A change of scenery

I have been hitting Hanging Rock State Park as much as i can and also threw in an 11 mile hike on the Mountains to Sea trail near my home, The MST nearly turned into disaster when i fell crossing a small creek, slipping on a wet rock and crashing to the ground, My little finger went between 2 rocks and bent backwards, At first i thought the worst but it was just badly bruised as was my arm, For the first time in 3 months i managed to get a weekend off of work so after work on Friday i hit the road heading for Roanoke in Virginia, I stayed in a motel for 2 nights and early Saturday i went to Highway 311 and hit the Appalachian Trail, A 4 mile hike up to McAfee's Knob, From the car park you cross the road and then hike steeply upwards for 5 minutes, The ground then levels out and a couple of minutes later you can see an info kiosk to your right, I did not know but you should take a right there to get on the AT, I carried straight on which is the fire road route, An easier and slightly shorter route, The place is very very busy and there were about 10 cars in the car park at 6.45am, I made it to the top by 8.12 feeling good about myself until i was told i took the easy route, I took some shots of the famous and most photographed landmark on the AT, The light being behind me was not ideal and evening shots would be better, I hung around for a couple of hours talking to lots of people including a couple who thru hiked last year and a woman who had completed it in sections last year, My hats off to them as its an epic undertaking, I made my way back this time on the AT trail and yes its way different to the fire trail, I felt i spent more time going up even though i should have been descending, I made it back to the car and then back at the hotel went through the images, It was a pretty hot day, I was back at the car before mid day and it was already in the 80's, I have been using Oboz hiking boots and they have been brilliant for these hot temperatures, So far no over heating of the feet and no blisters or hotspots, I use these with Wrightsocks and its been a winning combo, I carried my backpack with around 20lb of gear to make sure i get a good workout,
The images i took were OK but one bugged me where i had cut my feet of behind a part of the over hang, I guess only a photographer would notice but it stayed on my mind all day, Sunday i had planned to head along the Blue-ridge Parkway and photograph Mabry mill which i had done a few months before in not great weather i.e sunny with shadows but as the day went on i realized to clear my head i would need to hike back to the outlook and re shoot, Here is the image in question

Its not a bad image especially as the sun is high up and behind me but the feet and i forgot to put my backpack on for the ultimate selfy-DOH

I made it back into the car park exactly the same time on Sunday but there were now over 30 cars, Why are these people not in church i thought, It seems a lot of people camp out up there and i walked past nearly 30 people heading down on my way up and was very surprised to see only a couple of people there when i arrived, The sky was clear and blue which was not what i really wanted, I guess next time i will camp up there and get the light early and late and enjoy the spectacular views with the stars above, Cant wait

Here is the new image with feet showing

Its the classic Mcafee image that you see everywhere including the 'walk in the woods' book and movie, By the way i have dreadful vertigo and did not suffer one bit there for some reason,

I took my new tiny carbon fibre tripod that i will be taking to Everest and it worked fine, The D800E and 24-70 triggered by a Hahnel remote release.

Here are a some more images taken this weekend

The actual Appalachian Trail, Narrower than i expected and a mix if hard trail, Very rocky and with areas of sand

A pano showing the amazing views, Click on images to make them larger

Its been a great weekend and i have had a good workout, The few sessions at the gym are starting to pay off, The clock is ticking but so far i am happy with the way i am progressing although everything is hanging off me as i am now around 23lb lighter than when i started

Dave