My avian side wanted to celebrate the Solstice, but that wasn’t a company holiday, so I decided to let him have Christmas Eve in the woods at the Long Cane [so-called] Horse Trail (despite the name, it’s multi-use). Since this was my inner-bird’s day, I’ll let him do the typing. My typing is hunt and peck anyway.

[bird] Oh you’re funny.

Anyway, as my other half (note I didn’t say my “better” half) said, I wanted to mark the Solstice. For those of us in the wild the Solstice is really the Important Day this season. The days stop getting shorter and start getting longer. Slowly at first, but in a couple of months there’ll be noticeably more daylight every day. More daylight means more time to forage for food and more time to let the sun warm your feathers even as the winter cold sets in. And, of course, Spring is coming!

Morning is always an exciting time, time to get moving!

I know there was another bird up there, I was picking up his, what you would call, ADS-B.

Trees tell stories.

Humans like that red-and-green theme around this time, so here ya go.

It’s kind of jarring to come out of the woods and to something like this…

…but the human said to cross this stream using the bridge. It would have been trivial to just fly across.

Forests a nuisance?? How could anyone with half a brain think that?

Speaking of nuisances, how is it that humans call this the Sumter National Forest and then cut down the trees? If it’s a FOREST you need TREES! And why leave just those few trees standing? They’re probably doomed now anyway, like the ones that already fell over!

[human] You’re starting to sound like Squeaks from Nature Cat when she gets angry at abuses of nature.
[bird] And why not? HUMANS ARE STUPID!

Ahem. I think that one-lane bridge sign is a bit redundant, no? Just as well, humans need to be kept in their lane.

The ground tells stories too, like these bird tracks.

and these … bird? tracks?

Horses, bikes, dogs…

And now we’re back where we started.

Sigh.

[human] Wait, if this is where we started, where’s the sun?
[bird] It moved, you dofus! It’s now LATE in the day!
Really, why do I put up with this …. primate?

Strava link: https://www.strava.com/activities/10431879496

With a couple days off and realizing that I hadn’t been to the mountains in a while, I grabbed a campsite reservation at Davidson River, NC.

Did a little “hike in” (I’m still practicing for a real backpacking trip), and set up camp.

Dinner at the River View restraunt.

My full day there started with breakfast at dawn, my favorite time of day.

This is why I like to get an early start. I was off to travel the Sycamore Cove, Grassy Road, Thrift Cove, and added on for good measure, the Andy Cove nature trail.

Some of these trails, it’s best to not look up, contrary to the usual advice. Instead, just keep moving and you’ll get to the top and you can then look down.

Then again, there are places where maybe you shouldn’t look down either.

I have no idea what this little figure was doing here. Seems like the sort of thing that would have a story behind it.

I know some of my relatives think I’m crazy (well, ok, that’s a well-establish fact) with my mountain biking, but the tracks here indicate that some people go way past what I’ll attempt.

or what I’ll ride

I wanted to show that the river keeps operating after dark, but evidently my night vision is better than my phone’s.

After that it was time to roost. When you’re outdoors and eschewing artificial light, 7pm looks a lot like 10pm and I had no problem getting to sleep right after dark. Might be my avian side.
The next day I “hiked out” on the North Slope trail. There are a couple of bridges that just look precarious.

When I stopped for a break, I noticed this plant. Nature is always preparing for the Next Thing. Even though winter is just getting going, there were little buds forming. Or maybe it’s climate change.

Now let’s see, what’s the rule of thumb about which side of the tree moss grows on? Oh yeah, the top.

This plant with the red stem stood out in the sun.

Then it was time to head back to civilization, job, tax notices, insurance, … sigh.
Strava links:
https://www.strava.com/activities/10326948702
https://www.strava.com/activities/10328324561
https://www.strava.com/activities/10334074324

I decided to spend Thanksgiving at my favorite place for a “little” walk in the woods, Croft State Park. Ok, “little” is a relative term, I spend basically the whole day following trails.

I like to get an early start.

We have lots of Robins around this time of year (for those of you up North, this is where they go in the winter).

Getting pictures of birds up in the trees isn’t easy. This one got away.

Holly berries were widespread.

After walking through the woods for a couple hours, it’s a bit jarring to come across something like this.

Fortunately, they do give some warning.

The area between the lakes.

A day doesn’t get much bluer than this (Lake Johnson is still low after maintenance earlier this year).

It was getting well into the afternoon by the time I got to the Beech Tree Trail, which I know has a lot of elevation change in a short distance, so, take the short route back, or go for it? What would Molly do? I went for it. There are places it’s better to not look up, but look down after you complete the climb.

The route on Strava: https://www.strava.com/activities/10270869622.

