mount rogers, va - november 2003

“4:30!! CRACK!! what's w/ that?”

“It will probably be closer to 5 Pat”

“Trekkngirl ,why so dang early...geesh

Karo is Tanya a memeber of Tenn Trails. I wonder if she is the same one I know?”

“Gotta get there girl??..I donno : )”

“Yeah she probably is. She has been a member for a while. I just joined TTA myself. Great bunch down here. Tanya Juday is her name. She is about as big as Yam. But she is a bundle of energy!”

“yep I know her, we did the begineers backpacking trip with Tenn Trails in April 2002”

“Have you heard from TWE yet? I'm about to crash, will try tomorrow.”

“oi!i think karo is insinuating i am a big bump on the log!!!”

“Great I get to bp with the dude, Ewker, Yam, trekngirl,Little Bit,TWE, stikmon, baume, and others!”

“No way yam, you are the greatest!”

“hee hee. thanks karo!! see ya friday!!”

“Karo, please dont make yam's head swell, it wont fit in my Jeep friday morning”

“:-( ewker.”

“lolol”

“I still likes you Yam ;)”

“:-) see ya friday mr. eddy!!!”

“mmmmmm”

“I will be leaving thurs after an exam so I will be able to do some hikin fri perhaps Greyson to old orchard then sat pine mountain to rod gap sun to greyson. I have fresh cheese cake with fresh blackberrys, I may share! LOL
Salmon alfredo, for sat nights meal.Of course Blue cheese and olives for my snack Sat. I am hungry. Wish me luck on this civil service test. Last one I took, I placed #2.
New gear, Boots, tent, Gortex gators. Bring wind gear, Balds can be very windy and cold! Yo bear! See ya all fri.
I will most likly camp thurs SR58 out of damacus toward greyson highlands.
Check list: Dog mace, Pistol, Leash! LOL”

“I will be leaving thurs after an exam so I will be able to do some hikin fri perhaps Greyson to old orchard then sat pine mountain to rod gap sun to greyson. I have fresh cheese cake with fresh blackberrys, I may share! LOL
Salmon alfredo, for sat nights meal.Of course Blue cheese and olives for my snack Sat. I am hungry. Wish me luck on this civil service test. Last one I took, I placed #2.
New gear, Boots, tent, Gortex gators. Bring wind gear, Balds can be very windy and cold! Yo bear! See ya all fri.
I will most likly camp thurs SR58 out of damacus toward greyson highlands.
Check list: Dog mace, Pistol, Leash! LOL
Of course A hangin rope. Hope all K9s behave! LOL Mohaaaaaaaaaaa!”

“good luck on your test.”

“Good luck on your test..”

“hey, whoever gets to the shelter first on friday, save me a spot to sleep if at all possible please. it will sleep 6 i think. i don't snore too much.”

“ok, so I'm fairly new to the hunting stuff. Should I be getting something in a voilent shade of orange to wear on this trip?”

“y2,

Try brown, maybe some camo. If they can't see you, thay can't shoot you.





;-)

j/k, bright colors are good.”

“looks like some rain is in the forecast for Sat morning”

“Ewker, did you ever figure how you got ahead of us (Pensy, baume and myself) on the trail out the last time we were on Mt. Rogers?”

“Meet me at The Ole Barn bike shuttle and restaurant. It's on the north end of town on the right just past the Subway. I'll be there hangin out around noon.”

“Thanks David, we will meet you there at lunchtime.”

“BS, your full of BS...lol, you know how that happened and so do I...lol”

“43 lbs. with 3 liters of water and about 5 lbs. of fruitcake. the majority of the fruitcake is going to have to leave my pack on friday night.

i feel pretty good about my pack weight. that is with my cold weather gear and big pack.

anyone bringing any sippin' whiskey? some single malt maybe?”

“yeah, I'll pick up a bottle of the hard stuff... not available until Saturday night though I'm afraid. ;o)”

“single malt...I can stash a pint in Khatru's pack.

whatever!!! sheesh...some people NEVER leave things to rest.

1 3/4 hour to go. be there fri morn sometime...grayson highlands sp.

Later folks.”

“I'm going to have to officially bail on this trip! :( My arbitration starts at 10:00, and prolly won't be over until 3:00ish. On top of that, I have to take my mom to the doctor (she was in car accident on Sunday), and I have some packages arriving at home that I need to be here to accept. Too many nails in the coffin.

You folks have fun. I'm gonna miss seeing everyone.”

“Oh, and I forgot, the 7-1/2 hr. drive on top of all of that!”

“BB, see you next time! I hope you Mom is ok and it was nothing serious.”

“I am probably going to stick with my plan of only hiking up to Rhododendron Gap on Friday and hanging out on Saturday but if I change my mind I might end up at Old Orchard = mostly its how my feet feel when I reach the Crest Trail (or whatever the name of the horse trail is that parallels Pine Mtn Tr.) - having gone up Pine Mtn. I have no desire to come down those rocks at the Rhodo. end of that trail.”

“trekngirl,Tenn War Eagle, Little Bit and I (Karo) will be in Damascus at the Ole Barn around noon. Anyone care to join us for lunch there? I have my pack ready, under 40 lbs. See everyone there...”

“Sorry you can't make it. I was looking forward to meeting you. We will catch you on the next trip, later dude.”

“sorry to hear your bailin...

Next time dude...later all...I'm now officially gone and will be a road warrior in approx 20 minutes....later.”

“Drive safely Stikmon..khatru in there”

“BB - Bummer! Next time.

Plans change here too...I had planned to arrive late Friday and hike up early Saturday. Now I think I will either...
(a) leave very early tomorrow, get down there by early to mid-afternoon
OR
(b) not go at all. My back is bothering me today. Will pack tonight, be all ready to go, see how the back feels in the morning. Don't want to chance y'all having to carry my sorry fat butt out of the woods this weekend if things deteriorate.

But probably (a). So...is there anyone meeting anyplace in that timeframe that I could try to hook up with?”

“To clarify, (a) refers to arriving down there on Friday.

I am leaving now for a 30-minute drive (each way) to buy a map. Positive thinking. See ya in a bit. :)”

“Karo be on the lookout for me in Damascus. I should arrive around noon myself and since I don't know any of you four that would be a great time to get aquainted.I'm packed (46 lbs.) and ready to go.

YO BEAR ! Good Luck!”

“fritz, if those folks are meeting in damascus at noon, they probably won't get on the trail at va-603 until 1:30 at the earliest. they have to take vehicles to grayson then shuttle to the trail. spam is parking in the grindstone campground so if he is in damascus at noon, he will probably get to grindstone around 1. i don't know how long your drive is but if you are coming down I-81 you have about 3 hours from winchester, va.”

“Go to Phil's photo page. Stan(TWE), Pat(Trekkngirl) and myself met Phil in Nashville this year. We should be at the Ole Barn around lunch. Meet us there.”

“so, where is everyone starting to hike from now? grayson highland backpacker parking lot or the grindstone campground?”

“both - in my case Grayson Highland backpacker parking lot”

“3 hours from Winchester - no way - Winchester is about I-81 mp 300 or so, Marion is about mp 40 or so then at least another hour of forking around to get to the closest parking area (Grindstone) or an hour an a half to get to Grayson.”

“I got to check the map what area is closer to the camp site. I can dayhike like an animal, but weight is killing my sorry old a$$.”

“I can't believe rain is in the forcast. I just can't escape that crap for not even one trip.
Oh well, I recon I need to pack some plastic.

As of now my pack weighs 22 pounds w/food & water.”