A little holiday fun — hiked 42.7 miles over 5 days

We spent the prior week hiking in the Smoky Mountains.  Well, most of it was hiking in Pisgah National Forest with a couple of stops along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  I love holidays; I even enjoy the drive (with a couple of exceptions).

As with all holidays, this trip was too short.  However, I do have about 26gb of video and another 6gb of still shots.  I will admit to taking far fewer stills this trip than on prior trips, but I think I managed a few good shots (the time to set up the tripod and camera at every interesting spot can eat into the day).  The small little waterfall on this post was taken on the first day of hiking.  It was just a spot along the trail that looked interesting and I’m fond of soft water.

It will take me a bit to process through the hours of video I captured.  But my intent is to put together a video blog of the highlights (no time frame promised yet, I’m still experimenting with that whole realm of toys).

For those interested in the photo details, the image was taken with a Nikon D700, 50mm lens, Singh-Ray Veri-N-Duo filter, iso-200, f7.1 @ 13 sec.

For the hiking prospect, it was definitely fewer miles than on some of our other trips.  It was a combination of things that kept us from getting as many miles as we would have liked.

For a recap: there were a couple of trails with way too many bugs, but no ticks the whole trip.  One trail had a caution about a bear with cubs sighting a couple of days earlier.  We saw a couple of snakes, lots of lizards and snails, and generally had a good time.  On Friday before be left, after the hiking, we went to dinner and a book store (have to be true to one’s self).

Here’s a quick summary of the days we hiked and the trails.  Some hikes were out and back, so the trail mileage doubled to get our daily totals provided by the GPS:

16 Jun 2013 — 8.6 miles

• Mt. Pisgah and part of the trail to the campsite.
• Caney Bottom Loop
• Cove Creek

18 Jun 2013 — 7.0 miles

• Rattle Snake Lodge
• Some of the MTS trail
• Crabtree Falls Loop

19 Jun 2013 — 7.0 miles

• Slick rock falls
• Daniel ridge loop

20 Jun 2013 — 11.0 miles

• Moore Cove
• Graveyard Loop
• Cradle of Forestry Discovery Center
• Pink Beds Loop (bugs)

21 Jun 2013 — 9.1 miles

• Pilot Cove – Slate Rock (bugs!!!! and bear w/ cubs warning)
• Pilot Cove Loop