Wander Report: Yellowstone Day 1

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Wander Report: Raven Rock State Park - Lillington, NC & Aviator Brewery - Fuquay Varina, NC

Raven Rock State Park

Just a short trip down Hwy 421 from Greensboro, NC is a wonderful little gem in the North Carolina State Park System. Raven Rock State Park is located in Lillington, NC. We had a group of approximately 30 people ages 2 and up. It was an unusually warm Saturday for February and the parking lot was close to full when we got there around 9:45 AM.

The park is not a far drive from Raleigh, so I can imagine it is a popular destination for day hikers to get away from the city for a little while.

We hiked the Raven Rock Loop Trail which is listed as a 2.6 mile loop. The mileage is accurate and we added the trail down to the fish traps as well. Total mileage ended up at 4 miles.

The hike is a great hike for kids of all ages. The trail is not difficult and in the beginning follows a creek through the forest. About a mile into the hike, you reach the stairs down to Raven Rock on the shore of the Cape Fear River. There, you can explore the area around the 150 foot rock wall and marvel at the beauty of the trees, rocks and river. There had been some significant rain the week leading up to our hike, so the river was very high and muddy. On a normal day there would be more fishing on the river, but conditions were not favorable this day.

Our kids really enjoyed the rock and we spent most of our time around this feature.

Unfortunately, there is some graffiti around Raven Rock, but luckily it is not terribly noticeable until you get up close.

After you climb back up the stairs and head further up the trail, you reach the overlook. A beautiful vista of the Cape Fear River and it's surroundings. This is a good photo opportunity here.

Raven Rock Overlook

We added the Fish Traps section on to our hike, but there was really nothing down this trail. The trail leads you back down to the river, and I imagine there is usually fishing going on. Again, I think it was due to the high waters that no one was fishing.

There are some great backcountry camping opportunities in the park and I look forward to returning and getting a chance to experience this.

Route: Raven Rock Loop Trail with Fish Traps Trail added
Distance: 4 miles
Elevation Change: 300 Feet
Difficulty: Easy, some stairs
Date: 2/20/16

Longleaf Pine in Raven Rock State Park

We finished our hike in about 2-1/2 hours and headed to Fuquay Varina to try Aviator Brewery.

Aviator Smokehouse

Aviator Brewery is located in the mid town section of Fuquay Varina. There is the brewery on one side of the street and across the street they have a smokehouse restaurant. We chose the Smokehouse since we had quite a few children in our group and they were very accommodating to our group of 25.

The food was excellent, but the beer was what we came for. I started off with the Saison de Aviator with Habanero. It was a typical farmhouse style but the habanero was the star of the show. I am partial to heat so I enjoyed this brew, but without the pepper it would have been quite underwhelming.

Next, the Wide Open Red was poured. This was a delicious hoppy red ale that looked as good as it tasted. Color was a brown with hint of red and a good head. The taste of malts, caramel and bitter hops blended nicely with a crisp finish.

Finally, I ended on the Frost Nipper. I really dig winter ales, and this was a nice offering. It was a nice deep red color. There was some spice in the ale, but nutmeg seemed to dominate the taste. It wasn't my favorite winter ale, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

My Alternative Education - The Gore Mountain Range Part 2 "Livin' on a Prayer"

The Gore Range

Obviously, it did not take long to realize - one, I was head over heels in love with nature and being outside, but two, I was ill prepared and terribly uneducated in the ways of the outdoors. One advantage I had was that I have always been an optimist (sometimes to a fault), and my glass always seemed to stay half full.

Let's meet the other gentlemen on this patrol that were meandering through the Gore Range with me. This was my "core" Patrol that would always be our kind of "home" group.

Bill, our lead proctor was from Long Island. He was a big burly man with dirty blond hair and beard. Talking with him you could tell he was genuine, a lover of the outdoors, maybe had a little bit of hippie in him, and totally trustworthy. His favorite word was "bomber". Everything had to be "bomber", meaning stable or secure or infalliable.

