Pictures and posts from the United States.
Starting out on the Bell Mountain Trail – This wasn’t my first hike of the Bell Mountain Trail. We backpacked here during Spring Break 2012, again staying two nights. Then we’d gone around the loop counter-clockwise. This time I’d be going the opposite way around. 3 pictures
Bell Mountain North Trailhead Parking Lot. Bell Mountain – Day One. 3 pictures
February 2020, Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness – It was time for me to get out and clock up a few more miles. We first planned to visit Paddy Creek Wilderness in late December 2011, but with high winds in the forecast, we decided to go to Piney Creek instead. Somehow Paddy Creek Wilderness never featured in our plans after then. Now was a good time to put that right. Journal: 27 68
Back at the Collins Ridge Trailhead – and some notes on the trip. 2 pictures
Lunch stop on the Collins Ridge Trail. I promised myself a lunch stop, and I was going to have one. 2 pictures
On the Collins Ridge Trail. Moments after I took this picture four deer came running past.
Breakfast, pack up, and go.One-minute read. 3 pictures.
Day Three – Morning Light – I tried all sorts of shots to capture the light glistening in the frozen droplets on the branches. I failed.
Sunset at the North Fork River. 2
Sunset and ripples – Sunset at the North Fork River.
The setting sun bathes the world in pink.
Hiking (bushwhacking) the western end of the Mary Hollow Trail. 7
Sycamores in Mary Hollow – Having finished lunch, I packed up and hiked the last part of the McGarr Spring Trail back to Mary Hollow. Emerging into Mary Hollow these brightly lit sycamore trees caught my eye.
McGarr Spring – I have been meaning to visit this spring almost every time I’ve hiked in the Devil’s Backbone Wilderness, so I made it the focus of this trip. 4 pictures
Lunch at McGarr Spring. 6 pictures
Stock pond on the McGarr Spring Trail – The water in this pond looked very clear and clean.
The unofficial McGarr Spring Trail is very well marked – It’s a sad comment on the state of things, that the unofficial trails are better maintained and marked than the official ones looked after by the Forest Service. One-minute read
Trailside Fungi. In my current favorite color. 2 pictures
Trail Junctions – Devil’s Backbone Wilderness. 3 pictures
Breakfast, and time to hit the trail. 3 pictures
Day Two – Sunrise near Mary Hollow.
Mary Hollow Trail – I liked the colors and light.
Icicles. 3 pictures
Loading up with water at the end of the Devil’s Backbone Trail – Gone are the days when I carry loads of water. The Sawyer Squeeze filter is so quick and easy to use, often I only have the one-and-a-half pints that my water bottle holds, filtering water as I find it. 2 pictures