III. The Conclusion of My Hike Celebration!
As we checked into the Hike Inn, we were hot & sweaty....
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| my hair was soaking wet! |
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| I was having my "baby meat sticks" protein snack & needed to dump the liquid in the kitchen so as not to attract any "wild animals" ... They had cookies, fruit, and lots of drink choices for us to snack on too.... tea (hot & iced), coffee, water, lemonade, juice. |
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| This was our supper menu. | |
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| There were 4 buildings connected by breeze ways. The 1st bldg was the 20 bunk rooms & the reception office. The 2nd bldg, with the solar panels (seen 2 above), was the bath facility with composting toilets & hot showers, the dining room is shown to the left in the picture above with the "sunrise/gathering/game room on the left. |
Learned lots of fascinating facts on our tour of the facility. They use vermicomposting (worm beds) for all the non-meat left overs i.e. coffee grounds, egg shells,peels, left over fruit/vegetables & etc. that is in turn used to grow their plants, tomatoes, and other things gown for use in the kitchen. Solar panels provide about 10% of the energy. The toilet system is completely self-composting and your tush gets a cool breeze from the ventilation system used. There is no -really - NO - bad odors! The buildings are on piers that created little impact on the land. This is a Gold - LEED-EB certification (Hey - that means it's super eco-friendly!) there are no trash cans -- what trash you pack in you must pack out. No electricity available for guest use, they request no cell phone use, they ask that you only put on your plate what you will eat - & weigh any left overs so that your days group is compared to the rest of the weeks visitors.
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| This is star-gate. Carved stones create a druid/Stonehenge type aperture to focus on a cairn - like the
ancient Celtic/Druid Stone Cairns In Ireland - It was created to register the Spring/Fall solar equinox and tho I had not planned it we
were there for the Vernal equinox!!!! The sun lines up perfectly with
the center of the circle cut in the stone - it only occurs twice a year
-- spring & fall when the sun rises due East as it crosses the
equator. — |
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| This area is tree cleared to offer a sunrise view. |
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Go if you ever have a chance!! It is a great place to visit!
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During our tour & supper talks, we found out some interesting facts, that made big changes in our plans. The distance to the beginning of the AT on Springer Mt. was 4.4 miles; add that to the 8.5 miles to Hightower Gap and you have almost 14 miles for a day hike..... A bit tooooooo much for my 2nd hiking day in over 15 years.... soooooo we got up the next morning with a new plan.... hike back to the
car via the AT approach trail and then drive back to Hightower gap, get
the truck and then head back to Atlanta.....
I got up in time to see the
Autumnal Equinox sunrise!
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| They actually got up for the sunrise too!!!! |
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| This only lines up perfectly twice a year!!! Spring & Fall Equinox We were here for THE DAY! The Vernal / Autumnal Equinox!! this was almost a perfect shot ... didn't wait for another try as there were about 15 other people trying to get this shot too! |
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| reflecting in the cairn... |
Then had a nice breakfast of eggs, grits, sausage, biscuits, loaded our backpacks back up and ...
we're off by 9am ....
We are headed to the AT approach trail one mile away....
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| loved this tree ... lots and lots of poison ivy all around it though --- Wendy climbed the tree because she does not react to poison ivy... Boo tried to avoid it tho! |
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| A view peeking through |
I had to take more pictures & to the girls' dismay there were lots
of "No People pictures" I love all the nature God gives us to enjoy!
Mountains, creeks, trees, leaves, flowers, lichen, mushrooms.....the big
& little of it all!
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| Pretty moss |
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| Little red bug! |
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| Our hiking trio! |
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| awesome tree |
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| This trail was almost all downhill so was hard on the toes and my knees. I'm glad we didn't come up this way tho -- it would have been much more strenuous than the Hike Inn Trail. |
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| Break spot |
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| We're back in the State Park now... the hike is almost over.... |
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| Silly faces |
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| this is the intersection of forest service road 69 & 48 where the AT crosses |
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| I did actually hike a small, very small, section of the AT!!!! |
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| Till next time ya'll! |
Well, this just whetted my appetite for more hiking .... maybe next month I'll do Springer Mt. to Hightower Gap....
till next time may God Bless & go have a cuppa.....
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