RATtreks

I’m Back !!!!

Greetings outdoor enthusiasts, waterfall, and blog fans. It has been awhile since my last report to which I apologize. This is due to a dirt bike accident on May 21, 2010 which left me with several busted ribs, damage to my right shoulder, and a knot on my head ! Apparently it takes ribs a long time to heal so I have been unable to do any kind of physical activity until now. I am still in a lot of pain and even sleeping hurts to the point of not getting much rest but I am slowly getting better and look forward to getting back out  in the woods again soon.

Trail Daze 2010:

Group Pic at Trail Daze 2010

I did manage to attend Trail Days in Damascus, Virginia the week prior to the accident but I was getting sick with the flu at that time so I still had a lot of chest congestion when I wrecked the motorcycle so coughing with broke ribs has been very painful to say the least. It was really good getting to see all my friends and hiker-trash family again since last years event. There were a couple rain storms but overall the  weather was great and everyone had a good time. You can see pics of this years festivities HERE !

Recent Pics:

dad's flowers

During my healing period I did take some pictures out of boredom of things I found around the property here including several of my dads flowers, along with some resident critters including a frog, a groundhog, some deer, and a visiting raccoon.

The Green Mile:

Rhodo Bloom along the Green Mile trail

After 40 days I could not stand it any longer so despite still being in much pain, I decided to try a short walk in the woods. Inactivity causes pains in and of itself especially with my back disease so, I was hoping that if I could start walking again I would slowly build up my strength and make some of the pains go away. My first trip was to the Green Mile on 7-1-2010. Rather than walk to the end of it and back, I decided to hike up the old forest road instead and try and find the ‘Renegade Trail‘ which leads from nearly the top of Cherokee Mountain down a ridge to near the end of the Green
Mile trail. It was about 2 miles before I found the hidden trail leading down. I had hiked up a part of this from below the last time I was here. It is a primitive but nice trail that comes out where the Green Mile trail splits. It was hot that evening but it was nice being back in the woods again despite the pain. We did run across a deer on the way back that posed for a quick blurry pic before dashing off into the trees. I found another trail down from the top that includes the sounds of water which I will investigate on my next trip to this area. We walked a little over 3 miles on this trip.

Erwin Linear Trail:

Reflections

Dragonfly

After skipping a day for recovery I managed to get out again for a hike over the 4th of July weekend on 7-3-2010 to the Erwin Linear Trail. It was another hot day and our little poodle ‘Daisy’  had a seizure which lasted a lot longer than usual. Despite the water levels being down some from all the recent hot, dry weather, there were still lots of ducks, baby ducks,  a heron, (another shot of a pair of herons),  minnows,  a dragonfly, and geese to be photographed. We walked all the way to McDonalds for some cold iced tea and back which is around 3 miles and my back was aching long before we made it back to the car. I did see what I thought was a flying fish but it turned out to be artificial bait hanging from a tree ! The water was very still, and the sky and lighting was good for getting a few good reflection shots and I even found a nice ‘chair rock‘ to rest on. The sky was very nice as sunset was approaching.

I had hoped to continue walking at least every other day after this but, due to the recent heat wave with temps in the upper 90`s each day with no rain in sight, I have been unable to stand going outside much at all.

Fourth of July Fireworks:

Fireworks 2010

We did get to see the fireworks show on 7-3-2010 in Johnson City from our vantage point at Gregs Pizza. It was awesome as always as was the ‘volcano pie’ . Hopefully this heat wave will end soon and I can get back out for some more hiking trips and get some more pics and trail stories for your enjoyment.

Honorable Mention:

We were lucky enough to be graced by a visit from our hikertrash friend ‘LowRider’ on June 15, 2010 as he was on his way back to Arizona. This is always a pleasure !

LowRider

I also recently added a link to an incredible non-profit organization called Citizens Soldiers which is dedicated to helping homeless vets. Please visit their site and donate or purchase merchandise to which ALL proceeds go to helping make sure there are no more homeless vets. This is a relatively new organization and already they have been working miracles with much more to come.

The month of July is a perfect time to make sure we all remember and go out of our way to thank ALL vets for their sacrifices made for our freedoms.

Citizens Soldiers

Our condolences go out to the friends and family of Benjamin White who gave the ultimate sacrifice of his life last month in Afghanistan.