December 29 Hike Report: Sidewalk to Heaven

If you head up to the corner of Meadowmount 3, you will find a nice new sidewalk that will take you to the Tabernacle cemetery, and if you have behaved yourself you can go from there straight up to heaven.

But the hikers are an unruly bunch, so they were able to stroll through the cemetery and emerge by the church with both feet still on the ground.

Actually, in this instance there were 22 feet, belonging to Ursula, Ursula's guest Ginger, Spence, Liz, Sandy, Sydney, Ran, Margaret S, Suzanne S, Mary Leonard, and Tom.

We had decided to stick to paved paths and roads because of the recent torrential rains. From the cemetery and its church we walked on Cragmont to the Carver Center and then on Blue Ridge and Taylor Roads and past the four dogs (only two there this day) to Gatchell and through the back end of Highland Farms to the condos and home.

Cragmont was a little unnerving as we were immediately greeted by a speed demon auto threatening to do better than the cemetery had done and send us all heavenward.

Aside from that incident it was an enjoyable hike and without use of our cars the only energy consumed was out of each and every person in this stellar group of hikers.

Photos by Ran Shaffner

December 22, 2018 Hike Report: Eleven to Four

The eleven were Ran, Margaret, Atossa, Ursula, David K, Liz, Spence, Ellen, Ellen's daughter Ruthie, Ellen's son-in-law Bernt Rydgren, and Tom.

The four were the Four Sisters Bakery, next to the Red Rocker.

Now those eleven, at least ten of them, are very smart people who can read and interpret the weather report, oblivious to what they see out the window at 7:30 on a Saturday morning.

What they saw this morning at 7:30 was a damp and dark, misty, fluttery mess that had “go back to bed” written all over it. But what they discerned from the weather report was that it would be a great mornng for hiking, partly sunshiny, dry, and cool, just right for any hike and especially right for a bakery hike.

So off they went, taking the new road cut in over on the far side of the Highland Farms fishing pond.

That road eventually took them to Gatchell Street and on past the four dogs, then Blue Ridge Road, and then Cragmont and Lake Tomahawk and then up the big hill to the Rocker.

Our eleven hikers more or less took over the bakery, enjoying drinks and treats. Then some of them headed back the same way they had come and others hiked the new 70 - old 70 route. They all returned at about the same time, in good spirits after an invigorating four-mile stroll.

All remaining photos by Atossa Kramer

December 15, 2018 Hike Report: Doubleheader, Tomahawk and Louise

Really, two hikes in one day.

The first hike was four trips around Tomahawk, although some of our fake news hikers insisted that we had made six rounds. You can spot the fake newsers in one of our photos below.

The second hike was from the Town Square parking lot over through downtown Black Mountain and to Louise's.

Maybe you were not among the hardy seven who hiked this morning. Maybe you shied away from the misty stuff that was falling between eight and nine o'clock. Maybe you anticipated the showers that descended on our area around noon. But don't you know? Our wise and fearless leader Carol has a pact with the rain gods! In compliance, they shed nary a drop during our hiking time!!

Our hikers were Ellen, Bob, Mary Leonard, Buzz, Sydney, Tom, and Ursula.

We decided to head where the snow would not be an impediment, and we found that the Tomahawk path was clear, if a bit soggy here and there. We made our four quick loops, hopped back in our cars, flitted over to Town Square, and dodged the remaining snowbanks to make our way to Louise's.

By that time, some of our number had developed ravenous appetites, so we commandeered the biggest table in Louise's and proceeded to drain the kitchen of several of their featured items.

We then slogged back to the parking lot and made our way back to the Farm, after a wonderful morning together.

Really, it was so, so much fun being together this morning.

December 8, 2018 Hike Report: The Pit before the Storm

Oh, those scary weather forecasts. Snow, sleet, ice, wind, cold, the whole gamut of threats to human existence.

Considering these accuthreats from the weathermonster people, who would show up at the Garden Parking Lot today? Only the brave or the mentally deficient would be showing up.

Among the following list of show ups, make your own guess as to which category the hiker fits, brave or deficient: Atossa, David K, Buzz, Ursula, Sidney, Marian, Tom, Ellen, Sandy, Amy (Carol our leader's daughter), and new hiker Bob Castellani, a new resident of Meadowmount III. Welcome, Bob!!!

