Hey Tombone! (Roan Mt Trip Report)

“Hey Tombone: You were absolutely incredible my man!

First of all, you are an EXCELLENT musician.

Second, it was so SURREAL to have a trombonist playing in the woods, off the mountaintops, and around the shelters.

Third, you are such an INCREDIBLE and FRIENDLY guy. Thank you thank you thank you so much, for being 'in and amongst' us this past weekend!

*********************************

2socks/Stick, Prosecutor, TrekkinGirl, Stix, Karo, FlameGirl, LilBit, Brennan, BankerKen, Kincora, LateNightLesbianLovers, DuelingBanjoBoy, ExcuseMeButINeed2GoPayBills -- I can't even think right now of everyone that was there this weekend, but WOW.

I am sure the posts from this trip will be a bit lengthy.

Time for bed for me, so I won't even TRY to finish this.. :)”

“Thank You to everyone who showed up on this trip and at the shelters on Fri and Sat. Thanks again to TomBone and the awesome music! Towndawg is right it was amazing what things you see and hear on the trail, but a trombone packed in is the last thing I would have expected. The music and mood it set was just the icing on the cake for a perfect trip. Hope everyone made it home safely and HAPPY FATHER'S DAY! and especially HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you trekkingirl...









...and many more!”

“Well, one of the Trail Talk people made it a strong point to me this morning after the party that, "What happens on the trail, stays on the trail." That was an incredible party in the Overmountain Shelter on the AT with over two dozen backpackers staying in the barn and adjoining field.

Well, I just drove through the bad Gary Indiana traffic, so off to bed I go. I'll post the less incriminating photos tomorrow morning.”

“Sounds like an awesome trip.

Yet again another reason why I love TT so much.”

“Hey Prosecutor, you just drove about 1.5 miles from my place in Gary.

Sounds like you all had a great time. Can't wait to read all the posts tomorrow.”

“Ruby, I-80 traffic in Gary was bumper to bumper, stop and go for a half hour even at 10:00 p.m. on a Sunday night. You had a great trip yourself.

Check out these edited photos. Several shots have been removed to protect the guilty. Heh Heh Heh.

http://community.webshots.com/album/154836809FfDKOK”

“I had a great time, for those that missed a night with karo and friends at the Roan shelter it was great...fun was had by all...thanks. Ditto towndogs remarks ref. overmountain...folks that couldnt make it missed alot of good times.”

“hey guys and gals!
Although it would've great to get out saturday afternoon on the northern balds of the section, being stuck in the dry barn with good company was a cool alternative. I stayed up on roan until around 6:30 yesterday - the weather broke and the humidity plummeted, great blue sky, puffy white clouds and cool breezes. I climbed to roan high knob, then OT'd to some of the overgrown meadows between the shelter and cloudland. Good views toward roan high bluff. I encountered an interesting couple up at the cloudland hotel site. She was a tree hugging activist and he was a retired chemical engineer. Then the girldogg and I ran into the bakersville VFD concession in the parking lot. The fireman asked if he could feed her a hot dog, and i replied that i wished he had asked me that. So we both got free 'dogs and i bought another. That fueled our hike out to the bluff and beyond. I worked my way about halfway down to the eagle cliffs but the pigtrail got really rough. The cliffs are still closed due to endangered species (us?) but i got on some intermediate cliffs with great views of buladean and the roan massif. We backtracked, including some offtrail detours in the canadian zone spruce forest, one of my favorites in the south. By this point i'm really scratched and filthy. The parking lot was pretty empty up at cloudland on the way back, probably for the first time all weekend. Ironic, since the weather by now was glorious! The fireguys had dumped their ice at the edge of the lot, so when i got down to the saturn, I drove back up and somehow talked my way past the tollhouse and picked up enough ice to chill the coldcuts and brews for the ride home. Everything was sharply defined with the less humid conditions. Long views, good colors, great sunset, lots of folks out enjoying the end of father's day in yards, churches, parks. And there's a gas war in parrottsville - 165/175 for sooper!
i'm gonna fight the traffic thru cades cove and dayhike up gregory bald today, then back in the saddle for a couple days - company on thursday. I look forward to the photos and stories/lies upcoming on this thread!

ps - no digital camera yet, so my hardcopy pix will be out in time. meanwhile i'll try to post some rhodo shots from previous years.”

