Late October in Bankhead

[JustADude]

I took the day off work onFriday and hiked alone, then went with a group of friends on Saturday. Both days were good, but Sarurday the waterfalls were really strong because of the big rain on Friday night. I have pics here.

http://www.flickr.com/pho...0/sets/72157622708297930/

On Friday I hiked part of the Eagle Creek route that DavidR hiked on Wednesday. That is a good place for waterfalls. I saw Eagle Creek falls, two nice side-stream falls, and Deer Skull Falls. I was pleasantly surprised at Deer Skull Falls. I didn't know that it is a double falls. It is beautiful. Anyone who likes waterfalls (and who doesn't?) needs to see Deer Skull Falls. It seemed like longer but I actually hiked from Cranal Road to DS falls and back in 3 hours. It had been a while since I had hiked solo into an area unknown to me and I didn't realize the stress I was feeling till I turned and started back to the truck. It seemed like a laod had been lifted off my shoulders when I was going back over known ground and getting closer to the truck versus walking alone into the unknown forest.

While driving around looking over other areas, I was over in Grayson when I ran over a rattlesnake. It was injured but not killed and did manamge to crawl away.

Then on Saturday morning I went with three friends to Turkey Foot Creek. Apparently it rained a ton on Friday night since there were waterfalls everywhere and the waterfalls I had seen in May were now gigantic. We looked at the Indian mortor stone near that trail and found what is apparently another motor stone not too far away under a different bluff. See pictures. How common or rare are these stones? I have heard about them but these are the only two I have seen.

It was a real good weekend of hiking.

[montysano]

It had been a while since I had hiked solo into an area unknown to me and I didn't realize the stress I was feeling till I turned and started back to the truck. It seemed like a laod had been lifted off my shoulders when I was going back over known ground and getting closer to the truck versus walking alone into the unknown forest.

On one of my first trips to the Sipsey back in the early '80s, I split off from our group dayhike to go back to camp and get set up.  I got "turned around" for a couple of hours, with dark approaching and a cold night ahead.  I was completely unprepared to spend a night out.  In reality, I was never more than a couple hundred yards off course, but it really jiggled my atoms, and to this day I get uneasy hiking in unknown areas, even if I know exactly where I am.  Last weekend's hike to Ship Rock was my first with a GPS, and it was nice (when I could get a signal) to see that arrow on the map! 

[JustADude]

I just bought my first GPS a few months back - actually I bought it just as the weather got too hot to hike, he he. I have only used it three or four times. It is a Garmin eTrex Vista Hcx. I think it is capable of doing lots of good stuff if I can ever figure out how to do them. The manual that comes with it is terrible.

But back to the point, I do know how to set it to make a track of where I have been. So when I start back to the truck and can  see that I am on course and see how far it is to the truck, that is a warm and fuzzy feeling. But I still carry my compass and map and small flashlight on every trip. I still use the compass to double check the GPS several times each trip and still take out the map every so often and see if the map and the GPS agree. In the past I have been "turned around" once or twice like you mentioned, and it is not a good feeling - and just like you I was never very far from where I needed to be, I just didn't know that at the time.

I think if there were no risks or challenges, hiking would not be as much fun, but I like my risks and challengs in small doses  .

[Pully]

We looked at the Indian mortor stone near that trail and found what is apparently another motor stone not too far away under a different bluff. See pictures. How common or rare are these stones? I have heard about them but these are the only two I have seen.

The mortar stones in Bankhead are scattered throughout the forest. It is rare to see one but they are out there. You just have to know where to look and sometimes get lucky. I've personally seen, I think 6, but I know of others that I haven't located yet.

[DavidR]

Thanks for sharing. Those are some cool stones. I've never seen them. I try to look around the rockface as I hike, but have yet to find anything like that. Sounds like you ha d a great hike.

[JustADude]

DavidR - thank you for the earlier note about this area and especially thanks for the maps you posted.

As always I carried my Carto map and compass, but this time I printed out the maps/tracks you posted from your GPS. That was one piece of paper so instead of it being in my backpack (where it would be troublesome to get to) I just folded it up and put it in my back pocket. I don't need glasses for general walking around but do need them to read. So I had a pair of glasses in one hip pocket and your map in the other. I had my GPS on my belt on the right side and my compass on the belt on the left side, so I could stop and see where I was (and needed to be) without taking off my backpack. So thanks for the maps!