With such a mixture of bravery and foolishness, there was no telling where we would hike. Somebody piped up with Blue Ridge Assembly, and that led someone else to mutter Wolfpit, and away we went to the McCarty Lodge parking lot, then the little downhill jig, and then the long, long uphill pull on the High Windy Trail, until the junction of High Windy, Carolina, and Wolfpit trails.

We had just a few snowflakes during the ascent, just enough to add to the jollity.

We made several breath-catching stops along the way and also stopped to sing a Christmas song or two.

And we stopped to greet a lady and her frisky doggie, the only other hikers seen by us today. They had done the Carolina Loop.

As sometimes happens, going down was a lot easier than going up, with the trail meandering at a gentler steepness.

The whole experience on this wintry eve before THE BIG SNOW added greatly to our holiday spirits.

Here are two more photos from Syndey. Thank you, Sydney.

December 1, 2018 Hike Report: Ursula Almost

That's right, Ursula almost pulled off a one person solo hike for us on December 1.

Although our wise and fearless leader had checked out the Rain Gods and deemed that day as unsuitable for an official hike, Ursula had other thoughts when she observed a rainless terrain on Saturday morning. So, she scurried over to the Garden Parking Lot with the intent of seeing if there might appear other like-minded hikers, and the further intent of hiking by herself if none appeared.

But Ursula was foiled by the Rain Gods, who may be in cahoots with our wise and fearless leader, as they pelted Ursula so thoroughly that she had no recourse but to return to her shelter in Meadowmount.

Ursula, we salute you.

November 24, 2018 Hike Report: Atossa Up

words and photos all by Atossa Kramer, accompanist Sidney Wilson

Guess who "hiked". Guess where we went. Lovely. Self explanatory :)

November 17, 2018 Hike Report: Lost on the Rainbow

by David Kaylor

We survived and had a good hike from Montreat Gate to Lake Susan and back. The group included Atossa, Ken and Ann, Dudley, Ursula, Nancy, Sydney, Ellen and David.

It was quite cold but clear at the beginning, with no wind, and it improved as we went; it was a beautiful day, one that all of our missing hikers would have liked.

The return trip to the Gate was a bit confused, with some opting for the easy route along the road, while 5 of us heartier sort took the trail back. Somewhere we missed a turn and found ourselves on the Rainbow Mountain trail. After some travail we came back down to the maintenance area near the Gate. All were happily re-united and we returned to HF.

We had a great time tonight at dinner in the diner room.

All photos by Atossa Kramer.

Additional photos from Sydney Wilson

November 10, 2018 Hike Report: Lost in the Arb

Okay, that might be a slight exaggeration, but after a lovely stroll along the Bent Creek Trail and a pleasant ascent on the Carolina Mountain Trail, we did blindly follow a couple of ladies and their doggie onto a side trail that took us to a little parking lot and a strange building unrecognizable to us.

The ladies then got out their map and redirected themselves and us back to the point of error and we resumed the proper hike up the remaining half mile or so of the Carolina Mountain Trail, ending up in the proper parking lot.

So, all in all it was a proper hike and a great one in the crisp cold sunny weather on the fine trails of the North Carolina Arboretum.

And a wonderful feature of this hike was the welcoming back for Sydney Wilson and Ran and Margaret Shaffner. It is so good to have them in the troop.

On this hike we saw perhaps a couple dozen hikers, joggers, and dog-walkers, widely dispersed on the capacious arboretum grounds and trails.

It is always good to gather with hiking friends. Today these were Ursula, Sydney, Dudley, Ran, Margaret S, Sandy, Allan, Mary Leonard, Buzz, David K, Marian and Tom.

All remaining photos are by Ran Shaffner.

November 3, 2018 Hike Report: Ten Gnomes on Jones

The gnomes were Allan, Dudley, Ursula, Sandy, Buzz, David K, Ann, Ken, Marian and Tom.

We headed for Jones Mountain via Old 70 and Warren Wilson, noting on our way that the old river parking lot is now fenced off. The condition of the west river trail is not known to us.

We continued to the lovely Jones Mountain parking lot, where no other cars were present, and started our hike up Davidson Road, enjoying the fall colors and the cool crisp sunshiny weather.

