Trail Dames

Meet Catrina aka Blossom

Meet Catrina aka Blossom
1.      How long have you been hiking?  How did you get interested in hiking?I’ve always enjoyed Hiking.  I can remember going on family trips up in Yosemite when I was a kid, then going on hikes and camping trips with my friends in High School.  I have to admit when I entered into grown up land, and became a mother, I did let my love for hiking and nature go to the way side.  Never let it go, just didn’t make it a priority.  After many years of not hiking, and living for 5 years in the flat lands of Florida, I moved up here to the beautiful state of Georgia, just a 3 miles from Kennesaw Mountain. After spending several months driving by it, I finally stopped and started walking around it.  It took me about a month of just hiking the lower trails to get the courage to climb to the top. I finally put on my Vans, carried 1 bottle of water and my two son, and quickly found out how rocky and hard Little Kennesaw mountain was.  I thought I was going to die, but I did it.  I learned that if I had gone the other way, it would have been easier.  But I went home that night, knowing I wanted to do it again, but my boys told me under no circumstances was I going to be able to get them to go again, so I knew I had to find someone to go climb that mountain with me…….

2. Describe your first hiking experience with the Trail Dames.

In June, my boys were down in Florida visiting Family. Being new to Georgia, I was really wanting to meet people and get out of the house,  One Saturday I thought hey let’s see if I can find something to do this weekend…..I don’t know what I put in for my search, but I was ruling out every singles meet up, and I saw Trail Dames. That was the first one I clicked on to look at, and lo and behold they had an orientation the next day!  So I went to the TD web site and read some more, and I was like, this seems like my kind of people.  So I went back to the meet-up, went to sign up for the orientation, but the reservations were closed.  I so wanted to go, so I just decided, I’d just post a message to see if I could come anyway.  It was yes, so I came.  It was an easy hike, I jumped right in.  I tried to keep up with the faster Dames, but I found myself falling to the back of the pack, and it was OKAY!  The thing I feared the most was dissolved right then and there.  I knew that no matter how fast or slow I hiked, in this group it was the perfect pace, and there was going to be someone with you encouraging you every step of the way, and I didn’t look back.

3.  Do you have a trail name? Would you like to tell everyone how you earned it?Blossom.  As I stated I started in June with the Trail Dames, and the first few hikes I did were just a few miles. They were tough for me and I struggled. In December I did my first AT Series Hike, Jarrard Gap to Neels Gap, up and over and down Blood Mountain.  It took me all day, but I did it! Anna was saying that I had grown so fast, going from barely be able to do a 2 mile hike to doing Blood Mountain in such a short time, she said I Blossomed!, and that was when my Trail Name was born… in the parking lot of Mountain Crossings.  Thats a good place to find your trail name.

4. When did you join Trail Dames? How did you discover the group?

I joined in July, and I discovered y’all on the Meet-up in June.

5. Outside of TD, what occupies your time?
Work mostly.  I do Payroll and A/R for the Creative Loafing Family.  But on the weekends, if I’m not hiking, I’m catching up on the many many tv shows I like to watch.  I like a lot of Action and SciFi types of shows, but I steer very far away from Chick Flick type of shows.

6. What trail is your favorite? Why?
I don’t really feel like I have hiked enough to really have a favorite yet. The one I have done the most is Kennesaw Mountain.  I’ve conquered it 4 times now. But is it my favorite? Maybe. It is the one that inspired me to start hiking again, and led me to Trail Dames. But there is so much beauty in all the trails and I have some many more to explore.

7. Why is spending time out there in nature important to you?
I love getting away from all the hustle and bustle of the city.  I love to to just stop on a trail to look and listen.  You don’t hear the buzz of computers, the rumbling of engines, or music, it’s just peaceful and tranquil.  That is something you can’t get at home.  And it’s always so beautiful no matter what the season.

8. What single piece of advice would you give to beginning hikers?Yes, you can.  Don’t ever think you can’t do it.  When you are climbing a mountain, and you start wondering how much further do I have to go, stop turn around and look at how far you came, and then you realize, it doesn’t matter how much further you have got to go, because you already made it this far, and it can’t be much further now……then turn right back around and keep on going.

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Trail Dames Hike along the Appalachian Trail near Harpers Ferry, WV

Re-Posted from GainwithoutPain

I joined the Trail Dames for a “beginners” hike along the Appalachian Trail (AT). Trail Dames is a hiking club for women of a curvy nature but it has become a place where all women are welcome!

We took the blue blazed trail from the Appalachian Trail Conservancy to the AT. Once we reached the AT, we turned left and headed north towards Maryland.

Trail Dames at Jefferson Rock

Trail Dames at Jefferson Rock

After you cross the Potomac River, you are in Maryland on the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Canal towpath. This is the only section on the AT where horses are allowed.

