The thing about Dave is, hiking with him is different from hiking with a normal person. He loves to explore, and he’s not overly concerned with staying on the trail. This can lead to some very memorable hikes, such as this one in search of a pond (which we never really found), or this one on the Old Axsom Branch “trail” that hasn’t been maintained in many years, yet features some of the best views of Lake Monroe I’ve seen.

This outing was not as epic as that one, but as Dave got out maps and showed me where he wanted to go, I realized we would spend plenty of time bushwhacking. His maps showed some trails, but much of it involved statements like “I think we can make our way down this ravine to Crooked Creek Lake,” and “I think we can find a way up the other side, and then hopefully connect with this other trail.” Some of the trails were horse trails, but others weren’t even established trails, just paths Dave spotted in satellite view in Google Maps.

I was intrigued, and ready for adventure. Oh yeah, did I mention it was raining on and off throughout the day?

We started out on what I believe is officially a horse trail, but it had a gravel surface for quite a while.

Logging is always a little disheartening to see, but it did open up some nice views.

We were mostly on ridgetops for a while.

As we hiked through this section, the rain started back up. By the time I got my poncho on (tearing it in the process) it had stopped again.

Soon the trail ended, and Dave didn’t skip a beat. He didn’t even slow down.

We were fascinated by this tree that had decayed so much that there was only a flat outline of it remaining on the ground.

It didn’t take long for us to find our way down to Crooked Creek Lake.

Sarah and I had hiked here a few years back, so I knew it was a rugged hike around the lake, bushwhacking most of the way. In fact, this was the most difficult part of the entire hike, making our way across steep hillsides covered in brush and slick rocks, with many trees felled by beavers blocking our path.

After we made our way around the lake, we started up the ravine on the other side. Dave said something like “I *think* there’s a trail up there …” And thus began the most strenuous part of the hike. I don’t know how long or how high we climbed, but it went on for quite a while, and we went straight up the side of the ravine. I certainly hoped we would find the trail, and sure enough, we did. I had to stop and catch my breath at the top.

From there, it was more easy ridgetop hiking back to the car. The sun was setting over a ridge as we finished our hike.

My GPS is very messed up right now, butit said we hiked 3.7 miles.  In reality, it’s probably a little more than that. I’ll include the map, even though it’s missing some parts.

This hike was a blast! It makes me want to do more exploration hikes, trying to figure out ways to get from trails to places they don’t really connect to, or finding ways from one trail to another, etc. It’s very liberating to realize that you don’t always need to rely on a trail to get you where you want to go.

It rained on and off all day, but we really wanted to get out. We discussed possible trails and settled on the Sycamore Loop, a trail we’ve hiked a couple of times before.

We thought the rain was done, but as we were getting ready, we looked outside, and it was raining again. No worries, we just put some ponchos in my pack, and we were ready to go. I was going to take my DSLR on this hike, but given the rain, I decided against it.  Here’s a map of the hike.

We started off on a fire road, then turned onto the trail. At this point, the rain had stopped and it was rather sunny. We were all excited to be out in the woods.

Here, you can see that Rob was sitting for the photo, as instructed, but facing the wrong way …

At every opportunity, Rob would lay down in a puddle or creek.

Though many of the creeks were dry, like this one.

Not to be deterred, Rob found another secret swimming hole, this one about two feet in diameter.

After that diversion, we were moving again. The trail was getting a bit overgrown in places, though not entirely. Here’s “dog’s eye view.”

We found lots of these little orange/yellow flowers.

It was a great day to be in the woods. Then, it started raining. We put on our ponchos.

Sarah was wearing her “wedding poncho,” though fortunately she did not need it on our actual wedding day. No one told me just how much I looked like Little Red Riding Hood in my red poncho. Next time, I’ll have to bring a wicker basket.

The rain wasn’t bad at first, but it picked up some more. For a while, it rained hard. We really didn’t mind. The cooler weather was wonderful, and we got a little wet, but the ponchos worked well enough. We were in pine forest for a while, with very tall pines. With a bit of fog/mist from the rain, it looked beautiful.

After a while, the rain subsided and we no longer needed our ponchos. We passed some more scenery, such as this pond, right by a campsite.

And this was just one of many shaggy trees.

