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Just arrived at the Dockery Lake Trail. 
It's about uh a little over 7 miles out

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00:00:14,800 --> 00:00:22,080
and back. It meets the Appalachin Trail and 
then comes back. So, it's been a while since

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00:00:22,080 --> 00:00:31,840
I've been out. Let's get on a hike. So, 
after several months of not being out,

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I'm back out on the trail without 
Godfrey, though, which is a shame.

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00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:51,120
So, the first part of this trail goes right 
alongside the lake and I assume just goes

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off into the woods. I just passed a couple of 
campers, overnight campers with a dog that seem

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00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:18,320
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.

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This is Dockery Lake.

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I'm coming up to the end of the lake. 
Small lake. It's more like a big pond.

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Then on the other side,

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there's the stream. So, this is the dam.

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created to make the lake.

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This meets up with the Appalachin 
Trail in three and a half miles.

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See how long it takes me to get there. 7 miles 
from here back out and back. So, it's like 60°

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out. Early March. Little overcast now. I don't 
know if it's going to brighten up or not, but

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I think it be a good day for a 
nice strenuous hike. There's a

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little waterfall over there. Maybe on 
my way back. I'll scramble down there.

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It's kind of a narrow trail. Well 
wororn, but a little bit narrow.

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And it doesn't really show well on camera, but 
it's a pretty steep drop. Several hundred feet.

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You just go rolling down this hill if you made 
a misstep. So, my plan is uh not make a misstep.

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Tree roots and all as obstacles.

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We'll see. see like the haze on the tops of 
the mountains. Anyway, let's keep going. So,

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as I was saying earlier, I am here without 
Godfrey. Unfortunately, it kind of stinks,

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but uh he's been limping a little bit more lately. 
This time from his front legs, his front left leg.

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And so he's just not uh not able to hit the trails 
right now. Hopefully in the next week or so he'll

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feel better and we can get out on one of the easy 
trails that he likes. But I got to I suppose got

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00:03:56,240 --> 00:04:04,720
to get used to hiking without him now that he's 
getting older. He just turned 11 a few months ago.

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00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:11,840
And while the medication's working with his hips, 
you know, he still has some issues. And it's not

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that he wouldn't go. Uh, you know, he still has 
the same level of energy. He just doesn't know any

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better. He, uh, he betrays his own body with his 
brain. So, I mean, on the plus side, I get to go

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on some harder trails cuz he can't go. But it kind 
of stinks being out on a hike without him. I've

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just grown so used to it over the years. But looks 
like solo hiking is going to be in my future.

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So far, there isn't really too much to see. 
It's just kind of hiking in the woods. It's

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not that it's not nice. It's beautiful. A lot 
of roodendrrons, this big pine forest. And right

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now being uh early spring, the deciduous 
trees haven't leafed out yet. So you can

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have you have views of all the mountain tops 
through the trees. Um but other than that for

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right now early on in the trail probably um 
about at probably at about a mile right now

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that uh there's not much not much to see. I can

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hear some rushing water way down 
below, but it's way down there.

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If uh hiking this in the summertime,

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I don't think you're going to see a 
whole lot once the trees all leaf out.

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Okay, the water that was rushing that 
was way down there is now here. I just

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uh walked down this gradual 
incline and met up with the stream.

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Coming up to another little stream crossing

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and Godfreyy's better days he could take this 
trail. At least so far it's not that hard. I I

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00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:35,840
think uh the walk on the way back will be harder. 
But it looks like this is mostly going downhill

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for now and then, you know, uphill on the way 
back. Obviously, these are very nice. Very cool.

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Got another little stream 
crossing. All easy to cross.

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There's been nothing difficult so far.

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Keep it going. Lots of storm damage. I don't 
know from how long ago. We've had some good

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ones roll through here recently. Some down 
trees. This one's been down for a while,

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00:07:16,800 --> 00:07:29,200
obviously. But once again, nothing 
nothing too hard to get over or around,

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00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:38,080
even for an old man. Nice little offshoot off the 
side of the trail where people use this space to

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camp right next to the creek. It's got to be 
very peaceful to sleep here. The water rushing

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00:08:03,120 --> 00:08:10,880
First incline of the day. Everything's 
been downhill up until this moment.

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We're probably about halfway through, maybe 
a little bit more than halfway through to

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uh the end where it meets the Appalachian Trail.

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So, I always wondered, I know everybody's 
different what kind of hiker uh people are if

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00:08:33,600 --> 00:08:44,720
there are different types cuz I know I hike like 
I drive where I pick a route and I take it and you

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know, yeah, there's a few little offshoots 
where go look at this or go look at that,

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But primarily I'm A to B. And I know some people 
like to stop off, take a break, get a snack. Um,

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00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:10,960
and I don't do that while I drive on road trips. 
I don't really do that much while I hike either.

