LINVILLE!! LINVILLE!!

“Ooooo, maybe I should bring a git-tar, huh?”

“just make sure someone brings a g'tar pick for Spam - last two hikes we were needing one”

“And just what did he need a git-tar pick for??”

“I think the general term for it is "picking and grinning"”

“spam be a flatpicker”

“I am out. I am one person short on help here and just managed to increase our contract portfolio by 5% this month.

I am swimming in work.

Anyone want to move to Knoxville and go to work?”

“MarkO...you still got the same cell phone number? send it to me again pleaz.

btw: I got knocked back with a deadline. I'll have to work my ass off tonight or I won't be able to go. looks like it's doable thou”

“Chili - that stinks!!!!

Gemini - definitely try to come!!!!!!!!”

“Dang alot of action here today! Yes please do bring the puppies the banjer the pie the white lightnin and yourselves of course! See ya at the trailhead!!!

Gem bring yoself on up to Linville!”

“Well ready as I'll ever be see u all at the trail head spam i got u coverd on the bourbon”

“just about finished packing up - see ya'll there sometime early afternoon”

“i just returned from a drive over to the trailhead where this bunch is gathering this evening.

They have nice weather, a good fire and the brats, redslaw, beans and bar-be-que.

There were about 10 there so far and its curious to see the face that goes with the names.”

“What can i say .. It was great meeting you all friday night,, Sorry I couldnt hike in with you all.. maybe next time.
The BBQ was the best...
Looking for pics of the hike later JB”

“It was great meeting you - I had lots of fun meeting some new folks Friday night and seeing kind familiar faces. I told you I would drop some book titles - here's one: "From the Swamp to the Keys: Paddling through Florida's History" by Johnny Molloy - you can buy it from his website www.johnnymolloy.com.”

“I just want to say that this was the best dang trip ever! Linville gives me a whole new perspective and the teamwork that went on in that gorge was inspiring.

Spam - I know you are watching football right now, but I will leave the trip report up to the host - or anyone that wants to beat you to it and share their experience. That was great - the best Linville trip so far. Really looking forward to next year!

Baume - I hope you and MarkO made it to Virginia safely and smoothly. You really roll with the punches, don't you? :D

MarkO - great meeting you! I enjoyed our conversation and I hope to hike with you in WV.

Palamino - you are an awesome chick! Its hard to find hardcore backpacking females. Let me know when you plan on doing the PCT...

Lonewolf - thanks for that fire bar! Was great meeting you and keep your eyes on the AT - you will definitely do it, if you want to.

HOI - thanks for the ride back to my car on the "other side." I hope you enjoy the cake. That was good of you to do some trail maintenance on the way back up to "the lip."

Scott - I can't remember your trail name, but it was good meeting you. I will let you know if I leave the environmental field - as you and Palamino know, I love good conversation. Tell your smiley snaggletooth dog I said "Hi" in a high-pitched squeaky voice meant for babies.

My brain must have been affected by that cold water cause I can't remember the name of the nice fellow whose girlfiend was Teesa. Her uncle makes some killer 'shine.

Am I forgetting anybody?”

“Hey thanks for the web site,
I guess you made it across the river to meet them at camp. glad you made it home safe.. hope to hike with you soon..”

“yes - you should definitely come out to a Smokies trip. I am planning one for April - weekend after Easter weekend. Yes, I made it across the river safely, and wouldn't have attempted or successfully completed it without a great group of people helping me. I have a newfound deep respect for cold water and (hate to sound so serious but) I think this refreshed my mind in every sense of that verb.”

“I hate it for them right now!”

“made it home, more later.”

“and smokygirl is one badass woman!”

“Good!”

“"and smokygirl is one badass woman!”
baume 66
8:38:58 PM
1/22/06

defintely one willing to go the distance for some serious adventure”

“Yipppeee! Weeeeeeeeeeee! I might consider myself tough, but I still cry over a sweet song... ahhahahahhaha! cough, cough...”

“So did you all get much rain? on sat or sunday”

“She be bad.................and that's good!!!

I got home a little after midnight.
It rained steady from Richmond on up to Baltimore and the drive was a fast-moving rat race in the rain.

We got back on the road at about 3:00 PM after a three-hour delay.
It could have been much worse!!”

