Turkey Pen

Hi again!  So, I have to say, that it really, really, REALLY is just so beautiful here in the NC mountains.  I mean really!  I went for a ride last Saturday in the Pisgah National Forest with Jerm and our friend Gary...it was only supposed to be about a 3 hourish long ride that stretched into 5 due to a navigation "situation", but it was absolutely perfect weather, so it was (mostly) ok. 

We rode out on trails called Turkey Pen, Squirrel Gap and Lord knows where else, which are pretty much the only trails I have ANY business being on.  I promise this isn't modesty talking, this is "absolute fear for my life sometimes because it's so gnarly out there" talking.

It's the kind of thing where much of the first hour and a half were mentally exhausting purely because I had to concentrate so hard on where my tires hit the ground, negotiating off camber roots and literaly having to remind myself that if I'm going to tip over, make sure I do it UPhill, because the mountain goes straight down to my left.

In fact, Jerm (mercifully) didn't take many pictures at the beginning because I was grimmacing almost the entire time from fear and irritation that I had to hike a bike so much.  BUT, after several hours, I just----settled in, and had a really great time. 

There were several of these suspension bridges throughout the day, and technically you're only supposed to have one person on at a time.....a lesson I learned after (riding) the second one and almost getting bounced off the side, into the river.  Seriously.

The weather couldn't have been nicer.  Yep, here are many gratuitous shots of the forest, but it was SO photogenic, it was hard to choose which ones to post.  Temps were in the mid 70's, which was a Godsend considering we had to traverse the river more than 10 times later in the day.  By foot.  With our bikes over our shoulders.  (No picture available)

We took a random turn at one point and came across this cliffy gorge type place that looked like a canyon!  Trying not to pose like dorks, I found lots of flat stones to skip, but one of the dogs we were with kept chasing them and getting in the way so I would've ended up just throwing rocks at its head.

We hit the woods at 11am and emerged at 4:00.  It was a long day and I literally ran out of water on the fire road descent back to the car...talk about lucky planning!  Here I am after 10 river crossings with numb, swollen toes, no more water, aching arms and legs, and dreaming of more pizza.   

Pretty spectacular!!