Mountain Assault 5: Infiltrate Military Installation

I missed disaster by just ten thousand years,
as sometime in the next score of millennium or so this rock is sure to fall.

We picked up the Appalachian Trail at Petite's Gap, elevation 2250 or so. By the time we reached the summit we were around 4225 -- a gain of about 2000 feet (probably more if you count up and down walking along the ridge line.) It was over five miles from the gap to the summit, so this was also the longest haul we've made before dropping our gear for lunch.

Doesn't look so spooky up close

Since I live in the area, and since Apple Orchard Mountain is the highest mountain within a hundred miles or so, I've seen this dome most all of my life. It was great to finally see it up close! Oddly, the summit wasn't much of a climax for a long and arduous hike. Just a big grassy knoll surrounded by trees.

Lunch time is a great time to review where we are on the day's trip

Apple Orchard Mountain gets it's name not from apples, as I've always thought. Instead, it is named for the red oak which surround the summit. Because of the harsh weather on the mountain, the oaks are bent and twisted, looking just like apple trees.

There were a couple of nice vistas from the summit

We saw all kinds of interesting stuff on our trek, from lichen on trees to the rhododendron leaves all rolled up for some reason. We saw trees with huge bulbous masses on their trunks, an effect that I'm told is due to wasps stinging the trees.

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway along the way home

All in all this hike was dissapointing. There wasn't that great of views for such a high walk, and we meandered alongside the Blue Ridge Parkway most of the time, crossing the road a couple of times. I'm sorry, but it's just not the same when you spend 2 hours walking in the woods only to see an overweight family of four pass you in a SUV while they scarf twinkies and listen to NPR. Several times we would find a neat spot, only to hear a car door slam closeby and tourists take over the scene with kids, dogs, cameras, etc.. I don't have anything against Parkway visitors, but it takes away from the things that make a cool hike, in my opinion. You don't have that feeling of being out in the middle of nowhere, or of seeing things most people don't see.

I think I've picked up another out of town gig, so Jack and my hikes are limited. Maybe we'll go another time or two, maybe not. Whatever we do, I'm looking forward to getting this blogging template stuff figured out and back up to speed with the technical blogging!