Just arrived at the Dockery Lake Trail. It's about uh a little over 7 miles out
and back. It meets the Appalachin Trail and then comes back. So, it's been a while since
I've been out. Let's get on a hike. So, after several months of not being out,
I'm back out on the trail without Godfrey, though, which is a shame.
So, the first part of this trail goes right alongside the lake and I assume just goes
off into the woods. I just passed a couple of campers, overnight campers with a dog that seem
to want to chase me down. I don't know why. I'm a friendly guy. Let's go take a look at the lake.
This is Dockery Lake.
I'm coming up to the end of the lake. Small lake. It's more like a big pond.
Then on the other side,
there's the stream. So, this is the dam.
created to make the lake.
This meets up with the Appalachin Trail in three and a half miles.
See how long it takes me to get there. 7 miles from here back out and back. So, it's like 60°
out. Early March. Little overcast now. I don't know if it's going to brighten up or not, but
I think it be a good day for a nice strenuous hike. There's a
little waterfall over there. Maybe on my way back. I'll scramble down there.
It's kind of a narrow trail. Well wororn, but a little bit narrow.
And it doesn't really show well on camera, but it's a pretty steep drop. Several hundred feet.
You just go rolling down this hill if you made a misstep. So, my plan is uh not make a misstep.
Tree roots and all as obstacles.
We'll see. see like the haze on the tops of the mountains. Anyway, let's keep going. So,
as I was saying earlier, I am here without Godfrey. Unfortunately, it kind of stinks,
but uh he's been limping a little bit more lately. This time from his front legs, his front left leg.
And so he's just not uh not able to hit the trails right now. Hopefully in the next week or so he'll
feel better and we can get out on one of the easy trails that he likes. But I got to I suppose got
to get used to hiking without him now that he's getting older. He just turned 11 a few months ago.
And while the medication's working with his hips, you know, he still has some issues. And it's not
that he wouldn't go. Uh, you know, he still has the same level of energy. He just doesn't know any
better. He, uh, he betrays his own body with his brain. So, I mean, on the plus side, I get to go
on some harder trails cuz he can't go. But it kind of stinks being out on a hike without him. I've
just grown so used to it over the years. But looks like solo hiking is going to be in my future.
So far, there isn't really too much to see. It's just kind of hiking in the woods. It's
not that it's not nice. It's beautiful. A lot of roodendrrons, this big pine forest. And right
now being uh early spring, the deciduous trees haven't leafed out yet. So you can
have you have views of all the mountain tops through the trees. Um but other than that for
right now early on in the trail probably um about at probably at about a mile right now
that uh there's not much not much to see. I can
hear some rushing water way down below, but it's way down there.
If uh hiking this in the summertime,
I don't think you're going to see a whole lot once the trees all leaf out.
Okay, the water that was rushing that was way down there is now here. I just
uh walked down this gradual incline and met up with the stream.
Coming up to another little stream crossing
and Godfreyy's better days he could take this trail. At least so far it's not that hard. I I
think uh the walk on the way back will be harder. But it looks like this is mostly going downhill
for now and then, you know, uphill on the way back. Obviously, these are very nice. Very cool.
Got another little stream crossing. All easy to cross.
There's been nothing difficult so far.
Keep it going. Lots of storm damage. I don't know from how long ago. We've had some good
ones roll through here recently. Some down trees. This one's been down for a while,
obviously. But once again, nothing nothing too hard to get over or around,
even for an old man. Nice little offshoot off the side of the trail where people use this space to
camp right next to the creek. It's got to be very peaceful to sleep here. The water rushing
First incline of the day. Everything's been downhill up until this moment.
We're probably about halfway through, maybe a little bit more than halfway through to
uh the end where it meets the Appalachian Trail.
So, I always wondered, I know everybody's different what kind of hiker uh people are if
there are different types cuz I know I hike like I drive where I pick a route and I take it and you
know, yeah, there's a few little offshoots where go look at this or go look at that,
But primarily I'm A to B. And I know some people like to stop off, take a break, get a snack. Um,
and I don't do that while I drive on road trips. I don't really do that much while I hike either.
I just uh I like the actual act of hiking of just moving through the forest
where it's quiet um versus I don't know stopping and looking at the trees and sitting down for a
while. I don't know. I've never been like that. Now, I'm not a stop and smell the roses, I guess,
kind of guy. I'll look at the roses, but I'll just keep moving. So, what kind of hiker is everybody?