Our first stop was at a very interesting portable saw mill which appears to be in use making lumber out of some of the local Jones Mountain logs. The mill is a rather elaborate piece of machinery, containing a large gasoline powered generator and several good sized electric motors driving a big horizontal bandsaw. In the vicinity were two sawdust piles, several logs, and a couple of beautiful freshly sawn boards.

We made a few other minor stops on the steady climb. At the top, we enjoyed the view from the big sitting log and the nice cabin . We thought about going back down via Kalmia Connector but we decided it might be a little too slippery with wet leaves. So, it was up and back on Davidson.

We finished this hike about 11:30. This was a rare hike indeed, as we saw only one lone hiker heading up on the ridge trail, and absolutely no doggies.

We missed our wise and fearless leader, who was dealing with a dead battery.

October 27, 2018 Hike Report: Flat Creek and Beyond

Today we had competition from electioneering, church work, grandkidsitting, World Series sleep-ins, and lord knows what else. So our hiking group was down to just six stalwarts: Atossa, David K, Buzz, Ken, Ann, and Tom.

Confronted with an empty schedule, we decided to head for civilization, which in this case was the Black Mountain Town Square parking lot. From there we walked over to the remains of the Flat Creek Greenway, which we found quite navigable but with the midway gaping washout in worse shape than ever and no signs of repair efforts.

We made our way through the magic gate and through the poison ivy and onto JohnMyra Road, then onto Enthoffer Road, then Portman Villa Road, Montreat Road, and back to the Town Square parking lot, with a brief sojourn at the Farmers Market.

We saw some interesting stuff on this hike, which will be evident in the photos. It was a good hike!

October 20, 2018 Hike Report: Veterans Park Here and There

by Allan Brown

Why yes, there was a hike. With 10 people. Sort of in the rain – light showers now and then. We went to the Veterans Park and Craig took us around here and there for 3.5 miles. It was really pretty nice, but kind of muddy. Hope you are having a good time. Say hi to our dear president if you see him. Allan

Hikers were Liz, Mary Leonard, Ursula, Margaret F, Ken, Allan, Craig, Ellen, and Craig’s daughter Barbara.

October 13, 2018 Hike Report: The Cows, the Sheep, and the Bull Creek Dam

That pretty well wraps up what we saw on this hike. As we drove through the Warren Wilson farm we saw the cattle herd in full bloom in all its glory We estimated that there were around 100 head, but Allan said it was around a thousand, scattered along the meadows on the barn side of Riceville Road.

And unusually, the sheep were on the other side of the road, up on the hill next to Suicide Woods.

On our return trip we were enthralled to see that every one of the several dozen sheep was in repose on the grass, a beautiful sight to behold.

The hike itself was quite uneventful, with Carol leading the way on the big counterclockwise circle. Of course the dam remnants are still there, and Bull Creek itself appeared very healthy.

On this hike we saw maybe two or three joggers and several walkers, probably all females, protected by very large but friendly dogs.

But wait! This hike was very special for another reason. Harper Day was with us after a lengthy absence, as pretty and chipper as ever, a real treat for us GHF inmates!!

Hiking with Harper Day today were Margaret F, of course, and Dudley and Allan and Atossa and Carol and Marian and Tom.

And P.S. Half of us went on to the Black Mountain Home for Children, Youth, and Families, where the sun burst forth on a splendid campus-wide festival and we were hosted by Sandy for an hour or so, complete with a fine bratwust lunch, a bakery cake, and a horse show.

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October 6, 2018 Hike Report: Efficiency on Lower Piney

Efficiency is of course our middle name. Hifarm Efficiency Hikers.

This efficiency on the trail is accomplished by careful and consultative long-range planning by our wise and fearless leader.

And in this case, our consultative leader heard what sounded like a good plan. It was to have two carloads of hikers start hiking at the southern end of Lower Piney and two carloads start hiking at the northern end, and if all went well the two groups of hikers should meet somewhere on Lower Piney Trail and there could be a ceremony of car key exchange and then the two groups could continue on their merry ways, and then the cars with their new riders could rendezvous at the Montreat gate and sort out passengers according to their destinations: some to the Garden Parking Lot, some to the farmers market, and some to the bakery.

