14 November 2013 Snowy Walk on the Buckeye Trail

We enjoyed a walk along the Buckeye Trail for lunch. This was our first visit to this section of the trail. I had a great time despite the snow warning of the days to come.

9 November 2013 Visiting Allegany State Park

2 November 2013 Mentor Marsh

Mentor Marsh can be a very attractive walk along the Lake Erie shore. It wasn't that walk today. Rain and wind was with us for moat of our walk. We were gald to be out walking, but it was a tough journey today.

1 November 2013 Cache Maintenance

We knew one of our caches was missing so I decided to check a couple of the hides in South Chagrin. My first stop was at Old Field. I finished at Shadow Lake. It was a beautiful fall evening, and our caches were again ready for visitors.

27 October 2013 Traveling Home

We spent the morning with some mostly unsuccessful cache hunts in West Virginia. The state seems like caching is either great or broken containers and missed finds. Today started with a broken container and didn't get much better. We were able to make two more finds in Noble County Ohio to bring out total in the county to eight. One of those included a hide at the 1914 Parrish Covered Bridge.

26 October 2013 Hungry Mother State Park

Hungry Mother State Park was our destination for the day. The snow of the day before was just a memory as we were hiking about 1000 feet lower with a summit of Molly's Knob at 3270 feet. We enjoyed a few caches near the water with blue skies and the leaves changing colors before hitting the woods. A few of the caches, including the one at Molly's Knob were missing, but the rest were nice hides and included a fun, lightly-found, multiple-stage projection multi.

We were treated to some mallards and ruddy ducks on the water in the morning.

Looking Out From the Trail

A Far View of Molly's Knob

At 5729 feet, Mount Rogers is the highest point in Virginia. We left that climb for another visit, but the view from Molly's Knob includes a look over to Mount Rogers.

It was amazing to see chestnut fruit in the clearing near Molly's Knob. We seen a few fruit dotting trees, but this was a large quantity of nuts.

This old stone bench is one of the park's reminders of the efforts made by the CCC in creating the park.

25 October 2013 Grayson Highlands

We started our day with a crisp morning in Wytheville. There was no hint of snow and lots of blue sky. There are two state parks close by on my trips to Salisbury, but too far off my travel path to stop for a visit when I am traveling alone. Since we had the weekend to make it back to Ohio, we were able to stop and explore. Our journey to Grayson Highland was pleasant with a few finds and some great views along the way. As we climbing toward the park, we started spotting vehicles with snow cover. By the time we reached the park, it was clear we would be hiking in snow.

Snow or not, this is one beautiful park. The trails were outstanding, the views were grand, and there was good caching. After a week of sub-par caching in the Salisbury area, it was great to hit the trails and find some nice hides.

The old fences at the park entrance made a great prop for the early season snow we encountered. Since the roads were easy to travel and we managed the unexpected cold, we were able to enjoy a snowy day at the park.

I hadn't planned on caching in snow this early in the season. I was really happy when a park employee arrived at the office while we were there and opened the the park store for us off-hours. The warm Grayson Highlands park hoodie I purchased gave me an added layer so I could stay warm on the trails during our visit. If not for that employee, our visit would have been much less pleasant and a lot shorter. The park office also gave the great view below.

There's a small area in the park with older cabins that pre-date the park.

This early 1900's cabin was a residence until 1990. The Ingram family raised nine children in this home.

Almost a Mile High

We didn't have time take the trail that led to the area where wild horses roam the park. Maybe on a return visit...

The View From Buzzard Rock

23 October 2013 Love and Happiness

I was in Salisbury for a corporate meeting and needed to also complete an audit after hours. With my work schedule, we didn't spend much time together, but were able to enjoy two trips to nearby Kannapolis for quiet dinners at the Sunshine Cafe. It is always good to return to an area and find a tasty restaurant is still in business, and it's a nice treat to enjoy a meal with Ali while I'm on the road. :-)

21 October 2013 Big Walker Mountain

This was it. The day set aside to spend aroud Big Walker Mountain. There were caches, hiking, and a tower. Throw in a benchmark, some great views, and fall colors ro make a great day.

Our day started with an unexpected hike along the AT. It was a super stretch starting with a waterfalls near the trail head. The woods moved from leaves changing colors to large stands of rhododenren and a few orchids. It was a good way to start the day.

Big Walker is not tall by western standards, but in the east, it offers a great view. Even without climbing the tower, there's a attractive view available to southwest. We bought our tickets and we climbed. The views at the top were great while the suspension walkway was an added bit of fun.

The tower cast a long shadow on this sunny day.

It was windy and the tower was swaying a bit. I was happy, but Ali didn't stay at the top for long.

We ended our day at Comer's Rock with a few caches and sunset.