Curious, I wonder. So, this is the point of the hike where you start to get your cardio.
It's not a steep incline. It's a mild incline, but it's steady. So, just pace yourself and go.
What goes down must go back up.
And we'll have to repeat the process on the way back.
So, pardon me while I breathe for a while.
Coming up to another water crossing. I skipped one earlier cuz it was really small.
This one's nice, but easy to get across just like the others. Nothing to worry
about here. So, if you are somebody that needs to take a lot of breaks,
there's a lot of places to kind of stop and chill out next to the creek.
It's quite nice.
So, it seems I haven't had much to say on this hike. It's pretty much as it's
been since I left. Just a really nice walk in the woods with some beautiful water crossings.
And because of the trees, you can't really see uh too much of the mountains when you're
looking downhill. But for people looking for like spectacular views and big waterfalls,
this is not the trail for you. But if you like a nice tranquil hike in the woods where it's quiet,
you got some of these babbling brooks that you can uh take a break by if you feel like it.
I think we're we're getting close. Probably about a half mile from the
uh turnaround point. So, we'll keep going after that last water crossing. Got some steps. That's
mighty kind. Let's hit the steps. So, the sun finally starting to break through the clouds.
That's also why I do an early morning hike because when the sun comes out get starts to get warm fast
and to me like 50 60° it's like perfect to hike. You start getting above 60 which it is
right now and it starts to get a little bit warm for me. But you can't have everything,
can you? Can't have spring and summer without the heat,
unless I'm at the South Pole. But, uh, no good hiking trails there from what I hear. Word of
mouth. So, I've reached the top of some kind of ridge line near the end. Almost there. I keep
saying I'm there, but you know how it goes. Always a little bit further than you think, especially
when you're climbing uphill. Always takes just a little longer. This is some beautiful scenery.
All right, we made it to the turnaround point. I
can see the sign and has nothing to do with the 80s tune. I saw a sign.
I don't like that song very much at all. So here's the you can see the back of the sign.
So this is
the famed Appalachin Trail. You go this way takes you to Granny Top,
which I'm not going to do today. I just want to see how tough it is to get here. Maybe I'll go
there another time. But there are several side trails here and spots for people to camp out.
Wonder if you have to reserve these camping spots or you can just kind of pitch a tent.
Well, now we got to head back after a short water
break. I've had my water break. Now back to Dockery Lake. Let's hit it.
At least it's downhill halfway. Yeah,
nice laugh. So, I just ran across my first hiker of the day. Just a guy. He's my guess
he's probably around my age, late 50s, early 60s. Um, looks like he's gonna take this,
hit the Appalachin Trail, and head over to Preachers Rock, which is not necessarily that far,
just past Granny Top. I've been to Preachers Rock before, but from a different uh trail head that's
a much shorter hike. It's about a mile to get to Preachers Rock. Um, but I do believe I'm going to
come back to this trail um and head up to Granny's Top next time. Then maybe back to Creatures Rock
and Back. But that takes a lot of extra time and I just wanted to get a feel for um how difficult a
hike it is. I mean, it's not really that bad. Just takes extra time. So, I have to probably a lot the
day for it. maybe even bring a snack or something, which I don't normally do. I normally just
uh take the hike and go back home and I eat then I always I I don't eat breakfast in the morning. So,
I'm in a I I hike completely fasted. Last time I had something to eat was like 8:00 p.m. last
night. I had a snack while watching a little TV. And then this morning I had a cup of coffee
and that's it. Aside from that, just the water that I'm carrying on my back. But I think if I
take a side trip and go up to Granny's Top, maybe over to Preachers Rock or something,
I'm sure I'm going to have to take a break someplace and put some energy in my system
just to make sure we don't uh collapse on the trail. I'm too old for that.
So, hiking in the fall and the early spring on some of these trails are a
little treacherous because of these leaves. Covers up everything. So, you can't see what
you're stepping on underneath. And sometimes it gets a little slippery cuz um it's like
right there. I just kind of slipped trying to walk through. It's like walking on sand almost.
It's spongy and then it just kind of slides. You know, one leaf slides on top of the other.
That's uh that's the only caution I think. Otherwise, this while it's a moderate trail
because of the incline, the constant incline, it's really not hard if you just take your time.
Um, it's pretty easy, I think, for most people, even with the water crossings.
So, now as I'm heading downhill on the way back, I just realized that I forgot to tape up my toes.
