Part of my road trip to North Carolina included a meeting with friends on the Tennessee/North Carolina border and a hike along a short section of one of the most famous trails in the USA, the Appalachian Trail. I've just commenced the detailed write up of some of the more entertaining sections of the trip and began with this wonderful hike. Click here for the full hike and pics.
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As I departed from the hotel in Great Falls Montana this morning I found myself a little disappointed that the trip would soon be over, driving north in the beautiful wide open spaces of the state did nothing to help that feeling. I took the most direct line north (I-15) in order to cross the border close to a Southern Alberta Park that I had decided to visit.
Writing-On-Stone Provincial Park sits very close to the Canada/US border and even though it added a couple of hours to the journey I decided to take in one more place before the road trip came to an end and I'm glad I did. At almost 18 square kilometres there was too much to see today, but there was enough for me to earmark the place for a return visit with Sarah. The large hoodoo's that overlook the Milk River on both banks are a delight to hike around, over and through. They stretch for huge distances and have trails running in all directions between them as well as some specific mapped trails. There are more than 50 petroglyph sites with hundreds of separate works. It is nominated as a World Heritage Site and even includes a North-West Mounted Police Outpost on it's original site close to the mouth of a deep gully, native tribes have lived in this part of the Milk River Valley for over 9000 years and it was a very popular stopping point during seasonal migrations. After the park I took the fastest route back to Calgary where a snow storm arrived just as I got home, perfect timing. After clocking up 10729 km I converted to miles and found a very strange coincidence....6666.6 miles, incredible (but still 16 miles short of my last 'epic' outing) The weather granted me another sightseeing day on the way home, as long as I took the western route through the Grand Teton National Park before turning north toward home. Heavy winter showers were to be hitting north-western Wyoming and Montana too but Idaho was going to escape them, so the planned route was perfect.
I must have been keen to be underway as I awoke before 4am and couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to set off early and perhaps extend the day today thereby shortening the final leg tomorrow. As I left the Hampton Inn at Riverton Wyoming, one of the kitchen staff came after me saying I had "forgotten my breakfast" she handed me a brown paper bag and a large cup of coffee before heading back inside. As I sat waiting for the frost to melt from my windscreen I looked in the bag, it had sugar, creamer and a stirrer for the coffee and a Kellogg's breakfast bar, a huge blueberry muffin, an apple and a banana, that got the day off to an unexpectedly good start. My only visual accompaniment for the first hour and a half was the almost full moon and I was thankful for it; there were more deer than you could poke a stick at along that first stretch of road and particularly so when running beside the wind river approaching the town of Dubois. I was required to make only one full on 'emergency' brake application when one of the stupid critters just stood in the middle of the road on a tight bend staring into the headlights, fortunately for both of us I avoided hitting the thing. As I passed through Dubois I saw a sign saying "Scenic Overlook" and thought that might make a good spot to see the sun rise (though when it has to rise over the mountains it's already well up before you see it) anyway, I traversed the steep grade on deeply rutted dirt tracks twisting around and around until I reached the overlook. On stepping out to take a few photos I turned to see a person in hiking gear looking straight at me and waving both arms above their head, back and forth, over and over; clearly something was wrong. As they were some distance away I didn't want to waste time so I bounced my truck across the rocky top and reached the person in a very short time. Once there the woman greeted me with a cheery "good morning" the conversation then moves swiftly on:- "morning" says I......what's wrong? Wrong? she repeats as if surprised by my question, nothing. "but you were waving your arms above your head I thought you needed help" "oh no, I was just exercising, I run up here every morning and do it....thanks for coming to my aid though" "oh.......oh......ok....I'll go back to my photos then" So it went, I bounced my truck all the way back to the dirt road (more slowly on the return) ranting to myself about "what kind of idiot stares right at you and waves their arms back and forth ABOVE THEIR HEAD, on the top of a rocky outcrop at 6:30 am and is then surprised when you rush to their aid. By the time I'm back at the overlook the sun is peeking over the mountains and I'm chuckling to myself at the situation, I grabbed a shot of the sunrise and set off back down the track before she started waving again!! I made my planned route through the Grand Tetons but there is still a huge amount of snow on the ground and it restricts any hiking opportunities in the more interesting sections as most are still closed, I decide to continue my loop and head down into Jackson Hole for lunch. After lunch I continued west into Idaho to take the scenic drive along the Palisades Reservoir before cutting back inland on minor roads to explore the area as I headed north through little towns with big farms and those wonderful empty roads. I passed just west of Bozeman as I returned into Montana and stayed with the minor roads as far as Helena before joining the beautifully scenic I-15 route, north to the town of Great Falls where I found myself a Hampton Inn for the evening. The weather can almost do as it pleases tomorrow, I have only a short ride home (less than 6 hours on main roads) but if the sun is awake in the morning there's at least one more place I could visit on my final run. I drove across to Ogallala Nebraska yesterday in preparation for a steady sightseeing day today. Though troubled by the weather in places which caused me to skip a couple of the things I'd considered seeing, I still had a great day back in the wide open spaces of the northern states.
