I'm back and man am I tired!

“oh.. it may be cos of too many ppl mike.”

“Love the smokies, even in the rain. Heck its always raining. Looks like good kids.”

“LUV this pic!!

http://66.177.147.139:8080/pictures/bsa302.asp?curpage=74”

“Yeah, Madman is running a Access database and is limited to the number of hits it allows. I've talked to him and he's going to port over to SQL soon and that problem will go away.

Sorry gang.”

“oOOooooo.. luv the fog..

http://66.177.147.139:8080/pictures/bsa302.asp?curpage=87”

“the caption reads.. dont try anything bud, or i will pull out my pressurized gas cylinder and vaporize you..

http://66.177.147.139:8080/pictures/bsa302.asp?curpage=94”

“oh awesome.. didn't realize you went to mollies ridge!”

“We try to document everything.”

“http://66.177.147.139:8080/pictures/bsa302.asp?curpage=114

wow.. and after it rained.. it turned cold?”

“http://66.177.147.139:8080/pictures/bsa302.asp?curpage=118

oh so kewl!!.. a compost pile beside the privy?”

“Actually it's a compsting privy. You "flush" with leaves.”

“Those creeks sure will come up on you, won't they? Looks like it was a great hike! Hey, at least it didn't snow this time.”

“Ummm well, does ice count?
remember the photo of the digital thermometer? Those were snowflakes on it.”

“I'm thinking of the snowstorm you got caught in last year. Maybe I should say, at least it didn't snow like that.”

“I know, I know, I'm just messin' around.

It was cool, the guys got a taste of almost every season.

Reminds me of the last crew meeting about the trip.

Me "The Smokies are very changeable this time of year. Be prepared for a wide range of conditions."

The parents "Like what?"

The boys roll their eyes.

Me "You know, the usual; Snow, ice, cold, heat, wind, lightning, rain, sun, fog and the occaisional act of God."

The boys "Cool."

The parents "Acts of God?!?"”

“Oh yeah! Been on both sides of that conversation!

I do love the Smokies.”

“Nice pictures, HPM. (Looked at them right after you posted the link, so I got through OK.)

All the rain reminded me as to why I seldom go there in the Spring anymore. Too much a likelyhood of lots of rain and/or an Act of God! Once I even spent three days at CS#11, Beard Cane, holed up in a leaking one-man tent. It is a great site for hearing nighttime animal noises.

CS#13, Sheep Pen Gap, always reminds me of a pre-historic dinosaur park. Those old, downed tree-trunks are enchanting.

Special thanks for the pictures of Rocky Top and the views from there. (I still need to hike between Spence Field and Derrick Knob.) Is that the same Rocky Top, Tennessee, that is mentioned in the song Rocky Top?”

“That's the one.”

“Thanks. I'm playing it now, by the Univ. Of Tennessee Marching Band.”

“nice pics - btw what is going to be the caption on #130 - the three leaf plant ?”

“When Suron got home we popped some popcorn and watched the slideshow (again for me). Nice show.

Sauron and I would like to venture the guess that slide #130 is poison oak?”

“It's not poison ivy or oak, just looks like it. I forgot the name of the plant' it's in my plant guide at home, and I'm not there! It had me fooled on several trips. It's obviously an evergreen, as poison ivy is still dormant at this time of year. I'll post later with the correct name, unless somebody beats me.”

“Looks like you had fun, I only saw about 75 of your photos then I relize I got stuff to do. But from what I saw, it looked like fun.”

“It's always fun Tea.
You'll have to join us sometime.”