This plan succeeded admirably, thanks to the patient and perspicuitous explanation by our wise and fearless leader Carol and the exceptional followership of Atossa, Ellen, Betsy, Ursulla, Sue, Marian, Mary Leonard, Sandy, David K, Ernie, Craig, and Tom.

It was a lovely sunny morning with just a few signs of fall in the foliage. The hiking went very well. We encountered perhaps a half dozen hikers, some with dogs, and on some occasions these encounters were close encounters on the narrow trail.

One group arrived at the Montreat Gate almost a half hour ahead of the other group. It is not known precisely what the other group was doing that took them so long but both groups are still good friends.

The waiting group had a good time waving at all the friendly passing vehicles and watching a loose poodle dog bounding fearlessly down through the traffic on Montreat road. The dog disappeared for a few moments into the other gate parking lot across the street and then reappeared, unharmed, on leash, a mini miracle.

P.S. That beautiful leg belongs to Ernie.

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September 29, 2018 Hike Report: End of Traditions

Oh, so sad to report the end of Traditions. This wonderful bakery has lovely decorated signs outside announcing that it will cease to operate on October 13. But we can take heart, as there is the new Starbucks near the old Bilo, and rumor has it that Red Rocker will soon open a new bakery. One way or another we can have a bakery hike in the next five-Saturday month, which is December.

Hiking today were Allan, Sandy, David K, Buzz, Ernie, Sue, Ken, Anne, Dudley, Betsy, Marian and Tom. And we met three more hikers at the bakery: Liz, Spence, and Craig.

We started at the Vets Park and walked through The Oaks and on into town. In the absence of our wise and fearless leader, we performed a couple of splits. One was through the woods in The Oaks. The other was at the greens by The Oaks aerial course. The latter split endured all the way to Traditions, but it did add just a dash of excitement to the outing.

The trails in The Oaks were a bit muddy but we encountered no quicksand and all survived. We did not encounter any other hikers or dogs until we got into town.

Buzz leaves tomorrow for three weeks in France, and Spence will be riding with hundreds of other bicyclists, from Black Mountain to the beach. Others of us will dutifully stroll on the lovely campus of Givens Highland Farms.

September 22, 2018 Hike Report: Outback Sixteen

Sixteen hikers, Out and Back. North from the Folk Art Center.

Need we say more? Not really, but we will.

First, the sixteen: Carol, her daughter Amy and Amy's husband David Butt, Atossa, Buzz, Allan, Ellen, Nancy, Ken, Anne, Ursula (back from two months in Thailand and Europe), Mary Leonard, Betsy, Dudley, Marian, and Tom. Quite a crew. All good people.

We hiked north on the Mountains-to-the-Sea Trail, going a short distance beyond where it crosses the Parkway. Then we turned around and came back to the Folk Art Center parking lot.

On the way, on this well-worn path, we saw mainly trees and more trees and no long range views.

We saw maybe short of a dozen hikers and a few doggies, some quite athletic-looking.

We also saw a lot of poison ivy and a big patch of kudzu.

Perhaps the most interesting sight was a yellow jacket ground nest that had apparently been ripped open by a bear. Usually all we see of these nests is a hole in the ground with bees entering and exiting. In this case the earth had been scraped away, so we could see the damaged paper-mache nest with the bees hovering around it. But nobody got stung, not even Buzz.

In the past on this hike we have gone off the Mountains-to-the-Sea Trail and on a gravel road with a water tank and a chain link fenced area, but somehow we missed that today.

September 15, 2018 Hike Report: The Undaunted on Rainbow

That's right, nine, yes nine undaunted hikers made the Rainbow Road Hike today.

And taking advantage of the absence of our wise and fearless leader, who reportedly was in Maryville Tennessee, we were able to split up at will, which we did.

The Gods of Rain were quite active when we started out, but they soon realized how dauntless we were and they retreated into the gray heavens, leaving the trees and a little breeze to remind us of their prowess with fairly frequent shaken-off dousings.

The brave: David K, Allan, Ellen, Marian, Margaret, Betsy, Liz, Craig, and Tom.

The first split-up occurred about half way up Rainbow Road, when all the ladies except Margaret were overwhelmed by the pull of the Ten Thousand Villages store in Montreat, so they turned around and headed back to Marian's car and the store.

