Toe still looks off.

Can you tell which toe had the blood blister?

High Adventure Recap Part One

Day one of the 2013 adventure, June 25, was longer and more interesting than we planned when the canoe trailer I was towing suffered a leaf spring failure which caused a flat tire and we had to pull off the road in Burlington. After changing the tire it became obvious that the trailer needed repair and we could not continue to tow it.

By this time a couple of hours had passed and through phone conferences we decided to continue West without the trailer. Bro. Stoddard, Peery, and Younce would rent a couple of canoes at the river put-in and we would make arrangements for the Raleigh Stake, which owns the broken trailer, to repair it.

At that point I realized I had been hauling a heavy, poorly maintained trailer with seven canoes when we only needed two canoes from that trailer.

Despite the setback we launched into the New River and paddled for more than five hours, arriving at the 211 access of New River State Park just as dusk was enveloping the river.

The trailer breakdown was not the only challenge of the day. One of the Raleigh Stake canoes from the other trailer was leaking. Thomas Day and TJ Johnson  were paddling this canoe. Dallin Despain and I were assigned to be the last canoe in the convoy and we stayed with Thomas and TJ while the others moved faster, proceeded out of sight, and we felt alone.

I know that the Young Men said some prayers and at least one of those prayers was answered immediately. Despite the safety issues of running a leaky canoe into sundown we reached the night's camp safely, set up, had dinner, and a short devotional (although I slept through the devotional on the first night).

It was a challenging day due to the use of poorly maintained gear: a suspect trailer overloaded with too many canoes, and one canoe that had a significant leak.

Nevertheless we adjusted to conditions, met our objectives for the day, and learned some important lessons.

Brother Peery's Toes

They look a little worse this morning.

Pack check

Thank you for participating in the pack check. 

Paddling Route with Maps

Hi folks, we will be paddling between the Alleghany and Hwy. 221 camp grounds of the New River State Park.  We will start the trip Tues. Afternoon June 24 at the Hwy. 221 access.  Wed. night we will stay at the Alleghany site. Thurs. we'll take out at the route 93 bridge crossing near Hwy. 58.


Here are links to a couple of important maps:

Park Map

Paddling Map

Facebook group for the 2013 HA activity

Please join this group if you are a leader, young man, or parent interested in this activity. Just click the link above this sentence.

Hiking Route Thurs. - Sat.

Hi folks, I'm really excited about this route. 

We will start on the AT Northbound at the Creek Junction parking access. This is EAST of Damascus, VA by a few miles. 

Along this section US highway 58 and some logging and dirt roads cross the trail frequently. 

I suggest that the first camp should be somewhere on Whitetop mountain. There are some nice spots up there and there is road access. The second day hike will descend White Top to Elk Garden (major road crossing) and then ascend to Mount Rogers. That day we can camp and the next morning quickly complete the grand loop of Wilburn Ridge that starts at Rhododendron Gap on the AT. We will end the hike at Massie Gap, which is a parking area inside of Grayson Highlands state park. 

There are four major road intersections on this short stretch of the trail. The most isolated area is within the Mt. Rogers section. I've run the entire section from Damascus to Massie Gap (30 miles or so) in a single day twice. It's aswesome.