SIMILARITIES BETWEEN HIKING AND BASEBALL

Have you ever wondered how hiking and baseball can be compared?

We read so many wonderful things about the Overmountain Victory National Historic Trail.  This trail follows the route of assembly of the American patriot army which decisively defeated an American Loyalist army at the battle of Kings Mountain, SC in the fall of 1780.  Part of this trail was in Elkin, NC, near another winery we wanted to visit.  We followed these markers from the parking lot to the Yadkin River before heading into the woods by the river.  The markers were impressive.

The temperature was warmer than we were used to, probably because we were at a lower elevation.  Most of the trail leading to the river was out in the open so we were also exposed to full sun.  Then we got a glimpse of the Yadkin River.  Is this view picturesque?  

No!  We did hike another 20 minutes along the river, but the trail was still mostly in the sun and partially overgrown with vegetation.  And the views didn't get any better.  We decided to turn back way before the end of the trail, something we rarely do.  But there were better things to do that day than sweat and not enjoy our hiking experience.

On the way back from Elkin, we visited the Round Peak Winery, where we enjoyed sampling several of their wines and also some craft beer.  A nice way to end a mediocre day outdoors.

Now, back to the comparison.  In baseball you don't usually get more than 2 or 3 hits every 10 times you come to bat.  Well, we struck out with the Overmountain Victory Trail.

We hit a home run the following day hiking to the Cascades - with a foul ball type ending.  

Jake, our co-worker who took us to Buffalo Mountain, recommended we take this hike.  After about a 70 minute drive, we arrived at a large parking area operated by the National Forest Service in the Jefferson National Forest.  There are two trails to the Cascades.  We choose the lower more scenic trail to hike to the falls and to return via the faster trail going straight downhill. 

Most of the time we were very close to Big Stoney Creek.  The water flowed swiftly among rocks of various sizes.  Notice all the moss growing on these rocks.  We wondered how old some of these rocks must be.

We soon came to this old portable boiler that was used to power the saw mill in the 1920's and 1930's when this area was engaged in heavy logging.  When the logging ceased, this boiler was left behind.

Whenever there were small pools of water, we would look for trout swimming.  Finally we did see about a 12 inch trout, but the fish swam too fast to be photographed.

We passed this tree and thought it must have been struck by lightning many years ago.

In 1996, springtime floods severely damaged this trail.  Below you can see just how jammed the creek can become from fallen trees.  Imagine floods from melting snow and heavy rains and you can readily visualize how damaging the rushing water can be as it picks up fallen trees on its way down the mountain.  Three bridges were washed out along with much of the trail that year.  Thankfully, the U.S. Forest Service decided to rebuild the trail.

Here is a view looking down at Big Stoney.  Some of the boulders are very large and all appear to have some moss growing on them.

The area below was one of the longer straight stretches of rapids.  All along our hike we could here the roar of Little Stoney, since we were hiking so close to the creek with fast moving water.

Here is a view of some of the boulders that are not in the creek bed.  Notice how green the vegetation is.  Most of this hike was in the shade because of the dense forest of trees which had grown back after the loggers nearly destroyed this forest.

Paul is standing next to Big Stoney with the trail on his right.  You can readily see how rocky the trail is, as you can see some of the countless stone steps (far left of this photo) we climbed up.

Finally, we came around a large boulder and were excited to see the Cascade waterfall in view.  This majestic waterfall flows down from Salt Pond Mountain. The large pool of water below is surrounded by 200 ft. cliff walls.  In the winter, the waterfall freezes in ice formations.

You can see some other hikers relaxing after the 2 mile hike to the top.  This scene is both breathtaking and peaceful as the falls combine both power and beauty.  The wooden steps on the left give hikers a chance to get a close view of the falls.

While there is "no crying in baseball", Ann twisted her ankle badly about 50 yards short of reaching the spot shown above.  We did take the easier upper trial back to the parking lot, with Paul strolling and Ann limping all the way down.  The upper trail hugs the top of the gorge as it wanders back down.  While we walked back down, we talked about how this hike was the best hike we have taken in the past 2 years; despite Ann's ankle injury.  The views were priceless as we made the total elevation gain of 740 feet to the Cascades.

We did get to experience a trip to an Urgent Care facility in nearby Christiansburg, VA.  The x-rays showed a level 2 sprain with a small chip broken off the bone.  They gave Ann an air cast and a set of crutches.  The doctor whispered into our ears that we should go to Goodwill and get a walker for about $10.  As you can see from the photo below, we took her advice.  This photo was taken on top of Pilot Mountain, NC a week later.  Too much haze because of the warm day to get any good photos of the scenery. Ann is now in a walking boot, so there will be no serious hiking for a while for her.