What did we get ourselve into on Wesser Creek Trail

6/10 run/hike 3 hours 43 mins on Wesser Creek Trail in New Balance MT101's with a fully loaded 100oz CamelBak Lobo

HR avg 110 max 152

I guess I should have read the description before haplessly agreeing to the +1's plan.  The description states, "Hiking up to Wesser Bald and back (5 miles each way) is an all day affair requiring a lunch, plenty of water and lots of stamina."  She didn't tell me to bring lunch!  We started off with a nice run, not realizing what happens after the first mile.  I guess I should have figured out what was going to happen when she told me we were to finish with magnificent views of the surrounding countryside.  After the first mile we began the climbing and switchback after switchback through overgrown vegetation.  No one else was on the trail and at points, it looked like no one had been on the trail in a LONG time.  A few parts were completely overgrown.  We did get some magnificent views and photos.  Thank goodness we didn't turn around.  There were two distinct points where we thought we were lost or confused about the distance.  I believe the actual distance is about 10 miles even though my garmin recorded 8 and my Timex got 8.5, which I think is the result of a combination of tree cover, elevation and switchbacks.  A peek at the gps data confirms this, as it resembles the result of an unsupervised 2 year old with a red crayon.  The +1 took so many beautiful pictures on this hike I wish I could share them all.  This trail is one of the most beautiful I've been on, but unless your name is Anton (get well soon!) I wouldn't say it's very runnable.  Here's a sample:

Our faithful steed survived a hailstorm and bottoming out on countless rocky dirt roads

Ohh, I guess that looks kind of like a trail!

I totally wanted to climb across these logs

What could possibly go wrong?

Honey says no... hence I am still alive to write this post

Just stunning

The canopy

A huge tree's roots had cut into the rock causing it to fall

Shot of me monkeying around for scale

This was before we realized how much climbing was ahead

so many beautiful water features

This was the coolest miniature waterfall

Made it to the Appalachian Trail intersection!

Mountain Laurel was in full bloom

So this is what they meant by "overlook"

Speechless

Mountain's Majesty

It's worth it, but bring a lunch ;-)