5/14/12

Bear Den Mountain - April 28, 2012

After some people made arrangements to participate in the AT relocation at Little Calf Mountain, the weather changed plans by threatening rain and thunderstorms. Don White, crew leader for the project, had to decide two days in advance to either proceed with the project or cancel to avoid having people working in rain and lightning. He chose the latter. So John Shannon swapped his work tools for hiking boots and led a hike.


We started at McCormick Gap and crossed over Bear Den Mountain, noting both the steep trail sections that have led to a proposal for a trail relocation and the lack of significant new erosion resulting from work several years ago by Flying McLeods and trail maintainers.


We stopped at the famous tractor seats but saw little beyond the nearby small trees. On the other side of Beagle Gap, we took the partially constructed new Appalachian Trail. Halfway to the summit, we found that canceling the work trip had been a good decision as cold rain started falling on us, which combined with a breeze, made us quite cool for late April.


The rain didn’t deter us from continuing to the summit. During the hike back, we heard thunder in the distance, but before we reached the cars, the rain stopped. Although the rain and thunder were short lived, people were wet and chilly, which would have been unpleasant for trail building. As it was, we were able to make an early return to warm, dry houses. The hardy hikers included Joanne and Maynard Davis, Andy Willgruber, Dan Ralston, and Lindsay Brown.

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