Thursday Night Shenanigans

Last night, I made a spontaneous trip to Transylvania County.  I made a second trip to Looking Glass Falls, an 80-foot waterfall in Pisgah National Forest.  Looking Glass is beautiful and I highly recommend it.  If you're heading there from Waynesville, you'll see the Pink Beds picnic area on your left before the falls.  Except when they're closed for the winter, Pink Beds has bathrooms (for future reference).  The picnic area/trails don't close, just the restrooms.  Another place, which I hope to visit, is the Sliding Rock recreation area.  In the summer, it is staffed with lifeguards.  It costs $1 to get in.  It was windy, so the spray was going pretty far.  I stopped along the Blue Ridge Parkway on my way back.  You can see Cold Mountain from there.  Enjoy the pictures and see why they're called the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Be sure to scroll all the way down.  There's a video of the falls.      

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cataloochee Valley Hike

We started at Cataloochee Valley and some of us hiked 10 miles.  It was an easy/moderate hike.  Cataloochee is well-known for elk.  The elk were reintroduced the park and wear radio collars.  This is a national park (Great Smoky Mountains), so the elk are on protected land.  You must remain at least 150 feet away from the elk and can't bother them or enter the fields.  Elk mate in the fall and give birth in the summer.  Winter is a quiet time in that area.  There are other places to see elk, but Cataloochee Valley is the best.  When they mate, the males make a call known as bugling.  Rut is the term for when elk challenge other bulls, attract cows, and make their bugling call.  Their antlers also have a covering known as ''velvet.''  Once their antlers are fully develop, they shed the velvet.  Elk are known as bulls, cows and calves.  Read more about them here: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/elk.htm.  There's a great picture on the NPS page, so please check it out.  It shows just how huge the elk can be....a 500-lb female is a BIG girl! :) This page has even more details about the elk, really interesting: http://www.nps.gov/grsm/naturescience/elk-facts.htm.  Now that I've seen elk in the valley, I can officially say my top 10 list is complete.  I think I should write a new one. 

Twentymile Loop Hike

On Saturday, April 13, we hiked near Fontana Village and were near the Swain/Graham County line.  Here's a little geography help, since NC has so many counties.  My county (Haywood) is next to the one where Asheville is (Buncombe).  Keep going west and end up in the county with WCU (Jackson).  Then, we crossed into Swain, Graham and Swain again.  We were near the TN line.  It took about 1.5 hours to get there.  We only passed one hiker over several hours.  He was headed up to a camp site.  We saw other cars when we arrived and figured those people had also headed to that area.  We saw a deer! It was a buck.  He saw us.  I love knowing that he's nice and safe on federal property.  We were in the Nantahala National Forest.  Although it was called the Twentymile Loop, our actual distance was about 7.6 miles.  It was moderate in difficulty.  It was my first hike in about two months and I enjoyed getting back in the woods. 

There's a deer in the middle. 

Valley of the Lilies 1/2 Marathon

On Saturday, April 6, I ran the Valley of the Lilies 1/2 marathon.  This was at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.  It had some good points, some bad.  I've been spoiled by some great races, including the OBX.  The price was pretty reasonable.  They allowed participants to use the rec center.  It was great to have a warm place to wait and have access to the restrooms.  The Gatorade was good (not sure if they used powdered, but race folks don't always mix that well).  We got great tech shirts that had an image of the campus.  At least they're a purple and gold school.  The course was as flat as they could make it.  Most of the inclines weren't too bad.  I felt pretty good for most of the race and was thankful for that.  Taking two acetaminophen before helps.  I always do that before a half or a full.  The worst elevation climb was during the catamount climb.  I survived the Catamount Climb! There wasn't any one awful part, but it was gradual incline that kept on going.  I wore a festive outfit, complete with a cape and a flower.  I thought, why not try to go with the theme? I was the only one who was dressed up.  There weren't finisher medals.  I seriously put on the evaluation that I would only run it again if there were medals.  We got pint glasses and stickers.  ;) Afterwards, I enjoyed a peanut butter shake from the DQ.  They were donating part of their sales that day to the race charity.  The charity was professional development opportunities for WCU students (ex- taking a licensing exam or attending a professional conference).  My time was  2:39:21.2.  Not a PR, but not bad for my first half up here.  I do miss the flat terrain of Greenville.    

http://www.christopher-graphics.com/ValleyoftheLillies
This is the photographer's website.  There are a LOT of photos, but I know that I'm on pages 26 and 27 under ''course photos.''  Enjoy!  

Assault on Black Rock III

I was searching for local events on Active.com.  I came across ''Assault on Black Rock III'' and thought it was the coolest name.  It benefited the Community Table, a hunger-relief group in Sylva, NC.  This was a roughly seven-mile trail race.  I would go picking a difficult trail race for my first mountain race. The elevation increase was over 2000 feet, with the peak sitting at around 5000. My race bib was stamped when I made it up there. It says ''I swear I made it to the top.'' I took a quick look at the view, then got moving, as I was trying to make time. I refused to look at my watch...no need to depress myself. It took just over three hours. Those who did it in 101 minutes got a belt buckle.  I ran some, walked plenty. At some points, running wasn't practical or safe. I had planned to wear boots and hike, but decided to stick with my Asics. I wanted to have the option of running. It wasn't that rooty, but I did have to watch out for rocks. With the summit as high as it was, there was still some ice near the top. I made it okay going up, but slipped going down. I went slightly off the side of the trail. I let out a little scream, but quickly got moving again. I was quite dirty when I got done. Fortunately, I had a towel in the car (lesson learned). Someone came along shortly after I slipped and confirmed that it was me. It was kind of like doing a marathon; really hard, but I would do it all over again. And I got a cool lime green shirt out of it.    :)  

At 5,000+ feet!

Polar Plunge!

Haywood Waterways Association sponsored a polar plunge at Lake Junaluska.  IT WAS IN FEBRUARY!! This is the only time that you can legally get in the lake.  I thought, why not? I got a shirt out of it, as well as bragging rights.  I also won a great door prize: a one-month pass to the Waynesville Recreation Center.  I wore a swimsuit, cape, knee-high athletic socks and a tutu.  Thankfully, I have water shoes and didn't have to mess up my running shoes.  The event got some great media coverage. 

HWA has a program called ''Kids in the Creek,'' which this event benefited.  The program works with 8th graders in the classroom and then takes them out to the creek.  A neat fact about Haywood County is that all of our water originates here.  It's particularly important to take care of our water because of that. 

http://themountaineer.villagesoup.com/p/taking-the-plunge/966945
If you look to the right of the guy in the white top and red pants, I'm behind that person.  You'll see a little blur of red, which was my tutu. 

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013130225003 
I'm two people to the right of the same guy in the white top and red pants.  I'm also the first person out of that craziness.   

http://www.smokymountainnews.com/outdoors/item/9915-taking-the-polar-plunge
I'm not sure if I made it in here. 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/v77ajnja7a2nhdr/bxSv_Oa0b7
This is the photographers site.  There are quite a few, so you may not see me.  You will, however, be entertained. 

Thomas Divide Hike

Thomas Divide is in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  This was in Swain County (Bryson City).  This was harder than my previous hikes, but still a really good one.  We saw a waterfall called Indian Creek Falls.  This is 35-feet high.  Visitors are allowed in the water and tubes can be rented nearby.  I look forward to enjoying the pure mountain water and waterfalls in warmer weather (some falls have swimming holes beneath them).