Lover's Leap portion of the Appalachian Trail in NC
A mildly challenging, steep climb near Hot Springs, NC along the Appalachian Trail, the Lover's Leap Loop is a perfect day-hike for breathtaking views and recreation.
All footage, photos, and music by Anthroprobably.
Rich Mountain Lookout Tower and Lovers Leap - Pisgah National Forest, NC
A full-day loop hike with beautiful, sunny weather outside of Hot Springs, NC. I parked at the NOC boat exit lot and did some road walking to begin the Roundtop Ridge Trail in Pisgah National Forest. This trail climbs steadily out of the French Broad River basin into the Bald Mountains above the valley, ending close to Rich Mountain. BEWARE, this trail is in poor condition and really should be hiked in pants. Two wildfires in April 2016 severely damaged the slopes northeast of the river, including this trail section. Young, thorny weeds closely lined the trail for almost all 3.1 miles of its length, intermixed with lots of deadfall. I chose a very bad day to wear shorts.
Once I connected with the Appalachian Trail I took the former AT spur to the summit, which was steep and not the best route. Rich Mountain (3,670 feet) has a 30-foot steel live-in lookout tower original built in 1932, my 20th in the state. Unfortunately the lower stairwell was removed this past summer, and there are no views from the summit. So I put my steel beam climbing skills to use and made it to the second stairwell, and up to the catwalk. They removed the stairs because the cab floor is rotten, but the catwalk is fine. The catwalk provides excellent views of Devil Fork Gap, Big Bald, the Black Mountains and Great Craggy Mountains, the Newfound Mountains, and the Bald Mountains and Great Smoky Mountains which had blinding sunlight washing the peaks out directly south. In the video I mistakenly point out the wrong ridge for Crabtree Bald and Sandymush Bald, they are the ridge immediately to the right of center.
From Rich Mountain the AT gradually drops down to Tanyard Gap crossing U.S. 25/70, then passes through the Mill Ridge fields. The last leg of the hike is the most popular, along Lovers Leap Ridge. The light was fading but I stopped at each of 4 cliff overlooks as the AT switchbacked down the ridge. The rocks provide great views of the French Broad River exiting the gorge at the town of Hot Springs. I took more clips of this section, but the videos were blurry because of the fading light. Overall this loop is a nice hike but I definitely recommend avoiding the Roundtop Ridge Trail if you can.
Hike was 13.0 miles in 6 hours and 15 minutes.
Hike location
Hike report
Rich Mountain Fire Tower Appalachian Trail Hot Springs NC
Hike to Rich Mountain Fire Tower on the Appalachian Trail near Hot Springs North Carolina.
Lovers Leap
Slide show of our family hike up to Lovers Leap
Appalachian Trail: Hiking Max Patch To Hot Springs
Rachel and I thought it would be a good idea to hike with the kids again, but this time we took them on a three day backpacking treck to North Carolina along the Appalacian Trail. We had the amazing crew over at Bluff Mountian Outfitters in Hot Springs, NC shuttle us to the top of Max Patch. Then we hiked 21 miles to Hot Springs back to our car which was parked in Hot Springs. It was georgous weather and our kids hiked so well.
November, 11-13th 2016.
Music by:
Noam Pikelny - Overland
Shot with iPhone 6, GoPro Hero, 3 and my Canon T5. Edited in iMovie
Hickey Fork Trail ~ Hot Springs, NC ~ Asheville Hiking Meetup
Hot Springs Trail
Video of the Hot Springs from Big Bend. The audio is bad due to having the dive housing on, I may dub it over at some point or add CC.
Nature’s Waterpark - Pisgah National Forest
There are very few places in the world we’d rather be in summer than sliding, swimming, rope-swinging, and tubing Pisgah National Forest. This day was magical!
