Mammoth Cave in November

“WhoopAssSassafras!”

“Ewker knows I'm just picking on him 'cause I love him. (and it's fun)”

“love me..haha..you never call or write anymore...does birch know about us..that must be it..you went back to him..oh the horror”

“Hey, I sent you an email just the other day!”

“never got it =(

I even sent you a Halloween email sealed with a kiss and a full moon
last edited: 10/11/05 2:14:53 PM”

“Yes you did, lol. It was the one with my new email address.”

“that was a month ago..geesh...you sure your not blonde ;)
last edited: 10/11/05 2:19:25 PM”

“i am defineitely down with pitt's route. ive been up for a mini-deathhike for awhile now. should be fun. mostly flat, with some rolling hills along the river. should be able to knock it out in 6-8 hours. i believe my guidebook to the trails gives mileages, i should be able to give a more accurate estimation of the mileage in a little bit”

“I am all for a long day. I dont get out as much as I like lately so i would love to get as many miles as possible. Especially since we are driving so far. I cannot wait. I will have my new pack saturday, hopefully it'll work well.”

“I am think we may want to set the meet time back to 8AM at the visitors center. The Green River ferry is not operational at the moment due to low water levels. This affects us in that it will take a litte while longer to get to our trail head.

Is going to screw anyone up?

Also, when our group arrives on Friday afternoon, we will get the backcountry campsites started up. At the moment, it looks like we will have at least 17 people on this sucker. With that said, we will have to "offically" get 3 backcountry sites because you are only allowed 8 people per site. We will get the 2 sites near First Creek lake and wait to see who else shows up on the morning of the hike before we obtain a permit for one of the other close sites.

This all make sense, or am I just talking out of my ass?”

“I dunno, you gotta webcam?

Wish I could make this...got too much other stuff going on, especially with my wife working now.”

“Not on at the moment. I only use it for my porn.

I wish you could have made it to! We'll hook up on a trip soon.”

“I finally got this uploaded. Here is the propose route. WK, you may want to add this to the trip description.

”

“I'll be there for sure, but I'm down to me + 1 instead of +2, but if that changes I'll let you know.”

“what time does the visitor center open?

also, as far as i know, you cannot get saturday backcountry permits until saturday, unless you are getting friday/saturday permits

im still holding out hope for the ferry”

“so what happens if the ferry isnt running? Do we swim, wade or what? How big is this river?”

“Visitors center opens at 8 AM. The ranger said that we can get permits on Friday for Saturday.

We take the long way around.”

“excellent. the earlier the better”

“I am concerned that if we get started after 8:00 am that we won't have enough time to cover the distance and arrive in camp prior to darkness.”

“if we are out after dark, the ninjas will certainly descend upon us and kill us one by one...keep in mind, you never need to out run the ninja, just the slowest person in your group.”

“Haha! Well, I think it will be just past full moon so it should be pretty bright out for most of the night. I don't know what moonrise/moonset are but I am thinking it will be pretty bright.”

“well the bright moon is a curse and blessing. Its good because we wont need headlamps which will make it too easy for the ninjas to see us. Its bad because it may be bright enough for the ninjas to see us without their night vision goggles. I am starting to feel a bit uneasy.”

“The moon will be a quarter on the 4th. New moon is the end of the month.”

“whew, i am somewhat less concerned at this point.”

“Whoa, I indeed stand corrected. It's new moon on the 2nd. So it will be very dark the evening of the 4th. I ha”

“Whoa, I indeed stand corrected. It's new moon on the 2nd. So it will be very dark the evening of the 4th. I had a rough weekend with the Scouts.
last edited: 10/17/05 8:38:51 PM”

“Do you think that if i cover myself in mud the ninjas won't be able to see me with their night vision. This trip is really starting to freak me out. I hate ninjas. Actually i hate anything that dresses all in black and hops around yelling "ya" a lot. We may need to set up a watch system throughout the night. Those ninjas will slit your throat in the night.....and we need to rename this trip. "Holy samurai's Batman, there are ninjas in this cave!"”

“LOL at John!

We may have a title for the trip report!”

