Frosty Pisgah’s Trees

ByMichael Goatbells

A cold morning around 30 degrees with possible sunshine after the fog … snow at lower elevations in the foothills, and Ridgeline Trail hiked last week. I decided to head to Mt Pisgah for a solid ramble around the hill.

I left North TH around 7:00 with headlamp on and went to Pisgah Summit arriving just prior to sunrise. The fog hadn’t lifted, but Pisgah was above it

After going down toward the East TH and returning the Pisgah summit, the morning light showed the heavy frost and dew even with the fog

The sun tried to burn away the fog around mid-morning, but the fog rolled back in

Do you use Merlin? Have any funny stories about using it? Today, I heard an almost red-tail hawk cry, but knew it was a Stellar Jay (I could see it too) …I took out Merlin, and it returned “Red-tail Hawk”. Then I clicked my tongue a few times to get the jay to sing again… Merlin said “black-capped chickadee” … 2 boo-boos.

The Route

Started at North TH went to the summit 4x and avoided Trail 1 and the area around Arboretum. Spent most time on Trail 2 and 4.

Trail conditions were perfect; 1 stream to walk across on rocks and one blow-down that had a step over.

1 human beyond Trail 1 until 11:00 and then they were everywhere and over half the dogs unleashed. Really? … The only animals were a group of very skittish birds – complete opposite behaviors as those around the golf course.

Data Geek Cellar

Key milestone for 2025, 200 carbon ratio hours banked and 1,200 miles hiked. Over the last 5 years, 5,900 miles. This was a checklist hike after seeing how close I was to 1,200 … I hiked just enough.

  • Shoes: Altra TIMP
  • Pack: Gossamer Gear Grit (New Pack)
  • Upper Layers: base layer, mid-weight Calpine and SkyGOAT fleece
  • Upper shell: none
  • Trekking Poles: Gossamer Gear
  • Approximate Times: 6:45 – 13:00
  • Carbon ratio: 4.7 hours (1.5 hours driving: 6.20 hours hiking); YTD = 200 hours banked
  • Miles hiked YTD: 1200
  • Notes:
    • Photos: medium
    • Speed: moderate
    • Difficulty: moderate – elevation gain
    • Weather: 30s and fog