Land Between the Lakes-Feb14-16 South se ction

“We'll be heading up on Friday to cover the South section of the North-South Trail. This a great trail with plenty of wildlife to view. We are going to start at the South Welcome Station and hike to the Golden Pond visitors center. The worst elevation gain is 200 feet(not much).

It's unofficially called the "1st Annual Dodder Birthday Hike." He has been stuck in retail hell and can finally go hiking. Anyone is welcome to join. We start hiking in TN and finish in KY.”

“Welcome back from Retail Hell, Dodder!”

“You da man.It's about time your back.Happy birthday.Would love to go on the hike but already booked.Next time.”

“but I am heading to Philly and will be doing some mileage on the AT that weekend...Have a blast.

Catch ya the following weekend on the Walkindude LBL trip.”

“Schedule? Is this on the trips page?”

“yep, it's there chili”

“I want to go, but I can't take Friday off, which puts me either late Friday night trying to find y'all or early Saturday morning.”

“bbinkley, I'd still like to get together with some TTers for a trip. I couldn't make the Red Gorge trip but I might be able to make this one.

I'm a strong maybe though. I'm backpacking this weekend in the Hoosier and I'm not sure I can convince my wife that I need to go two weekends in a row.”

“There are several roads that cut across the north/south trail. Where we are staying at on friday night is close to one of those roads. We will be about 300 to 500 yards from the road. Very easy to find. Amy might be coming in on Friday night as well. It is alot easier to find then the big south fork place that we stayed at.”

“This will be a great hike.
If you've never hiked with dodder, this guy is freakin hillarious.

Hope you can make it.”

“Shew - good! Where can I get your itenary. I read it before, but I can't find it now. I looked on the Trips page...”

“it's on the trips page. but we will stay at Iron Mountain Campsite on Friday night.

Go down the Trace and turn on 221 and go til you see the Fire tower on your left about 2 miles from the trace. You'll see a gravel road going to the fire tower. You can park there and then from there it is a couple of hundred yards. You should be able to see the campfire just past the fire tower.”

“We are going to have a great time........stories, rauncy trivia and other surprises... A "something" may even jump out of my cake.”

“flip of the coin...Sipsy/LBL,,,I have to think on this one, but if I go, I will essentially be on the late Friday Schedule as well.”

“Sipsey is a lot of bushwhackin....you can whack Binkley on this hike.....”

“I don't know about that.”

“come up for the north side trek with Walkindude? If you are, maybe you can pick up the permits for those not going with you on your southern trip...just an idea to save WD from makin a long trip to pick up permits for everyone...I have mine already.”

“not sure at this point whether i can make that one also. I already have a permit as well.”

“I need to find a map. I think I will make this one. I was at Sipsey last week and have been wanting to make a LBL hike.”

“here's a map

North/South Trail Map”

“If I can make it, I'll also be coming in on Friday night”

“bbinkley,

Do I need trail permits for this one? If so, where do I get them?”

“any of the welcome stations. i could get one for you in exchange for a little miller lite”

“It looks like I am in for this one. Will know by middle of next week if I will be there Friday morning or Friday evening. If I am coming in late, I will bring a 30 pack.”

“How soon would you need to know to pick one up for me?”

“IJ, I will go ahead and get two. I don't think it will go to waste..LOL.”

“just let me know if you need a permit. dodder has to get one. i'm sure we can grab another while we're up there”

“binks, I will probably leave Memphis around two or so...I will be pushing it to get there before the office closes...go ahead and get me one.”

“ok you got it.

john and chili- send me your vehicle info and names and address and stuff.”

“also, if you call them they will send you a free map and stuff.”

“thanks, will call today”

“and the permit is good for a year.”

“I think I'm out on this one. Friday is Valentines Day. My wife just got over bronchitis so she doesn't want to do any hiking yet.

I think I'd better take her out to dinner and treat her like the wonderful woman that she is. (Even though this is a Hallmark Holiday)”

“The only place you can get a permit is at Golden Pond Visitors Center. North & South welcome stations are closed for the season. They are $10.00 and can only be bought there. I just called to see if I could buy mine through the mail. Answer- Nope.
You can have someone buy it for you. All they need is your name and address.”

“I might be getting squeezed out of this too.

In fact, I might be out of the hiking business for another month or so. Work commitments.”

“chili- WTF??”

“Chili, Your job sucks!”

“and he is suppose to bring the 30 pack”

“yeah, sometimes we get in a crunch, I just signed about $500K in contracts last week and we have another $2.5M in bids coming in,,,looks like I can make my budget by April, which makes the rest of the year gravy...

Can you spell B.O.N.U.S.?”

“WOOOHOOOOO! Chili's buying the beer!”

“So are you gonna buy yourself a shiny new Viking helmet?”

“If you've got the year made then there is no reason you shouldn't go with us. I was looking forward to my share of those 30 brews....which is about 24. You are going to miss me making TunaBoy blush.”