For their 45th anniversary, the Mountains to Sea Trail is encouraging everyone to hike 45 miles on the MST. While we are trying to hike the entire MST, I always hate that we have to repeat miles. I want every mile to count. However trying to get in 45 miles, it is double the pleasure!
We decided to tackle our original miles by starting at the Hickory Boat Ramp and hiking west. A beautiful section. We must have got there first, because there were SO MANY SPIDERS! We took turns walking through their little hunting homes. Seven miles done!
My husband and I have been walking the North Carolina Mountains to Sea Trail. We concurred Hanging Rock, even though it took us two passes to get through we are done with our Mountains away from the Mountains. December 22, 2019: Segment 7 (with a touch of 8),Stokes County Start\End: Hanging Rock Visitor Center Length: 5 of MST (8.3 miles total) Total: (To be calculated miles (estimate)
December 27, 2019: Segment 7,Stokes County Start\End: Tory Den Parking Length: 5 of MST (7 miles total) Total: (To be calculated miles (estimate)
December 27, 2019: Segment 8,Guilford County Start\End: Cascade Preserve Length: 1 of MST Total: (To be calculated miles (estimate)
My husband and I have been walking the North Carolina Mountains to Sea Trail. Yesterday we did a one day, two car hike along the Blue Ridge Parkway. The drive to the MST is now 3+ hours in either direction so we have to be a lot more strategic on the number of miles to cover. Out and backs are really hard to justify.
October 17, 2021: Segment 5, Ashe County
From Cascades Recreation Area Trailhead (mile 48 EB)
To Jumpinoff Rock Overlook Parking (mile 60.1 EB)
Total: 12 miles
We left a car at Jumpinoff Rock, drove to Mt Jefferson Overlook. Grateful to the MST guides for specifics on how to find the trail across the BRP. Lots of happy cows enjoying the amazing views. These were chill cows, unlike the set of cows we saw a little later.
When we got to Jumpinoff Rock we had lunch on a picnic table. A rare event for our hikes. Then we drove to Cascades Recreation Area. Parked, found the trail, and then proceeded to get lost ... TWICE! The first time a crowd of people were playing on a log that happened to mark the trail. This was fine because we got to see the Cascades. After circling back, we walked past the hard right turn back up to the BRP. After wandering a bit, we found our faithful white dots and continued on the adventure.
We had another moment where following the directions in the guide took us down the wrong road. We have gotten use to knowing our mistakes and correcting them quicker. However, with 12 miles, every extra yard is a hassle. A sweet kid asked if we were lost and reassured us that we were on the right path. Also that it happens to everyone.
My husband and I have been walking the North Carolina Mountains to Sea Trail. This week we headed out to Greensboro. With an extra pair of shoes and socks we were hoping to get in two long walks. Unfortunately the rain did not hold off. After a bit, we realized how unprepared we were for rain and had to cut our hike short. We got about 5 miles. November 23, 2019: Segment 8,Guilford County Start\End: 5328-5398 N Church St, Greensboro, NC 27455 Length: 2.5? miles (5 round trip) Total: 94 miles (estimate) I miss calculated where to park on N Church Street so we had to do 1+ mile jot down the peninsula to get back to where we last left off. It was a lovely dry part of the hike. Then we headed into Laurel Bluff and the rain got worse and worse and worse. Some highlights:
An old house, but not old enough to attract Alan's interest.
Crazy cypress like vines
Bizarre holly bush with extreme spikes
Magnolia Tree Grove
NOTE: Ended at Laurel Bluff 125 by some cool plant arches
My husband and I have been walking the North Carolina Mountains to Sea Trail focused on the 700 miles of trail out of the 1175 miles. October 24, 2019: Segment 9,Guilford County Start\End: Guilford County Farm - 7315 Howerton Rd, Elon, NC 27244 Length: 2+ miles (4.4 round trip) Total: 88 miles (estimate) The weather was perfect this day and the trail was different then most we have done. The first part was along active farming and the second was through a well maintained woods. They had creative names like 'The Breakway Trail' and 'Prison Run Pass' . Highlights:
The series of "No horses" and then "Absolutely no horses" signs on either end of the trail.
Lots of Grasshoppers\Locus and conversation about if they are different.