This segment of the trail felt longer than I remembered. There’s a long, gradual climb out of a ravine that just goes on and on. At times the wind would pick up and we would hear the leaves rustling, and water being blown from the leaves, falling to the forest floor. Then the wind would travel slowly through the trees, the falling water moving toward us, washing overhead and finally moving past us. The canopy was so dense that we didn’t even get wet when this happened, but it was really something, hearing it overhead.

Eventually we reached the fire road and headed back.

It was a great hike — it was either 5.3 or 6.7 miles, depending on which program you believe. Something is screwy with my GPS track on this one — oh well. In the past, it’s been around 7.5 miles, but in those cases, we had added on a little extra side trip.

It’s definitely time for more hiking. There are many great options around here, and we tend to do some of the same repeatedly. I hope we can explore some new trails soon.

And, once I backed out of that ride, honestly, I wasn’t feeling it — I guess I needed a break. I feel better about cycling now. Sometimes you just need a break.

Instead, Sarah and I took our dog, Rob, for a good romp in the snowy woods. Nothing epic, just a fun time. I think Sarah enjoyed watching Rob and I chase each other through the forest.

After that break, I felt refreshed, physically and mentally. Hopefully I can ramp up the riding again a bit, but damn, I love hiking, too!

Even though temperatures the day before had climbed to nearly 60 degrees, it was in the 30s during our ride. However, the strong south winds remained.

We rolled out.

Along the way, we ran into Doug, a friend of Dave’s who I’ve ridden with a couple of times before. We talked to him and his wife for a few minutes before going our separate ways.

There were some good hills, and nice views, along Ketcham Road.

After about nine miles, we reached the Cedar Bluff Nature Preserve.

We locked our bikes in a ditch …

… and headed out on foot to hike the trail. I guess you could call this a mixed-mode adventure!

The creek was high …

With pervasive evidence of beavers …

The trail became more rugged, involving careful rock-stepping alongside the creek.

Here I am making my way across some rocks (photo by Dave).

Looking up at the bluff.

The bluff is a very narrow point.

I was testing some new hiking/biking shoes. I’ll write about them later. First impressions are positive.

This was my first time on the trail, while Dave had hiked it many times before. His knowledge came in very handy. He knew the best place to stop and skip rocks in the creek.

Now we had a scramble up the back side of the bluff, on wet, leaf-covered, mossy rocks. Needless to say, they were quite slick. We made it up without incident, with Dave making it look like a breeze.

The top afforded us excellent views.

It’s odd to see the cedars growing right out of the rock.

The back side of the bluff had a ravine with a creek in it.

We enjoyed a snack while we took in the views. What a great spot!

Now, it was time to walk back down the way we came. Once again, it was tricky.

Here I am coming back down (photo by Dave).

Once again, Dave made quick work of it and got down off the bluff well before me.

Now we had to retrace our steps back on the rocky creek shore.

Dave pointed out this very funny pair of trees, known as the “upside-down lady.”

It wasn’t a long hike, mileage-wise (maybe 1.2 miles) but it was a tricky one, and we took time to explore.

We got back on our bikes and rode back, taking a different route that added a few miles but had fewer hills.

Soon, we had a tailwind. Sweet!

We turned onto Gore Road, a new road for me and a great find. Thanks to Dave for showing me this alternative to Old State Road 37!

We still had to spend some time on Old 37, but Gore Road avoided a few miles of it in fine fashion.

We made our way back to my house. Ride + hike together totaled 21 miles or so, but neither part was easy. This was a lot of fun, and we already have ideas for other, similar outings.

I took a break from biking and hiking the next couple of days, and spent some quality time with my wife. The break was much-needed, as was our time together. Now I feel refreshed and ready for all the craziness that this year has in store for us.

I hope everyone is having a Happy New Year!

The trail features numerous rock bridges, stairs, and other structures.

We walked past some of the cabins, which are available for rental. We noticed they had a whole lot of windows. They looked like a fun place to spend a weekend. If we didn’t live so close, we would consider staying in a cabin like these.

This bridge seems funny now, with the creek completely dry from the drought. Even when it is running, I’m sure it’s a small stream.

As you can see, Rob was enjoying himself thoroughly!

As were the bipeds.

The trail winds through a ravine for a while.

And eventually you reach the North Observation Tower. We didn’t go up in the tower, although we have been in it before.

It was an incredibly beautiful day, and we especially enjoyed looking up at the beautiful blue sky through the remaining foliage.