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I just uh I like the actual act of 
hiking of just moving through the forest

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where it's quiet um versus I don't know stopping 
and looking at the trees and sitting down for a

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while. I don't know. I've never been like that. 
Now, I'm not a stop and smell the roses, I guess,

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kind of guy. I'll look at the roses, but I'll just 
keep moving. So, what kind of hiker is everybody?

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Curious, I wonder. So, this is the point of 
the hike where you start to get your cardio.

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It's not a steep incline. It's a mild incline, 
but it's steady. So, just pace yourself and go.

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What goes down must go back up.

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00:10:17,760 --> 00:10:25,360
And we'll have to repeat 
the process on the way back.

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So, pardon me while I breathe for a while.

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Coming up to another water crossing. I 
skipped one earlier cuz it was really small.

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This one's nice, but easy to get across 
just like the others. Nothing to worry

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00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:53,440
about here. So, if you are somebody 
that needs to take a lot of breaks,

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there's a lot of places to kind of 
stop and chill out next to the creek.

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00:11:00,560 --> 00:11:01,600
It's quite nice.

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00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:09,760
So, it seems I haven't had much to say 
on this hike. It's pretty much as it's

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been since I left. Just a really nice walk in 
the woods with some beautiful water crossings.

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00:11:16,800 --> 00:11:24,800
And because of the trees, you can't really 
see uh too much of the mountains when you're

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looking downhill. But for people looking for 
like spectacular views and big waterfalls,

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00:11:32,880 --> 00:11:39,920
this is not the trail for you. But if you like a 
nice tranquil hike in the woods where it's quiet,

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you got some of these babbling brooks that you 
can uh take a break by if you feel like it.

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I think we're we're getting close. 
Probably about a half mile from the

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uh turnaround point. So, we'll keep going after 
that last water crossing. Got some steps. That's

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mighty kind. Let's hit the steps. So, the sun 
finally starting to break through the clouds.

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00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:26,000
That's also why I do an early morning hike because 
when the sun comes out get starts to get warm fast

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00:12:26,000 --> 00:12:36,800
and to me like 50 60° it's like perfect to 
hike. You start getting above 60 which it is

88
00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:44,160
right now and it starts to get a little bit 
warm for me. But you can't have everything,

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00:12:44,160 --> 00:12:51,360
can you? Can't have spring 
and summer without the heat,

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00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:58,240
unless I'm at the South Pole. But, uh, no good 
hiking trails there from what I hear. Word of

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00:12:58,240 --> 00:13:05,840
mouth. So, I've reached the top of some kind of 
ridge line near the end. Almost there. I keep

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00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:12,400
saying I'm there, but you know how it goes. Always 
a little bit further than you think, especially

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00:13:12,400 --> 00:13:22,640
when you're climbing uphill. Always takes just 
a little longer. This is some beautiful scenery.

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00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:25,120
All right, we made it to the turnaround point. I

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00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:34,400
can see the sign and has nothing to 
do with the 80s tune. I saw a sign.

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00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:44,400
I don't like that song very much at all. So 
here's the you can see the back of the sign.

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00:13:44,400 --> 00:13:49,200
So this is

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00:13:49,200 --> 00:13:59,360
the famed Appalachin Trail. You go 
this way takes you to Granny Top,

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00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:04,880
which I'm not going to do today. I just want to 
see how tough it is to get here. Maybe I'll go

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there another time. But there are several side 
trails here and spots for people to camp out.

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00:14:20,400 --> 00:14:30,480
Wonder if you have to reserve these camping 
spots or you can just kind of pitch a tent.

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00:14:34,480 --> 00:14:38,400
Well, now we got to head back after a short water

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break. I've had my water break. Now 
back to Dockery Lake. Let's hit it.

