Day 2- Tucson

Thurs 2/9/17

We met up again with our friend Chris around 9 am on Thursday morning and he chauffeured us to Tucson, where his parents live. Chris and James grew up together in Georgia and Chris’ family moved to Tucson when he was a teenager. 

Along the way we stopped at Rooster Cogburn’s Ostrich Ranch and fed the critters. We then had lunch with Chris’ parents at their house before heading into Tucson to see the University of Arizona. We walked around the campus, which had shocking numbers of grassy quads just like any other university. U of A is a more modern school compared to UGA, but it was a pretty campus and the downtown area bordering the college was cool. 

We stopped for coffee and then drove to the other side of Tucson to visit Gates Pass, which is a park and scenic overlook area. We hiked a short ways up a small mountain (hill?) and took some pictures. It was really pretty with tons of saguaro cacti dotting the landscape as far as the eye could see. I guess I never really realized cacti grow in “forests”; I just always had an image in my head of one giant, lone cactus standing by itself out in the desert. The Pass is probably a great place to watch the sun set, but we left before that happened. There is a little hut at the top of the hill w/a grill, so also a good place for a picnic.

We then drove back to Phoenix and ate at a fabulous restaurant in Scottsdale called Diego Pops. Really cool décor and the food was amazing. Highly recommend.

Day 2 observations- college kids look younger than ever, I have been pronouncing "Saguaro" incorrectly my entire life, there are a lot of strip clubs in/around Phoenix.

Day 1- Phoenix

Weds 2/8/17

Our flight arrived in Phoenix around 2:30 pm but unfortunately we had to wait in line for quite a while at the rental car counter. I would not recommend Advantage for rental cars. We got an upgrade but I didn't really care about that and would have rather gotten my half hour back, mainly because by the time we got the car, rush hour had set in. 

We got to our AirBnB a little after 4 pm and met with our hostess and her adorable dog to learn about the Airstream. The hostess lives in a central part of Phoenix known as the “Historic Homesteads”. I researched the neighborhood and found the homes were most built in the 1930s as part of a New Deal program. The neighborhood is full of fruit trees and ranch style homes.

After getting settled, we met up with our friend Chris who lives in Scottsdale and went out to eat at McFate Brewing Company. We spent the evening reminiscing with Chris and planning our next day, which would be a trip to the Tucson area.

Day 1 observations- Sky Harbour airport is one of the least interesting airports I've ever been to, there are orange trees everywhere, there is a "Mormon Channel" on the radio.

Arizona, or how my vacation caused me to have an existential crisis

I am super excited to share my experiences and pictures from Arizona and will do so with a post covering each day we were there. To kick it off though, I feel I must write about how this vacation made me feel. Let me first explain, this is the first actual vacation I have been on since 2005 (I was 21 then, for reference). No visiting family, no traveling for work obligations, no repeat trips to places I have been over and over and over again. Sorry, family in Florida and New Hampshire- I love you all, I just don't consider going to my hometown to be a vacation. 

So basically since being entrenched in adult life, I have not been on vacation. I have been at my job nearly 7 years with no real vacation. I took time off to move, fix up my house, go to my sister's graduation, etc. I had completely forgotten what it is like to experience an existence or location different than my own. And now that I have, I don't want to go back.

When I was younger, I lived for travel. I went to Europe three times by the time I was 21. I learned to ski in Italy. I walked to Poland. I walked to the Czech Republic (from Germany, but still). I spent 3 days canoeing down a river buying food from road side huts. I actually spoke another language fluently. I didn't sit at a desk all day. I didn't spend all my time worrying about other people's problems. I didn't have any money but I also didn't care. I want to be that way again. I want to be carefree. So, in summary, here is a cheesy meme I made from a photo I took in Arizona. More to come soon...

The mountain of life

• Distance: Oh I dunno- a million miles
• Terrain: Rocky
• Location: here, there and everywhere

Well, here we go again. I tried to blog and failed- miserably. A year later, I had forgotten I even had a blog. Strangely enough, a new-found hatred for Facebook reminded me. I can't stand the political conversations and personal drama all over Facebook, so I wanted to delete my profile. But then the panic set in- how will I keep up with people? How will I share my photos? Etc Etc Etc. Then I remembered, I HAVE A BLOG! I can post my pictures there and people who genuinely care about me (aka not people from high school who never talked to me then) can keep up with it if they want to. 

