Black Mountain Crest Trail Trip July 4th weekend

“two campgrounds? You sure? I'll try my best okay?


Going to the smokys tomorrow, hike a couple areas there, I think I should be at the blakc mtn campground friday before 5 for sure. Only problem is that there maybe no room because of the holidays. We'll see.

I won't be able to post anymore, so.... make sure we talk about everything today.”

“I just remembered, they close the gate into the campground at around 11pm I think. So we would have to walk into the campground. Not a problem. What kind of car do you have Gem? You should put up a sign "hey ballbreakers!" at the site.”

“yeah, like I have nervs to design a dang sign. lol

I'll drive a black mitsubishi eclipse spider with TN plates. Bunch of hiking stickers on the back... one of them "hike naked it brings color to your cheeks". YOu can' miss it.”

“I'll email my home and cell phone numbers to you Gem. Yeah if you can get two sites that would be great, if not oh well. Sleep at the parking lot. How many people will you have with you Gem?”

“Y2, it would be great if you could make it.

earthNsky...it's going to be only me, so there is a lot of room at the site...”

“well then can I make a claim to the site? Since Roam will be with me can he also make a claim and I would also like to stake a claim for Bison if possible since he will be driving down from DC as well. If Y2 is with me, can he also stake a claim? lol demanding aren't I?”

“fine with me. That's why I asked anyway...though you may all want to share a site.

so one site would be good enough then... everyone else much sneak in I guess.

just like I said, I can't promise that we get a spot, but I'll try.”

“as long as we are up early before the rangers bust us and stay quiet I think we will be ok. Only two tents per site though.”

“well, I have a big 4 man tent. I guess I can set it up and we all sleep in it. (big TT orgie.....hahahahah)”

“heehee...I don't think more then 3 people fit in it though.

I thought we had more then 2 tents on the black mtn. campground before though...”

“I wish it were thursday night and not monday night - uggg.”

“no kidding, but I'll be hiking the smokys so I'll think of yall!”

“what are you hitting in the smokies?”

“I think I do clingmans dome and Leconte...not sure which route though, maybe a couple. I may do them as a dayhike each, I am not sure yet. depends on how booked the shelters are. Don't feel good about leconte, I am sure it's booked.”

“yeah, for some reason LeConte is always booked. You have make reservations the second the back country office opens 30 days prior to the day you need the shelter.”

“Kephart is not far from the road though and is not as popular as icewater and leconte. you could stay there. I think it is 2 miles up the kephart prong trail from NF gap Rd on the NC side. It's an easy hike too.”

“I'll see. I have my guide book with me... I may change my mind. I am not sure if I want easy though...but then...I don't want to waste all my engery now, I may need it for mitchell eh?”

“I mean, you could do the day hike up LeConte or Clingmans Dome and the camp at Kephart. Or if you want to hike, Kephart shelter is 17 miles from the Alum Cave trailhead. I did that once. Kicked my arse.

Bringing a lot of memory space?”

“I got about 1 1/2 gigs of memory. Hope that's enough.

Kephart always busy too though. Icewater isn't really that busy. Got a spot there last time.

I am not worried. I have a whole week to just bum around...ya think I am worried?? Naaa!!!!!!”

“I'd love to be in the smokies this week. I really want to get out to the sawteeth.”

“well, you have my cell phone number if you want to hike.

i'll be leaving tomorrow morning”

“Thanks for sending the map by email but it didn't come out very well.

If someone has a good map of our route could you please print 2-3 copies for me and I'll pay you when we get to Mt Mitchell.”

“What JO said.

Maybe Bison could get some copies of the map from that map machine at REI in Bailey's Crossroads.



What say you?”

“I'll bring my map in to work tomorrow and see if I can get a couple decent copies.”

“That would be super, couchtater.

The O Boys could use at least two copies. >8^]”

“Hey guys, I went to REI yesterday, I couldn't make the map come out right, I could only get it on two pages which I didn't think was worth it. I may just go over to the USGS office in Reston and see if I can get the quads that cover the route. Does anyone know offhand which ones they are?”

“You'll need Celo and Mt. Mitchell.

I'm gonna go tonight to an outfitter and hope they have them in stock. Usually do.”

“I'll pay one of you guys to get a set of USGS maps for me........and a set for JO.”

“MarkO - I'm gonna stop over at the USGS on my way home from work. If they have them I'll pick up a set for you and one for JO, they're usually 6.50 per quad.”

“Thanks, pal!

We will fork over the dough when we see you in North Carolina.”

“alright, I'll let you know this evening if I was able to get them.”

“Roger that Bison.

Mucho gratias.

Hey man....I grilled some bison burgers last night. MMM MMMM Good!

Thanks for the maps buddy.”

“ok, so who's leaving when now?”

“I'm probably leaving from Landover, MD at 4 on Friday afternoon. I think Bison is leaving from the DC VA side a little earlier than me. Y2 if you can meet me at the New Carrolton Metro station on the orange line we can hit the road from there and maybe avoid most traffic. I work right down the street from New Carrolton.”

“you've got mail man.”

“We are leaving Baltimore early Friday morning and will either camp or motel-it somewhere down there.”

“I just called the local Outfitter and they've got one of those Nat'l Geographic mapmaker machines.

I'm going by there tonight and try it out.

Bison - you might wanna wait and see if I can get it to work and then I can print maps for all you guys if yall want.”

“ok, gonna try and to this, just gotto try to find some poor fecker to cover for me”

“ok, gonna try and to this, just gotto try to find some poor fecker to cover for me”

“cool Y2

man it looks like it could be a wet and wild one. The Tstorm forecast is still up. Burnsville has highs in the low 80s so it will be in 50s and 60s on the ridge.”

“ok, well i found a victim, so it looks like I'm in for this trip, who wants to watch the fireworks on the Mall from my rooftop anyway.”

“get to dodge lightning bolts up on the ridge. haha”

“Watching fireworks with a mob sitting on the hard ground in a pool of sweat...........

I would much rather be busting my ass in the mountains.”

“no no no Mark O, I simply walk up two flights of stairs, onto the rooftop, where there's always a party going on, pick a nice seat, grab some beer, maybe grill a few steaks. Rooftop has the perfect view of the capitol and monument. Still, would rather be on the hill though ;o)”

“MarkO - do you still want me to get the Topos or do you want to wait and see if Roam's able to print out a map?”

“Bison, I'll wait and see if Roam can do that thing.”

“cool, I'll hold off till tommorow on going to the USGS.”

“THanks!”

“What sort of temps can we expect at night?”