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00:14:56,880 --> 00:15:03,520
At least it's downhill halfway. Yeah,

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00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:12,400
nice laugh. So, I just ran across my first 
hiker of the day. Just a guy. He's my guess

106
00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:20,160
he's probably around my age, late 50s, early 
60s. Um, looks like he's gonna take this,

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00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:27,680
hit the Appalachin Trail, and head over to 
Preachers Rock, which is not necessarily that far,

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00:15:27,680 --> 00:15:35,840
just past Granny Top. I've been to Preachers Rock 
before, but from a different uh trail head that's

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a much shorter hike. It's about a mile to get to 
Preachers Rock. Um, but I do believe I'm going to

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come back to this trail um and head up to Granny's 
Top next time. Then maybe back to Creatures Rock

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and Back. But that takes a lot of extra time and 
I just wanted to get a feel for um how difficult a

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00:15:57,120 --> 00:16:04,720
hike it is. I mean, it's not really that bad. Just 
takes extra time. So, I have to probably a lot the

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00:16:04,720 --> 00:16:12,160
day for it. maybe even bring a snack or something, 
which I don't normally do. I normally just

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00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:22,400
uh take the hike and go back home and I eat then I 
always I I don't eat breakfast in the morning. So,

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00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:28,720
I'm in a I I hike completely fasted. Last time 
I had something to eat was like 8:00 p.m. last

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00:16:28,720 --> 00:16:35,440
night. I had a snack while watching a little 
TV. And then this morning I had a cup of coffee

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00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:41,520
and that's it. Aside from that, just the water 
that I'm carrying on my back. But I think if I

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00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:47,440
take a side trip and go up to Granny's Top, 
maybe over to Preachers Rock or something,

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00:16:47,440 --> 00:16:56,000
I'm sure I'm going to have to take a break 
someplace and put some energy in my system

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00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:07,520
just to make sure we don't uh collapse 
on the trail. I'm too old for that.

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00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:12,640
So, hiking in the fall and the early 
spring on some of these trails are a

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00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:19,760
little treacherous because of these leaves. 
Covers up everything. So, you can't see what

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00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:29,680
you're stepping on underneath. And sometimes 
it gets a little slippery cuz um it's like

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00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:35,440
right there. I just kind of slipped trying to 
walk through. It's like walking on sand almost.

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00:17:35,440 --> 00:17:46,480
It's spongy and then it just kind of slides. 
You know, one leaf slides on top of the other.

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That's uh that's the only caution I think. 
Otherwise, this while it's a moderate trail

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00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:58,480
because of the incline, the constant incline, 
it's really not hard if you just take your time.

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00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:08,400
Um, it's pretty easy, I think, for most 
people, even with the water crossings.

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00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:18,320
So, now as I'm heading downhill on the way back, 
I just realized that I forgot to tape up my toes.

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00:18:19,200 --> 00:18:26,080
Um, I think I mentioned it in the last hike 
that I took that I have like this uh it's called

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00:18:26,080 --> 00:18:35,840
capsulitis on my second toe on the knuckle. 
Um, you know, where your toe meets your foot,

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00:18:35,840 --> 00:18:45,840
meets the ball of your foot sort of and gives you 
like a burning sensation sort of. And it's pretty

133
00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:53,200
much gone away. But I I tape it up on hikes 
because it flares up and I forgot. So I can

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00:18:53,200 --> 00:19:01,680
sort of feel it now just a little bit. Things I 
forget. If I don't hike for a while, I forget all

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00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:07,680
my routines. And that's a new one I'm adding to 
it along with my compression sleeves on my knees

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00:19:07,680 --> 00:19:24,800
so my knees don't don't ache on the way down. 
Now I got to add taping toes. The perils of age.

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00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:29,440
I don't think I can stress enough that

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00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:38,560
if you want views on this hike, you can go and 
take a side trip and walk over to Granny Top

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00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:46,960
or Granny's Top or Preachers Rock. But I don't 
really think you need it. I mean, there's walking

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00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:54,880
alongside the stream is so nice. And this this 
trail I don't know what it's like on weekends, but

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00:19:54,880 --> 00:20:00,400
at least right now on a Thursday morning, I only 
saw one other person. So, it's nice and peaceful

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00:20:00,400 --> 00:20:09,040
and secluded. Lots of solitude if that's what 
you're after. And it's a great hike in the woods.

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00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:16,800
Don't discount it. So, this area is like 
sort of a mess. You got some runoff and

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00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:20,880
it covers a good deal of the trail. 
So, you just kind of got to navigate

145
00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:28,960
your way across the boulders. Some of 
it's a little slippery. The rocks are

146
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:37,280
not all where they should be. Not very 
stable. It goes on for a little bit.

147
00:20:50,480 --> 00:21:00,160
As you can see, just gets a little messy. Then 
once you get beyond that point, like right there,

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00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:06,400
it's over and back to normal trail. 
So, here's an example of some of the

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00:21:06,400 --> 00:21:15,840
obstacles on this trail. They're very few and 
slight. Just some things to go under or around.

150
00:21:15,840 --> 00:21:26,000
Some are harder than others, but all of them 
are not too bad. Still heading downhill.