Visiting with the two donkey's
Wondering about the person who left a computer monitor box and laptop bag at the parking lot.
My husband and I have been walking the North Carolina Mountains to Sea Trail focused on the 700 miles of trail out of the 1175 miles. October 25, 2019: Segment 8,Guilford County Start\End: Bryan Park Soccer Complex, 6105 Townsend Rd, Browns Summit, NC 27214 Length: 3.25 miles (6.5 round trip) Total: 90 miles (estimate) This day we started a large section of the trail that runs 19 miles along various lakes. The lakes are amazing and keep the walk interesting. To start here we had to go to the way back of the fields and look for the little white tags. Highlights included:
Determining what the intervals of the markers are (We later discovered they are quarter miles). We started at Townsend 179 and ended at Townsend 166. A good way to find our location on the other side.
Following the signs of the Triple Lake Trail 40 miler and talking about how hard that would be with all the roots\rocks.
Beautiful Canyon at the start
Old home foundation just behind modern homes
Unidentified fenced off sections in the water with lily pads.
My husband and I have been walking the North Carolina Mountains to Sea Trail. We started because of a Marathon to run across Durham and discovered the 1175 miles from the Great Smoky Mountains to the Outer Banks. We are focused on only the trail routes. On our last hike we decided we should start keeping track.
November 2, 2019: Segment 8,Guilford County
Start\End: 5199-5173 N Church St, Greensboro, NC 27455
Length: 2.75 miles (5.5 round trip)
Total: 92 miles (estimate)
Beautiful walk on a beautiful lake. The trail is a bit hilly with lots of unique attributes including:
All day today I've been stumbling over quotes and articles about recovery. Maybe there is a Clairvoyant Bias that is helping me see these in preparation for something lousy to come In the absence of that they are helpful in seeing the long thread of life.
Michelle Obama (Thanks @kthomas901) - “You have to try some things and grow up. It take mistakes to know what you don’t want to do. You gotta be open and explore. You have to be looking for joy and passion in your life NOT perfection.”
Meghan Duffy (here) - She describes the ability to not be effected by rejection (resistance) and the ability to be deeply hurt then bounce back (resilience)
Ruth Malan - The Architect's Clue Bucket (here) - This presentation is focused on architectural best practices. As with all great advice, so much applies to life. (Corollary, it is so much more interesting in tech)
"Design things to make their performance as insensitive to the unknown or uncontrollable external influence as practical" - Eb Rechtin
Now some wisdom on resilience from the Avett Brothers, "At the Beach"
Once a month our church, Duke Memorial, does this cool ministry: Mobile Market. from the Inter-faith Food Shuttle. They take surplus donations from local groceries and farms to distribute to families in need. About 100 of so families come to the church to pick up food. About another 100+ families get a delivery. These deliveries go to folks that are either sick or shut in to their homes.
My family now delivers to about 10 families. Sometimes the same ones, sometimes new ones. So each week I type in the addresses to google, rearrange the route to optimize it and yell at my family if they distract me while doing it.
Obviously this should be a mobile app and obviously it should be trivial to write. So obvious that the road is paved with my prototypes using Python and Android Studio that just did not make the light of day. So this Sunday another geek from my church is coming over to work on this with me. He has requested we use React Native .
Here is my spec for the application:
Must work on Android phones (7.1.1) (Eventually iOS will probably be popular)
Should not put any PII on a Server. All addresses should be kept local. I see no reason to record names of the clients.
Flow :
Bring in all your stops\clients
Did you deliver there before? Provide a list to multi select
Do you want to auto import? Take a picture and use OCR or OCR to get the address
If this does not look right or someone prefers a different order, they can do that directly in google maps
Optional :
While delivering, it might be nice to have easy access to the clients phone numbers based on where you are. (We have accidentally called the wrong home before)
It might be nice to have some history. ('Took 3+ minutes to get to door', 'Was in a GREAT mood today!!', 'Asked about some service', ...) Note: This should not be collected or shared.
Provide contact info to Patricia and Karalyn
As I outline it, I have a renewed sense of shame that my previous attempts have not worked. If at first you don't succeed, ask for help!
Cheers,
Ginny
As if David Byrnes knew me "Road to Nowhere" by Talking Heads
