SNOW!!!

a last minute trip was thrown together between alex and i this past weekend that led us to an awesome camp trip. we left pittsboro around 5pm headed for the high country. earlier in the day i called one of my rogue friends up (matt welborn) who goes to school at Appalachian for a weather check and he sent me some pics of the some sweet powder. YES!! so we threw the bare minimum in the whip (car) and rolled out. we made it to boone and had some mellow mushroom pizza and a couple of cold brews (beer) with matt welborn.

later that night around 11 pm we strapped on our headlights and walked into the frozen forest on the grandfather mountain profile trail with a couple of cold steels (beer). we knew it was going to be about two miles up the trail before we arrived out our camp. little did we know it was going to uphill the entire way.

FUELING UP

NIGHT TIME HIKING IS AWESOME

FOSCOE LIGHTS AND SOME TRIPPY STEEL

we got to camp around midnight and started to gather wood and get our stuff spread out. it was cold, probably high teens to low twenties. we didn't take a tent, just the rainfly, our mats and sleeping bags. the lighter the load the better in my book.

MIDNIGHT CAMP

we woke up the next morning around 7am to pack up and star hiking. we stuffed all of our gear in a tiny rock cave so we wouldn't have to carry it up the mountain. the sky was carolina blue without a cloud in sight. the hike was steep but not too bad. not yet anyway.

DON'T WORRY, WE DIDN'T HAVE TO SPOON!!

COOL TRAILS

BEECH MTN. IN THE DISTANCE

we hiked for a while and then the trail turned from walking to a walking/ scrambling/ climbing mix. the ice and snow made this a little more interesting. the views were simply astounding. breath taking indeed.

WE HAD TO GO DOWN THIS SCHUTE.

GOING UP THE CABLE

our summit was macrae's peak. it was 5,929' above sea level. this peak was hands down the best view point i have ever seen in this part of NC. we stayed up there for a few minutes and then headed back down to our camp to grab our stashed gear. we hiked really fast going back to the car and were a bit wiped out when we finished. we hiked about 12 miles on sunday i think.

TO MACRAE'S SUMMIT

THE VIEW FROM MACRAE'S PEAK. SICK!!

it was a quick trip but a good one. sometimes you just gotta make it happen. me and the family had mexican for supper. me and mason tore up some chips. a fabulous post hike meal. fabulous, indeed.

SALSA MONSTER