Trail Dames on the AT and C&O Canal

Trail Dames on the AT and C&O Canal

Sweetwater Creek State Park- Trail Dames Hike

Posted in Around the House, Hiking with the Trail Dames, Travel Adventures on 01/15/2012 04:56 pm by Donna

Saturday was a super great day as I joined the Trail Dames on a hike through Statewater Creek Park. The 2,000 acre park is located outside of Atlanta and has hiking trails throughout that pass along spots including the George H. Sparks Reservoir and the ruins of a cotton factory destroyed during the Civil War. The hiking paths are easy in some spots and there are some areas where some rock climbing is involved. It was a bit challenging and a whole lot of fun! Cheryl our group leader was so helpful and guided the Dames along the trail, ensuring our safety throughout the hike especially through the boulder section! I met some amazing, strong, funny, women who all enjoy the beauty of nature. We all love laughing and making new friends and that is a good thing!

A quick group photo before we hit the trail.

Gathering together to start our hike. We count out so we know how many Dames are in the group so we can keep track and make sure no one is left behind on our way out.

We begin our hike on the Historic path which will  pass along the New Manchester Manufacturing Company.

This mill was built in 1849 on Sweetwater Creek. The mill produced yarn to form cotton and in 1861, the company had a contract with the Confederate Government to produce the materials for Confederate uniforms. In 1864 with so many men fighting in the Confederate Army, most of the employees of the mill were woman and their children. Sadly those women and children were arrested in July of 1864 when the Union Calvary captured the mill and village all around it. If they agreed to sign an “Oath of Allegiance” to the US Government they were released north of the Ohio River and Indiana. Those that did not sign the oath remained in prison until after the war ended. That my friends is a bit of Georgia history!

Sweetwater Creek

There are so many beautiful boulders all throughout!

One of the terrific things about the Trail Dames is that we have so many knowledgeable women who share the history of the area. Here we are taking a break and soaking up Georgia history.

Hello lovely! I had great love for this one and I gave it a big hug! Hug a tree, it’s good for your soul. Really now! There is even a lesson on how to hug a tree. Check it here!

Moving right along the trail you will find it can you give a bit of a workout as you will find the trail rocky as pictured above.

Here are the Dames, getting their heart rates up! There are several areas where climbing up and up is involved.

We take a few short breaks along the way and when we do, there is beauty all around. I love the color and textures we see all around us.

Trail Dames with Cheryl our guide right up front! Ladies, it was so nice meeting a lot of you for the first time. I so enjoyed our day and look forward to doing it all again soon!

For those interested in the Trail Dames, click here to check us out and click here to see another post from a past adventure I had with them.

It’s all good. ~ Donna

Georgia With the Dames- Part 2

Continuation of SweetPeas’ s Adventures……

Georgia with the Dames (Sat.) – Part 2

At 9:45am we step foot on the trail and start our 1 mile climb up. I hadn’t hiked since the Shennies trip in early October so I was worried I’d fall behind. Luckily, my trail legs didn’t disappear! Joan and I hiked together for the rest of the day. She was kind enough to wait for me on top of the climbs and we would hike down the trail together. At the top of the first climb we caught up to Crystal and her dog Buddy and we all stopped to enjoy the view and take some photos. Crystal and Buddy were just out here for the day and it was Crystal’s first hike. She seemed to be doing really well. Buddy was loving it. She had her tail wagging the entire time and just raced up and down the trail. She would stop when she couldn’t see Crystal and wait for her, but as soon as she caught a glimpse of her mommy, she raced down the trail again. It was so cute. It made me miss my dogs. I learned that Joan was really into the plant life. It was actually pretty cool having someone point out things and teach me something. Like when we hiked by some bamboo plants, normally I would of just walked on by and not thought a second about it, but Joan schooled us on the fact that it was a bamboo native to only the GA mountains. See, I learned something! Joan’s from Oregon, but is a professor at University of GA, where she also does some genetic research. She would sometimes get off the trail to check out an interesting tree or flower. I kept wanting to give her the trail name “Dexter”, like that Hanna Barbera cartoon about the little red headed scientist in the white lab coat. I think the cartoon’s name is actually Dexter’s Labratory. Anyways, we continue on together and see the sign for the shelter. We were told there were some stellar views, so we dropped our packs and decide to hike the .3 miles up the nicely graded trail to check it out. We arrive and notice an open privy on the left and as I yell back to Joan and Crystal to check out the privy, it dawns on my that there’s a pair of boots peaking out from it. Oops! Seems as if we stumbled upon someone doing their business. We quickly look over the shelter, then head back to the view to give the fellow hiker some privacy.