His counterpart was Mike from Chicago. Mike was a metal head that loved Slayer and came off, at first encounter, a little more intense and sometimes rude. I didn't like Mike at first, but I totally appreciated him after a few days and respected his knowledge of the outdoors and mountain fitness. By the end of the trip, he was one of the most memorable guys I had met.

My fellow students were Steve from Milwaukee, a long haired and skinny as a rail hipster. Steve carried a hackey sack everywhere he went and was about as laid back as you can get.

Eduardo was from Guatemala. He was the guy with possibly the most experience in outdoor life that was not a proctor on our trip. He could be kind of come across as an arrogant dude, but he was quite trustworthy and not above teaching or helping in any way. I liked Eduardo and respected him.

Lance was the local boy. He grew up and lived in Denver. Lance was a tall trim red-headed dude with goatee and looked just like Layne Staley, lead singer of Alice in Chains.

Chris was from Libertyville, IL. A kind of quiet dude at first, but had an infectious laugh. I always kind of wondered to myself if his family was mafia. I don't know why.

Jay was from Boise, Idaho. He was some kind of professional snowboarder or something and I could tell he came from a pretty "well-off" family. He had all of the newest and most expensive gear it seemed. Jay was a good kid though and fit right in.

Tony was from up-state NY somewhere. Tony was another tall and lanky guy. Long brown hair and thick NY accent.

Lastly, there was Mike. Mike was from Bellmont, WA and was the quietest guy I have ever met. I can't remember his exact age, but he was young. Physically, he was probably the most fit of all of us, endurance-wise anyhow.

Day 4, I had woken up thinking to myself this will be the hardest thing I will ever do in my life. My legs were killing me but I was in a great state of mind and ready for the challenge of this experience. I could have been a little sleep deprived as well. The mountain goats were taking a lot more time for me to get used to and they kept me up many times throughout the night.

The next two days' agenda included rock climbing and a peak climb. My journal entry from day 4 said it all, "My legs are killing me but somehow I just keep moving". The upside was that we would be staying in one base camp for the next 2 nights.

I had certainly rock climbed at indoor gyms, but not out in the wild on "real" rocks. I did better than I expected to do. Out of the 3 climbs we did, I made it through 2 completely. That third one showed me how far my fitness level needed to be raised, but I wasn't scared. I embraced that challenge. Important side note: when I began this experience I weighed in at about 235 lbs, was a smoker, drank more beer than I should, and had a non-existent fitness routine.

That afternoon, we learned wilderness first aid and hooking a fall line in preparation for our peak climb the next day. I also decided on this day to set a goal of doing 200 push ups a day. My strategy was to split up the day and do 10-20 push-ups at different times throughout the day. 10 when I woke up, 10 after breakfast, 10 at the first water break of the day, etc. Pretty much whenever we stopped for a long enough time to take the pack off.

We woke up the next morning at 5:00 AM and began our peak journey at 6:15, reaching the peak at 9:10. It was an incredible view at the top. Vail was visible in the distance and I could hear the wind fighting through the mountains. All of the lakes were glistening in the sun. Snow caps that have been on this mountain for thousands of years from left over glaciers were scattered sporadically across the mountain.

Bagging my first peak in the Gore Range

We broke down our base camp the next morning and hit the trail with full pack again. I was doing a little better physically and a lot better mentally. We climbed close to 2,000 feet on this day as we navigated through two passes. We trekked a long way this day, but the miles dropped with ease. Jay lead us in "Living on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi throughout the day and we just sang it over and over again. I really did not even like Bon Jovi, but I knew all the words and our crew had become a pretty tight knit group by this point. We were having fun.

Our first re-supply was the next day, and I remember being excited that we were going to get to sleep in until 7:00 AM before hiking into re-supply. "Sleeping in" until 7:00 AM would have been a complete joke in my normal life. Heck, many mornings I was "going to bed" at 7:00 AM.

