Absalom

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 22:00:14 -0400

So Sat. the 25th I had the day to myself. I decided to help my friends in Absalom out by loading all of Lee’s drums in my van and driving to their gig and helping them set up. Of course I did a little photography. I wasn’t real pleased with the photos I got though. What I did find I enjoyed was that my new Canon G10 point-n-shoot does a pretty decent job with video. I posted the 2 songs I recorded up on youtube, but you can watch them here.

For those of you that don’t know. Absalom is a tribute to the music of Rush. It features Lee McIntyre on drums/percussion/sampler, Danny Webber on guitars & pedals, and Keith Sylvester on bass/keys/pedals/vocals.

First video is Subdivision, the second is Limelight. Hope you enjoy.

Spruce Knob

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 08:43:14 -0400

A great weekend of back packing!!

John and Scott picked me up shortly after 9:00 am on Friday morning. We headed to Oakland, MD to meet up with another Chad then head to the trailhead down in WV somewhere. We were headed to the Spruce Knob/ Seneca Creek area. We arrived at the trailhead for Seneca Creek trail and started hiking around 1:30 p.m.

Day 1 consisted of the following tails/ milages.
Seneca Creek Trail to Tom Lick Trail 0.90 miles
Tom Lick Tr. to Allegheny Mt. Trail 1.04 miles
Allegheny Mt. to Horton Tr. 3.87 miles
Horton Tr. to Seneca Creek Tr. 1.17 miles
Seneca Creek Tr. to Judy Springs 1.67 miles
Total 8.65 miles

Along the way was a quick break at Seneca Creek falls for a snack and a few pictures.
A very beautiful place
to rest and play with my
new camera. I bought a
Canon G10 to take on
trips like this where my
SLR gear is just to heavy
and bulky to carry. It did
an excellent job. You can
view all the pics from
this trip in my gallery.

At the end of the day we found
a nice place just down stream
from Judy Springs to set up
camp and build our fire.

Day 2 started out brisk with
the temps in the 30’s. I can’t
remember exactly what the
temp was, but it was chilly.

The days activity was to be a 5 mile hike up to the summit of Spruce Knob and back. (10 miles total) After reaching the summit and eating our lunch, we discussed how it didn’t feel like 5 miles to get there. It felt much longer and based on the 2 1/2 hours it took us to get there, we were disappointed in the rate at which we traveled. Anyway, the views from the highest point in West Virginia were beautiful with the fall foliage colors peaking just days before. The view went for miles and miles.

On our return hike, we came across a trail sign that told us the distance it was to the summit as well as to Judy Springs, which is close to where we were camping. Turns out our 10 mile trip was actually 13 miles. That explains why my feet and knees felt the way they did.

On the way back, we came upon this little critter.
I’m not sure the species, but I knew it wasn’t
poisonous, so we got close and snapped a few
pictures.

Once back at camp we built our fire again, made
dinner, and prepared for a very cold evening.
The forecast was calling for a low of 30 degrees,
but we knew that at our elevation it was going to
get much colder than that. After I ate my dinner,
I walked just down the trail to a couple of small water falls to take a couple of pictures.
Shown at this size
doesn’t do them
much justice, but
take my word for it,
they were awesome.

We sat around the
fire that night and I
enjoyed a nice
Montecristo cigar.
We talked about everything from politics to our favorite places to visit. Both Scott and I agreed that Yosemite is the one place that you should visit in your lifetime. I enjoyed hearing another persons experience in a place I love so much. It’s late and cold, time for bed.

We woke to a temperature of 26-28 degrees, I can’t remember which it was. Frost had formed on my sleeping bag and tent from the condensation of my breath. That was unique experience. I slept rather well considering the cold temperatures. I recently bought a new sleeping bag that is rated to 20 degrees. It is worth every penny because I didn’t get cold at all and I even slept with my socks off (which I don’t usually do).

I drank some hot chocolate to warm up, then packed up all my stuff for the hike out. We only had 4 more miles to go, but my feet and legs were tired so it wasn’t going to be easy despite the relatively low gain of elevation. With the cold temps, we maintained a fairly brisk pace and managed to get out of the woods in about 1 1/2 hours. Not too bad, but my feet are wrecked!

In summary, a great weekend had by all. This hike was well chosen and planned by Chad Fike and I’m greatly appreciative to have been invited along again with these guys. I already look forward to our hike in the spring. In the car on the way home we totaled up the mileage to be just over 25 miles total. That was the longest we’ve done together and my feet are telling me about it!!!!

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Absalom

Spruce Knob