Bulldawg
11-02-2008, 16:39
A Killer hike!!
And when I say killer, I mean it. Skids and I ran up to Black Rock Mountain State Park in Mountain City, GA Saturday morning to hike on the James E Edmunds backcountry trail (http://www.georgiahikes.com/trails/trail_disp.asp?ID=11). The 8 some odd miles doesn't sound like much, but this little trail will make you work folks. You start at around 3800 feet and descend to around 2100 at mile 2.1. You then begin the ascent, and it goes what seem almost straight up, or it did to me. You ascend to just shy of 4000 feet at mile 4. Then a descent to just above 2000 feet at mile 6. Then back to the original 3800 somewhere just shy of mile 8. The descriptions you will find online measure the trail at 7.2 miles. But from the several descriptions I have read, this measurement does not include the loop up to Lookout Rock. I have guess that loop at about .8 for this write up. Also, pay no attention to the elevation map on the web link above, I promise you it is wrong. It doesn't match the marked elevations on the trail or the topo maps! The topo maps provided by the park indicate the map on the link is about 400 feet off.
I was pretty proud to make this loop in 5 hours this morning. I had to stop several times on this challenging trail to let the heart rate stabilize. My last stop I think I made the mistake of drinking too much water. I sat down about a mile from the finish and downed about 16 ounces of water, pretty fast. About half a mile out I got some pretty stiff cramps in my lower thighs, just above my knees. I've never hurt or cramped there before. That last half mile was pretty close to hell with those cramps. But I made it.
Much thanks out to Skids for the ride up to the park, for waiting on me a few times, and the ride back. It was nice to get out for a few hours this morning. The views were fabulous, even it wasn't views of wilderness, sometimes I like to see how the wealthy live on the sides of mountains too. The leaves were probably extremely close to peak and the colors were fabulous up here on the North Carolina line. I'll hike this trail again one day or maybe two days!!http://hikinghq.net/forum/images/smilies2/aetsch.gifhttp://hikinghq.net/forum/images/smilies2/biggrin.gifhttp://hikinghq.net/forum/images/smilies2/bandit.gif
And when I say killer, I mean it. Skids and I ran up to Black Rock Mountain State Park in Mountain City, GA Saturday morning to hike on the James E Edmunds backcountry trail (http://www.georgiahikes.com/trails/trail_disp.asp?ID=11). The 8 some odd miles doesn't sound like much, but this little trail will make you work folks. You start at around 3800 feet and descend to around 2100 at mile 2.1. You then begin the ascent, and it goes what seem almost straight up, or it did to me. You ascend to just shy of 4000 feet at mile 4. Then a descent to just above 2000 feet at mile 6. Then back to the original 3800 somewhere just shy of mile 8. The descriptions you will find online measure the trail at 7.2 miles. But from the several descriptions I have read, this measurement does not include the loop up to Lookout Rock. I have guess that loop at about .8 for this write up. Also, pay no attention to the elevation map on the web link above, I promise you it is wrong. It doesn't match the marked elevations on the trail or the topo maps! The topo maps provided by the park indicate the map on the link is about 400 feet off.
I was pretty proud to make this loop in 5 hours this morning. I had to stop several times on this challenging trail to let the heart rate stabilize. My last stop I think I made the mistake of drinking too much water. I sat down about a mile from the finish and downed about 16 ounces of water, pretty fast. About half a mile out I got some pretty stiff cramps in my lower thighs, just above my knees. I've never hurt or cramped there before. That last half mile was pretty close to hell with those cramps. But I made it.
Much thanks out to Skids for the ride up to the park, for waiting on me a few times, and the ride back. It was nice to get out for a few hours this morning. The views were fabulous, even it wasn't views of wilderness, sometimes I like to see how the wealthy live on the sides of mountains too. The leaves were probably extremely close to peak and the colors were fabulous up here on the North Carolina line. I'll hike this trail again one day or maybe two days!!http://hikinghq.net/forum/images/smilies2/aetsch.gifhttp://hikinghq.net/forum/images/smilies2/biggrin.gifhttp://hikinghq.net/forum/images/smilies2/bandit.gif