Re-supply was incredible. I never thought I would be that excited to have bacon, oranges, milk or bagels. We hung out at re-supply for about 4 hours. Josh, our LC (Logistics Coordinator) was my one connection to the outside news and thanks to him, I found out that Mark McGuire had just hit #62 that summer. For those that don't remember, Mark McGuire was chasing the MLB home run record that summer.

Bill and Mike set out ahead of us from re-supply to find our next camp. As we set out, the rain started and we started moving fast. We had a brief lunch and as we were reviewing the map, we realized we had hiked right by the pass we were supposed to take.

After about 20 minutes of hiking back the way we had just come, a pretty intense looking thunderstorm was threatening. We decided as a group that the pass was not where we wanted to be in a lightening situation, so we decided to set up camp in the valley and wait it out til morning.

Under the tarps, we huddled together as hail pelted the campsite for about an hour. I was freezing. Wearing shorts and wet socks, I just decided to climb in my sleeping bag and go to bed.

Luckily, the next morning our delegated scouts, Steve, Jay and Eduardo hiked over the pass and found Mike and Bill. While we are waiting on them to all return back to our camp, Tony has managed to throw his back out or something and Lance is having stomach issues and is worried he has Giardia.

When Mike and Bill get back to our camp, they make the decision to hike back to the re-supply area. Bill, miraculously finds a doctor that is actually on the OB Board of Directors and they evacuate Lance and Tony to join Chris who was already out of commission previously (but I cannot recall why).

We hike double time that day and make it back to camp where we were supposed to be the day before. We hiked past Upper Piney Lake and climbed the steep Grass Pass. We actually had to do some rock scrambling with full packs near the top of Grass Pass. From there we traversed over to Melodrama Pass where we were forced to lower our packs down with ropes before climbing down.

Upper Piney Lake

I could not get over how deep blue the lakes were in the Rockies. It was breathtaking. This was, by far, the longest day of hiking so far. Highlight of the day was eating bacon that night and hearing about the upcoming week. I was getting ready to have a 3 day solo experience in the wilderness of Colorado with only 10 days of experience in the outdoors.

I was getting ready to begin my outdoor Jedi training....

Wander Report: Crowder's Trail - Crowders Mountain State Park, NC

One of the many boulders on Crowder's Trail.

Route: Crowder's Trail from Park office to Backside trail
Distance: 6 miles total (out and back)
Elevation change: 686 ft.
Difficulty: Moderate (mainly due to the distance of the hike)
Date: 1/9/2016

Crowders Mountain State Park is located just south of Charlotte in Gaston County. This was our first trip to this state park. The weather was overcast with a dense fog. Temperatures were around 50 degrees.

The area had received quite a bit of rainfall in the week leading up to our hike, so we were a little worried about the trail conditions. Thankfully, there was not an issue with mud and/or slippery conditions on the trails we navigated.

The hike began at the park office and begins with a small drop in elevation for the first quarter mile. The climb up Crowder's Trail is a rolling climb that is very subtle. There are a couple of foot bridges over small creeks in the first mile and we met some volunteers in this first mile that were doing trail maintenance on a connecting trail. Crowder's trail does cross a state road around the one mile mark.

Volunteers on Crowder's Trail

The meandering trail weaved through thick forest that included many rock outcrops and beautiful trees (even in winter time with no leaves). Our group included kids as young as 2 years old. The trail is a good hike for kids 5 and up to hike the complete trail. A few of the younger kids did need to be carried for portions of the trail.

At the end of Crowder's Trail, we met up with the Backside trail to the summit of the mountain. This was a short .4 mile hike up a gravel trail and ultimately 316 +/- wooden railroad tie steps. Along the gravel portion you can view the rock faces that many rock climbers tackle. With the wet conditions, we did not witness any rock climbing. This .4 mile section is the hardest part of the climb as you will gain about 420 feet on this portion alone.

stairs on Backside Trail

From the top of the mountain, I wish I could say the views were breathtaking and awe-inspiring, but with the dense fog, we had very limited views. I look forward to coming back in better weather to see the real majesty of this mountain.

