900 miler x2 (Mingus Creek - Newton Bald - Thomas Divide - Cooper Creek)

Date: 5/27/16
Distance: 17.3 miles

Today's hike represents the final hike to finish up my 2nd lap around the park.  I'll start with the hike and finish up with a few comments about my 2nd map.

We started the hike at the Mingus Creek Trailhead which is just up the hill from the Oconaluftee Visitors Center.  Today I hiked with JD, Anoria, Chris, Craig, Lane, George, Gil, Suzanne, Paula and Angie.  Mingus Creek is 5.7 miles long with a rather large climb from about 2000' to 5000'.  It begins as a gravel road but turns into a single track trail after a mile or so.

Mingus Creek merges with Newton Bald which we followed for 0.7 miles to the Thomas Divide Trail.  We followed Thomas Divide down the mountain for 3.1 miles before we reached the Deeplow Gap Trail where we stopped for a rest and a bit of lunch.  We had dropped down to 3700' at this point.

After lunch we started down the Deep Low Gap.  Not far down the trail it started raining and before long it was pouring.  There is a very scenic waterfall on this section of the trail, but it was raining hard, so no one bothered with their camera.  It was quite nice though.

After 1.5 miles on Deep Low Gap, we arrived at the Cooper Road Trail. It is a 0.5 mile nasty, wet gravel road.  It was still raining, so it was more wet than usual.  After 0.5 miles we arrived at the gate across the road which we touched before returning to Deep Low Gap.

We continued on Deep Low Gap for 2.4 miles back to Mingus Creek.  The climb was about 1100'.  At the Mingus Creek Trail, my 2nd map was complete.  Thankfully the rain had stopped, so we stopped for a bit of a ceremony before the 2.9 mile hike back down Mingus Creek to the car where we had a celebratory brownie to finish off the day.

900 Miler x2 

As I mentioned above, this hike finished off my 2nd "map" of the park.  The 900 mile club consists of people who have hiked every trail in the park.

Stats

Date of 1st hike: 4/4/15
Date of final hike: 5/27/16
Number of hiking days: 82
Longest Hike: 25 (NFG to Snakeden to Cosby)
Total Miles hiked to finish: 1196.4
Nights spent in the woods: 5
Number of Solo Miles: 600.7

Musings

I didn't start this lap around the park with any speed goals in mind, but by about 7 months, a goal of 14 months was bouncing around in my head.  I was super fortunate that many hikes worked out (sometimes miraculously) and I finished about 1 week ahead of goal.  I was super pleased to beat my goal.

Some hikers dislike or fear hiking alone.  I've never suffered from that fear.  I enjoy hiking alone and I enjoy hiking with groups.  I started this map with the goal of hiking with other folks more than the last one.  I can't say that I achieved that goal since slightly more than 1/2 of my miles were solo.   In the end, I'm not too upset with the mix.  I can't think of a single hike in which I arrived back at home wishing I had handled it differently.  One thing I did enjoy was finishing with a good sized group.  The congratulations and camaraderie made the day extra special.

I'm not even going to attempt to deny that I'm not working on map #3.  It is just what I do.  Let's go hiking...