Some highlights:
The first trek we attacked counterclockwise, and everything went according to plan except for us getting separated on the prologue. I ran up the trail, but Jay must not have seen me turn and head up as he ran up the road, which took a few minutes longer.
We hoofed it up to the top of Springer and I distinctly remember saying "This one BETTER be up there!!"...ha...so we get up there, search around for a bit but come up empty handed - not even a sign of flagging tape. Grrr and Brrrr as the wind was whipping through there making standing around scratching our heads not the preferred activity. Back down...grumble grumble...briefly contemplated asking for my $10 back.
The final trek was way back up near Sringer Mtn and Jay wasn't feeling super great, but he went along anyway so I wouldn't be eaten by wild boars in the dark.
We had 4 hours to ride up, do the trek, and get back - which I thought was plenty...Nope, not quite!
From the road we carefully crossed the creek, taking care to keep our feet dry and after scurrying up the bank on the other side, were greeted with the nastiest bunch of vegetation you could imagine.
OMG!!! Is there such a thing as Old Growth Rhodo?? I'm pretty sure we found it! 15-20' tall bushes with fallen trees intermingled creating a thatching that made travel unbelieveably slow. To add insult to injury, there were little snow and ice patches, so every once in a while you'd step on a log, lose your footing, fall over and become completely entangled in the whole mess.
We rode hard enough back up to Winding Stair Gap to actually be warm flying back down to the TA, and it was actually fun! The roads were super tacky and smooth, so you could just rail around the corners. Big Smile! We finished up at about 9:15, and then cermoniously burned our passports in the fire.
On Sunday, Chris and I headed to an orienteering meet. I actually didn't feel THAT bad, but I must not have been moving all that fast since I got smoked by Chris and a bunch of other folks. I didn't even screw anything up too bad, but I did learn that you should go to the bathroom BEFORE you start the course - not on the way to the first control!
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