Date: 2007-01-07
To: Pre Hikes
Miles today: 0.0

Thought I would talk a little about some of my recent hikes. The first that I went on was in TN from Highway 91 to Dennis cove in September. I think it was about 33 miles. I walked it in 3 days. One thing that I took away from this trip is that "Deluxe" macaroni sure does have a lot of sodium and in order to eat it all you need about 2 quarts of water. Finished with a swim at Laurel falls. It was using all of my old original gear. The good ole 9 year old Kelty Red Cloud backpack. A true favorite of any backpacker, well until they started making the light, comfortable stuff. My second trip was a 20 mile 3 day hike ( 2 miles in the dark after work the first day) from Chestoa Bridge in Erwin to Iron MTN gap. My dad met up with me 4 miles into the second day. We had a hard hike over the top of Unaka. Very cool spot. Highland pines, Much like the pics I've seen of ME. We hiked 8 miles together and stayed at Cherry gap shelter. Great fire that night. Finished another great trip the next day. The Third trip was an overnight in TN in October from Highway 19e to Carver's Gap ( Roan MTN). I hiked in , in the dark after work about 3 miles. I took one of my dogs with me, ella, a 40 pound lab mix. If you check out my pics at picasa, you'll see how tired she was after 13 miles. So that night after walking in I cooked dinner. While eating, I think that ella got scared because she buried my food bag. I think that she was saying "Hey fool, I don't know how long we're goin to be out here, but my ass is goin to be prepared." So it was about 24F when I finished dinner. Nothin else to do but go to bed. I think it was about 7:30 PM. I had the dog in the tent with me. I woke up once and she was shivering, so I got my polypro out and covered her up. I woke up again later and ella was still shivering. Well, what was the next step. OOOOOhhh Yeaaaaah (said in a Barry White, Lou Rawls sorda way) dog goes in the sleeping bag. I slept good after that. It got down to 18F that night. I woke up, packed up and walked to the top of Hump Mtn. 360 degrees of pure East TN beauty. As you can see this Scottish Highland was up near the top with some cows to keep the grass down. The whole time I was wondering just how fast he could run and if I could beat him back to the gate. He stomped the ground a few times but never ran at me. Finshed a great hard 12 mile day.My next trip was over Thanksgiving. Tuna and noodles served me just fine. I starterd at Sam's gap and hiked torward Hot Springs. 44 mile trip, 4 days, 3 nights. First day I hiked 11 miles into Flint MTN shelter. I was determined to have a fire on thanksgiving. The fire pit was a little to close to the over hang of the shelter. I enjoyed the fire at the table, but once into the shelter enough was enough, and ended the fire with water. The next day I hiked 12.7 to Little Laurel shelter. Again saw no one that day. Beautiful views from Blackstaff Cliffs. Next day My dad Hiked in from Allen gap for a day hike. Brought me one of Mom's good samiches (sandwich) Mustard perfectly to every corner. How does she do it?! He had about a 6 mile day, I had an 11 mile day. After Allen gap I met up with 2 High school dudes from Myrtle Beach out for a night and 4 college guys with their dad. It felt to out pace and out hike all of them. It's my competitive nature left over from racing bicycles. We all ended up at the same camping spot at Rich MTN fire tower. The college guys had a saw, so i knew that was going to be a great fire. I advised them to only cut stuff already down. No cooking for me that night. The college dudes had burritos, and the high school guys and pita pizzas. Of couse I didn't hit them up for one of those until that had making them down pat. The cigar smoking Lawyer dad offered me some Scotch, explaining that it was the drink of "gentleman". I declined. I explained to him that the drink of Southern Gentleman is Kentucky Whiskey. LOL Woke up to see the sunrise the next morning form Rich MTN fire tower. I could see Asheville, about 50 miles away. My dad hiked in to meet me walking to Hot Springs. Another great Trip. The most scenic so far. Be sure to check my pics at google.