Dusting off the cobwebs...

Hey Guys!

Totally by coincidence but almost to the day that I stopped posting this blog I am back at it...

I am not sure how often I will update now but from here on I will do my best to post pictures and a little prose about what the wifey (aka KAW) and I have been up to. As usual the content will be mostly mountain adventures, dogs, food, beers,... all the things that make life worth living damnit!

I hope you enjoy and please comment on the Facepage and/or share if you're so inclined...


This past weekend lead KAW and I across the state line to Tennessee... The "other white meat" State. I just made that up. I think its actually the "Baja Blast Mountain Dew presents: Tennessee". Either way the town of Hampton, TN welcomed us with drizzle and cold temps as we made our way to our destination... the Appalachian Trail. KAW has been kicking some AT ass this past year and all that separates her from having half the trail complete is about 20 miles in NC/TN and most of VA. 450+ miles done she is well on her way...

The plan was to shuttle her on a short nine mile section around Dennis Cove while I caught fish, drank beers, and found local folks to jaw with at the trail head... At least 2 of those 3 would be easy to do.

gnarly rock work on the Trail....

Laurel Fork Falls

...the red in the blue

With that done it was back across the state line to Boone, NC to find food, beers, and a campsite for the night. After plenty of Appalachian Mountain Brewing's fine libations we stuffed our face with foodstuffs from Black Cat Burritos and wandered around Boone for a bit. Boone is always a fun town for me. Its definitely not Asheville but in the best ways... There is this vibe that Boone puts out that is uniquely its own. I dont know if its the hipster/hippie college kids at App. State, the "High Country" flannel and Birkenstock culture, the elevation or if its just cool because its not where I live and the "grass is always greener" thing. Either way I love it up there and will continue to darken Boone's doorway for as long as she'll let me...

beer drinking is serious business...

With no real plans we drove south-ish and ended up finding a nice campsite down in Wilson Creek.

Sunday morning came with warm breezes and a beautiful sunrise. Adventure time so I threw on my fishing gear and explored the little creek flowing right by the campsite.

Two adult humans and a 70lb lab in a Honda Element make for close quarters

sun salutations... Salute!

Living that #camplife

NCWildlife aint playing games...

 The rest of the day was spent with me in the river and KAW in her hammock while Momma Nature's good vibes blasted us from all directions. With the fun over, we took the long way back to Asheville and did our best to stretch the day, taking every minute we could before turning our brains back on "real-life mode".
At least until next weekend...

Why do I always misspell Feb ru ary

Last couple of weeks worth of it...

We headed down to the Homeland for my nephew's, aka The Dude, 2nd-year-of-being-on-this-planet celebration. Conclusion? Being 2 years old is pretty awesome and that dude is cool... Got him a new lid for his future 2 wheeled endeavors...


The snow is melting if not mostly, if not completely gone now. I managed to get out for an early morning road shred whilst the winter's ordure still lay around. It was cold as balls starting out, but 2000 feet of climbing right out of the gate will warm ya right quick. Nice ride and pretty as hell...

The Bear and I got out and to scope out the snow damage. Not a better place to get a quick hike in than the MST. We headed South on the trail since it had been a good while since we walked that way. While not as scenic as the north side its still pretty swell. The Bear was stoked to get out as well...

neigh, neigh i say.

In the most recent happenings KAW had herself a BDay. We celebrated in the best possible way. Hiking and boozing it up! Her sister came in for a spell so we all ventured out to The Pisgah for some old fashioned foot walking. Hiked out to a little spot I have camped at many times, and will do so again soon. Not very well known and views for days...

After the hike we headed home to prepare for the evening's mayhem. The plan was to get all rowdy to some 80's music downtown. There is an 80's cover band KAW enjoys so a number of us got all 80'd out and went and got tore the hell down. It was great fun but too many IPAs left me feeling murky headed Sunday. But plans had been made with *Short Travel Nate to shred some actual trail so I rallied and met him at N. Mills for bikes and fun.

