Greenway, Jarvis Park, and College Woods

I've been making time to ride my bike just about every day this week. Last night I was keeping a decent cruising speed over 15mph, till I hit a couple of obstacles to slow me back down to 11. The water under Alcoa Highway didn't look so bad from a distance. I revised that opinion when it hit about knee deep. 

  

This morning Hope woke up early, and we didn't get along so well last night so we tried to hit reset and walk it off this morning. 

First was a walk around Jarvis Park for the first time. Only about .75 miles in trail so far, but it's a GEM. Great little walking spot 4 minutes from my door. 

After that, we hit up Maryville College Woods. I don't think I've really been on the trails there since I coached cross country. Things we mostly the same, except the orchards now have trees and are bearing fruit, and there's a big ol' beautiful track under construction!

  

  

 

Greenway Saturday

It wasn't a 5AM workout like the crazy folks do, but 7:45 was pretty good to me and home and dressed in time to go to a movie this afternoon. 

Pistol Creek was about ready to hit the greenway, too, but I was able to fit a two mile run the hills/walk the flats on the greenway between rain showers, then a 30 minute circuit in the gym, capped off with a mile of hill sprints. Disregard the short little peaks on repeats 5-6-7-8... I was a little warm so they were more dainty little jogs before coming back strong for 9 & 10. 

 

Spruce Flats Falls

 Sunday morning jaunt to Spruce Flats Falls with my lovely bride. Original plan was for Charlie's Bunion, but I've got some work to catch up on today so we made a quicker trip virtually in our back yard. Nice fine mist the whole way up and back. The trail was more crowded than I would have expected on a rainy Sunday morning, but lots of folks looking for fall color. 

Clingman's Dome to Cades Cove

 Killer day today thanks to my wife handling the home front and supporting my hare-brained schemes. Woke up at 5:30, drove to Clingman’s Dome in time for sunrise, walked up to the fire tower, then hit the AT and walked 23 miles to Cades Cove. First 10 miles or so were great - rolled through balds and shelters averaging about 3 miles an hour. Somewhere after that came Brier Knob, which was probably the most grueling and demoralizing climb I’ve done in forever. I don’t know who officially made the plan to route the AT over Brier Knob, but I may have cursed aloud at Benton MacKaye just to be safe. Coming down from Brier Knob, the trail was basically a layer of loose rocks and protruding roots covered by a layer of leaves. Somewhere around there, I twisted my right ankle pretty bad, making miles 13-23 pretty brutal, since it was pretty much all downhill over more rocks from there to the end. It also probably marks the last time I’ll be planning a 20+ mile trail day. This is I think the 5th longest trail day I’ve logged, but, well, I’ve discovered that 40 doesn’t really get along with high mileage. It was still a fantastic trip, though, with possibly the best hiking weather I’ve ever walked through. The views were breathtaking, the “lovely” scent of lots of Carrion flowers, and marking off some miles I’d been planning for a *long* time, probably since doing the AT from Cades Cove to Fontana with Sam back in high school. It was also the first time carrying my newish pack under weight, and it was absolutely the best pack experience I’ve ever had on a long hike. I’d been a hard core Gregory fan since about 1997, but made the switch to the Osprey Exos 48 and I’m absolutely smitten with it. Packed 6 quarts of water, tons of food, extra clothes, and just in case supplies. Best gear purchase I’ve made in a LONG time. The hike also went exactly to plan for once. I’d planned on hitting the trail at sunrise and finishing in 12 hours. Not counting the trip up to the tower at Clingmans Dome, I stepped onto the AT at exactly 8AM and walked out into the Cades Cove picnic area at EXACTLY 7PM, so a total of 11 hours of movement. I also learned that Apple Watch auto-offs hiking workouts at 20 miles. Only downside is now I’m walking like I’m about 89, thanks to my not-so-sturdy ankle. As soon as it starts working, I’ll be on here begging for help picking up my car at Clingman’s😂