“Hi folks,

I am the black guy from Columbia, SC who met you guys at the shelter Sat. afternoon. I enjoyed meeting and talking with you folks that night. I finaly made it to Hwy 19E at 4:00 Sunday afternoon. It was a long hike, but the clouds finally gave way in the afternoon and the sun came out. I took some nice pictures. My group and I stopped at the Outback Steakhouse in Johnson City for dinner, and I finally got on the road at 7:00 going back to Columbia, SC, and I walked in my door at 11:00. I am still getting over some muscle soreness today while I am at work.

Anyway, it was great meeting you folks and maybe we can meet up again in the future.”

“Jake, and TomBoneHikes, it was a pleasure to meet you two. I hope "Banker" also starts posting here too. The trail talk people are the most fun to backpack with, and while you first time visitors to this site are here, check out the outstanding trip page.

Apparently the Overmountain Shelter has a reputation as THE party shelter of the Appalachian Trail. With the sleeping loft in the renovated barn, the two dozen backpacker didn't seem like a crowd to me. With no one wanting to lug their alcohol back up the mountains to the trailhead, everyone shared their stash until it was all gone, much to the chagrin of some.”

“hey thanks for the report!!!! Sorry I wasn't able to make it on this one, but fathersday weekend...ya know...

a hiker from Columbia, SC?? no way!!!
I live in columbia...if you ever want to hike...email me.

hmm...a black hiker?? NO WAY!!! not scared of snakes or bugs? No offense, people who know me...know how I mean it. LOL”

“Hey everybody: Anyone else as sore as our bunch? What a kick-butt trail in places, Whewwwww!!! We were so funny - everytime we stopped on the way home every muscle hurt and we walked like we'd been beaten. Today, much better though. Wow, fantastic scenery on this trip, really enjoyed meeting everyone and hope to see you all soon. Great music to welcome us at the end of the trail @ Overmountain Shelter, Tombone!! Oh and by the way- NO BLISTERS THIS TRIP!!!!”

“Today we dayhiked to Gregory Bald... Danababy, Slowalk, Missbetty, and Darrell. .... on the way down the mountain in the rain..... we spotted a familiar fellow holding an umbrella and giving us room to pass.
It was none other than the talented Tombone! Hadn't seen the dude since March! It was great to see him again and catch up a bit. He is awesome! What a great day and getting to visit a little with him was the icing on the cake. :-)
anyone priviledged to hike with this guy IS lucky indeed. He is zee "Uber Bushwhacker".”

“TomBoneHikes, I finally got your photo of Grassy Ridge at its peak spring bloom color in 2002 posted after two tries. It's posted twice now.

On the hike to the campsite Thursday night, I ran into a skunk who thought I was a threat, and it ran towards me, turned off the trail, and from about ten feet away, raised its tail. I tip toed off the trail until I was clear. TrekingGirl said they can spray up to 20 feet away. How does she know that? I guess I was lucky, or it was just plain professional courtesy.

On the hike to Friday nights campsite, I was in the lead out of sight of the rest of the group at mile 15 for the day about a half mile short of the shelter we were aiming for. I stopped to wait for the others to catch up where Highway 19E crosses the trail. A beautiful trail angel, waiting for her husband to finish a long day hike, gave me a big bottle of cola she was saving for him. That cola delayed me, and up pulls a second car containing all three of my hiking companions, who hitched a ride cutting four miles off their journey, with cheeseburger on their breath. Busted. Cheating on trail miles. Eating at a restaurant. I could just imagine how they would of hammed up their days hiking achievement had I not witnessed their shameful arrival by car.

On Saturday, those longhorn steers were blocking the trail going up Hump Mountain. I was coming up a rise, and the bull was sort of guarding the herd startled me. Another detour off the path.

Well, at least none of the Trail Talk backpackers brought along their lap top computers like those other hikers did at Overmoutain Shelter. And all the trail talk backpacking women were beautiful.”

