My sunbathing was interrupted by a pack of horses crossing the creek, which confirmed my suspicion that there was a trail on the other side. This was good because when I’d spotted the chairs in the mud across the lake yesterday I’d thought that a picture of me sitting in one might make a fitting last 365 photograph. And so it turned out. Ginger declined my invitation to join me for my last picture – though we did try a few and they ended up on the cutting room floor. For a tripod I used one of the rusting chairs supported by my hiking pole. Close inspection showed that the chairs – like a lot of things in the Ozarks had been used for target practice at some point, as each had several bullet holes.

Despite it looking very calm down by the lake, we could hear the wind ripping through the trees high above on the ridges.

To tie off some loose ends.

The end of our trip

Overnight the wind shifted enabling it to blow down the valley and several trees came down – though none near us, we’d checked the trees near our tent quite carefully, and moved the tent earlier in the day because we didn’t like the look of one nearby tree. In the morning we had a leisurely start to the new year, and took a gamble on a trail that isn’t marked on the map to hike out – Our guess as to where the trail came out turned out to be correct, and we had a fairly easy hike of two and a half miles with a 730 foot climb back to the van, where we celebrated with a new year / end of hike beer.

The end of this blog

That’s it for my second full 365 days. I’m not going to do another as I’ve found the self portrait format too restrictive this time around, and heaven knows the world doesn’t need anymore pictures of me taken late at night, standing by a wall or sitting at my desk. Once more I’ve enjoyed the record this project has created, but I can’t say I’ve always enjoyed the process of making it. I’ve had far too much time invested in this when I have other pressing things I ought to be dealing with. I wish I’d managed to get more people involved, but it is what it is.

What’s Next

Right now I’m cogitating what I’m going to do next blog-wise. I still have my Photo blog, and there’s also our blog Breakfast in America, which has been languishing in the shadows of this blog for the past year. So I’m going to take a few days out to decide what to do next, because right now I’m enjoying not having to take a self portrait each day. I still have a couple of posts to add – monthly summaries for October through December. Hopefully when I do that I’ll also be able to reveal whatever new projects I’m embarked upon.

January 01 2012 - Gary and Ginger enjoy an end of hike beer

January 01 2012 - Gary and Ginger stop for a drink and snack on the way back to the Pines View Tower trailhead

Gary enjoying the view (taken by Ginger)

New Year's Eve - toasting tootsies by an open fire

Piney Creek Campsite

Table Rock Lake Entrance to Piney Creek

Piney Creek arm of Table Rock Lake

View towards Piney Creek

31 December 2011 | 365:365 | 365 Days blog | Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman

December 31, 2011 | Categories: Backpacking, Camping, Hiking, Remote Shutter Release, Wilderness and trails | Tags: 365 Days, Backpacking, Camping, Gary Allman, Hiking, Nikon D7000, Photography, Piney Creek Wilderness, Self Portrait, Table Rock Lake | Leave A Comment »