At one point, Rob insisted that I take his photo. He is a photogenic dog, I have to admit.

These stone steps led back up to the Abe Martin Lodge area, where we had started.

It was a perfect day to be out hiking, and we all enjoyed going for a walk through the woods together. Not every outing has to be epic.

The traffic at Brown County has already died off significantly. Once the leaves are past their peak, you’ll find a lot fewer people in the park. That just leaves more room for the rest of us.

It was a gorgeous fall day, highs in the 60s, sunny … perfect, really. It felt good to hike again. Aside from another hike the previous weekend, I’ve hardly hiked since my foot surgery in the spring. Then again, we usually do most of our hiking during the winter anyway.

The lake level reflects how dry things are here. The field below is usually part of the lake.

Some leaves are starting to turn. Some just died and fell off the branches, due to the dry weather. Others are still green.

This is a creek … usually.

Below is a creek crossing that can be tricky, at times. Now it’s dry, you can just walk right across.

You can sort of see below that much of the lake has no water in it. It looks like a big field or a mud pit in the photo. That’s normally lake.

Sarah sure was enjoying herself.

Again, the big open area is normally all water. Now it looks like there’s just a small stream.

Of course, Rob ran into the water on numerous occasions, getting extremely muddy in the process. It was gross, but he loved it!

You can sort of see some switchbacks in this next shot. These help make the climb more gradual.

As we neared the dam side, the lake had water in it. The clouds looked ominous, but we didn’t get any rain.

We lingered on the dam for a while, taking photos and enjoying the view.

Then, we turned around and went back the way we came. We hiked around 4.8 miles. It was a wonderful fall day for a hike.  I look forward to cooler weather, it makes hiking even better!

One day last week, we headed to Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head, NC, with our friends who we rented the beach house with. Our friends had been there before, and told us that the park was home to some incredible sand dunes. It didn’t take a lot of arm-twisting to convince us it would be worth the trip.

The trail is sand from the start, and goes through some trees/shrubs and up a hill.

When you crest the hill, the view is absolutely breathtaking, and the scene looks like some kind of crazy desert.

The scenery truly was beautiful, and surreal.

Things got more surreal when we came around a corner and saw water not too far away.

The trail followed the water for a bit …

… before heading back, across the sand dunes.

Animal tracks were all over the dunes … I think these are fox and hognose snake, but I’m not sure.

The trail was short, but beautiful. We did another, similar hike after this, though it was through some wooded areas and had less sand dune scenery.

Afterwards, we headed to Mama Kwan’s Tiki Bar for some great seafood, and drinks. This parrot was filled with a very refreshing tropical beverage. A great end to a beautiful hike.

We started on a horse trail, and hiked up a hill. Once on the ridge, we bushwhacked down into a ravine. We saw a creek at the bottom, and worked our way down. Along the way, we saw bare spots where turkeys had made their beds.

We didn’t find a pond, instead, we followed another, very muddy horse trail out to a nice view of the lake.

We turned around and got on another trail … just because we didn’t find the pond didn’t mean we couldn’t hike more.

We climbed a bigger hill on the 10 O’Clock Line Trail, a 14-mile trail that ends in Brown County State Park. Once we reached the top of the hill, we followed some horse trails for a while on some narrow ridges.

We looked through the trees and thought we spotted a pond. Dave got out his binoculars and it was pretty clear there was SOME kind of water down there. We couldn’t tell if it was a wide creek or a small pond, and the ravine was too steep to go down and check.

We got to the bottom and followed the road back to the car, getting some more views of the lake.

Later, we looked at my GPS and realized we had been pretty close to the water we spotted from the top of the ridge. We just turned the wrong way. Next time, we’ll be able to go there and see if there is, in fact, a pond.

It was a fun hike of about three miles, with a couple of good climbs and some great scenery. And it was great to see Dave, I hadn’t hung out with him since before Christmas since he was sick, and we’ve both been busy.

It was a hilly 7 miles. The first half was easier, mostly following ridge tops. But the second half was a lot harder, as the trail descended into ravines and climbed back up the hill on the other side, repeatedly. There were several 250+ foot climbs.

All in all, a great hike. Looking at the photos now, it’s a bit shocking how much the weather and conditions have changed in the past few weeks. Just a few weeks ago, we were hiking in short sleeves!