AT loop, Virginia. October 12-14th.

“Running girl, boy and I are going to do a loop from Hog Camp Gap to to Porters Field on the AT and back on the Railroad Trail. This trip includes the best views in the Pedlar District of the George Washington National Forest. Tar Jacket Ridge (an open ridge) Cold Mountain and Spy Rock. Colors will be right about at peak. Most of this hike will be between 3500-4000 feet. Anyone interested in details and map send me an email at mccracdb@msn.com.”

“Have fun - I won't be able to make this one however - sounds like a good hike - watch out for Murphy (grin)”

“btw the low bush with the seeds and apparently next year's flower buds on upright flower stalks that we saw in Saint Mary's Wilderness is most likely Pieris floribunda, "Fetterbush" see the link for some pics: Pieris floribunda”

“lets try that again: Pieris floribunda”

“ok I give up - C&P it : http://www.hort.uconn.edu/plants/p/pieflo/pieflo1.html”

“This AT loop trip is going to be awesome. About 2 miles total of open bald trail with 100 mile views (on a clear day you can see McAfee Knob from Cole Mountain). It is near Lexington, VA.

Thanks HOI. I'll look for it in the spring also to see how it looks when in bloom.”

“hhhmmmmmm. Try this one. It is the map furthest right.”

“The ”

“hhhhhmmmmm. that was supposed to be a link to the weather”

“hey baume! i have a question. what time are you guys planning to start hiking on Saturday morning? i'm having some glitches in my plans, and am trying to figure out if maybe driving down really early on Saturday would be better than getting there on Friday. i think we wouldn't get there until it was dark...eewww.”

“How's y'alls trip going?.. You got your laptop linked up to your cell phone?

*s*”

“we're supposed to go tomorrow, duh! ;-)”

“Have fun Y'all”

“lyra, we're going to hike up to the bald on cole mountain saturday morning. this will have us leaving hog camp gap to go over tar jacket ridge around 10 a.m. if you can't get there by then you can try to catch up from there or you can meet us at salt log gap (there is parking there also). you get there the same way as going to hog camp gap only stay on 634 instead of taking 755 at the split (634 will be the road to the left). salt log gap is on the other side of tar jacket ridge from hog camp gap. tar jacket ridge is one of the balds, so if you can make this section you'll be in for a treat. the map shows the roads. it is the map on the right. click on it and it will come up. click on it again and it will open in its own window and you can see it good. see you there.”

“we're outta here, hope to see you there lyra, cheryl and tarpie(?)”

“Holy Dookie! This was not as easy as Baume promised. It was our boy's first overnighter and Baume had us all over the durn mountain. Up, over, around, down. Sheeesh! We ran into some crazy weather. The winds on the ridge only made the driving rain drive faster. I am not a small girl (with a pack on I weigh 170 pounds) and I thought I was going to be blown off the side of the mountain. And the visibility was about 10 feet (NO KIDDING). The fog was so dense. It was spooky. It was like that ALL day Sunday. We put in about 8 miles and we were all hap,hap,happy to see the car.”

“Are you whining runningirl? LOL”

“YOU BET”

“I once took my then 9 year old daughter to Mt. Mitchell in July and it was so cold and raining so hard that I was thinking that we might get Hypo-thermia.We stopped on the trail covered up as best we could with the wind blowing as hard as it was and mt daughters reply was "It isn't going to stop Dad, lets just go"! We perceded to the car soaked to the bone and freezing and laughing at how miserable we looked.Will be a moment frozen in time forever.”

“With the way that the wind and rain were blowing we were really lucky that it was warm. Colder temperatures and there would be no question as to whether I was whinning or not. I think the conditions only added to my son's sense of "survival" today.”

“And he will remember it forever!!!”

“running girl - how was the Railroad Trail as compaired with the AT? Was the view good from Spy RocK? (as the chant goes up for a trip report .. trip report ..... trip report)”

“running girl!! we went!! how'd we miss you? was Sunday like fresh hell, or what?!? hehehe...actually, i'm really glad i went :-) it was absolutely beautiful...took lotsa pics. but yeah, i could not WAIT to get back to the car Sunday!!
i saw your all's car there, we got there at like 10:30 instead of 10 on Saturday, and thought we could catch up. they don't call you running girl fer nuttin!
did you see my car? i've got a deadhead sticker on a cadil--okay, on a black saturn. parked sideways.”

“running girl!! we went!! how'd we miss you? was Sunday like fresh hell, or what?!? hehehe...actually, i'm really glad i went :-) it was absolutely beautiful...took lotsa pics. but yeah, i could not WAIT to get back to the car Sunday!!
i saw your all's car there, we got there at like 10:30 instead of 10 on Saturday, and thought we could catch up. they don't call you running girl fer nuttin!
did you see my car? i've got a deadhead sticker on a cadil--okay, on a black saturn. parked sideways.”

“testing...”

“.... one.... two....”

“that was weird! sorry...”

“Hi lyra, Yes, I saw your car. At least I think I did. My eyes were filled with tears of joy at the sight of our own car.”

“Also, at around 2:00 I was getting out of my soaking wet clothes in the back of the Bronco. I mooned two girls (quite by accident) and they laughed. Was that you???? Did my arse scare you off?”

“i'll post a report and photos before too long. got school tonight, so maybe tomorrow.”

“LOL, running girl!! nope, wasn't us...we didn't get back to the car until like 3:30 or so. the same thing happened to Cheryl, though! she was standing outside the car, getting out of her wet stuff, and she mooned a car, hehehe :-)

it's too bad i didn't get to meet yous guys, i was looking forward to it...next time :-)

i'll post pics and stuff too...soon.”

“I think this might be part of the reason for the hack!”

“hack?”