A foggy summit at Crowders Mountain

From the summit, we returned back the way we came. Over all it took us 3 hours and 15 minutes, which is a pretty good pace for kids. If you are not sure if your group can handle the full 6 mile trek, you can park a car at the trailhead of Backside trail to cut the hike in half. The moderate rating is purely for the distance of this hike.

The trail is a popular trail for hikers and runners. Since the weather was a little daunting, I can only imagine how crowded this trail could be on a clear day. We were hiking on a Saturday and we started around 10:30 AM.

Skittles' favorite tree on the hike

Our group of kids at the summit with Buddy Bison

My Alternative Education - The Gore Mountain Range Part 1

The birth of Wandering Rust

I got off the plane in Denver on a hot sunny afternoon in the late summer of 1998. This was my first trip into the western United States. I was alone and completely naive to the journey I was about to embark on. The shuttle picked me and my newly purchased gear up and took me to my home for my last night in society for at least the next 28 days.

I was off to the Colorado Outward Bound School for a semester jaunt across the Western United States.

The semester course consisted of a month trekking across the Gore Mountain Range, two and a half weeks of paddling the Green/Colorado River through Cataract Canyon, 30 days of rock climbing in Joshua Tree and lastly, navigating the canyons of Southeast Utah.

The shuttle picked me up along with 40+ other strangers that mostly looked as nervous and naive as I felt. There was one particular person though that caught my attention immediately. A tall slender young man obviously from South Asian decent climbed onto the motor coach wearing a tweed jacket and carrying a suitcase. He looked more like a tourist heading to the nearest resort rather than hitting the trail for the next 96 days.

His name was Raj and as fate would have it, he was from North Carolina (kind of) just like me. He grew up in Hickory, NC but was now living in New Jersey. Turns out that his father had signed him up for this adventure and told him he would be staying in a cabin in the woods and hiking around the area during the day. Wow! Not sure if his Dad just didn't know what this was or if he sugarcoated the itinerary to insure Raj would still go. Either way, I found this hilarious. Luckily, Raj did too.

As the motor coach pulled into the Colorado Outward Bound School (COBS) base camp in Leadville, CO we poured out of the doors and were greeted by the staff/proctors that would be our guides and teachers in the mountains. "Take your bags up the hill and change into your tennis shoes" said the director.

The next thing I know, we are all hiking in a line through the surrounding woods. We moved in and out of the pine needle bed forest and finally we were lead directly into a small pond and came to a dead stop in the middle of the pond. You heard me correctly. There I was, jaunting through water about knee deep or so when the thought hit me "what the hell have you signed up for here?" As we stood there in the water, the proctors went into a 10 minute or so speech about what was ahead of us the next three months.

After this brief adventure around base camp, we were split into our small patrols that would be our families for the next 30 days or so. The total semester class was about 70 people. My patrol was made up of 8 guys ranging in age from 18 to 23 (my age).

First on the agenda, unpack our bags and layout everything you think you will need for the next 28 days. I, of course, knew in the back of mind that this was some sort of trick question, but I quickly learned that I was getting ready to get way out of my comfort zone. This is what I ultimately was left with for personal belongings for the next month:

• 1 backpack
• 1 sleeping bag
• a tarp with some paracord
• my Asolo hiking boots
• 1 pair of tennis shoes (camp shoes)
• 2 pairs of wool socks
• 1 long sleeved polypropylene shirt
• 1 wool sweater
• 1 pair of shorts
• 1 pair of fleece pants
• 1 fleece jacket
• 1 fleece vest
• 1 fleece hat
• 1 pair of gaiters
• 1 pair of rain pants 
• 1 rain jacket
• sunglasses
• camera
• journal and pen
• toothbrush/toothpaste
• plus some group items I would be in charge of carrying (food, pots or pans, MSR stove, shovel, etc.)

