Hank, Merle and Waylon. West Asheville.

Sunday, July 1, 2012

North Slope Trail & The English Chapel

One week ago I went on a hike I will never, ever forget.  Although the hike was supposed to be a fairly moderate 4 miles, a wrong turn by our guide made it a very, very difficult 10 miles!  I'm not sure of the elevation we reached, but I know we also had long bouts of climbing.  For a bunch of easy hikers, well, it was unbelievably grueling.  One of our hikers actually had to be rescued by emergency workers because her knee gave out!  I wish I could say that was the extent of our drama and headaches, but it wasn't.  But rather than give in to more negativity and dark thoughts, I want to share some fun moments from our day.  See if you can spot me in the photo below.  Next to me, wearing the backpack, is my friend Stacey, a North Carolinian turned ESL teacher who has spent a few years teaching in exotic lands such as Vietnam, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.  Her next adventure is Taiwan!


1 comment:

Major Allen Espy said...

Hey Ron. I wanted to ask you what elevation we reached on our North Slope hike? I estimate we had about a 1,500 foot elevation change judging by the topo maps. Usually during the week I walk 20-25 miles...of course, mostly flat surface. That hike we went on, did we find out how many miles we walked total? Was it 8 or 10? 9 - 9.5 is my estimate again based on trail maps. Would that be taking into account the off-trail portions? Yes. Just curious. Last question: Taking into account the elevation that day, what could be the equivalent in "flat surface" walking? You can add about 25% to the distance for that kind of elevation versus flat walking. Could 8-10 on that terrain be more like 13-15? More like 11.25 to 11.50 miles.