The day began slowly as the Holiday Inn considered 06:00 to be a bit early for breakfast but I was in no hurry, after breakfast I set out around 07:00 to begin the day with a walk on the shores of nearby Lake McConaughy, there was a nice chill in the air and huge waves rolling across the lake from the blustery wind. After stretching the legs I set out from the boat ramp where I'd parked and took the scenic highway (US-92) around the lake and almost immediately came across a 'herd' of tumbleweeds crossing the dam. A 'good sized' storm caused me to miss out on the state park I had my eye on (good sized like the one in the image immediately below) so I drove on to Chimney Rock and enjoyed another short hike out to the pinnacle mound and back. After Chimney Rock I cut back to the north to visit Carhenge, which is a replica of Stonehenge in England but constructed using old cars (well why not) There are a number of other structures there including a salmon created by a Canadian artist. After Carhenge I headed north-west toward Fort Robinson State Park which is directly under the cloud you see in the image below, so I turned west and continued past it, stopping only to grab a shot of it once clear (a shot I like) I then followed a wonderful scenic drive to the west for 4 hours intending to stop in the town of Casper, I made a couple of stops to grab photos including one of the irrigation equipment scattered throughout the area which is so very different to ours back in the UK. I also stopped at an old broken down church and grabbed some shots, as I came out of it I cracked a rotten floorboard which caused a Barn Owl to dart out of his hiding place over my head and away. As I approached Casper I picked up a young guy who had run out of petrol (gas) and took him to the next garage along the way, then once we had filled a fuel can I doubled back to his truck to save him standing out hoping for a ride again. The stop and the conversation woke me up nicely so I carried on beyond Casper for another 1.5 hours to the town of Riverton, strategically placed to allow me to head directly north to Billings or west into the Grand Teton National Park depending on the weather tomorrow. Hopefully I have one more day of sightseeing before the last leg back home....weather permitting. After my wanderings in Tennessee with Andy and Jessica I was still undetermined as to the route I would take back to Canada, I had hoped to head straight north and across the great lakes but the weather decided otherwise.
Monday morning saw severe thunderstorms bringing down trees and powerlines across the area I was in and had to travel through. I kept the day fairly short as there is no fun in driving for hours in that kind of weather so I returned to the Hampton Inn in Cape Girardeau Missouri, fortunately (and largely thanks to the internet) I picked a way through the worst of it and only saw a couple of heavy showers before arriving in Missouri for the evening. I was up and out at 05:30 having planned a monster 12 hour drive to Ogallala Nebraska, sounds like a long drag to some I suppose but the image below shows the road conditions for at least 10 of the 12 hours, empty roads and empty fields around them.....absolutely perfect. For those of us with 'busy' heads, vast tracts of nothingness are a real pleasure, they allow us to quieten everything and relax and it is a joy to drive in these conditions stopping only for fuel and coffee. The purpose of making this town with the lovely sounding name is it's location in relation to Wyoming, Sarah and I both love Wyoming and starting from here in the morning allows me to take US-92 (which is a scenic highway) across country to Casper Wyoming where I will decide (depending on the weather) where to head next. As the trip is drawing to a close it's kind of tempting to make a dash for the comforts of home but I think I'll hold out for a couple more days ;) Sunday morning 6 am and I'm up and about for breakfast, unfortunately not in the O Henry hotel as they can't be bothered to get up a t 06:00 on a Sunday (another good thing about Hampton Inn, breakfast 6 am every day) Anyway, this got me on the road early, I said my goodbyes to Sarah who was rightfully still tucked up in bed as she had some work related stuff later in the day and I set out west for Tennessee with the sunrise chasing me all the way.
