Homecoming

My first view of the Grandfather Mountain Swinging Bridge. Are you kidding me? I need to cross that?

Slow to post this time, apologies to those of you watching this blog like a hawk. I've just been so busy doing many things with Carp and Michelle now that I'm back home. Smash, birthday parties, a brewery, trying not to starve together, Seven Wonders, fixing my car window motor. Non-stop activities.

My blurry frieeeeends. There's a Wawa out of vision on the right.

Ripping apart my poor Kia!

I think this will become the pace of posts again until I get to Europe. I know the northeast very well and I'm not going to be a tourist here. Mostly seeing friends until I get to Canada. Frequent posts would bore you.
Since my departure from Knoxville was delayed a day thanks to very heavy rains, I watched The Prestige. I've wanted to see this movie for so long, and it has newly arrived to Netflix. It is an excellent movie, every bit deserving of its praise. I'll want to watch it again at some point. The Prestige is one of those movies where you can look for things on a second watch-through, knowing how the movie ends. After watching, I wanted to go see Hugh Jackman's newest movie, Logan.

Cumberland Gap

Up at White Rocks

Staking out a dinner spot

I debated camping in the Smokies or around Cumberland Gap right after leaving Knoxville. Though just about everybody would suggest the Smokies with good reason, I thought I had good enough reason to go to the gap. I bet I can get friends to want to camp in the famous Smokies in the future, I was close to the gap and may not get another chance to see it, and I needed to hit every locale mentioned in Wagon Wheel.

Home away from home

The Cumberland Gap was a mainstay natural route across the Appalachians for frontiersmen and their wagons of cargo centuries ago. Today we say those pioneers were dumb and should have built a tunnel through the mountain like us! The Cumberland Gap Tunnel cuts through the Cumberland Mountain from Tennessee to Kentucky, and very nearly traverses Virginia too. 

Waking up to pee is the worst. Spooky.

I could not get a good picture of the gap in the mountains itself without stopping on a highway. It looks like most mountain gaps, just bigger. I did visit the historic town of Cumberland Gap, TN, to see it flooded by rains from the day before. I would have gotten my ankles wet if I walked around. Then on recommendation from the ranger at the park visitor center, I started up to the White Rocks camping area (I originally planned to camp at the Gibson Gap area). In the morning, I checked out the nearby Sand Cave and climbed back down.

Sand Cave could fit dozens of people.

Waterfall at Sand Cave

Johnson City

Streak of buildings downtown

This is actually a full city in the middle of nowhere with two movie theatres! But the timing wasn't right to catch Logan. I walked around some, ate a better fried pork tenderloin than in all my time in Indiana (the state's signature food), then left to my big camping trip of the south.

Grandfather Mountain

I found out about this marvel when I was passing through North Carolina on the southward portion of my trip. One of the museums depicted the locally famous Swinging Bridge and I determined there it would be a spectacular destination on my return.

Profile Trail to Grandfather Trail to Swinging Bridge and Grandfather Trail Extension

I got to the main parking area for campers at Grandfather Mountain a little after 1600. I would be the only person going up the mountain this late and the only one who had a permit to camp on the mountain overnight. Needing to climb five miles and 2700 feet, I would be racing the sun while carrying all my gear. This lead to one of the best times of my life, and also, at points, one of the scariest. Only three occasions come to mind when I think of times I have feared for my life - this hike was one.

Once up Profile Trail at Calloway Gap, I had to deal with this elevation change.
I camped at Attic Window.
Swinging Bridge is close to the origin 0.

Pictures will tell most of the story best here. But let me add the following to set the scene. My body is already tired from the Cumberland Gap. Not only is it getting dark (which honestly I could remedy with a headlamp - still, nobody wants to hike after sunset), but fog made it hard to see more than ten feet in front of you at my altitude anyway. Temperatures dropped from 70℉ at the base in daylight to close to 30℉ up high at night. Winds combined forces with slippery rocks from the recent rain to try to, quite literally, send me to my death with a bad step. Trust me, I am not being overly dramatic. I felt like I was more of an ill-equipped rock climber than hiker at some points - what nut blazed this trail???