No tent. No tee shirts. No jeans. No underwear. No toilet paper. No deodorant. No books. No Walkman (for the younger generation go ask your parents). What felt like the end of the world, was quite appreciated after only 3 days on the trail. We spent the first night in base camp and set out separately in our patrols the next day into the Gore Mountain Range

photo courtesy of Examiner.com

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Day 1 was a short six mile hike to our first camp site. My pack weighed about 45 lbs. and yes, this was my first time carrying anything remotely close to this amount of weight in a backpack. We had enough food between the 8 of us to last one week (when we would be re-supplied). When we reached camp that afternoon, I was proud of my efforts. My high school cross country self had re-emerged, so I thought. I was indestructible.

Growing up in North Carolina I was accustomed to some hiking (day hiking) in the Smokey Mountains and Blue Ridge Mountains. There were difficult hikes back home, but it was different. There were many more balds in the Colorado mountains. The rocky top mountains in Colorado were a stark contrast to the tree covered mountains I had been in back home. The trees and rhododendron offered a somewhat safe feeling from the mountain elements. Here in the Gore Range I felt exposed and vulnerable.

The scenery was overwhelming at first. I had never seen anything like it. To try and take a picture, I didn't even know where to start. I just let it all soak in the best I could.

As with all Outward Bound programs, we practiced Leave No Trace ethics. We wanted to leave the very least impact on the environment that we could possibly do. This meant no fire. I had been envisioning sitting around a campfire every evening for the last 3 months. For some reason I was more okay with this than I thought I would be.

The weather was pleasant and I decided no need for a tarp tonight. I slept under the stars cowboy style, which was a great decision I might add. As I was lying there looking up at the night sky, I felt at peace and genuinely excited about being in nature with just my boots and my backpack. It took forever to fall asleep that night. I was still not used to going to bed when the sun set. This would be the last night in the mountains that I would have any trouble getting to sleep.

Day 2, we woke before the sun was up. We discussed our plan for this day last night while we were introduced to reading the topographical map. A quick review of the plan over breakfast and we started to break camp. Practicing our LNT ethics, we went so far as to go over the camp and brush the ground so the blades of grass would stand back up from where we had been lying or sitting the night before. Crazy, I know, but well worth it for the lesson it taught. I appreciated the environment and the never ending efforts COBS took to instill this in all of their students.

As we hit the trail, I could most certainly feel the day before in my legs and lungs. That high school cross country runner was long gone. A mile in we started to climb a little. My lungs were burning and my calves were already beginning to tighten. My back was aching and I was leaning more and more forward with each step as I was trying to balance the weight of the pack. 

I was the oldest in the group (besides the two proctors), but certainly not considered old. I was only 23 years old, but the young guys seemed to be blazing through like it was nothing. 4 miles in and I was officially struggling. "When was lunch" I thought to myself. Do we ever take a break? The past couple of years of smoking and drinking and debauchery of college and the sedentary lifestyle I had fallen into had taken a toll on my body that I had never really appreciated.

Thankfully, we stopped for lunch about 5 miles into our day. As I sat and ate my apple and crackers with canned tuna fish, I really started to feel nervous that I was not cut out for this. I was scared.

Lunch was over after about 30 minutes. Time to put that monster back on my shoulders. I stood up, got my pack on and felt surprisingly good...for about 10 steps. The last 3 miles of the day were going to take us up and over a pass before descending into the next valley for camp.

I was about a fourth of the way up the pass when my calves started cramping. My breathing was getting very heavy. They had warned us about altitude sickness. Is that what I was feeling? My body was absolutely worn slap out. My fellow patrol members started taking some of the weight out of my pack and putting it in theirs to lighten my load. I was devastated. Here I was, the fat boy that was slowing everyone down. I was an iota away from quitting.

