to McAfee Knob and a gentle descent.
August 13. House Mountain Trail to Big House Mountain summit and back. 6 miles.
We’d thought, when we did Little House Mountain back in July, that we’d do both summits in one day. But the demanding nature of the trails, which are west of Lexington, along with the fact that both summits offer wonderful spots for lunch, had us save Big House for a second foray. The rocky road approach to the spot where the two trails separate is not the most inviting trail there is, but it does lead to two nifty summits.
August 20. Trail up to Rumbling Bald rock climbing area and back. 2 miles.
As a part of a big family trip to western North Carolina for eclipse viewing (we’d originally hoped to hike to 5,100-foot Big Butt Mountain to witness, but heavy traffic caused us to stop in Franklin to watch), son Eric, grandkids Lily and Tyler, The Day Hiker and I took a drive down to the Chimney Rock area to explore the Rumbling Bald Boulder area. All three climber types found good climbs while the semi-geezers ate lunch.
August 26. Back at Carvins Cove: HiDeHo, Brushy Mountain, Buck and Hotel trails loop. 5 miles.
A pleasant loop around the sort of forgotten end of the great Carvins Cove trail system.
August 27. Star Trail over Mill Mountain, down the loop road and to South Roanoke’s Fork in the Alley, then back via Roanoke River Greenway. 5.2 miles.
This rewarding walk—the Greek salad at the Fork is so worth walking to—has become a favorite. On this iteration, our troubling tendency to short-cut it (previously via skipping the summit by taking the Monument Trail along the side of the mountain on the way back) took a serious run for the worse as we simply got on the greenway (and answered to the siren call of Blue Cow Ice Cream) to walk back along the river to the Star Trail Parkway lot.
Since Valentine's Day 2004, Blue Ridge Country Editor in Chief Kurt Rheinheimer and his wife Gail have hiked at least once almost every weekend. Of those bazillion weekends, they have missed just 14, virtually all due to occasional balkiness from Kurt's old-man knees or achilles. For the first two years (Valentine's Day 2004 through Valentine's Day 2006) they didn't miss a single week, and they have a longer streak now, which Kurt is too superstitious to talk about. They celebrated their 1oth anniversary of hiking with a February 2014 trip to hike the trails of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. They completed the 550 miles of the Appalachian Trail in Virginia in the summer of 2008, and have walked more than 5,100 miles total, mostly in Virginia but including hikes in West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, Oregon and ... New Zealand! This blog is an ongoing chronicle of those hikes. We hope you enjoy these tales from the trail, and we encourage you to get out there and experience the beautiful Blue Ridge for yourself - happy hiking!
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