Black Bear Scouting - (location undisclosed)

In anticipation of the upcoming hunting seasons, I realized I was woefully behind in my preparation; my varied outdoor interests don’t end at hiking and bushcraft – I enjoy hunting and fishing as well.  Over the past few years, I’ve taken particular interest in hunting black bear, game in which our region is abundant. I’ve never killed a black bear, but the excitement of the hunt and simply being outdoors and having a forced timeout from the loudness that fills our lives (and even most hikes) is so appealing – and the results of a successful hunt, the meat, the hide, the skull, are pretty appealing too.

 

In regards to hunting, particularly black bear, the old adage is true – when you fail to plan, you plan to fail. So I took some much-needed PTO last week and wandered into the woods of Unicoi Co. to scout a few places I’ve never hunted (or hiked) before. I had done some intensive map-study prior to heading out and had noted a few locations I thought would be my best bets for encountering a bear.

As is typical for days I take off work, the forecast called for rain; and it was quite believable judging from the sky overhead as I hit the trail. I put on my rain-jacket and pack-cover in anticipation of the rain, and after 30 minutes of quietly hiking up a few old trails I was begging for rain – the only thing thicker than the humidity was the gnat-swarm that followed me. My two layers of clothing were soaked in sweat and I killed a few gnats with each blink.

 

The rain never did fall; and after 2 hours and a couple of miles of hiking, I hadn’t seen a single sign. No scat, no tracks, no claw-marks on trees. Not a thing. I climbed down a rocky ridge to a worn but overgrown trail in the bed of an old logging road, when I heard movement up the trail. I turned to investigate and I saw the best sign for which I could’ve hoped…

 

 

Junior is obviously too small to kill, but his mommy won’t be; and I’m sure she was somewhere nearby. I stood in the middle of the trail for about 30 minutes – the cub stayed on the trail ahead of me for about 5 minutes and slowly made his way up the mountain, off-trail and out-of-sight. I don’t believe he realized I was close – my limited camouflage and aura of Scent-A-Way must have hidden my presence well enough. I didn’t want to follow him and upset his guardian, so I stayed put, blazed a tree near where he had stood, marked the location on my map, and then made my way back to my 4Runner. I’ll return in a week or so to explore farther up the trail and the barren ridges above it – hopefully future scouting trips and this season will be equally successful.

Thanks for reading!

Hidden Valley Lake & Brumley Mountain, VA

I’m blessed to live in a region with a diverse selection of hiking opportunities – one of the best being Hidden Valley Lake near Lebanon, VA.  It isn’t as well-known as other locations, but Hidden Valley Lake is a unique geological feature which sits in a small valley atop Brumley Mountain. The ridge that surrounds the lake is punctuated with large boulders, cliffs, and outcroppings which combine to make for an adventurous and scenic hike typically found at the cost of greater exertion. While a bit out of the way for most, the hike doesn’t present very much elevation gain – while the mountain itself rises over 2,000 feet from the land surrounding it, the hike is a climb of only the final 400 – and is only about 3 miles in length out-and-back.

Several weeks ago, Diana, my friend Micah, and I decided to take advantage of our collective time off work – something which becomes more rare with each passing year – and hit the trail around Brumley Mountain. Micah and I have made this hike several times, but this was Diana’s first time to Hidden Valley; and as my first guest-contributor, she’ll share her thoughts later in this post.

We were granted a beautiful day for a hike, but being a trail less-traveled than most, the wilds of southwest VA had begun to reclaim the path worn through the woods. I failed to advise Diana on proper clothing for this hike – with all the briars and brush, she really needed long pants – so I’m sure she didn’t care for her experience of pushing through thick undergrowth in her workout capri pants. Micah and I have plenty of experience in exploring off-trail in woods so overgrown it’s hard to move and we are all too familiar with the challenges of certain trails in the summer, so we and each wore a solid, thick pair of hiking pants – when Diana and I picked Micah up from his house, I immediately realized we were actually wearing the exact same pants.

The first part of the hike wasn’t much fun for anyone – the trail, wet from recent rains, quickly dives into laurel thickets and, at times, is merely the course of a small creek. In places, crawling is necessary. The first 0.75-1.0 mile slowly grows clearer as you gain elevation, and the wider portion of the trail ends at a flat rock poised in an opening of the tree canopy and offers the first of many scenic views.

 

From this first vista, the trail is much narrower yet much more clear. The last 0.5mile-0.75mile is almost completely flat and the trail ends at a playground of large boulders that leads to the best set of outcroppings and cliffs and the terminus of the ridgeline.
 

I’ve hiked this trail probably a dozen times over the years, but I never knew the final outcropping had a name. While hiking the final portion of the trail, I was surprised to find a sign recognizing one of my favorite spots as Buzzard Rock. This section of the hike is a portion of the 14-mile-long Clinch Mountain Trail which follows the primary ridgeline from Hayter’s Gap at Route 80 to Low Gap below Hidden Valley Lake – directional arrows have appeared along the trail over the past couple of years, the trail has become a little nicer, and now there’s a sign.

 

 

As I mentioned, the trail essentially ends at a large collection of fragmented outcroppings and boulders and it’s up to the hiker to make it to the end at Buzzard Rock. After jumping over deep chasms and climbing up and down small cliffs and boulders, you emerge through the trees and rocks into the sun. The views are well-worth the effort.

 

 

 

 

Oh, Buzzard Rock - now I get it

 

We all took our time and had fun on the exposed terminus of the ridgeline, taking in the gorgeous vistas and enjoying the company of each other.

 

Micah, stop goofing off...

 

The best view of the hike!

 

I said to stop goofing off...

 

Look, I'm not mad, just disappointed...

 

 

 

The blades on this trip - notice Diana's knife on the far right

 

We traced the route back to my 4Runner and ended the day with great pictures, great memories, and the great feeling which comes only as a result from experiencing the best our local, relatively untamed wilderness has to offer. We brushed ourselves off, kicked the mud from our boots, and met our friends Ben and Josh for dinner at Macado’s in Bristol – it was truly the only way we could’ve improved on the day we had.

Diana, leading us home

 

Oh! I almost forgot – as promised, Diana produced a brief account of this hike. Enjoy her female flair! (We all know this bachelor pad of a blog could certainly use a woman’s touch.)

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For those that don't know me very well, most people would say that most days I am the “make-up did”, accessorized, girly girl. On occasion, however, I like to be adventurous and don’t mind getting my hands dirty. That is just what I did with “the boys” on our day hiking.  You would assume that between my loving boyfriend and his compassionate best friend, one of them would think to let this girl know we would be hiking through thorny, muddy, off trail forest. As you can guess, they did not, and while the boys were well-prepared with their thick hiking pants, I was of course in my capri work-out pants and ready for a stroll on a trail. It did not take long before we were crawling underneath brush and through the mud. Luckily, only minor injuries were to be had.

Don’t tell Ben, but I have to admit that the view from Buzzard Rock and the laughs along the way were well worth the scrapes, bruises, and definite muddiness at the end of the day.

 

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 Thanks for reading!