Saturday

Decide to give mountain bike some TLC expecting to be riding again soon. Take off wheels. Remove tires to find giant Stan's boogers. Clean Stan's off of tires and wheels. Mount new front tire. Fill with Stan's. Hit with compressor. Success. Mount older rear tire. Fill with Stan's. Hit with compressor. Fail. Again. Fail. Try CO2 cartridge. Fail. Try compressor again. Fail. Compressor dies. Try remaining CO2 cartridges. Fail. Try floor pump as fast as I can. Fail. Again. Fail. Curse loudly. Debate throwing floor pump into neighbor's yard. Remove tire. Clean Stan's off of tire and wheel. Mount tire with tube. Inflate with floor pump. Hear hissing. Watch tire deflate. Search for another tube. Fail. Make animalistic grunting noises. Close eyes. Deep breath. Count to ten. Walk upstairs. Crack open beer.

First Hike

Heather and I both finally felt physically ready for a hike after the summer of surgeries. I wanted something that would test my knee a bit, but not too long. We had been wanting to check out Sam Knob for a while, so why not now?

We headed up to the BRP on a gorgeous afternoon, with the temp around 60*. The trail started off pretty flat, and like any other trail in the grassy meadow areas up in the high country.



When we hit the base of Sam Knob, however, the terrain changed drastically. It became fairly steep, but not too steep, with a lot of roots and good-sized rocks to maneuver. I brought my hiking staff with me for extra support, and it ended up helping a lot.



It didn't take too long to make it to the top, and the views were everywhere.



We paused at the overlook and took some photos and had a snack. This is now one of our favorite overlooks. Amazing views of the Shining Rock Wilderness.







I was mostly concerned with how my knee would do coming back down that steep terrain, but it really felt great. We were both extremely happy to get out in "the Forest" again, and can't wait until next weekend for another hike.