After stopping for fuel for both the truck and myself I made good time across the west of North Carolina and into the mountains to the border with Tennessee. At a point right on the border is Carvers Gap and from that point I could access the Appalachian Trail, something I've wanted to do for a very long time. To make sure I didn't get lost I was joined by my friend Andy (of Twisted Ridge photography) and his girlfriend Jessica both of whom live in Tennessee. The sun hammered down as we made our way along a beautiful series of 'Appalachian balds' on Roan Mountain, a trail which I am absolutely sure will be stunning by the end of June when the Rhododendron bushes that cover the area are in bloom. After a wonderful hike of around 6 miles out and back (which Andy would have liked to be much longer) I followed them back to Johnson City Tennessee where they waited whilst I booked into my hotel and then drove me out to a bar/restaurant by a lake where we made a hole in a few jugs of beer and an excellent burger before delivering me back to the hotel. This was another really memorable day in a fantastic location with perfect weather and great company, I really wish Sarah could have shared it with us. The weather for tomorrow is very poor with some significant threats forming so it's likely to be a driving only day, I'm going to try driving through it to the west as it moves east so will head back to the Hampton Inn at Cape Girardeau tomorrow and then decide on the rest of the return leg from there. Saturday required a change of plans owing to some last minute collaborations with friends in Tennessee, we booked out of the Hampton in Elizabeth City and drove back over to Greensboro where we booked into the O Henry hotel and then spent the afternoon undertaking Sarahs favourite pastime, the phone images below say it all really. Saturday was a day of shopping......
There was only ever one intention for day 3 with Sarah; heading north to Virginia Beach to walk the boardwalk, eat our fill of fresh seafood and comb through the shops and galleries. We were sidetracked onto the pier where we watched a couple of fishermen who had travelled down from the Bronx in New York, hauling out dozens of fish and at one point almost hauling out a metre long shark (he did say the name of it but I forgot) We also saw a huge pod of dolphins pass by the pier end but they were damn difficult to catch on camera.
The temperature was just short of 80 degrees in the mid afternoon and I had to buy a hat and some factor 50 to hide behind, we found the best place to be to escape the sun was outside a local bar/restaurant sitting in the shade drinking Corona and eating seafood. We made a 4 mile circuit from the southern car park to the statue of Neptune along the boardwalk and back via the shops before heading north to Cape Henry Lighthouse which is on a military base and requires vehicle search and ID check to enter, all in all another lovely day by the sea (that Calgary winter seems so far away now) We had a nice slow start today, not leaving the hotel until after 9am. We made our first unscheduled stop at a small fishing jetty just outside of Elizabeth City, the water was perfectly calm and the sun already booming down on its way to a top temperature of 24 degrees by the afternoon. We watched an eagle catch his breakfast and saw another bunch of turtles lounging out on anything above water level.
Our first planned stop of the day was at the beach out on the east coast at Kitty Hawk, obviously our main objective was the Wright Brothers memorial but we couldn't resist a little stop off and a paddle (well I did, Sarah chickened out) After the beach we went to the memorial as planned and then south to Bodie Island lighthouse. After the lighthouse we bought sandwiches and drinks from subway and took them down to the beach at Cape Hatteras National Park where we spent a little too long soaking up that beautiful sunshine and got sunburned!! After lunch we we continued on to Fort Raleigh on Roanoke Island where in 1587, 116 european settlers arrived and set up a small colony, when the leader of the colony set sail for England to obtain more supplies he was delayed in his return by the war between England and Spain and did not arrive back on Roanoke Island until 1590; when he did, every single person in the colony was gone. It remains a mystery as to where. We made our return via the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and cut across US-94 to create a full circle around Albemarle Sound to complete a fantastic day in North Carolina. After a night at a hotel in Greensboro Sarah and I were ready for our planned trip to the east coast of North Carolina. Today was all about a steady ride over to Elizabeth City where we had booked in the Hampton Inn for 4 days. Our route avoided the interstate as much as possible by heading north-east through the town of Roanoke Rapids calling at a couple of state parks along the way.
Our first stop was at a small park called Eno River State Park close to Durham. We enjoyed a lovely walk through woodland, explored an abandoned house, saw Sarah doing a 'Gandalf' impression (using a huge branch to balance when crossing a wet area on the trail) and we sat by the rapids in the sunshine. Back in the truck and back underway we passed the very best of small town life as we made our way through to Merchants Millpond State Park which is just 30 minutes from Elizabeth City and what a wonderful park it is, a true southern swamp and at 760 acres it is not so much a millpond as a small ocean. With huge bald cypress trees and spanish moss hanging in swathes across the park it is a beautiful sight. We laid out on a wooden jetty by the lake watching the turtles and soaking up the sun just as readily as they did. We had a walk around the edge of the lake and visited the large welcome centre before heading to our hotel for the evening. Next door to the hotel was a 'Golden Corral' so we ate to bursting point and then returned to the hotel where they were having a free beer event, it would have been downright unsociable not to join the event so we did....what a great start to our week in North Carolina. Click images below for larger pics with captions. |
AuthorWe arrived in Calgary, Canada on 29th December 2011 to continue our journey. This blog is intended to keep our family and friends informed whilst we explore Canada.You can use the RSS feed below to stay updated. Categories
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