“I am going to call the ranger back this afternoon to confirn the hours for Saturday. If they do open at 8, we will bump our meet time back to that.”

“im cornfused

what time are we meeting the ninjas?
last edited: 10/18/05 2:08:57 PM”

“sometime after 8 am.”

“*************UPDATE************
10/18/2005 - The Green river is still low, but I was informed that even a small amount of rain will swell the river enough to re-open the ferry. So everyone, pray for rain between now and then! This only effects us in that the travel to the trail head will be longer.

Pitts, myself and few others will arrive sometime in mid afternoon on November 4. The first thing we will do is obtain the backcountry permits (ranger said no problem) for Saturday's hike. After this we will get a few campsites at the headquaters campground for those of you that will be coming down on Friday. We will have some way of telling you Friday people of how to find us. It is not a huge campground, just look for someting obvious related to Trail Talk.

I am now making the call time 8 AM C.S.T at the Visitor's Center on Saturday. If you can get there about 10 minutes early, that will help.

After the permits are signed, we will get to the trailhead (hopefully the ferry will be open) as fast as possible.

If you are running late to the Visitor's Center on Saturday, call my cell phone (listed below) and let me know your status. You will have to register before you start hiking.”

“IJ, mocking the ninjas will only increase their ferocity. I for one wont be sleeping at all. Vigilance is the word.

what time are we meeting the ninjas?
last edited: 10/18/05 2:08:57 PM”
Crash Bang

CB, if we are lucky, we wont meet any. Really its an issue of fate.

It is worth noting that ninjas are very similar to bear in one key way. They cannot get you if you are huddled whimpering in your tent or sleeping bag. Its a time tested technique honed by age 5 (for most) employing a comforter at home while keeping the boogey man from sucking our your eyes.

This trip is gonna rawk!I cant wait.
last edited: 10/18/05 6:51:43 PM”

“I am going to bring Michaelangelo, Donnetello, Leonardo, and Raphael with me. Let turtle power deal with it.

Ninja problems solved!!
last edited: 10/18/05 9:50:48 PM”

“Ruby, thank you so much. We may need their help and expertise.”

“Whose bringing the pizza? That's the breakfast of turtles.”

“Heroes in a half shell!”

“Do they sell ninja bells? And on that same note would it be prudent to put food in a ninja canister. Never underestimate a hungry ninja....especially if you're bringing pizza.”

“IJ, the ninjas will simply drink your blood if they can't get to your food so it doesn't matter. (Per Birch, ninja expert)”

“

My youngest son... notice the Ninja Turtle backpack.
last edited: 10/19/05 8:35:06 AM”

“Hey Pitts, maybe you should bring your son on this trip. We're going to need him. After all, he has the right protective gear! ;)”

“sure, laugh it up.”

“Good thing you will be on this trip then birch, with all the ninjas out there.

Will you protect me?”

“wk, I will be lucky to make it myself. I can offer no protection, would that I could. These guys mean business!

Cant wait!”

“Is this trip getting out of control? Things looking good on my end. I just need to get someone to switch with me on Friday and I will be there Friday night.”

“I got a bad feeling about this.”

“The people of Sioux Falls, S.D., can finally sleep soundly in their beds: The nefarious midnight ninja has been nabbed.

Cops responding to numerous 911 calls last week pulled up to a 41st Street curb to find a ninja patrolling the shadows armed with a pair of nunchakus and a sheathed sword, according to the Argus Leader.

However, the 15-year-old shadow warrior, Cal Geiser, was apparently just doing his job, promoting a local store selling Halloween costumes called Halloween Express.

"I was just out walking around in my ninja costume, twirling my nunchakus," Geiser told the Argus Leader. "After 20 minutes of that, I took out my sword and looked at it. I turned around, and there was a cop pointing his gun at me."

After the officer took off his mask and cuffed him, Geiser told the Argus Leader, "They were like, 'Oops.'"

First story”

“Aw come on! There is going to be like 16 of us on this trip! I think we can handle a few ninjas.”

“Holy crap! This is way too close for comfort and happens the Thursday before we meet up!

http://ninja.meetup.com/day/

Sixteen people may not be enough. People start signing up for this trip. We need backup.”