It was a great view, I would highly recommend stopping at Tray Mountain shelter just to check out the view. As we get back to our packs, we see that most of the group has arrived as well as 2 Southbounders!! Buffalo and Eecreats (spelling?). I find out that Eecreats will be the first ITALIAN southbounder to finish the AT. You KNOW I had to ask him about my favorite country on the planet. hahah! He’s sort of a celebrity on the trail, at least that’s how we treated him. hahah! Picture 12 women just oohhing and ahhing over these two southbounders. They were loving it! Sunny offered to get their picture and we all clamored around them for the photo. OH, and I found out the dude in the privy was Rootbeer, another southbounder hiking with Eecreates and Buffalo. So after the photo op, Joan, Crystal, Buddy and I continue down the trail for a couple miles. We decide to have lunch at the top of one of the climbs, which looked to be about 1/2 up. Well, a mile later we were walking down into SWAG of the Blue Ridge Gap where we met some other hikers, one from England and one from Ireland. They were nice enough to take our picture at the SWAG sign 🙂 Well, you all know where there is a GAP, immediately after, is a climb. So we climb up some mountain and climb down into Sassafras Gap, where Joan and I decided to get water at a blue blazed spring. Little did I know I would need some repelling gear to climb steeply down .3 miles for some water. (The down really wasn’t that bad, it’s coming back up that I dread. And it’s especially bitter when the miles don’t count. hahaha!) So we left Crystal up with our packs and we rappelled down to the spring. It was actually a nice, clean, running water spring. Joan and I took turns pumping water thru the filter and finally climbed back up to our packs. When we got to the top, there was no sign of Crystal or Buddy. We think she just decided to finish up since she was just day hiking. So Joan and I continue into camp. We look at our watch and it was only 2:30pm when we arrived into Addison Gap.

We split up to pick some nice camp spots. I choose a couple of nice trees, set up my tarp, hang my hammock, and sit in it a while to relax my feet. About an hour later, in walks Sundai and Diana! They looked pretty worn out so Joan and I help them set up their tents. I realize that their backpacks weigh a ton and that’s why they were so wiped out. Around 4pm, Laura and Lynn walk in, followed by Maggie. The Dames are starting to trickle in. While everone is setting up their tents, Diana decides to pick up some logs/sticks for a campfire and Joan and I go off to hang a couple of ropes for bear bagging. She’s never done it before and it’s one of my least favorite camp chores to do, so… yeah. I take advantage of the situation and tell Joan she should practice. hhahah! Seriously, after she weighted down one end of the rope with some twigs, she had 2 bear bag ropes up in less then 10 minutes. It was so cute to see how excited she was to get it over the tree limb. We high fived after each successful toss and she had the biggest ear to ear grin. When we got back to the campsite Diana had a nice little fire going. I helped her stack the logs around to keep the fire going and to create some really good coals. By 5:pm, I was getting a bit worried about SHOE and her group. SHOE, as the leader of the trip, held up the rear and made sure everyone made it safely to camp. It was almost completely dark when they finally pulled into camp. By this time, everyone else was pretty much set up and starting to make dinner. She went off to get water, while Joan and I put up another bear bag rope. This time I threw one up and it was pretty sloppy. Instead of redoing it like we should of, we let our stomachs take over. So off we went to make some dinner. I was starving! As everyone was making/eating dinner (SHOE and Kelly filtered water)guess who night hikes with her headlamp on into camp. Mud Butt! YAY! She is in such a cheery mood, it’s hard not to smile when you hear her. The best part, she brought in everything you need to make S’Mores!!! Whoo hoo! I walk over to hug and say hello. While she is busy setting up her camp, I go and bear bag my food.

As we are enjoying the S’mores 🙂 and chit chatting around the campfire, Jen and her family hike in. Jen works at Mountain Crossings Outfitters and attempted to thru hike last year. After they set up, they start making dinner. Talk about a yummy dinner. SHOE and I looked at one another and she says, “we are doing that next time we’re in the Smoky’s” and believe me, we are SO doing that. Jen had marinated some steak, skewered it, and cooked it on the campfire. After a while, the fire started to die out and most of us called it a night. I didn’t realize how warm the fire had kept me until I started walking back to my hammock. I checked my thermometer and it said it was around 35-40 degrees. Chilly night! I slipped on my down vest, jumped into my warm hammock, and drifted off to sleep. I slept sooo good that night. The next morning I woke up around 6:30am and just laid in my warm hammock til I heard some of the others moving around. Stay tuned for tomorrows adventure. Til then, GET OUTDOORS!

Stay tuned for part 3!!

Trail Dames Hike ~ Vickery Creek Trail

Posted in Hiking with the Trail Dames, Photography, Travel Adventures on 02/19/2012 11:27 am by Donna

Yesterday I joined the Trail Dames for another hiking adventure. Vickery Creek Trail is located in Roswell, Georgia. The creek formed on the property of a mixed-blood Cherokee woman named Vickery. Sadly she was forced to move west with the rest of the Cherokee nation on the forced march know as the “Trail of  Tears”. The creek name is her lasting legacy.

The weather was cool and comfortable and the trail was a moderate 6.3 mile loop. I enjoyed the laughter and conversations along the trail and after the hike, I joined a group of Dames for lunch at Chaplain’s in Roswell Mill. I carried my Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L on this hike. I have been using this lens on hikes lately so I have the ability to zoom out for group shots. It is a bit heavier to carry around but very versatile for hiking.

Hello there! A fellow Dame was kind enough to snap this photo so I could be included in this group shot. There I am, sitting on the right side of the bench, wearing my Trail Dames t-shirt!

For more information on the Trail Dames, please click here. I added hiking with Trail Dames in my category listing on my left side bar, so if you would like to see other hikes and photos I have taken, please take a look there.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you the sweetest day!

It’s all good. ~ Donna