My Most Recent QSO's

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Hiking in the New River Gorge



The  New River Gorge ( in West Virginia)  has always been one of my favorite hiking areas, but a few years ago, “back problems” started to limit my excursions here. Several of the “discs”  in my lower back are severely distorted. Sometimes I can hardly walk, but after lot’s of physical therapy, I can day hike (with light gear)  and I can bicycle without too much difficulty.

When Marilyn and I decided to meet some fellow Sierra Club hikers in the gorge last weekend, I was pleased to discover a possible solution for this problem.

I’ve known about hiking with goats for some time by reading the WG0AT blog. They're excellent pack animals and have a pleasant personality. When our Sierra Club friends brought along this little five week old youngster, it was a welcome surprise.

As we hiked along the rim of the gorge, we met a group of rock climbers. In this picture, you can sense their excitement when they saw the little goat.


I’m convinced this future hiker (the goat) would become a perfect companion for future radio excursions.



Here's a picture of myself a few years ago when I was hiking in this part of the gorge. The "endless wall" is a three mile section of good climbing rock that's used by climbers from all over the world. The New River Gorge is also the best white water rafting area in the Eastern United States.

If I only owned a farm….


4 comments:

Dick said...

Hi John,sounds like you had a grand day out. Weather up here is juist miserable, overcast and rain...every day. Prretty soon it will winter and the rain will be show.

Humbug...Dick

Jspiker said...

Hello Dick,

Seems it's going to rain forever here too.

Science says this is the result of a one degree temperature change and 3 degrees are predicted for the immediate future. Hope we can all swim.....

Of course, the world is going to end this Saturday....

We're in a hell of a mess. Hihi

PE4BAS, Bas said...

Hello John, that was a lot of fun. Nice surrounding over there. 73, Bas

Jspiker said...

Hello Bas,

I'd still camp and radio if I could get one of these nice goats to carry my stuff. Hihi

This gorge is over sixty miles long. I've hiked a lot of it.