Autumn

My 25th Virginia 10-Miler

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At the top, 2022 with Allen Vaughan (who was first in our age group). Flashbacks: in 1998, Edwin, Walt, Vic, BJ, Connie (and with those flowers in hand, did both Vic and BJ get an age group place that year?); in 2006, Elspeth and Edwin; in 2009, Tim and Edwin; 2010, Edwin, Sharon, Walt (night before, and after the race); 2011, at the finish. This year, 2022, I ran faster than the year before but placed 4th instead of 2nd in the age group. Should have trained more.

Great Smoky Mountains

| edwinridout

Nov 9th-11th at the Swag in western North Carolina, elevation 5,000 feet.

We started with lunch in their tree house.
A view from the porch near our room
Marty, Sandy, Jan, Edwin, on the guided nature hike
A dozen wild turkeys grazed on the lawn below the lodge but only two would stand still.
Our new Swag walking sticks
While I was out for a run, some hikers told me how to find Ferguson’s Cabin. Built 1874, it’s said to be the highest cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, at 4700 feet.  Fergusons lived and farmed here until 1902, growing potatoes, sliding them down the side of the mountain as there was no road. Cabin was reconstructed in 1974 from original timbers.
Our one full day had perfect weather . . .
. . . but next morning’s jog to the marker atop Hemphill Bald (5,540 feet) was wet, windy, and in the clouds.

Brave chimney sweep

Image | | edwinridout

That’s a 40′ ladder which he put up and took down without help but not without difficulty. The task was to repair the crown, the rubberized cement which surrounds the chimney pot. The stainless steel chimney cap (temporarily parked between roof and ladder) did not need replacing.