The second split-up occurred within the aforementioned group, when Liz decided to forgo the shopping trip. She pealed off where the trail crosses a paved road. She was last seen heading for her home near the Montreat gate.

The third split-up actually was not a split-up, because it consisted of all the remaining hikers: David, Allan, Margaret, Craig and Tom. They did, however, split from the originally intended route, when they took the half-mile set of stairs back down to the parking area, instead of backtracking 1.8 miles on Rainbow Road.

A fair amount of work has been done recently on the stairs, with the focus on controlling erosion, but the stairs are still stairs and some of them are pretty steep and rocky and rough, so perhaps on a nicer day it would be more pleasant to go back down on the longer Rainbow Road.

We encountered just a few joggers and hikers on Rainbow Road near the top. We encountered perhaps a dozen people on the stairs, some of them with small children and one with a papoose, and some with dogs. This was rather impressive given the ominous presence of the Rain Gods up in the clouds overhead.

September 8 Hike Report: On the Old Farm

Indeed we were on the old farm, complete with a John Deere one-lunger and several teams of horses at work in the fields.

All this and more happened at Warren Wilson today and became part of our hiking exp

Gathering at the Garden Parking Lot were Carol, Ellen, Betsy A, Allan, Margaret F, Craig, Nancy, Mary Leonard, Marian and Tom.

We piled into two cars and headed for Owen Park, from which we threaded our way over to the farm and up through the woods and around to the meditation hut, and down past the now defunct pond and onto the farm road.

To our surprise, thee seemed to be some auto traffic on the farm perimeter road. As we headed on that road back toward Owen Park, we found out what had attracted the autos. Warren Wilson was holding a farm event that had attracted dozens of people.

The event included guest farmers who had come to plow and disc the fields with old-time equipment drawn by horses, so this became of considerable interest to our ancient group, some of whom had no doubt seen similar scenes in their childhood.

And oh, yes, one more event! Betsy the brave took a chance swinging on a make-shift swing in the meditation grotto, while we others watched in awe.

September 1, 2018 Hike Report: Lookout Downhill All the Way Extravaganza

One of the drawbacks of our usual Point Lookout hike is that fully half the time we are going uphill. We usually walk down to the tunnels and then reverse course for a steady climb back to the trailhead.

But wait, there is a solution to that problem. Instead of reversing course at the tunnels, we can just keep on going downhill all the way to the trail's end near the Piney Grove Church.

That is what we did on this hike, and taking advantage of the downhill hike were our wise and fearless leader Carol, Ellen, Sandy, Allan, Nancy, David K, David H, Ken, Anne, Ernie, Sue, Spence, Liz, Marian, and Tom.

We were also joined by four special guest hikers, Sandy Pritts, Suzanne Martin, Camilla Martin, and Oliver Martin, a great-grandma, a grandma, and two grandchildren, in that order. These are good friends of Marian and Tom, and all live in the area except Sandy, who is visiting from Altoona, PA.

We all seemed to have a good affinity for the nice steady gradual downhill lie of the trail. We were impressed by the extensive damage caused by recent torrential rains. There were several major landslides and downed trees, and a lot of washed gravel and mud on the trail itself, but the trail has been cleared enough to be suitable for both hikers and bikers, of whom we saw a goodly number. Oh, and some of our hikers saw a very rare sight, a copperhead snake alongside the trail.

Awaiting us at the National Forest picnic grounds just two-tenths of a mile from the trail's end was a splendid cookout prepared by Gus Jerdee, Marian and Tom's son, complete with ample chairs and serving tables. What a fine treat. Perhaps an honorary membership for Gus is in order. Maybe we could discuss it at our next annual meeting, should it ever occur.

Oh, yes! There is the matter of the shuttle arrangements. These seemed to have been handled by NASA, and they were way too complicated to address in this little retrospect.

August 25, 2018 Hike Report: Walk, Don't Run, on Rhodo Run

On this lovely, sunny, cool morning, thirteen innocents (Carol, Amy, Mary Leonard, Ken, Ann, Atossa, Buzz, Ernie, Sue, Allan, Marian, Suzanne, and Tom) gathered at the Garden Parking Lot, thinking that they were going to stroll around Chesire on the scheduled hike.