“Fri morn bright and early, Little Bit, Flamegirl and I headed off to Roan Mtn. After a short stop at Target for last minute gear we made it to Roan gardens at about 1 central, 2 eastern time right in the middle of a gully washer. We sat it out in the truck and had a snack for lunch. When the shower stopped we did a short hike in the gardens and enjoyed the flowers. Then headed over to Cloudlands and hit the trail when we finally found our way out of the parking lot! After a short hike up the trail we came to the junction with Roan High Knob. Halfway up the trail the sun broke thru the clouds and the rays came thru the trees and we took several pics and all agreed these moments are what we hike for. Just around the corner was the shelter and 2socks waiting for us. After introductions and a short walk to the rock at Roan High Knob we started a fire. Well it only took us 2 hours to get it going but a steak dinner was waiting for us. That Little Bit is a fire goddess for sure. We all pitched in with FLAMEgirl fanning the flames and me and 2socks cutting wood and trying to smother out the fire,lol. We finally had a great meal and some company from Jim, a ALHDA and ATC member, and David and his young son Sam. That Sam was a real trooper and a very good camper. Later after dessert and smores for Sam we had to search for David's and Sam's tent as the clouds had rolled in and you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. I strung up my hammock in the loft for a great nights sleep. We slept in late on Sat and after a big breakfast we headed back to Cloudlands. Just as we arrived a small wedding had just started and we silently watched from the trail. We detoured to the parking lot and as we filled up with water and used the facilities for the last time in a few days, the wedding party came down to the parking lot and we met the bride and groom. They were hikers that met there last year and decided to get married there in the clouds. We wished them well and headed to Carver's gap and hit the trail for Overmountain after a very late start. After the beautiful views and the ups and downs of Round Bald, Engine Gap,& Jane Bald we headed down to Stan Murray shelter where I fetched some water. We then headed out down some more to Overmountain but not before rain set in. As we neared the shelter we could hear a horn playing and I thought someone must have brought a Big Jam Box (radio). Well up in the loft was Tombone and his trombone! What a shock to see someone playing that or even carrying it to the shelter! Tombone we thouroughly enjoyed your company and musical abilities! After introductions and some creative (spicy) dinners we had a great card game and some laughs and the most beautiful views anywhere on the trail. There where about 28-30 people and quite a few dogs show up so we didn't get much sleep that night. It was sure good to meet Brennan (sp.) and his 3 legged dog Cherokee (tripod). Man I hope you don't decide to enter TC4 or we are all in trouble! We met the banker, and his friends and Jake the G-man, and some more people from Boone, NC. We sure are glad you guys picked up our stuff we left at the shelter! One guy even showed up with just a towel to sleep with! Man talking about lightweight minimalist! After a great breakfast and goodbyes everyone headed back to Carver's Gap and waited for the rest of our gear we left. Thanks again everyone for being great 'packers! With the great views on Sunday it capped off a great trip and I especially want to thank 2socks for his directions, trail widsdom, and mapping skills. Mark, you helped to make this trip a success, for us anyway. Alot of gratitude goes out to him. The three of us headed back to Spring Hill after a stop at Cracker Barrel where we got our fill of food and laughs. I thought they might ban us from going there again! May we all hike together again real soon!”

“Good trip report Karo.

When Karo says, "some creative (spicy) dinners", he means when a collection of prize winning TT cooks get together and start drinking, their dinner was a combination of each of their meals: one persons cotto salami, another persons spaghetti, a third persons chili, and so on, all covered up with habanero peppers that raised it to about four alarm. Actually, it tasted pretty good to me (after two shots of 151 rum that is). I ate Chicken Taquitos that night.”

“heh.. reading thru this already brings back smiles.

Jake!! Awesome my man, you found us!!.. Please come hike again..

I haven't even started my trip report yet.. new job and all -- no time to write right now.. but oh my gosh.. heh.. I have some really great soap opera drama for all of you.

Tombone!! you lurk no more? so cool!.. and look there.. nearly famous already.. (at least with the TT ladies I see.. ) but that's another story, another time ehh?.. hehe.. how much is it worth to you for me NOT to tell what all I know about yas?

:)

Mark.. it was a great time, for sure.. and you are right about Karo, but I won't ever let on we talked about him behind his back.. hehe!

3 or four danged dogs in the shelter.. I KNEW I didn't like animals on the trail.. every time one of the two dozen folks would get up to go to the bathroom, the dogs would all chime in to announce that 'here goes another to the privy'.

By the way.. thanks also.. good to know I got some healthy competition in the SNORING category.. I still don't see how that dozen deer or so even CONSIDER walking by us in the moonlight with all that snore-symphony going on!

Anyways, I'll try to get to a trip report eventually.. (I shot three rolls of film!)

Jake (again!).. welcome my friend. Come with us anytime.”

“c'mon karo who's idea was it to use gas....though we used alcohol at first did we use the gas in the end? huh huh did we did we...ya think that tp and book and liquid fuel helped....great group...lots of fun”

“Prosecutor you sound like one dirty old man. YOu ran off IndyHawk on that "Sex on the Knobstone" trip I couldn't make, as she hasn't been on this forum since. You apparently sucker in the women with your one redeeming quality, cooking, then you get them drunk, and then ... "what happens on the trail stays on the trail." I was going to hook up with you this fall sometime, but now I've got my doubts. You might make a pass at me.”

