Date: 2007-04-12
From: Nantahala Outdoor Center

To: Nantahala Outdoor Center
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

well, all you sea levelers....its time to leave the land of clean sheets...endless hot coffee...delicious 1/2 lb burgers...and cold beverages of any choice....its time to go uphill....so while all of you are building and selling houses....sitting in front of that pc screen....watching judge judy...wondering why that professor is so weird...or working with the homeboys to perfect that new handsign that will knock the chicks dead....we shall be seeing the most beautiful views in america...(while always seeking the best tree to assist our body functions)it is 5:30 am...and i am gulping the last chance NON-instant coffee...while cujo sleeps..we have come pretty far...from the early days of comedic tent construction...lol...to a semi-precisionlike tent team...it goes kinda like this...i dump off the tyvac, tent, and stakes..we pop up the tent...i get the mattresses and sleeping bags to cujo in our new one-night home...cujo does some magic that transforms the interior into a palace, while i am finding the appropriate tree for bear bag hanging...getting the stove and food thing going....and making sure we have enough water for the night (to chase the ibuprofin)...we throw into the new tent home lights, pocketmail(on which i am typing ...on the worlds smallest damn keyboard)...all our guides and maps...toiletries (in case of that moonlight call),and the most IMPORTANT item of camping----EARPLUGSlet me share what i have learned..usually, no matter WHERE you tent...you will have neighbors..and while i have been known to snore (cujo is on the cutting edge of new age earplugs...knows every style and owns 3 pair of each)i am a mere novice....a rookie in this international snoring world...this was first brought to my attention when hangman bragged about his earplugs...the kind connected by string...looking more like ear tampons...the necessity for his plugs was simple---SNEAKERTRAMP...while my nightly noise is sporatic yet annoying...loud in brief but agonizing swallows of time....sneaker is STEADY...almost rhythmic in a freaky way....most audible in the early mornings.....from 3ish on...and on...and on...until his little confused head pops out of his hubba tent...as if apologetic of his last evening's song....and wanting to again be the little munchkin everyone loves.....what i am saying is that noises from tents 30 yards away are astounding in their volumne...thus many hiker deaths are prevented by earplugs....including mine i am sure....carrol dukes would be killed on the first night out here....and i must admit that i use them to...religiously..you see, after night falls ALL manner of noises are heard from inside the tent..and i always thought bears...(probably just possums or raccoons sniffing around)..so to alleviate this fear (along with sneakertramp's noise)...i am pluggerso as you get ready to enjoy your 2 days per week vacation...chase the little white ball....clean the house.....cut the grass (barth...i hope),watch more mindless tv...endure another set of smoky bars where everyone is gussied up...we, today will be climbing to 5000' ..but over the first 8 hours....so it sounds gradual....(tell my feet)...hoping to get an early start and get in 12 to 14 miles....and wind up near sweetwater gap....the guide shows water and camping there, but wingfoot's book doesn't...strange how publications differ...anyway, our plans are to burst out of here...hit fontana dam sunday afternoon in time to get a room, wash clothes, restock and get bounce box on monday when the sorryass post office opens, and attack the smokies monday....got 7 days of food for that, so the next 19 days will be interesting...farewell to you folks for a while...phone we have is digital, and this pocketmail thingy as analog as they come...so uploading from the trail has not been successsful yet...cujo is up...and looking for the bodyglide...a substance that comes in a form similar to a stick of deodorant that you spread on those places that might get blisters or chapped...we shant go into those places now...happy trails to you allWhitebear and CujoKen and Pat