So what I have I been doing for the past year? Not hiking enough, unfortunately. Let's see:

Spring 2016- sold our beloved house in Woodstock and moved to Cumming, which triggered a major life crisis/mental breakdown. I had a very hard time with the move and literally fell apart. It took me months to unpack at our new house and I just never felt at home. I still don't. I dislike Forsyth County and I strongly dislike the name Cumming. Freaking obscene. 

Summer 2016- hmm don't really remember. I got in a car accident and totaled my car. That was memorable. Bought a car with 4 wheel drive. Yee haw!! All of North Georgia was on fire so we didn't really hike a lot. Lake Lanier (which we live within walking distance of) was a dried up mud pit. Overall not a great summer. 

Fall 2016- Football, yay! Again, not a lot of hiking because my husband's life revolves around football and this season was of particular interest because hey, new coach. Gotta see what he is going to do. We did got to Athens for a game or two and that was fantastic.Fostered a precious munchkin named Nessa, who got adopted by some fabulous people near Athens also. 

Winter 2016- went to Florida on vacation and camped on the Gulf Coast, in addition to visiting my family. That was lovely. The typical holiday season. We even got some snow right after new years. I accepted a new position at work, which has given me some extra free time so that is a plus. Free time to watch an entire season of Game of Thrones and now I've moved onto some vintage HBO: Oz. What a delightful show. 

We are going to Arizona next week to visit a friend and I am so excited about that. I have never been west of the Mississippi. I have never been in a desert, nor experienced this thing they call "dry heat". This is another reason why I was like, I have got to get my blog back up and running!! I will take probably a million pictures. I already have an extremely detailed, probably impossible itinerary drawn up. Oh and we're staying in an Airstream trailer from AirBnB. All my desert dreams are coming true. 

So hopefully writing in my blog again will help me get back on track with what I truly enjoy- traveling and being outside. 

Winter trip 1-30-16

• Distance: Long/overnight
• Terrain:    Difficult
• Location: Unicoi Gap trailhead (White/Towns County)

The temperatures were unseasonably warm at the end of January so we took a chance and did an overnight trip on the Appalachian Trail between Unicoi Gap and Tray Mountain. I'm pretty sure James wanted to kill me after that trip, so we've taken a few weekends off since then.

The weather was absolutely heavenly with clear blue skies and highs in the 60's, so the challenging terrain was definitely worth it. This is not an easy hike, as it starts out immediately climbing Rocky Mountain, then another smaller mountain (not sure which one), then Tray Mountain. And since it is not a loop, you have to then turn around and hike Rocky Mountain again to get back to the parking area at Unicoi Gap. Should you not want climb Rocky Mountain twice, there are parking areas at the base of Tray Mountain (best described as a muddin' pit when we were there due to rain/snow during the past week) and Rocky Mountain  (Andrews Cove parking area).

Both Rocky Mountain and Tray Mountain are over 4000 feet, so I felt quite accomplished when we were done. A little sore and tired, but definitely proud. I have been very busy and stressed out at work lately (hence the lack of posting) and I really needed to get outside and be away from everything for a while. It was absolutely quiet and peaceful at night, other than a few bird sounds. We ended up camping at the summit of the smaller mountain between Rocky and Tray Mtn, so we had a great view of the sunrise and sunset.

As I mentioned before, it had snowed the previous week and although the weather was much warmer by the time we were there, the northern sides of the mountains were still covered with snow. It was strange to be in sunny, 60 degree weather wearing lightweight clothing and seeing snow on the ground. It was also extremely hard to hike in!! It basically felt like quicksand. I have hiked in snow before but not while wrangling a dog and with a large backpack on. Trekking poles are recommended!!

Sidenote: I have seen "hands free" leashes before and always laughed at the concept (basically a belt for the human, with a leash attached), however, we ended up looping our backpack waist straps through the handle of the dog leashes and it was incredibly easier to hike this way. Tennille had a blast camping and "helping" gather sticks for the fire. Nova was a little unsure, but ended up loving the sleeping bag concept. I have a feeling she will like camping better in warm weather.

Mount Yonah 1-17-16

• Distance- short
• Terrain- moderately difficult
• Location- Cleveland (White County)

Last Sunday was a stunningly beautiful sunny day so we chose a iconic NEGA (Northeast Georgia) mountain for our hike. Strangely enough most days we hike, it is cloudy and we rarely get a clear blue sky as a back drop. 