Hot Springs Loop
This is part of our ride to Hot Springs, NC.I am in the lead on a Yamaha FZ1 and my buddy is riding a Yamaha FJR1300. See the whole story here:
Appalachian Trail Section Hike, Hot Springs to Allen Gap
Day hike approx 16.9 miles one way from Hot Springs NC to North of Allen Gap. Hike ends at Hemlock Hostel .7 from Log Cabin Rd junction.
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Hiking a Section of the A.T. in Pennsylvania The Ironmaster's Mansion Part: 2
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Hiking a Section of the A.T. in Pennsylvania The Ironmaster's Mansion Part: 2
So we wound up in a small town called Gardners, PA and we stayed at a nice hostel called the Iron Masters Mansion. While there we learned about the history of the iron pit mine in the town and the history of the building. The pit mine is now a lake, it flooded unexpectdly. I guess one man didn’t make it out. He must have been hairy because legend says his hairy hand stuck up from the water. We had arrived just after their go away hairy hand festival where the towns people send floats out onto the lake.
The town of Garner and our hostel had a lot of history there was even a secret room under the house left over from the underground railroad! We met a really nice woman named Holly too! Holly gave us a lot of local information and shared with us beautiful stones that came from slag from different purities of the iron ore. The innkeeper was very nice as well. His name was Jeff. Being a big history buff he gave us a great private tour of the mansion. Including a secret passage from the underground railroad! The hostel also had one of those modern never run out of hot water water heaters which must be wonderful when it is full of guests!
Unfortunately the only store in town was closed, for the week. So we were unable to resupply.
So without means to procure food or fuel, and with only raw rice and oatmeal remaining in our food stores. And the closest store being more than a days walk away we debated and decided to leave the trail in order to rendezvous with our grandparents. It will be more than a year until we see them again and we are very close to them.
After leaving the trail the scenery improved dramatically and almost immediately. We passed through beautiful rolling farmland for almost the entire 8 miles or so it took us to reach our pickup point (a restaurant called the Elkhorn Inn). We passed through rolling hills covered in apple orchards, corn, and other crops. There was little traffic on the back roads and we quickly covered the 8 or so miles of countryside to the restaurant. I wish that the trail itself went through the gorgeous countryside we passed though on our last day. But live and learn, I’m glad we got to have a glimpse into through hiker culture and meet all the interesting and nice people we did!
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RICH MOUNTAIN FIRE TOWER APPALACHIAN TRAIL NC
RICH MOUNTAIN FIRE TOWER APPALACHIAN TRAIL NC
TRIBUTE TO MADISON COUNTY FIDDLERS - PAUL CROUCH
MADISON COUNTY ARTS CENTER, MARSHALL, NC
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Up, up, uphill. Hiking from Sassafras Gap Shelter to Cable Gap Shelter. Blog post:
Hiking the Bynum Bluff Trail into the Linville in Gorge North Carolina - Set to Music
Here is a film of a hike on the Bynum Bluff Trail down into the Linville Gorge set to music by the Marshall Tucker Band. Linville Gorge is the steepest and deepest gorge east of the Mississippi River, located off of the Blue Ridge Parkway in the western North Carolina High Country..
My Hike up Mount Katahdin
Howdy, y'all!
On October 3, 2016, I hiked up Mount Katahdin, solo. This video is my documentary of that experience and what inspired me to do the hike and how I felt afterwards.
I hope you enjoy the scenery in the video; it was a beautiful time of year to go up Mount Katahdin!
Please comment with any questions you have about hiking solo or Mount Katahdin, specifically!
Appalachian Trail 2018
This past spring I hiked Footsteps For Filters on the AT to raise money for hurricane relief in Barbuda and complete a Triple Crown. Here is a short compilation of me crushing miles and wearing smiles... wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
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Resupply stop at Rangeley and staying the night at the Hiker Hut. Hiking from Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to to The Hiker Hut. Blog post:
Who, What, When, Where, and Why
The Who, What, When, Where, and Why video.
Riding with an outlaw motorcycle club
Lisa Ling discusses embedding with the Mongols Motorcycle Club and riding in a pack of hundreds of bikers. This is Life airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.