But nobody seemed too excited by that prospect, and it was clear that our wise and fearless leader would prefer not a stroll but a real hike. But where?

Then, up piped Carol's daughter Amy, assuming the mantle of Junior Wise and Fearless Leader. She quickly scanned the group and then expressed confidence in our collective ability to conquer the Rhododendron Run trail on the lower reaches of the Blue Ridge Assembly. Having recently hiked the trail, she acknowledged that there were a few rough spots here and there, but she assured us that she would be there to catapult any vulnerables over the impediments.

The group seemed to like this idea, but it did require some of us to retrieve some poles and heavier duty footwear, and as a result we became a little confused but managed to convene successfully on an open parking area at Blue Ridge Assembly.

We stayed confused a little longer, splitting off thither and yon trying to find the start of the Rhododendron Run Trail, but we miraculously converged in an old soccer field and managed to find the inconspicuous trailhead, which is a fooler, because the trail itself is a well-maintained footpath winding gradually up through the woods and rhodo hells, very shady and with several easy stream crossings.

All went very well, except for one incident. Buzz stopped to take the attached photo of a pretty flower, and he planted himself right on top of a very active yellowjacket ground nest. The defenders got inside of his pant legs, in his shoe tops, and elsewhere, stinging him about six times, but he is ok.

Atossa also got stung, and maybe others.

Except for the stings, this was a very nice hike in lovely woods. We met just two lady hikers and no dogs on this hike.

By the way, thanks to Buzz and Amy for hoofing down the Assembly road to retrieve our cars.

Photo by Ernie

Photo by Buzz (cost him multiple stings)

Photo by Ernie

Photo by Ernie

Photo by Ernie

Photo by Ernie

August 18, 2018 Hike Report: Outward Bound, Outward and Inward

Ten hikers went outward from Outward Bound, roamed on Suicide, and then went back inward to Outward Bound. We had a very nice time.

Our first encounter on this hike was a hiker managing three high-spirited black labs. He managed to get them on leash before they got to us.

Our second encounter was with the only wildlife of the day, a dead raccoon on the trail.

Next, we encountered a lone hiker who seemed to be from New Zealand, and he took our picture and consulted us about how to find a way out of the forest.

Throughout, we encountered zillions of mushrooms, and Atossa carefully photographed each and every one of them. Safer than eating them.

And then there were the various poles.

Dual polers were our wise and fearless leader Carol, Atossa, Marian, and Tom. Oh, how experienced and wise these four tottering hikers!

Single polers were Mary Leonard, Anne (really just a little stick), and Sandy. (With a single pole, the hiker need fear falling in only one direction.)

In a class by herself, with her super-large Totem Pole, was Ellen. Her pole enables her to hop, skip, jump, and vault over most obstacles and to soar into the heavens when the spirit moves her.

Pole-less were super-confident hikers Allan and Ken.

A special function of the poles on this hike was to divert their owners around the numerous cowpies along the trail. Several of the gates surrounding the woods and pastures were open, and it appeared that the Warren Wilson herd had recently been roaming the woods trails.

Unfortunately, we saw no cows and Allan missed out on an opportunity to renew his romance with that beautiful brown bull whom Allan wooed on a past hike.

Thanks to Atossa for the following photos. The last photo is like a beautiful painting, Atossa!

August 11, 2018 Hike Report: Catawba Falls without Falls

Yes, that's right, we did the whole Catawba Falls hike without any falls or other mishaps.

Gathering at the Garden Parking Lot were the wise and fearless one (Carol), Atossa, Mary Leonard, Ellen, David K, Allan, Nancy, Marian, Tom, Sandy, and Sandy's grandson from Connecticut, Thomas.

Although the morning was quite steamy, we were in the shade almost all of the hike, so it was reasonably comfortable, especially if you like people and dogs.

We encountered a steady stream of hikers going in both directions, but we did manage to find suitable perches on the rocks below the main falls, for a nice sojourn with a few vittles and plenty of water.

Thomas, even with his sore toe, went up the farthest  along the side of the falls, with David a close second.

The falls were splendid. All of the humans and canines were very well behaved.

All in all, it was a good experience and we are already talking of heading back to the Catawba Falls Trail sometime in the fall.

By the way, after our return home, the afternoon turned quite showery, but we hit no rain during our outing.