Mount Yonah is a very popular mountain. In fact, I might even call it a "party" mountain. There were definitely more people there than we have ever seen on other hikes. So if you are looking for solitude and peace, this is not your mountain. We encountered several large groups of teenagers and very young adults along the way who were quite noisy. Yes, I'm an old curmudgeon who prefers silence while I hike.

Mount Yonah is also a training area for the Army Ranger School and there are certain times of the year the general public should not visit. Reference this handy, grammatically questionable sign for further information. 

Mount Yonah is a very rocky mountain and large stretches of trail are covered with boulders. It makes for an interesting hike, especially with dogs since mine think they are mountain goats and like to just bound over the rocks.

The trail is one of the more difficult ones we've experienced due to some steep inclines and the rocky path. It is also mentally challenging because you can see the summit of the mountain throughout the whole hike and it just looks so far away.It's really not a long hike though, at about 4.25 miles up and back. 

The summit is very rocky and can be dangerous, so don't get too close to the edge while taking those selfies! Unfortunately people have died falling from the rocks on Mount Yonah. We also encountered ice near the summit due spring water coming out of the side of the mountain along the trail. This section also happened to be incredibly windy, so be very cautious on cold days.

There are several spots great for picnicking or camping and judging by the amount of people we saw with overnight gear, it seems Mount Yonah is very popular for camping. 

Unfortunately I did observe more trash on the mountain than other places we've been recently and also a still smoldering but unattended fire. The previous campers had put a rock over the ashes but this actually created a draft which kept the ashes smoldering. Don't worry, Ranger Cara was there to put it out!! 

Despite the gorgeous views and interesting trail up Mount Yonah, it's things like this that make me stick to less traveled wilderness areas typically. I just like being the only person on the trail (well, I'll let James come along too)

I don't understand why it's so hard for some people to follow the mantra "take nothing but pictures; leave nothing but footprints". Like if you are interested in nature enough to go on a hike, why would you leave garbage?? Regardless, Mount Yonah was beautiful and I'm happy we got up there on a sunny day. 

Mystery Trail Rich Mountain Wilderness 1-3-16

Oh, the Rich Mountain Wildlife Management Area- what a love/hate relationship we have. Love that it's relatively close by and beautiful, hate that I can never seem to navigate it the way I intend to. Yes, I know it's a WMA and it's mostly un-managed, however I keep stabbing away at it hoping to find a magical trail that will actually take me where I want to go. All the while repeating a mantra in my head- "Not All Who Wander Are Lost" x100.

The first time we went there last fall, we attempted to hike around the southern end of the area off of Hwy 52 in Ellijay near the Cartecay River. Several websites mentioned a loop trail along the Cartecay River, which sounded heavenly because it was still really warm outside and the dogs with us, so they could swim. But we never really found said trail "along" the river so after wandering for a few miles, we gave up. We did see the river, but there didn't appear to actually be a trail along it. 

So I did some more research and found what I thought to be decently clear map/guide which clearly highlighted a trail that would hit both Rich Mountain and Big Bald Mountain (both 4000+) so off we went. I'm not going to post a link to that map because it ended up being confusing once we got there. This time we went to the northern end of the area along Rock Creek Road, near Cherry Log off of Hwy 76. 

The drive along Rock Creek Road is stunning, with several large horse pastures and a great view of the mountains.What we ended up hiking was an old gravel road that wound through the woods and crossed several small streams. Apparently it was the trail I actually wanted but from the map we had, I wasn't sure so we only hiked about 5 miles roundtrip. We also reached a water crossing that was too wide to jump and it was really cold out, so we stopped at that point.


On the map linked below, we were on the black trail that goes south between the Blue ranger station (vacant when we were there) and the Pink parking area (the Aska Trail System). At the Pink parking area, there actually is a bulletin board with the Aska Trails clearly lined out. These go north toward Blue Ridge.

Upon returning home, I was able to find a better map and compare features on it to what we hiked and now that I have that, I would definitely like to return. We will probably hike the same road again and camp overnight, as there were several secluded spots perfect for that, including one with a great fire ring already set up.

It is a very pretty area and just feels rugged. Honestly it reminds me a little bit of Austria, Germany, and Czech Republic where I have been a few times to hike and ski. I mean, seriously, the hills with the horse pastures totally look like the "The Sound of Music". And it's just kind of nice being the only people on the trail.

One other thing to note with Rich Mountain WMA is that it is predominantly a hunting area. During popular hunting seasons, I myself would probably avoid going there or taking dogs. On the days we've been there within the past few months, though, we've only seen 1-2 other people around.