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00:21:26,000 --> 00:21:27,840
Um I don't know. I don't know when I'll

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00:21:27,840 --> 00:21:37,520
hit that halfway point to where I 
start heading back uphill, but um

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00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:43,840
it's got to be pretty soon, I think. I 
don't like going downhill. It's easier

154
00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:51,120
going downhill on your uh cardiovascular 
system. It's easier to breathe. You know,

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00:21:51,120 --> 00:21:57,760
you're not um huffing and puffing, but it's 
so much harder on my feet and knees than

156
00:21:57,760 --> 00:22:06,640
going uphill. You know, it's going uphill 
slower, but it's just so much more gentle

157
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:12,000
on my old knees.

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00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:17,040
Hopefully, we'll get to the halfway 
point soon and start heading up. Okay,

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00:22:17,040 --> 00:22:24,640
I believe this is pretty much the low point 
in the trail. And after I get past this,

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it's going to be all the way uphill to 
get back to Dockery Lake and the Jeep.

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00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:40,800
So far, knees and toes are holding up.

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00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:48,640
turning into quite the day. Beautiful spotty sun,

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00:22:48,640 --> 00:22:55,680
so it's not too bright and 
sunny and making it hot.

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00:22:55,680 --> 00:23:02,640
Got a nice cool breeze. Picked 
a picture perfect day again for

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00:23:02,640 --> 00:23:09,920
the first hike of 2026 for me. 
Is this the first hike of 2026?

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00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:17,040
Did I take one after I got back 
from Guatemala? I don't remember.

167
00:23:17,040 --> 00:23:23,680
I think this is the first one. 
Regardless, perfect day. Okay,

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00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:30,800
huffing and puffing has started again, 
which means we are steadily going uphill.

169
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:41,040
This one's more gradual than the other side, but 
it's still just this constant grade going up until

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00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:49,840
you get to the lake, I believe. Hopefully, I 
have enough energy to maybe take a scramble

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00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:58,160
down and take a look at that waterfall. 
It'll be a uh game time call. We'll see.

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00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:05,200
All right. So, I worked out by looking at the 
All Trails app. And now that I've almost walked

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00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:15,280
the whole trail, um the basic format of this 
one is uh when you start from Dockery Lake,

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00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:21,040
it's about a third of the trail 
is downhill. You hit the bottom,

175
00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:27,600
then 2/3 up till you hit the turnaround 
point. Then that means it's 2/3 back down.

176
00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:35,120
and then one/3 back up. But at least the 
the last one/3 is not as hard as the other

177
00:24:35,120 --> 00:24:44,400
two/3s because first it's not as steep 
and shorter. So that is what I figured

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00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:56,880
out. You're welcome. Not that you asked, but 
just thought I'd vocalize it for posterity.

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00:24:56,880 --> 00:25:02,960
All right. So, I see the lake off in 
the distance. There's that waterfall

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00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:08,480
down there from the dam. But I don't see a way to

181
00:25:08,480 --> 00:25:18,960
scramble down there. Either I don't 
see it or my brain is making excuses.

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00:25:18,960 --> 00:25:23,280
I'll go see what I can find.

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00:25:23,280 --> 00:25:27,360
Okay, it looks like I might be able 
to get there. Heading over the bridge,

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00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:37,680
over the dam and taking a left turn through the 
woods. There's like a little bit of a trail here

185
00:25:37,680 --> 00:25:44,480
I think goes around over there. We'll see what 
happens. So, the trail does take me to the top of

186
00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:54,240
the falls and then it looks like I can get down 
there pretty easily this way. So, let's do it.

187
00:25:55,200 --> 00:26:03,520
Okay, not too bad. A very light 
scramble down to get to the falls.

188
00:26:03,520 --> 00:26:14,240
Now, let's just see what kind of a view I can get.

189
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We got some salamander action down in there.

190
00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:28,160
We got right up against it.

191
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I think that was worth a little side 
trip. Although I took the wrong trail

192
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back to get to the bridge and I got to 
climb this. So that's pretty much it.

193
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Now we walk along side of the lake to the 
camping area and then back to the Jeep.

194
00:26:54,000 --> 00:26:59,680
pretty much back. This is the campground where

195
00:26:59,680 --> 00:27:04,800
uh the couple of people were camping 
that had the dog that didn't like me,

196
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which still hurts my feelings, but you know, 
not really. If I had feelings, they'd be hurt.

197
00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:19,200
So, we're almost back to the Jeep.

198
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:27,760
So that is the Dachquiri Lake Trail.

199
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:34,800
Little over seven miles I think it was. Took a few 
hours. Then you can continue along the Appalachian

200
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Trail to see some other stuff if you feel 
like it. That's all there is for this episode.

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Go take a hike.