Summer Sequence

Noon on the first of June in Pisgah and the fish hatchery's parking lot is full but quiet. It has been hot already this spring but today it is a little cooler. There is not a cloud in the sky and just a slight hint of a breeze. Everything seems about perfect and it feels like summer is starting to settle in.

According to the binder that holds my training plan for Cloudsplitter and beyond, today I am supposed to run 14 miles but that sounds excessive and time-consuming. Cedar and John Rock's hang just above me and at just ten miles they sound like a better idea. Somehow I won't see another person on the trail until I get to the top of Cedar Rock. Up Cat Gap, nobody. Up Butter and still nobody, not even at the waterfall. And then nobody up the scramble to the top of Cedar Rock. And then, at the top, are a dozen or more hikers enjoying a relaxing snack as they enjoyed the view. No doubt they came from the other direction and were surprised to see some deranged runner climbing up the cliff they were sitting on. I offered a simple, friendly greeting and kept running. I've sat on that rock plenty and left it for them to enjoy and instead found myself another rock just past the top of Cedar Rock where I paused and enjoyed the view and solitude.



From there it would be on to John Rock where I would pause again to look out over at Looking Glass Rock before my final descent back to the Fish Hatchery.
 

One more Saturday night and it was off to Pisgah Brewing for a little Papadosio.



With the show still ringing in my head on Sunday morning and I was in Pisgah again and heading up Pressley Cove trail once again. I decided to mix it up and skip Black Mtn. and instead headed down the gravel and then up Clawhammer before taking Buckhorn Gap down to Avery Creek where I stopped to fish at the waterfall. I was got lots of strikes but was unable to land anything and was reminded that is why it is called fishing and not catching.

Get what you can now, summer is on.