4-23-04 Knobstone Trail Trip:

“Thanks Indy! Let me know how it goes. If the P-man gets too far in front of you, slip some rocks in his pack.”

“CnC - I going down to the Deam Lake Trailhead tomorrow night . . . sleep somewhere . . . and start EARLY Sat. morning. Are you coming?

you don't want prosecuter to give it out but you post it on the net...makes sense ;)"
Ewker
10:43:53 AM
04/22/04

That's right . . . and that's why I told him NOT to give it to anyone! :)”

“We're thinking about it, but probably wouldn't be able to get onto the trail until Sat. morning, and there is no way Cheri and I could hump the miles you're doing, so we might jump on the trail farther north at the New Chapel trailhead and hike in to the campsite at mile 21.4. We'll know tom. for sure if we are going to be able to make it.”

“Cool! I'd love to see ya'll again.”

“Geeeeez, gforce, WEIRD people might call you!!!!”

“yes lizs . . . weird people . . . dorks . . . stalkers might call, but on the other hand, maybe some hot TT babe too! ;)”

“Gforce,
Quick question for you, how rugged is the terrain from Elk Creek Trailhead down to mile 21.4 where the group is staying Saturday night?”

“I've only been as far south as the Leota Trailhead. I can remember a few ups and downs between Elk Creek and Leota . . . probably very similar in difficulty to the NCT side of the NCT/Manistee River Trail loop, but at times the trail is steepergoing up and down. Vic Swain Hill is the biggest climb in that section, but well worth it . . . nice view this time of year.

The trail description on the map says it crosses several ridges going south from Leota before reaching the North Branch Valley.”

“Thanks for the info, Cheri and I were looking at the online maps for the trail and trying to figure out, if we can make the trip) whether to park at the New Chapel trailhead and then head N for about 4.5 miles to the campsite or whether to park at Elk Creek and do the approx. 10 1/4 miles S. to the site. If we did the Elk Creek approach, we could hike out with everyone on Sunday heading North to Elk Creek, but we don't want to bite off more than we can chew for the first hike of the season.”

“What would you do on Sun if you started at Elk Creek on Sat?”

“Hike back North to Elk Creek with everyone else. If we come from the New Chapel side we would probably just head back S. on our own since it looks like all of the shuttles will be going straight from Elk Creek back down to Deem Lake and we don't want to have anyone going out of their way to get us back to New Chapel, otherwise we would go N. to Elk Creek regardless of which trailhead we came in from.”

“Looks like Elk Creek and New Chapel are both very close to major roads, so it shouldn't be much out of the way for a shuttle back . . . but I'm not sure how many cars will be parked at Elk Creek for the shuttle back. Maybe the prosecutor will chime in here before he leaves.”

“Well, being late to the trip, which we are difinately leaning towards making at this point, we don't want to disrupt any shuttle plans already made so that is why we are ok with just hiking out to New Chapel if we were to park there...

LOL, now if we could eat up the miles like you we would just hike up to Elk Creek with everyone and then hike back to New Chapel...and then take a 5-6 mile walk on the rails-to-trails when we got back home just to stretch the legs...:)”

“If nothing else you could wait at Elk Creek until we get back and I'll take you back to New Chapel. We have to come back with prosecutor to shuttle him ahead of Elk Creek for the rest of his hike.”

“That would work also. We think it would be nice to be able to hike with everyone at least one day. We will post here early tomorrow to confirm we will be able to go. I have court until about 11, depending on what happens there I will we be able to confirm the trip shortly afterwards.”

“CnC, the trail from New Chapel north to Saturday nights campsite isn't too tough. A couple of 300 foot hills, the rest is relatively flat. If it is your first hike of the year, I would start from New Chapel, and take the easy walk to Saturday nights campsite. We should be moving through New Chapel around 1:00 p.m. Hike out with everyone Sunday, and we will shuttle you back to where ever you park your car on the way to recover mine.”

“Thanks Pros.
That was what we were hoping we could arrange. Baring any unforeseens, we will hit the trail Saturday with you guys. LOL, I'll try and get you up to date with the old office gossip around the campfire Sat. night (as if all of you early buy-out guys don't already keep your best "news" connections anyway).”

“Cnc, I went to a retirement party for ASA Boskey last Friday night and caught up on a lot of the gossip. Six former ASAs I worked with are now Judges, and they had some good stories too. I hope you got some good backpacking gossip for us though.”

“Hmm, backpacking gossip might be a little light, we have been mostly biking and sailing the past couple of years so haven't kept up with all the trials and tribulations of TT, I guess the wife and I will have to fall back on the old hiking/climbling stories from our euro days for entertainment. BTW, I saw earlier in the thread you like 151, do you want us to carry in anything for Sat. night? (which o'course would reduce your pack weight for Fri/Sat). As a rule, we normally just pack in a flask of schnapps”

“CnC, is Devine still fooling around with his secretary? How about McKay, is he still carrying on with that voluputious ASA. How about Art Hill. After making judge, did he stop doing his thing with his subordinates in the roof of the parking lot at 26th street? Hey, there is a lot of gossup I forgot to catch up on.

My pack weight by scale with all my water, most of my food, and all my 151 rum was 27 1/2 pounds. But you may want to bring in just a little extra for Saturday night for the group.”

“LOL, see you do keep up on the dirt, but lord knows we (at least us who still have to depend on the bi-weekly paycheck) have to watch what we say about T.S. (some things are best saved for the campfire); Just to be safe, and to provide so respite to you guys that have been going since mid-day Friday, we'll bend backs and bring in plenty...Hell, come Saturday, as we throw back a few, Cheri and I will have to tell you about the looks we got when we were each carrying about 65-70lbs up the Eiger/Jungfrau massif...damn near freaked out those ever so reserved and decorous Swiss out...”

“I'm off. See you all on the trail.”

“Gforce,
We hope you have a great hike this weekend on the KT, unfortunately we won't be able to make it to this one, we will definately try and get on one of Mike's trips in the next couple of weeks though. We really look forward to hiking with you again.”

“Wish I was there. Hope your enjoying campfire like I'm enjoying this cold beer.”