LyttleBryan March 30th, 2011
When I got home from my car camping trip this weekend, I saw a headline on a local news station about a family, including a 3 year old child, getting stuck in the Smokies and having to stay overnight in one of the Shelters with no gear. The article was devoid of almost any details, [...]
LyttleBryan March 23rd, 2011
Last week a search and rescue was launched for a lost solo backpacker that had veered off the trail and not returned at his appointed time. The news sites were releasing a lot of information that had varying details. The good news is that the hiker was found. He showed up 2 days late to [...]
LyttleBryan March 15th, 2011
Spring was here…for a few fleeting days, it was! Luckily for myself and GSHAG we had a great time hiking in it. It’s like I told everyone, this hike was about the journey, not the destination. Why? Well the destination is Laurel Falls, and I am about as big a fan of Laurel Falls as [...]
LyttleBryan March 14th, 2011
Thanks to my friend Ben for passing this along… The Office of Surface Mining (OSM) is holding three public scoping hearings in Tennessee to discuss a proposal to protect over 500 miles of Tennessee mountain ridgelines from mountain top removal surface coal-mining. These mountains are upstream from the Big South Fork National River and Recreation [...]
LyttleBryan March 9th, 2011
Let’s see, what did we get from the “checklist-o-crappy weather” that will put a damper on a backpack? Monsoon Rain Constant High Winds Blizzard like snow Tornado Hurricane Flooding I’ll just suggest anyone wondering how the weather was for Nick’s Birthday Backpack look at the above and it will give you a solid idea. Fortunately [...]
LyttleBryan March 9th, 2011
Note: I apparently typed up this last year when we actually did the hike, then forgot to hit “Publish.” Thus leaving it sitting in a boring Draft state. Woops! So, I finally did it. Finished the last of the routes up to Mt. LeConte. And a the same time, Julie started her list (and crossed [...]
LyttleBryan March 1st, 2011
Looks like Newfound Gap Road will be down to 1 lane for the better part of 3 months. I have to say this is a little frustrating since so many of the hikes I need for my map are on the South side of the AT. Via WBIR… West Virginia native Steward Haugan’s first visit [...]
LyttleBryan January 4th, 2011
Well with 2010 behind us, I can go back and tally up the total number of new miles covered in the year. This is just new miles, it doesn’t count trails that I’ve done before. And the grand total is….266.4! Complete list and details are below. I left out the “notes” column in my list [...]
LyttleBryan January 3rd, 2011
Happy 2011 Everyone! I hope everyone had a safe and happy new year because I certainly didn’t! Most of it was my own doing of course, but what Mother Nature threw our way made it go from “slightly uncomfortable” to “okay, let’s focus on surviving.” The plan was pretty simple and straight forward, Julie and [...]
LyttleBryan November 5th, 2010
Well with that, Winter is officially here. Newfound Gap Road is closed due to snow and ice, and the park is calling for snow and ice accumulation above 3000′. Looks like it’s time to buckle down and do some hiking in areas that are easy to drive to. This weekend, my favorite hike in the [...]