The Adventures of Bushwhack Jack: April 2020

Saturday, April 11, 2020

2020-04-05 Big Rock Mountain Hike

Big Rock Mountain Hike

Nine Times Preserve

Pickens County, SC

Sunday, April 5th, 2020

Big Rock Mountain Selfie with Dillon, Declan, and Blizzy

With the social distancing rules in effect, I decided to find a place that was still open for hiking and I would not likely encounter many other humans. Apparently my buddy Dillon had the exact same idea. He had arrived at the parking area less than a minute ahead of me! We kept our greetings at least 6-feet apart.

I was super excited to lay eyes on Dillon's son Declan for the first time. I probably should have just gone off on my own, but I just love photographing children and just could not resist documenting Declan's first climb up Big Rock Mountain!

Please Note: I never made physical contact and kept my distance. Many of these photos were taken using zoom lens technology and/or cropped. And if there is any truth that sunlight kills the virus, we had plenty of that on the day!

Here are some of the photos from our adventure.

Dillon and Declan climbing Big Rock Mountain

Declan (zoomed in and cropped - I practiced safe social distancing)

view from Big Rock Mountain

View from Big Rock Mountain

Selfie with Dillon, Declan, and Blizzy

Declan climbing Big Rock Mountain

Dillon giving Declan a hand up Big Rock Mountain

view from Big Rock Mountain

Dillon, Blizzy, and Declan

view from Big Rock Mountain

Declan checking out a Fissure Cave

view from Big Rock Mountain

Wild Daisies

view from Big Rock Mountain

Big Rock Mountain Selfie

Not sure who this girl belong to, but I kept my distance

Big Rock Mountain Panorama

Declan and Blizzy

At the Summit of Big Rock Mountain

Declan loving the Rocks! - Just Like Daddy!

Dwarf Iris

Blizzy checking out a "Dove Field"

Dogwood Bloom

Declan

Dillon and Declan

view from Big Rock Mountain

My complete set of photos is posted here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/8146392@N05/albums/72157713841844608

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

2020-01-29 Washington State - Day 4 - Little Mountain

Jack and Amy 's Washington State Trip

Day 4 - Wednesday, January 29th, 2020

Little Mountain Hike

Skagit County, WA

Along the trails of Little Mountain

Even my color-blind eyes can see all the green

and photos do not accurately depict how massive that tree truck is!

January in the Pacific Northwest is considered part of the rainy season. Fortunately I was aware of this and came prepared for hiking in the rain. I also knew that I could usually avoid the heaviest rain by planning hikes inside the "Olympic Rain Shadow".

The Olympic Rain Shadow

we stayed in Anacortes (top right)

I started my day with a little hike up to Cap Sante Park. Not much of a sunrise this morning, but still a beautiful spot to start the day!

view from Cap Sante Park

For my main hike, I stuck to the rain shadow area and headed to Little Mountain Park near Mount Vernon, WA.

Little Mountain Park Trail Map

Here is the GPS track from my hike. I started at the Darvil trailhead (bottom of track along East Hilcox Road).

Little Mountain Hike - GPS Track

Click here for Interactive Link

There is a nice assortment of trails throughout the park. All the trails are well marked, maintained, and easy to follow. Here are some of the photos from my hike: