Friday, July 31, 2020

2020-07-24 The Airplane Search Continues

The Airplane Search Continues!
With Captain John and Sean
Somewhere along the East Side of Mount Mitchell
Yancey County, NC
Thursday, July 23rd and Friday, July 24th, 2020

Group Photo at the start of our Bushwhack
L to R:  Me, Sean, Captain John

My friend Captain John who is a commercial airline pilot has an obsession with seeking out old airplane crash sites.  I have had the pleasure of joining him on several of these searches over the past few years. 

On October 5th, 1949 a Douglas C-47D (DC-3) crashed somewhere on the side of Mount Mitchell.  So far we have had 3 failed attempts at finding this crash site.





Maybe Sean (aka Christopher SCC) would be our good luck charm this time?

Since I would already be up in the area for my hike with The Professor to check out the Butts, I decided to spend the night in the area.   Our friend Chip offered us the use of his cabin for the night.  Chip's cabin is an amazing spot, but it is definitely not easy to get to!  Fortunately, I always enjoy the hike/bushwhack to the cabin and this time was no exception! 

Sean would join me on the hike to the cabin.  

 
Selfie with Sean at the start of our hike to Chip's cabin

 view from the trail

A nice cluster of Turk's Cap Lillies

View from the Trail

Panorama

Overlooking the Blue Ridge Parkway

The Cabin at Night







Captain John attempted to make his hike shorter, but ran into some issues with locked gates.  After Sean fell asleep on me, I was able to get in touch with John and determine which way he was planning on hiking in.  I decided to go on a midnight stroll and met him for the final part of his hike to the cabin.

It was well after midnight by the time we got back to the cabin and we ended up going to sleep at about the same time I am usually waking up!

 Morning Selfie at the Cabin

After cleaning up the cabin from our visit, we locked up and began the hike back to our vehicles.

We made a slight detour on the hike out to take Sean to his first airplane crash site.

Sean by an old plane wreck


 Morning view on the hike out from Chip's Cabin

  Tailgate Breakfast!

After a nice tailgate breakfast we drove up to the parking area near the summit of Mount Mitchell to being the search.

Bushwhacking alongside the steep eastern slope of Mount Mitchell is no easy task and it took us about 5 hours to cover 2.5 miles.   We did find some interesting things along the way, but no airplane wreck!

 Canine Skull

Interesting Fungus



We were getting very close to giving up!   "My optimism is seriously waning" is what I said about 2 minutes before I spotted the wreckage.

First sight of the airplane wreckage

Group Selfie at the Crash Site

Captain John at the Crash Site




We were all pretty excited to finally find the crash site, however it quickly became obvious that this wreckage was not from the Douglas C-47D (DC-3) we were looking for.   After some research I determined that the crash site we found was from this 1992 crash that none of us was even aware of.


BL-26(AF) Bellanca 17-30A(NTSB)

Here is a link to another article about the crash site we found.

While we still have not achieved our ultimate goal of finding the 1949 crash site, we all had a great time bushwhacking around the side of Mount Mitchell!

I made a few quick stops along the Blue Ridge Parkway on my drive home to check out some of the views!

View from the Blue Ridge Parkway

My Favorite Tree along the Blue Ridge Parkway


My complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157715306102222

2020-07-23 Big Butt Trail with the Professor

Checking out the Butts with the Professor
Along the Buncombe / Yancey County line
Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina
Thursday, July 23rd, 2020

I first hiked the Big Butt Trail with Andy Kunkle about 10 years ago.  For that hike, we started from the lower (Northern) end and hiked up to Point Misery and Back.  

One of my favorite ways to escape the heat of the Carolina Summers is a nice high elevation hike and the Professor Scott Burns has been wanting to check out the Butts for quite some time.  So this time we would start from the Blue Ridge Parkway and do the Southern end to the Summit of Big Butt and back staying high (above 5,000-feet) the entire hike.

Back when Andy and I did the Butts 10 years ago, many sections of the trail were very overgrown. However, there has been some obvious trail maintenance recently and the trail is currently in great shape! 

 In the words of Sir Mix-A-Lot, "I Like Big Butts and I can not lie" However in my opinion, Little Butt has the better view!

Here are a few photos from our adventure.


View from the Blue Ridge Parkway

Going to check out some Butts!

The Professor on Point Misery

 Turk's Cap Lillies

Turk's Cap Lily Selfie with the Professor

 view from Little Butt

 view from Little Butt

The Professor hanging out on Little Butt

 The Professor along the Big Butt Trail

Time to check out the Big Butt

The Professor on Big Butt

Tree Hugger

The Professor along the Big Butt Trail

view from Little Butt

 Enjoying a Post Hike FAB with the Professor


My complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157715303898991


 

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

2020-01-30 Washington State - Day 5 - Lookout Mountain and Stimpson Nature Reserve

Jack and Amy 's Washington State Trip
Day 5 - Thursday, January 30th, 2020
Lookout Mountain Forest Preserve and
Stimpson Family Nature Reserve
Whatcom County, WA

I am going back in history a bit for this Blog post!  

Back in January before the COVID-19 Pandemic and the week before the flooding of our home, I joined Amy on a trip out to Washington State.  Here are a few photos from Day 5 of my Washington State hiking adventures.

Morning Twilight over Lake Whatcom

Lake Whatcom

 Lookout Mountain Trails

 View from Lookout Mountain

 View from Lookout Mountain

Rufus Creek Falls

Stimpson Family Nature Reserve


The most amazing thing about the Stimpson Nature Reserve was the size of the trees.  There are not a whole lot of views, but if you admire and respect big trees, you will love this place.  The trails meander through an amazing old growth forest full of these towering 400+ year old treasures!
 Photos just do not do justice to the amazing trees of the Stimpson Nature Reserve!
Selfie with one of the Kings of the Forest!


 Geneva Pond

 One of the few views along the Stimpson Reserve Trails
 Chuckanut Brewery - After Hike Flight Destination
 My flight at the Chuckanut Brewery

Enjoying another flight later in the evening at the Anacortes Brewery Rockfish Grill



My complete set of photos from Day 5 is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157714844569978



And if you missed my previous blog posts from our Washington State trip, here they are:

Day 1:
https://scjack.blogspot.com/2020/03/2020-01-26-washington-state-day-1-north.html

Day 2:
https://scjack.blogspot.com/2020/03/2020-01-27-washington-state-day-2.html

Day 3:
https://scjack.blogspot.com/2020/03/jack-and-amy-s-washington-state-trip.html

Day 4:
https://scjack.blogspot.com/2020/04/2020-01-29-washington-state-day-4.html


Meet Zoey

 Meet Zoey! Amy and I just adopted this beautiful girl!