For the cherry on top, I did slip at one point to knock both of my water bottles out of my backpack. I caught one, but not the other, and watched a bright blue bottle tumble down the mountain. I could see where it landed, but barely through the fog. Though it was visible, I couldn't tell if it was retrievable on the path from which I had just hiked. I was more afraid of losing time and wind knocking me off the mountain in descent to retrieve the bottle than I was of dehydration, so I continued on, short half my water. I prayed I could grab the bottle on my return trip the next day. Well, surprise, I lived. I camped at the Attic Window site overnight, continued two more miles to the Swinging Bridge, then returned. My water bottle was still there and in fact retrievable, with contents waiting to be drunk.

Photos don't easily depict elevation change, so keep in mind for perspective as you view them that trees almost always grow straight up.

Starting my way up, I've got trees, streams, and daylight.

Sometimes need help from ladders.

Really? The trail is through here?

And then up this?

And then straight up this wall?
I just could not believe somebody connected this trail to the Swinging Bridge,
let alone the park encouraging hikers to take it.

This is the terrain I had when I slipped and lost my water bottle.
Note the trees bending to the wind here and in some other photos.

Tiptoeing the edge of the mountain

Stuck between a rock and a hard place

Near Attic Window, I thought this was just a neat view at first.
After looking for the actual path, nope, this is it.

The Attic Window by my campsite, blanketed in fog, 15 minutes before nightfall

The Attic Window is cleared up the next day. Beautiful! 

Nearing the bridge

Cheaters can skip the arduous 6 mile hike and pay a fee to drive up to the bridge.

The winds are ferocious. Took a long time to build up my courage to cross.
200 feet long,100 feet in the air,1 mile AMSL

From the other side. I was afraid of the wind knocking my phone out of my hands,
so I never took a picture while on the bridge. 

I conquered the mountain.

But so did this dog, so maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing.
The man said the dog walks every step of the way except for the ladders.

I can't imagine a hike that could ever beat this one. It haunted me. I was filled with doubt. Several times, especially after losing my water, I wanted to turn around. I camped on a pointy peak, alone for miles, 5949 feet up. Birds chirped taunts through the night. Views galore. I had an incredible specific goal (the bridge) that wasn't just another view of the land. The trail perfectly exhausted me by the end. I chugged the tepid Gatorade in my trunk when I got back to my car. I put on flip-flops and drove off to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Blue Ridge Parkway

Per unit of time spent in any location on this trip, I never said "wow" out loud more often than during my drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway and numerous stops at the frequent scenic overlooks (might have been too out-of-breath and too focused to say "wow" at times on Grandfather Mountain). If you want views from a mountaintop without the effort of a hike, at no cost besides gas, drive this highway. BRP is easily obliterates the Pacific Coast Highway as a scenic drive. I got on the BRP in Boone, NC, and got off at Roanoke, VA. This four hour drive constitutes only about half of the whole highway. For anybody interested in taking a similar drive, the half near Boone was significantly more breathtaking than the half near Roanoke. Judging by what I know of the landscape, the BRP to the south of Boone will also be more interesting than the BRP to the north of Roanoke - but I can't say for sure since I didn't drive it. Regardless, any section you have the chance to drive I'm sure will amaze you.

It's the stuff car commercials are made out of.

I saw majestic fat turkeys fly and barely missed the chance at a good picture of them. There were lots of deer, horses, and cattle. I also passed one kitty that might have been stray 😟.

The things tectonic plates can do!

Roanoke

Downtown, before a delicious dinner

Another section of downtown, after dinner

On hitting Roanoke, I began to understand how people could live in these podunk towns. In many cases, they are fully-featured. It's a matter of how far you need to drive to get to the next city, how replete with jobs, how luxurious, and how much you like seeing mountains out your window.

These park fountains shut off for the night about 30 seconds after snatching the pic.

The Roanoke Star on Mill Mountain in the distance,
The world's largest man-made star, visible for 60 miles.

I did catch a midnight showing of Logan here. It's a good movie, especially for the superhero genre. I always love X-Men movies, but I think it was over hyped for me. I can't believe that many critics called it the best movie yet in the X-Men universe; I consider it a middling X-Men movie. I do appreciate the change of pace that this and Deadpool are bringing to new superhero movies - it's very dark.