Um, I think I mentioned it in the last hike that I took that I have like this uh it's called
capsulitis on my second toe on the knuckle. Um, you know, where your toe meets your foot,
meets the ball of your foot sort of and gives you like a burning sensation sort of. And it's pretty
much gone away. But I I tape it up on hikes because it flares up and I forgot. So I can
sort of feel it now just a little bit. Things I forget. If I don't hike for a while, I forget all
my routines. And that's a new one I'm adding to it along with my compression sleeves on my knees
so my knees don't don't ache on the way down. Now I got to add taping toes. The perils of age.
I don't think I can stress enough that
if you want views on this hike, you can go and take a side trip and walk over to Granny Top
or Granny's Top or Preachers Rock. But I don't really think you need it. I mean, there's walking
alongside the stream is so nice. And this this trail I don't know what it's like on weekends, but
at least right now on a Thursday morning, I only saw one other person. So, it's nice and peaceful
and secluded. Lots of solitude if that's what you're after. And it's a great hike in the woods.
Don't discount it. So, this area is like sort of a mess. You got some runoff and
it covers a good deal of the trail. So, you just kind of got to navigate
your way across the boulders. Some of it's a little slippery. The rocks are
not all where they should be. Not very stable. It goes on for a little bit.
As you can see, just gets a little messy. Then once you get beyond that point, like right there,
it's over and back to normal trail. So, here's an example of some of the
obstacles on this trail. They're very few and slight. Just some things to go under or around.
Some are harder than others, but all of them are not too bad. Still heading downhill.
Um I don't know. I don't know when I'll
hit that halfway point to where I start heading back uphill, but um
it's got to be pretty soon, I think. I don't like going downhill. It's easier
going downhill on your uh cardiovascular system. It's easier to breathe. You know,
you're not um huffing and puffing, but it's so much harder on my feet and knees than
going uphill. You know, it's going uphill slower, but it's just so much more gentle
on my old knees.
Hopefully, we'll get to the halfway point soon and start heading up. Okay,
I believe this is pretty much the low point in the trail. And after I get past this,
it's going to be all the way uphill to get back to Dockery Lake and the Jeep.
So far, knees and toes are holding up.
turning into quite the day. Beautiful spotty sun,
so it's not too bright and sunny and making it hot.
Got a nice cool breeze. Picked a picture perfect day again for
the first hike of 2026 for me. Is this the first hike of 2026?
Did I take one after I got back from Guatemala? I don't remember.
I think this is the first one. Regardless, perfect day. Okay,
huffing and puffing has started again, which means we are steadily going uphill.
This one's more gradual than the other side, but it's still just this constant grade going up until
you get to the lake, I believe. Hopefully, I have enough energy to maybe take a scramble
down and take a look at that waterfall. It'll be a uh game time call. We'll see.
All right. So, I worked out by looking at the All Trails app. And now that I've almost walked
the whole trail, um the basic format of this one is uh when you start from Dockery Lake,
it's about a third of the trail is downhill. You hit the bottom,
then 2/3 up till you hit the turnaround point. Then that means it's 2/3 back down.
and then one/3 back up. But at least the the last one/3 is not as hard as the other
two/3s because first it's not as steep and shorter. So that is what I figured
out. You're welcome. Not that you asked, but just thought I'd vocalize it for posterity.
All right. So, I see the lake off in the distance. There's that waterfall
down there from the dam. But I don't see a way to
scramble down there. Either I don't see it or my brain is making excuses.
I'll go see what I can find.
Okay, it looks like I might be able to get there. Heading over the bridge,
over the dam and taking a left turn through the woods. There's like a little bit of a trail here
I think goes around over there. We'll see what happens. So, the trail does take me to the top of
the falls and then it looks like I can get down there pretty easily this way. So, let's do it.
Okay, not too bad. A very light scramble down to get to the falls.
Now, let's just see what kind of a view I can get.
We got some salamander action down in there.
We got right up against it.
I think that was worth a little side trip. Although I took the wrong trail
back to get to the bridge and I got to climb this. So that's pretty much it.
Now we walk along side of the lake to the camping area and then back to the Jeep.
pretty much back. This is the campground where
uh the couple of people were camping that had the dog that didn't like me,
which still hurts my feelings, but you know, not really. If I had feelings, they'd be hurt.
So, we're almost back to the Jeep.
So that is the Dachquiri Lake Trail.
Little over seven miles I think it was. Took a few hours. Then you can continue along the Appalachian
Trail to see some other stuff if you feel like it. That's all there is for this episode.
Go take a hike.