Addendum: Liz Bryan is recovering well from her recent copperhead bite (about midweek). Her arm is at this time a sore sight for eyes. Very swollen, with the bitten hand blue. After a few days of extreme pain, she is now returning to her bright and cheery self.

August 4, 2018 Hike Report: Flat Creek Greenway Plus

We could also have called this hike “Flat Creek Greenway Minus”, as part of the greenway was missing, due to recent floods. About half way up the greenway, the creek had overflown its banks and ripped out a section of the paved greenway, depositing one chunk of pavement right on top of an intact section of the greenway a bit farther downstream. The total amount of damage was quite extensive.

We were able to traverse the impaired sections quite easily, but we had to be mudders to do so.

After arriving at the top of the greenway we meandered through East Cotton Avenue, Flat Creek Road, East Street, John Myra Road, Enthoffer Road, Portman Villa Road, Third Street, Montreat Road, Second Street, and Louisa Street, which took us back to the parking lot at the lower end of the greenway.

This may sound a bit complicated, but it is a nice easy walk through an interesting neighborhood.

Of course we saw a few people here and there, some porch sitting, some walking, some walking their dogs, some bicycling, and some patiently waiting for our group to get out of the way of their autos.

We stuck together quite well on this hike and all was peaceful throughout. After our final gathering at the conclusion, one carload headed directly home, one tarried at Traditions Bakery, and the third car went we know not where.

Who hiked toady? Sharon, who seemed to know at least half of the people we met along the way, Carol, Marian, Ken, Nancy, Allan, Sandy, Ernie, Ann W, Mary Leonard, Tom, and Sue.

(Thanks to Ernie Jahnke for our first two photos.)

July 28,2018 Hike Report: Okay in The Oaks

Okay, so we had twelve little acorns rolling through The Oaks this morning. We did two miles and were back around eleven a m.

'Twas a bit muddy in spots but they were quite easily navigable.

Come to think of it, one unusual aspect of this hike was that we did not encounter other hikers or joggers or dogs. We had the whole dern Oaks all to ourselves.

This was an uneventful but pleasant outing. We all were greatly pleased to have Carol back in our midst after her convalescence with a leg injury. And she let us invoke the principle of equifinality for a little split of the group through a wooded section.

In addition to our wise and fearless leader, our hikers were Margaret, Atossa, Sharon, Sandy, Ann, Ken, Allan, Craig, Marian, David and Tom.

July 21, 2018 Hike Report: Jealous by the French Broad

Well, why wouldn't we be jealous, watching dozens of rafters floating lazily down the river while we trudged up and down the muddy riverside path in the blazing sun?

Did we have a little advantage, though, as we had access to the thousands of gallons of New Belgium Brewery products near the turn-around point of our hike?

Maybe it was not an advantage, because some of the rafters' gear looked suspiciously like beverage coolers. Many of the rafters traveled in little clusters of four to six rafts, facilitating exchanges of goods and people.

Joining in on our river hike from the Dog Park to the Craven Street Bridge were Sue, Ernie, Buzz, Ellen, Sandy, Marian, Allan, Tom, Nancy, and new hikers Suzanne Sutherland, Ken Wiig, and Ann Wiig. This was a nice blend of new and old farmers, and we all seemed to get along well.

We tarried for a considerable time at the brewery, but our consumption was quite minimal, and nobody fell into the river.

July 14 Hike Report: Visitors Center Loop and Flicks

by Sandy Miller


The hike today was listed as "to be announced", so we started out with a group decision about where we would hike (rather unusual, and it went smoothly!)

Tom, David K, Allan, Ellen, Margaret F, Sharon, Atossa, Marian and Sandy made a decision to hike out of the visitors center , where we were supposed to hike last week but got rained out (the first rainout in quite a while).

We started off with a group picture taken by an innocent bystander. Along the way we saw just a couple of other hikers.

We stopped several times to look at unusual flowers and trees. Atossa took pictures of some, but she couldn't identify them because the signal was not reaching her phone. Nice try, though, Atossa!

We did the loop trail, which ended up to be about 2 miles. We completed it before 11 a m, so we then decided to go into the visitors center and watch the film. Although we all probably had seen it before, we were enthralled with it once again, reminding us how privileged we are to live in God's country.