My lead proctor, Bill hung back with me. One step, rest. One step, rest. He willed me up that pass. No matter how many times I stopped and needed to rest, he was there to lift me up and tell me to press through. I learned that day it was not about speed necessarily. It was about survival. Just make it up the mountain (or to the next stop) no matter what it takes.

I practically crawled into camp that afternoon. My body was done. My mind was done. I thought for sure I would be heading home early. I got some food in me and drank my iodine-purified water and proceeded to pass out for the next 10 hours. 

Day 3 I distinctly remember waking to heavy breathing and chewing. I heard what I thought were cattle or horses. My eyes opened to a herd of mountain goat that had decided our camp area was the place to come eat grass. They did not bother us, they just kind of roamed through like nothing new was going on. The goats were large and obviously very strong. The muscles in their shoulders resembled more of a bull than a goat.

Mountain goats of Colorado

With all of the excitement over our new camp guests, I did not even realize that my body did not hurt like it did the day before. Yes, I could feel fatigue, but I was surprisingly spry that morning. I was not afraid of what the day would bring. I was excited. I was experiencing nature and the earth. I was becoming a part of the environment rather than an observer. My mind was opening. I was alive and this was only the beginning. I was re-born.

To be continued...   

Not Every Hike is a Perfect Day - Morrow Mountain State Park

Let's get this year off on the right foot (and left). We awoke this morning to Skittles and the Doobs greeting us at the bed. "Are we going hiking today?" they said. This is the best feeling in the world, to have my two children as excited about getting on the trails as my wife and I are. Of course, it is the first day in about a week and a half that we have had a full day with no rain and it has been longer than we have gone all year since our last hike.

We had been planning this hike all week in preparation of the new year. Our State Parks System is celebrating it's centennial anniversary this year and many parks hosted First Day hikes this weekend in our state.

The family headed south to Morrow Mountain State Park. It is nestled near the Uwharrie National Forest area and is neighbored by the PeeDee River basin. It is about an hour and twenty minute drive from the Greensboro area. The family decided on the Morrow Mountain trail for our adventure.

As with many families consisting of children under 6, we had some delays and got to the park about 2:00 PM. We decided to start from the top of the mountain and use the Mountain Loop Trail as somewhat of a warm up to our hike. The Mountain Loop trail is about .6 miles and is a loop around the summit of the mountain. The views are amazing, but beware the trail is quite narrow and has a loose rock trail in many areas. I was on edge, literally, every time my 4 year old would try and jog to catch up with her sister and mother. The drop off is very steep in sections but the views are awesome.

Dad, Skittles and the Doobs on the Mountain Loop trail in Morrow Mountain State Park.

Then, we connected to the Morrow Mountain Trail and began the descent. The trail is listed as a 2.6 mile one way hike on the State Park site, but beware, some of the popular apps are incorrect in describing this trail as a loop. Near the top of the mountain, the beginning of our hike, it is quite steep and the trail does not flow in switchbacks. It is straight vertical and can be slippery in places. About half way down the descent, my kids were already telling me they were tired. 

So, here we were in a predicament. Not only were we fighting tired legs on the kids, daylight was now a factor. Knowing that we were going to be carrying our two young ones back up the hill, my wife and I begrudgingly decided to turn around and head back about a mile into the trail. So, our day was cut shorter than we had planned and hoped, but we were all excited to be back outside and on the trail even for a brief amount of time.

I cannot give an official review of this trail knowing that we did not complete it, but what I can tell you is that this trail is no joke for young children. I also would recommend starting low at the Museum on the Sugar Loaf trail and connecting to the Morrow Mountain trail and climb. Starting from the top is not the most exciting route in my opinion, but I am a big fan of getting rewarded with the view at the top after climbing (not at the start if the climb).

So, we will consider this our warm up for our hiking club outing next weekend. The park looks amazing and we will be back later in the spring to give it a little more attention.