After the movie, I was out like a light for my last night in the car before returning to Jersey.

Luray Caverns

Bored to tears for most of the tour (guided tour is mandatory, no self-exploration). I guess it is the premier cave of east coast states, but if you have been to any other moderately sized cave, such as Mammoth in Kentucky, don't waste your time. There's also a respectable hedge maze. And included with admission to the cave is a couple museums: the Luray Valley Museum and the Car and Carriage Caravan Museum. Neither is large, but even as somebody that doesn't care about cars, seeing all the antiques in the latter museum was fascinating.

Reflecting lake #1

Reflecting lake #2

Translucent drapery

Fried eggs

The Great Stalacpipe Organ
Actually plays sounds by striking stalactite of various sizes

The place is huge, but still no Mammoth.

A shot of the hedge maze from within, on an elevated pavilion

Blacksmith shop, part of Luray Valley Museum

Annapolis

Capitol in the back-right, port behind me

I can smell home now, just a couple quick stops. As close as they are to NJ, I had never had reason to go to the capitals of neither Maryland nor Delaware.

Maryland State House

Annapolis is a nice city. Historical and modern. Basically a suburb of DC. The state house of Maryland is the oldest in the nation still in use. Shrouded in trees and weirdly asymmetrical. The foyer is boring but the chambers were pleasing.

Maryland Senate

Maryland "House of Delegates"

Old House of Delegates

On leaving Annapolis, I incidentally traversed the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. According to Wikipedia, I see that it is the 25th longest bridge in the world. It is the 5th longest bridge over water for cars, with the 4 in front of it all in Asia. The bridge is very elevated too. The rails are paper thin and the EZ Pass lane, at least at the time I crossed, was the only one travelling eastward on the north span - so no wiggle room! White-knuckled driving the whole time. As if I needed to be scared more after my hike...

Dover

Old Capitol in forefront, current State Capitol in left background.
Trust me, it doesn't deserve its own picture.

Dover has less than some of the mountain towns I traveled through. It is surrounded by farms. Didn't know Delaware had room for so many farms. And it has the worst capitol yet. The capitol sits in the Legislative Mall block, accompanied by a bunch of brick civil buildings. Extremely dull city with one redeeming factor I'm excited to announce below.

Most interesting thing in Dover is how punctual the postmen are.

Wrap Up

As habitable as cities like Johnson City and Roanoke clearly could be, they are just too far from anything else. Best to make a multi-hour trip to the mountains than to a major city. Annapolis does make my list for consideration though.

Plan in the North
USA: NYC/Norwalk, Hartford, Providence, Boston, Concord, Royalton, Montpelier, Augusta, Acadia National Park
Canada: Moncton, Halifax, Cape Breton, Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Niagara Falls
Then to Albany, Trenton, and back home. That's 19 major destinations to do in 3.5 weeks. Many of these cities will again be half-day visits, but several (NYC/Norwalk, Providence, Boston, Royalton) will be multi-day.

AND THEN SWEDEN. Just about to pull the trigger on buying the plane ticket there. Doesn't look like I'll be starting in Spain anymore.

FYI: On planning my route back to Jersey, I nixed the "other" Charleston. I had no reason to go. There's nothing there, and I hadn't set foot in West Virginia at any point during this trip. It would have been an arbitrary drive for an additional three hours just to see a capital city.

Dominion Root Beer

Root Beer
Dominion Root Beer by Old Dominion Brewing Co. (Dover, DE) - The ten!!! Last chance through the south and I found it. If I find a better one north, I might have to rescale my ratings. No crazy flavors here. Juicy. Some honey and maybe a little lemon. Sharp and tingles the tongue. The perfect root beer.

On Repeat
Album: Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
Continued to listen to Mika's Life in Cartoon Motion and expanded from Scissor Sister's single to their whole album Ta Dah, from my last post. Listening to these three albums over and over and over took up the chunk of my music listening, but to give you a song...
Song: Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Heads Will Roll

We stared at each other for a long time.