“I didn't get em drunk, that evil TownDawg brought some liquior appropriately named, if not politically correct, "FireWater". He did it. And I did not witness the most telling events, but had to learn them first hand from, once again, that evil TownDawg.”

“* laughs at GrizBait *

You got it all wrong. Prosecutor is only protecting a few TT'ers from a few events they don't really care to be known public... and it had absolutely nothing to do with sex.

I asked a nurse about it later, and she told me that the intense humidity coupled with the physical exersion, lead to dehydration, which precipitated the misjudgement of how much alcohol a body could take -- and when the body revolts from alcohol poisoning, it's not a pretty sight.

Let's just say the dogs enjoyed a hot meal.”

“"Let's just say the dogs enjoyed a hot meal." Exactly!”

“Or what did I not do is probably the question. At least if you were talking about me you weren't talking about someone else. Hey, I'm my favorite subject to talk about. Anyway it was a great trip even with all the Dawgs!, lol.”

“Tell us who the puker is!!”

“I did not personally witness the alleged event. With over two dozen people there, that doe not narrow down the suspects much. Remember, what happens on the trail stays on the trail.”

“If it stays on the trail then stop dropping hints. That just sucks. Besides it leads to nasty rumors.”

“Prosecuter blew chunks on Roan Mt!!”

“Currahee: hehe.. yup!! Prosecutor was spewing chunks bad. The old geezer couldn't take it, and I got pictures to prove it!!

:)”

“Sweet! A shot in the dark hits its mark.”

“Not me.”

“heh.. liar.”

“We met Sunshine and Lost n Found, Northbound on the trail Sunday. They started at Springer and were headed as far as possible till July. I thought someone here might have heard of them. I looked at the ATC site to see if they had posted there or on trailjournals.com, but no luck. Just thought someone might be keeping up with their progress. They were headed towards Stan Murray shelter, Sunday a.m.”

“i will not speculate upon the source from which chunks were blown; however i remain amazed that later on the same night some of the guests at the barn (not TT folks) were cooking/eating in front of the shelter around the firepit area in BARE FEET....arrggh...broken glass and metal scraps aside, perhaps LNT was practiced as said chunks left the area wedged between hiker toes...say cheeze pleeze!”

“Here are some of the pics from Roan Mtn. trip. I will add more later. target=_"blank">webshots”

“Here are some of the pics from Roan Mtn. trip. I will add more later. target=_"blank">webshots”

“Flame Girl and LittleBit look so good in your photos, as well as TrekkinGirl. All your photos are great Karo, especially this one:

click here”

“Hey TownDawg, thanks for the email telling me how to post a link here. It worked. Aren't you glad you helped me?”

“* laughs *..

Ya ya.. well we all knew that one would be posted, didn't we.. me looking like the poster child for how not to backpack.”

“thats just the dawg look when he finds out there's a whole sausage and spaghetti to add to the supper fare........mmmmmm....good”

“Looks are deceiving folks. TownDawg is one strong backpacker who never quivered scampering up the tallest mountains. Even inebriebriated, he can cook the pants off almost any other backpacker.”

“hehe.. "I'll trade you a summer sausage and some ramen for a bite of whatever you can end up cooking with it all."

"Well shoot, I got some purple onion that I don't need for my quesadillas."

"I got some habenero pepper."

"I got another of those El Capitan chili packages, so you can double the portion size if you want."

"I got some hamburger meat."

lol.. that was so much fun.”

“ditto the comments from prosecutor...the dawg can pack pots and pans...lots of chow...anything else and the spirits in quanity to relax with...and do it at greased lightning (sp) speed.”

“Hey Karo!.. I woke up this morning.. and I was remembering this one thing that happened.. lol.. wonder if you remember also..

Remember the guy.. when it was raining.. that showed up not with a raincoat.. not a poncho.. not even a garbage bag -- but an UMBRELLA???... lmao..

I had totally forgotten about that.”

“NOTE: I also can't believe that you didn't chime in about those cute 19 y/o girls.. who were sleeping about half naked the next morning.. while we were talking and eating breakfast!”

“Why do you think I cooked my breakfast over there?”

“Better late than never?

http://www.anycities.com/user/towndawg/thebackpacker.htm

I might make a few changes to it --- but here's my TR from Roan Mountain with Karo and the Gang.”

“TownDog: Great! You got my laptop on there!”