Gary Allman

Pictures of Gary Allman — If you don’t see me in one of the pictures below it means I’m featured in a picture in the post.

Eclipse glasses — Ginger and Gary ready for the annular eclipse, in Odessa, Texas. Annular Eclipse Trip Day Four. +7

Testing, testing. One, two, three — Two outpatient visits to the hospital today for some tests. Ultrasound in the morning, and my annual cardiology checkup in the afternoon. All my results were good. In a little experiment, I used AI to obfuscate the personal information in the image. It makes a nice change from pixelating it.

Bowed — before I threw away the bowed worktop I’d set aside as a workbench top, I decided to check how bad it was: 5/16-inch over 36 inches. No, I wasn’t going to be able to use it for anything, so into the trash, it went.

Lanie’s been in Europe since December. It’s been my job to give her car a run out every now and then while she’s gone. One has to do these things in style 🙂 +1

Photograph of Gary Allman at the Pineview Trailhead, Piney Creek Wilderness, Missouri, USA. July 2023.

Trip over — Three nights and four days by the lake. I left a day early as I didn’t fancy hiking out in the 90°F+ temps forecast for Monday. +1

Just sitting and watching — That’s pretty much how I spent four days. The cup of tea was optional. +2

Photograph of Gary Allman sitting in a camp chair with a pot of food. Camped in Piney Creek Wilderness, Missouri, USA. July 2023.

Noodles for lunch.

Photograph of Gary Allman sitting at a campfire, Piney Creek Wilderness, Missouri, USA. July 2023.

Campfire — It is very rare for me to have a campfire nowadays. But I’d collected the wood, so I might as well use it and keep the fire ring clean.

We have plans … It’s been a great nine years with the diocese (how did that happen?), but now it is time to move on to new ventures.

I had just crossed Paddy Creek Road for the second time today.

Lunch in the shade by Paddy Creek.

Gary (and company) at the Paddy Creek scenic overlook. +1

Gary, about to cross Paddy Creek Road — The Big Piney Trail has three road crossings. I’m about to cross Paddy Creek Road, and if things go according to plan, I’ll be crossing it again a few miles further on and after lunch.

Starting Out — Hiking the Big Piney Trail Clockwise. I’ve taken a day off so that I can spend three days on a slow hike of the 16-mile loop of the Big Piney Trail in Paddy Creek Wilderness. Unlike previous trips, it is forecast to rain on the first day, not the last. +1

Back at the Trailhead — Two nights, 18.5 miles, and 1400 ft. of elevation. It took me a smidge under two hours to hike the four-and-something miles from ‘Cab Creek’ to the Tower Trailhead. One-minute read

Preparing and eating lunch — time to have some lunch before getting on the trail. And finally the sun has come out! +1

Packing away — It rained quite a lot last night and the drips were still falling from the trees, so I kept the tarp up while I packed everything away.

Lollygagging — it was quite cold early in the morning, I was glad I bought my big puffy jacket and some base layer pants to wear.

This wasn’t my plan for the weekend. Day One — Gary at the Pole Hollow trail Junction. Orange hat because it is turkey hunting season. Two-minute read, +1

Hike over, obligatory end of hike selfie — Trip total, a very modest 10.5 miles and 1,000 ft. of elevation gain.

I’m in no rush … I don’t need to be home until this evening, and it’ll only take around two hours to hike back to the trailhead. I might as well relax for a while.

Ooh look, there are newish blazes on this trail too. Note the buff to keep my ears warm.

Blazes? I’ll take some stinking blazes! It was a Windy, cold but bright start to the day. Back on the Ridge Runner/North Fork Loop trail, and there are some new blazes. There’s a chance I may find the trail Junction I’ve been searching for.

Camped among short leaved pines for a change — I like camping among the pines, but it was windy and watching the tops of these 100 Ft. tall trees whip around, did make me wonder how much of a good idea that was. I’m still here, so it can’t have been bad choice.

Another evening, another trailhead — I am at County Road CC Trailhead in Ozark County to be precise. I have a couple of hours before it gets dark to get to my planned campsite and set up camp for the night. That shouldn’t be a problem as I’m only going a mile or so.

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