Hawk's Bill Mountain
We had to stand off abit since the gravel road comes downhill, was snow covered, and I only have 2 wheel drive. That’s OK. We hiked in about a mile to the trailhead and then another 1+ to the top- quite pleasant. The hiking was pleasant and temperature just below freezing
Catch the Drift?
which is perfect when it’s sunny and the actvity level is high. The boys were acting crazy, running and wrestling and being random. I realized that they were literally running circles around me and I still couldn’t keep up. Did I used to do that? Have I slowed so much? Of course, yes, but I’m thankful to be able to get out at all. This is vacation for me, seeing the beauty of God’s Creation and putting forth effort to do it. Now for the views. The view of both guys is looking about 15 degrees west of north. The mountain just right of center is Roan and the very white one to the right is Hump Mtn.
View North from Hawk's Bill
The cliff they stand on has two levels, about 50 feet of drop to a ledge below which is a 200+ feet drop. The effect from a certain perspective suggests the open beak of a hawk, and thus the name.
Hump Mtn., Carter County, TN
Hump Mtn. is one of my favorite places. I’ve been on top of it in every conceivable condition over 25 times. I really don’t get bored of being in the mountains and would be in many others if time and money allowed.
Linville Gorge
The picture of Linville Gorge is due south from Hawk’s Bill. From left to right the mtns. are Table Rock, the Chimneys, and Shortoff (the flat-topped, blunt ended one).
I put this one in for perspective. This is a good sized gorge with cliffs along its entire length of 100-400 feet. When you get to the bottom of the cliffs through various steep draws you are not halfway to the bottom.
Grandfather Mtn.
I used to think that I could see the contour of a bearded old man lying in bed that was the grandfather. That’s OK if you can’t see it because that’s not how it got its name anyway. There is a rock, called profile rock where a “face” appears.
Upper Linville Gorge
Babel Tower is just to the right of this section. The tower has cliffs on all sides and the river so surrounds it that you can see upstream and down while looking in the same direction. There are some good swimming holes down there (see earlier blog) but it looks abit frozen over today. We saw some bear hunters coming out in their trucks. There is no road into the gorge but they get close and hike down one of the many steep trails in.
Downtown Charlotte, NC
I hope it shows up on the blog. It is faint, but hey, Chalotte is also 80 miles away line of sight. Look on the horizon just above center. I wish I had taken several other pictures because
Snow Art and Black Mtn.
our compass readings for several sites were right on when I checked at home. Besides downtown Charlotte we also saw Pilot Mtn. which is about 85 miles away. The picture at right shows Black Mtn., the ridge that Mt. Mitchell is on.
The Guys on an Outing
We didn’t get tired of looking and the boys jumping around and acting crazy, but we did have to walk back. It was time to go. You store up the memories for the more mundane days and for fodder to be creative, but most of all to be thankful.
The Mad Icycle Murderer
Serious Drift
Ice Chicken?
CreatorWorship 