I finally got a proper ride in on my newest sled. 2016 Norco Range, aka Ruby, is now my "trail" bike. The Yelli Screamy is still around but has been demoted to "race" bike, and occasional downhill/commuter/bar crawl/wheelie machine/"trail" bike. Ruby cause its red... duh.

honey are you mad at your man?

The new bike is going to get me into trouble but damn its fun having a big ass trail bike again. She dont play around and overall I'm stoked.

That's pretty much it up to now.

As I type its threatening snow out, so here we go with all that shit again. I like it fine, but its getting hard riding a bike that is attached to a trainer all the time. Fitness is there and coming on stronger but nothing beats cold air in your lungs, heart beating through the top of your head while sending it mach-fuck down the side of a mountain. 

Thats it.

* Short Travel has moved from 80mm to 100mm. Still not enough fork for Pisgah if ya ask me. whatever.

Snowpocalypseamageddonatastrophe

Snow fell in the mountains this week. Time to put on the yuppie down jacket, expensive hiking boots that only get used three times a year, GoreTex shell and head out into the full wrath and fury of Momma Nature...

The Bear came along and as usual, she was having a hell of a time.

 

First Tracks

Fatbike tracks fatting it up the BRP.

I really like getting out into "the shit" and walking around for a few hours. Weather has always been fascinating to me especially when it turns rowdy. I decided to hike up the MST via a few short BRP sections. Hardly saw anyone except 3 fat bikers poaching the MST. Almost made we want a fatbike... Almost. I met a dude from Colorado at the overlook who was attempting to snowboard back down. Not happening on that grade but I applaud him for trying. Ran into a trio of sixty-somethings cross country skiing up the road. Looked more fun than fat biking by far.

The wind was really kicking ass on the ridge line and a few times The Bear and I walked the parkway to take a break. Ended up doing 6 miles instead of the planned 3. No big other than the only food I brought along was a 16oz. Torpedo. My legs were sore from post holing up the MST so I stopped at Haw Creek overlook and drank the beer while talking to the CO snowboarder. The beer made the long walk back on tired legs much nicer.

Saturday we got back out in it and K.A.W. wanted to head up to the overlook to see what it was all about. It was a bit more busy than the day before but the wind and cold were unchanged.

Sunday we went strongly against the advice of the local authorities and drove out to a local spot to walk in a different snowscape. Swannanoa Luke and his crew (wife and dogs) joined us for a short but fun hike through some really nice forest.

Fitness goals for "The Season" are starting to come together. Ended up getting a decent ride in Thursday evening on the 'Lugi before the heavens dumped this frozen gift all over our faces. Mostly gravel roads but a bit of singletrack tossed in to keep it weird. Freezing temperatures and dark solitude. Just breathe, pedal, breathe, pedal... Too most that sounds horrible. To me its supremely therapeutic. Its nice to have an alternative when the mountain sled is broken or if the same old gets hard to handle. I still say ripping 45mph down a gravel road on skinny tires is the shit... Especially at night with some Eddie Money jamming in your headphones. FTW

All I need to do is keep away from biscuits, pimento cheese, and pie. That shouldn't be too hard, right?

In other news the local sports-ball team has made it to the sports championship. I used to be much more interested in football, and other sports watching for that matter, but life without cable TV and sunny Sunday afternoons keep me in the woods most of the time. Although I still consider myself a fan and I'm pulling for the Panthers all the way. I'm just not enough of a fan to sit on my ass watching TV if the trails are dry or the trout are rising.

I'm happy for all the die hards out there who have suffered through so much terrible Panther ball before this season. Hell, I still remember watching the Delhomme interception-a-thon during the NFC championship back in 2009. Even though I'm not as big of a "fan" as I once was it will be great watching the home team in the Superbowels.

Doubt I'll be getting any decent rides in between now and next weekend. This snow is going to take its sweet time melting and that means lots of mud and muck on the trail. Gonna have to hook up "The Machine" to keep this fitness train rolling.

Leave me a slice of pie though...

2016...

  

Happy New Year!