Distance: ~8.3 mi
Today there was lots of rain in the area, but mostly to the west, so I looked for a hike that wasn't too long. Since I've never done the Rich Mountain Trail, I went that way. I was thinking that if the weather moved in, I could turn around and get back to the care quickly.
The hike up Rich Mountain Train had a rather large elevation rise of about 1700 ft over the 2.3 miles to the top. The trail was well maintained. There weren't many nice views, but it was a nice walk in the woods. Once I got to the top, the weather didn't look to bad, so I decided to cover the 0.8 miles down to the part of the Indian Grave trail that I hadn't hiked before. It was downhill and easy hiking.
I continued on to cover the 1.1 miles on Indian Grave to the Rich mountain road. I did pass some sort of trap along the way. I didn't see any bait and it didn't look to be armed. A little farther down the trail, I scared a black bear on the trail. We both jumped and ran. I guess I was supposed to hold my ground. He made some sort of squeal as he took off which surprised me a little.
Once I reached the road, I hiked back to the car on the road. It was much further than I expected. In some ways I wished I had turned and followed the trail back. It seemed longer than the trail, but probably had less elevation gain than the trail. The road was gravel and a decent number of cars went by. I probably could have hitched a ride. There were a few nice views along the road.
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