Rain Makes A Three-Day Trip To The Cabin Into Four

Rain...it turned my three-day trip, to the Cabin in Southwest Virginia, into four as we had lots of it Monday and Tuesday.

It kind of started that way Sunday, because when we arrived it had rain, but it was also very hot and muggy. My main reason for coming up with Dad and Bax was to mow. Since it was so unpleasant I decided to put off mowing because it wouldn't rain for most of the next two days...wrong! That is what it did, it rained and times hard. Monday was a complete wash, and it rained most of the night. But, the forecast was for it to start cleaning Tuesday morning, well it didn't it rained almost to the noontime. Because of that we went to the backup plan, see if it dries enough by later afternoon and go back Wednesday.  Well, the Sun came out, the wind blew and best of all it cooled off. While it was still shopping wet it spots I got it done! 

Because of this I got to take Bax for his hike Wednesday morning which had a starting temperature of 52 degrees. We both enjoyed that and the hike. Also, one of the bears had been back. It took down two Hummingbird feeders and a bite out of the bird feeder. Oh, I think they have a scratching tree near the Cabin. All of this made for an interesting trip.

Finally! The Wood Booger Has Made It Across The Roans

Since I got back into hiking and backpacking the one place I wanted to do was the Appalachian Trail (AT) Section across the Roans...and finally got it done.
I will blog more about hiking this whole section later, I am really tired while writing this. Anyway, this hike was six years plus in the making. I had been on the Roans in the past, so when I decided to start hiking and backpacking it was number one on my list. Glen and I had planned to do this AT Section Hike but for different reasons, we didn't. Then this came up or another backpack happened, six years past and no Roans. I decided this would be the year and the weekend I was to go in June rained it out. However, I scheduled a shuttle hike for Monday and Tuesday and finally, we went. It was hard, especially the hike with a bigger pack up the Humps, but I got it done!

100,000 Views & Counting!

Wow! 100,000 views I don't know if I ever thought that would happen but it has as my blog, Tales from the Wood Booger just passed this milestone.  Over that time I have produced 908 blogs. I have been doing the blog just under six years (I know it started official in March of 2013 but it didn't start rolling until December) which means in that time I have averaged 16,666 views a year. The blog also averages 1,449 views a month and 338 a week, not bad. The peak for the blog was April of 2017 with 7,918. While the numbers are down from then I am averaging about 1,500 views a month, about the overall average. The blog with the most views is Once Viking Mountain, Always Camp Creek Bald with 1786. For the record, the blog with the least amount is Getting Lost at Bays Mountain Park at five. So, to everyone who has viewed my blog a big thanks and I am looking forward to the next blog at half-a-million!

No Air Makes For Hot Days At The Cabin...Also Dad Saw One Of Our Bears

It was three warm days at the Cabin at the end of the week, but it could have been hotter. Actually, Thursday wasn't too bad as it rained on us most of the way to Fort Blackmore, but slowed once we got over there.  It was a good thing as the air conditioner went out, so the first night was spent under ceiling fans. The repair guys did come to fix it on Friday and got it running. Good thing as it got really hot Friday afternoon, it was 84 in the Cabin when it came on.

The other big news was Dad saw one of our bears. The reason I say that was Dad said he was small and the one that tore down the bird feeder wasn't as seen on the trail cam (except for one picture which showed a smaller one). So, I don't think the larger one is Buddy this smaller one might be. I had fixed the trail cam, I rushed to put it up. I decided to recharge the batteries the next day because I just wanted it up. Well, when I took it down I found out I hadn't put an SD card in! But I did see some deer.

Also on Friday morning, I did a short hike, around two miles, just to get out. Anyway, it was three, sometimes hot but, good days at the Cabin.

Back In The Day Hike On The BRP To The Craggies & Mt. Mitchell

With my recent backpacking to Mount Mitchell, it reminded me I had never done a blog on my first trip to North Carolina's first state park. I didn't write about this because it actually pre-dates the blog once it got going in 2013. Besides a trip down the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) to the summit of Mount Mitchell, it also entailed a visit to the Craggy Gardens and Craggy Pinnacle. Since it was early June I got to see the Catawba Rhododendrons in bloom on the mountain. So, with that said here is A Back in the Day Hikes Blog to the Craggies and Mount Mitchell...