Greetings from Arizona! I arrived in Flagstaff last night around 5:00 after driving two 14 hour days from North Carolina. Exhausted. Feet swollen. It's not good for a body (especially this body!) to sit for long periods of time. I'm glad to be here and ready to start out on an adventure in a magical place called Oak Creek Canyon. It runs from Flagstaff to Sedona in the Coconino National Forest. I drove through it in November 2007 on my way to hike the Grand Canyon. I so wanted to stop back then, but had only one day to hike the Grand Canyon, so there was no time. I'm finally back now to explore all that I didn't get to explore then! More about all this next week once I'm out of the wilderness.... right now I am uploading the pictures I took while in North Carolina last week, and that's what this blog post is really about.

On Monday, April 24th I arrived in Mount Mitchell State Park, North Carolina late in the day. I drove up Mt. Mitchell to the visitor center to get a map and information on hiking the highest mountain east of the Mississippi (6,668 feet). Then I drove back down the mountain to sleep in my 4Runner. It's not worth pitching a tent for just one night when I have such a comfortable vehicle to sleep in. Especially when it's raining. And, it rained all night. Actually it had been raining for several days, but Tuesday looked hopeful weather wise. I woke early and brewed my coffee in a misting rain and drank it in the drivers seat of my 4Runner. Still misting rain when I finished my cup of joe, I set out on my 12 mile hike.

I have to say, there's something magical about hiking in a misting rain. I felt like I was in the clouds, and it was beautiful. And, it wasn't cold, so I was really quite comfortable. Even so, I was very happy when an hour and a half later I could see my shadow in front of me. As I got higher up the mountain some really awesome views opened up as you'll see if you take a look at the photos. Because of all the rainfall the past few days the trail was literally a stream. I walked in water all day. This made the footing difficult and I was exhausted by the end of the day. There wasn't much of a view at the summit due to the clouds, but the views along the way made up for that. I'm quite used to going on 12 mile hikes, so the idea of hiking this one did not intimidate me in spite of its being the tallest mountain in the east. But, in the end, I have to say that this hike kicked my ass! Definitely one of the top three most difficult hikes I've ever done, and the other two were 10 years ago when I was a bit younger! I thought it was going to take six hours, it took me seven hours and 10 minutes. I'm going to blame it on the condition of the trail with the water and sleeping in my 4Runner the night before, and leave age out of it!

I slept in my vehicle again that night at a lovely spot off the Blue Ridge Parkway at an old homestead (see pic of the lone standing chimney). Wednesday morning I did two short hikes: Crabtree Falls and Linville Falls, both off the Blue Ridge Parkway on my way to Wilkesboro, NC where I was going to volunteer at Merlefest for the weekend (more on that later). It was just what my tired legs needed : )

Photos: https://goo.gl/photos/YdJvme6MVRWD5iLg9