Friday, March 25, 2022

Trip - Day 2

 After a good night sleep (not in the back of the car) I was off for the MOUNTAINS.  I hadn't been down to North Carolina in a bunch of years and it was finally time to work on (and hopefully finish) the North Carolina fire tower challenge. I started the day with a pre-sunrise visit (stealthy) to Walker Top.  Next up was Bearwallow, a really nice access road run and perfect temps under sunny skies.






After that I drove to Big Ivy community center to check out the relocated fire tower which had originally been on Little Snowball.  I lucked out and was able to get inside the cab!  They were open to visitors for a few hours and I got to chat with a volunteer who also gave me an idea of a "better trail" to the former tower site (which is required for the Challenge).  I'm glad I took his advice as the road to the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed (as was the section of the Parkway I wanted to get to).  The forest service road was right at the road closure and it made for a very pleasant run.





I finished the day with two short runs to get Camp Creek tower and Rich Mountain.  I'd put in 302 miles driving in between the runs and hikes.








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