Calling all hikers

[hawkeyetraveler]

Well I’m back from my Grand Canyon adventure and what a crazy adventure it was. Tl;dr we ended up leaving the canyon 1 day early because we heard the weather would be damn near impossible on our last night of camping (I imagine it would have been damn near impossible to setup my tent in 50mph winds). Total hike was ~45 miles and ~12K feet of elevation over 3 days,
_______

Day 1: hiked >15 miles down into canyon, side quest to ribbon falls then onto cottonwood campground

Day 2: 14+ miles up north rim and back to cottonwood

Day 3: was forecasted to be rain, snow and up to 50mph wind gusts for 24+ hours, so we decided to hike the 14 miles out from cottonwood to the south rim and skip our last night. Let’s just say that last day hike out was a shitshow with driving freezing rain, very strong wind and snow to spice things up. Somehow this old man made it back out of the canyon.

 

[General Roman Malaise]

Great thread OP. Wife and I love hiking and have gotten our kids into it from an early age also.

Two all-time favorite hikes so far are the 5 Lakes Trail in Zermatt, Switzerland, and the Mt. Mitchell base-to-summit trail in western NC (highest point east of the Mississippi).

5 Lakes was the most stunning day of nonstop alpine scenery we’ve experienced, with the Matterhorn looming over you the entire way. Anytime we stopped for a water break, all you had to do was turn your head and boom, there she was.

Mitchell is the single most intense hike I’ve done. It’s flat for about the first quarter mile from the parking lot, then you round a corner and go pretty much straight up for 5.5 miles. Did that one with a good friend who started having quad cramps halfway up which made things interesting and delayed us getting back down til nearly dark. First beer went down real easy after that one!

 

[billanole]

Great thread OP. Wife and I love hiking and have gotten our kids into it from an early age also.

Two all-time favorite hikes so far are the 5 Lakes Trail in Zermatt, Switzerland, and the Mt. Mitchell base-to-summit trail in western NC (highest point east of the Mississippi).

5 Lakes was the most stunning day of nonstop alpine scenery we’ve experienced, with the Matterhorn looming over you the entire way. Anytime we stopped for a water break, all you had to do was turn your head and boom, there she was.

Mitchell is the single most intense hike I’ve done. It’s flat for about the first quarter mile from the parking lot, then you round a corner and go pretty much straight up for 5.5 miles. Did that one with a good friend who started having quad cramps halfway up which made things interesting and delayed us getting back down til nearly dark. First beer went down real easy after that one!

Very cool to hear about your MM experience, Roman. As you post, that is a dang tuff walk. Congrats on doing a Southern Sixer.

I went up Mitchell a couple of years back with no pic daughter, her bestie, and our 60# elkhound mix Poppy. Poppy can be a big help pulling you up hill, but you gotta watch out if leashed to her her “southbound”.
The trail was not in great shape in areas, so watching foot placement was paramount, taking away a bit from sightseeing enjoyment.

At an elevation gain and then loss of approx. of 3,600’ along the approx. 5.5 miles in each direction, it is fairly steep consistently.
Wildest thing to us was the number of trail runners, many of whom were likely training to run this path as part of the Mt. Mitchell Challenge, a 40 mile up and downer run in the Winter. MF’ers are badasses… My buddy Trent Thomas is one of the early guys behind this race. His shop Black Dome Mountain Sports is my favorite toy store.

http://www.blackmountainmarathon.com/

Black Dome Mountain Sports ‐ Official Website

This Black Dome Website Built using HTML5, css3, and JavaScript

blackdome.com

Great scenery and views along the trail and the view from a “tower” at the top was 360. We traversed multiple forest types along the elevation gain, topped off by the remnant Spruce/Fir forest which mimics those in Canada. Stepping scant feet off of the trail, especially on the North face, you enter a quiet area of soft, mossy ground cover, fairly large diameter trees, and lots of ground squirrels scurrying about… It was kinda weird to summit and be met by a horde of folks at the top who had driven or bussed to the visitors center.

Peaceful that day, but hurricane force winds occur near yearly up there. 29+ inches of rain from Hurricane Helene fell in scant hours up there last September. The resulting runoff blew thru communities in all directions, resulting in widespread devastation and loss of life. Swannoa, Black Mountain, and Asheville to the south were smacked hard from MM runoff. To the north Spruce Pine, Burnsville and Erwin, TN were some of the hardest hit areas.
I have no idea what kinda shape the MM trail is in these days.
CSB.

 

[General Roman Malaise]

Very cool to hear about your MM experience, Roman. As you post, that is a dang tuff walk. Congrats on doing a Southern Sixer.

I went up Mitchell a couple of years back with no pic daughter, her bestie, and our 60# elkhound mix Poppy. Poppy can be a big help pulling you up hill, but you gotta watch out if leashed to her her “southbound”.
The trail was not in great shape in areas, so watching foot placement was paramount, taking away a bit from sightseeing enjoyment.

At an elevation gain and then loss of approx. of 3,600’ along the approx. 5.5 miles in each direction, it is fairly steep consistently.
Wildest thing to us was the number of trail runners, many of whom were likely training to run this path as part of the Mt. Mitchell Challenge, a 40 mile up and downer run in the Winter. MF’ers are badasses… My buddy Trent Thomas is one of the early guys behind this race. His shop Black Dome Mountain Sports is my favorite toy store.

http://www.blackmountainmarathon.com/

Black Dome Mountain Sports ‐ Official Website

This Black Dome Website Built using HTML5, css3, and JavaScript

blackdome.com

Great scenery and views along the trail and the view from a “tower” at the top was 360. We traversed multiple forest types along the elevation gain, topped off by the remnant Spruce/Fir forest which mimics those in Canada. Stepping scant feet off of the trail, especially on the North face, you enter a quiet area of soft, mossy ground cover, fairly large diameter trees, and lots of ground squirrels scurrying about… It was kinda weird to summit and be met by a horde of folks at the top who had driven or bussed to the visitors center.

Peaceful that day, but hurricane force winds occur near yearly up there. 29+ inches of rain from Hurricane Helene fell in scant hours up there last September. The resulting runoff blew thru communities in all directions, resulting in widespread devastation and loss of life. Swannoa, Black Mountain, and Asheville to the south were smacked hard from MM runoff. To the north Spruce Pine, Burnsville and Erwin, TN were some of the hardest hit areas.
I have no idea what kinda shape the MM trail is in these days.
CSB.

Couldn’t describe that trail better myself. When we summitted a cold wind was blowing across at what had to have been 30+ mph. We’d brought sandwiches and a sniff of bourbon thinking we’d enjoy a break and the view before heading back down. Wound up staying just long enough to snap a few pics and shoot the bourbon - ate a walking lunch as we started back down, LOL.