I know, I’ve got some catchin’ up to do with the pictures. I’ve been out there with the camera, but been a bit preoccupied trying to figure out how to ride a mountain bike.

Speaking of mountain bikes, you can see some odd things along the trails, like this “appliance in the woods” I found beside the Long Cane Horse Trail:

I’d really like to know what that small freezer was doing out in the middle of the woods, and why it’s so celebrated.

Anyway, back to the lake, Great Egrets are here, I usually see them just in the late summer – early autumn.

Feast day for the spiders stringing webs around the bridge:

I don’t recall seeing ducks like these before, but they are ducks:

I’m not sure what drew in these Black Vultures, maybe they just wanted some time at the beach:

Nature’s lesson: just because a tree has died, that doesn’t mean it’s contribution to the forest is at an end:

Now this could be noteworthy, if my identification is correct:

This seems to match pictures and other information for a Limpkin. That is, matches everything except the range maps, which show Limpkins inhabiting no farther north than Florida. Climate change in action?

And, of course the obligatory Great Blue Heron pictures:

And, yes, they do fly in the fog. They must be equipped for IFR.

We’ve had some neat sunrises lately. I’ll leave you with this one:

I just spent some time up in North Carolina again, this time at the Davidson River campground in the Pisgah National Forest. My objective, as last time, was to continue working towards a real backpacking trip.

The first order of business was to hike with my backpack full of camping gear (around 18kg, I really need to revisit that “ultralight” camping thing). I set out on the North Slope trail, which I guess is because it’s on the north side of a ridge. I was actually going south while sloping up.

A nice walk, it was good just being in the woods.

There were places to be careful, though. You could literally fall off the trail, and it might be a while before you came to a stop.

This looked just a bit precarious. I’m impressed that mountain bikers ride this trail.

Having completed that, it was time to set up camp. I don’t know what that big flat spot was for, there was a paved area to leave the car on.

As on my last trip, I didn’t partake much of the campground facilities, just getting water and using the bathhouse (they don’t like campers digging catholes for some reason). My objective was to live on what I had in my backpack. That said, the place did seem to be well run, the facilities I used were in good order, and the campsites were not too close together. The campground does sit right alongside US276, so there’s a fair bit of traffic noise during the day and evening. That did provide a bit of a handrail while I was on the North Slope trail: I knew I was going in the right direction as long as the traffic was on my left, and I was heading back towards the campground when it moved in front of me.

I’m glad I didn’t have to use this shower, because I didn’t bring anyone along with me.

I kept noticing on the map this “English Chapel”. Turns out it has nothing really to do with England, it was built in the 1800s by a man named English.

The next morning brought rain. This provided a Useful Learning Experience for my backpacking aspirations. I know now that my little camp stove works in the rain.

Time to hit the trail again, starting out on the North Slope trail along the Davidson River. This time with a lot less backpack, maybe 5kg.

There’s a connector between the North Slope trail and the more extensive Art Loeb trail that passes by the south side of the campground and ends nearby. Climbing that connector trail taught me to not pay much attention to the climb going up, just keep going. Then if you want to look back (down), ok. You can see some of the switchbacks below in this picture. This climb started way down there.

Oh Sure, NOW you tell me this trail is “Most Difficult”. Like what I just climbed wasn’t?

I did see a couple of people running up here, which is gotta be hard core.

Ok, so this is STILL “most difficult”.

There’s not a lot of wide open vistas up here, but you can get some views.

N.B.: A tree that falls over is not necessarily done for.

What, go off the trail? Here??

Again, there are places you could fall off the trail.

Finally, back down to the river. Whew.

And the end of the Art Loeb Trail.

Of course, I’m still not back to the campsite. Most of the way from here is like this, no climbing to speak of, no tree roots to tiptoe over, no precipitous falls if you make a wrong step.

Nope, don’t move the rocks. That would be leaving a trace.

There’s a few places where the river has some little rapids.

And finally, a day well done, and the sun about to close up shop behind a cloud and mountain.

Until sunrise the next morning, and time to pack up and go back to “civilization”.

I didn’t head straight out of the mountains just yet however. REI was offering a class in “wilderness survival”, which I thought would have Useful Information to know as I approached that backpacking trip. And it did. Highly recommended if you might be in the wilderness. It won’t make you an expert, but will give you things to think about and a good idea what else you need to learn (for example, I need to work on my knot tying).

All in all, a good trip, met the objectives, a learned a good bit. I knew those trails would be a stretch for me, and they were, but at no point did I consider giving up. There were a few times, however, where I wondered “what have I gotten myself into??”

Strava links:
North Slope trail
North Slope/Art Loeb trail