Took a 2 1/2 day hiking trip in southern Indiana, climbed near a few tennis courts, and went to visit my sister in WV all chronicled below. Enjoy!!
I didn’t say much in my entries at the time so I have filled info in with italic captions.
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DAY 956 11.15.09 – smallish beech at dusk on KT just before setting up camp, just south of mile marker 34.
Drew was really nice and got up early on a Sunday to drive me to drop off food and water along the KT and then see me off at the Spurgeon Lake Trailhead.
This was one of my favorite spots on the trail. All evergreen trees adding a little green to the landscape and beige tan needles on the forest floor. Softer, quieter, and very peaceful place.
The day was overcast, leaves blanketed the ground making the hike quite noisy and slippery.
Started at noon and did about 11 miles that day.
DAY 957 11.16.09 – small maple at top of hill on KT mile marker 28.
Got up early, packed up, and couldn’t find the trail. So I went up and down this huge hill for about an hour before I found the white spot on the tree. A little further down the trail I crossed over this power line swath, which I heard buzzing through the night.
An amazing bulbous growth at least twice my volume.
Made sure to climb earlier in the day before I got too tired.
The difference between the leaf-covered trail and not was slight, but more visible from above.
A winding creek through the knobs and getting dark. Started to look for a place to set up for the night.
17 miles for the day. Set up my hammock with pink ribbons so as not to get shot by the deer hunters. Settled in for another long restorative slumber.
DAY 958 11.17.09 – little tulip poplar at end of KT
Woke up to rain. Packed up and got going around 7:30am. Shoes and socks were soaked through in the first mile. Crappy raincoat soaked through soon after. 11 miles into the day I got to my last food/water drop and changed socks. Those were soaked in a matter of minutes. It was a long wet day, but I didn’t have enough dry clothes or any desire to sleep cold and wet. So I pushed it to the end. 17 miles by 3pm, with only a few 5 minute breaks along the way. At least the last 5 miles it stopped raining.
I never took my camera out till the end. Mile 0. So glad to see it… and my truck.
Once I took my pack off I felt like I was floating even though my muscles were completely fatigued and a few strained and sore. I thought I better climb then before I went home and passed out. I climbed a tiny tree and just sat on its little limbs just 8 feet up from the ground.
DAY 959 11.18.09 – Maple in parents’ front yard.
Its a staple and I have climbed it MANY times. It’s in videos I’ve made, in a Yancey shoot, and it was the tree I climbed the first time I got sick during this daily climb project. I was living at my parents’ at the time and sneaked out from the close watch of my mom and climbed this Maple, having to pause ever few branches from a racing heart and exhaustion. This time I climbed it due to my complete body soreness and fatigue from my long hike. I got to the top and took pictures of my dad fertilizing and the view.
Turkey Vultures
Felt good and gave me a little more energy and stretched my muscles out.
DAY 960 11.19.09 -Maple by the Bubble indoor pool by the reservoir off Frankfort Ave. Love the tennis court shots.
DAY 962 11.21.09 – Walked to nearby park with my mom. I crawled over an historic concrete bridge.
Then climbed a pokey Oak. My mom didn’t want to watch so she circled the parking lot. I went to the top and took pictures. More tennis court shots.
And the people in the courts definitely gave me some looks. If my mom had watched closely she would have noticed my phone fell from my pocket when I had first crawled up the low overhanging limb. Later that evening my bro and I walked back in the dark with a flashlight and found it right away in the leaves.
Mitchell didn’t want to blow out the candles. Not sure if he actually knows how to blow yet. Makes more of a hissing noise through his teeth. I did my best to decorate the cake with a Thomas the Fire Engine drawing. No picture ’cause it turned out pretty bad.
Mitchell’s little brother Jason watching on. Who knows what the little guy was thinking.
For Mitchell’s 3rd year on this earth, I gave him some of my old MatchBox cars. He loves them and started playing with them immediately. Tongue out, laying on the floor. He is also much like me. He likes to line them up in neat rows.
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