“I had so much fun this weekend--this was one of my most fun hikes ever. Thanks all of you for being such great people. Spam, for the grub and the valiant assist of Smokygirl across the gorge and his guitar playin' and harmonica playin'. Baume for his excellent pickin' (next time I'll clog after another swig of that Turkey stuff). MarkO for his guitar-playin'. Lonewolf for the great company and conversation on our long drive and throughout the trip. HOI for his prep of our campsite and firewood Saturday night (and carrying that bench-log from campfire to campfire!). And Smokygirl, you just Rock. Talk about a kick-ass-chic!

I'm planning on posting an ocean kayak trip over here, out to Cape Lookout, so stay tuned. It may not be until March or April, when we know if this winter's really gonna get wintry or not. But it'll be nice to have you guys on My native turf (or lack of turf)!”

“Definitely second Palomino's praises on the pickin'! I LOVE the sound of banjers and guitars and harmonicas together! And I second the menfolk on the woodwork and far's over the weekend... Great Job!”

“It rained Friday night - then it stayed overcast all weekend and threatened to rain, but never did really. It matched Spam's forecast!”

“I think keeping my head above water was key.

Cold water removes heat from the body 25 times faster than cold air. About 50% of that heat loss occurs through the head. Physical activity such as swimming, or other struggling in the water increases heat loss. Survival time can be reduced to minutes. Strong swimmers have died before swimming 100 yards in cold water. In water under 40 degrees F, victims have died before swimming 100 feet.”

“That was quite a feat, Smoky!!”

“Thanks, Mark - I don't recommend it for anyone and I wouldn't do it again across a big pool like that unless I had fuzzy rubber on to protect my body heat. I think this experience that I was allowed will prevent me from making any crazy cold water decisions in the future. Did you walk a mile to the library today? :D”

“Heh heh...........actually, I got a ride.
It was still raining anyway.
I didn't get into the sack until 3:00 AM and up at 6:00.”

“It was great getting to put some faces to the names and spend a wonderful night with ya'll.

Teasa had been worried over camping with unknown folks off the internet but she really enjoyed getting to know one another and hear some good music.

I hope your trip in was enjoyable. We will make it next time. Her pack is on the way and all we need now for her is a bag.

Glad to see that the trip in was enjoyable.

Yerby
Formerly known as Freightrain”

“Hey Yerby, it was real nice meeting you and Teasa!!

Linville Gorge is someplace I wanna see again!!”

“marko glad you made it home safe.. yerby email me with your cell # and we might be able to hike some time.
Later jb”

“Really had a great time spam thanks for the 'Q' and every thing else and to smokie girl you are supercool. and to every one else enjoyed meeting or seeing u agian”

“OK did you guys tie him to a tree in linville??
Glad you all had a greatt hike .
Smoky tell us about your river crossing ..
Later jb”

“The river crossing was totally insane!!

Smokygirl was swimmin' like Johnny Weissmueller......beatin' the water into submission!!!”

“who is going to post their pictures first?”

“Yeah....”

“I met up with everyone at 8:00 Friday night at the Babel Tower trailhead. A campfire was going and BBQ and beans were on the fire. Hushpuppies galore - fine 'shine being passed around. There was pickin' and talkin' and laughin'... Very happy to be there!

I cowboy camped until the wind pulled in some rain. In the middle of the night, I jumped in my car and five minutes later, there was a downpour. Lonewolf was on his cot by the fire ring with a tarp over his body and tucked underneath the cot - neat idea!
____
The next morning, there was hub bub around the cars. Coffee, cookies, pie, and cake. Gear talk was about. It was drippy, but not raining. I would say it was about 38 degrees or so - a bit chilly, but not bad. It was weirdly warm all weekend around 45 would be my guess? I had to fix my stove with the help of Yerby and Spam. Whisperlite done good for 5 years and never cleaned it. I guess that morning was the time!

I parted with the group while they were shuffling cars between Babel and Conley Cove Trailheads. I took 183 to 181 and made a right on Gingercake road up to Tablerock Mountain. I parked at the Spence Ridge trailhead and hiked up Mountain-to-Sea Trail to Tablerock. It was beautiful! It felt like I was straddling the lip of the gorge. The wind blow up over the lip and I could see clouds creeping over the other side of the gorge. Those clouds eventualy blew up to my side and into my face leaving a mist on my facial hairs. (Hey - not a beard or anything mind you! My normal womanly facial hairs.) Anyway, the views of Hawksbill and the other side kept changing because of the wind and clouds. Tablerock Mountain used to be an offering place for the Native Americans in that area. I thought about sacrifice...

I hiked back down to my car and ran into 4 other backpackers. They were headed down Spence Ridge as I. We introduced ourselves and I told them I would meet them at the river after I ate my Vienna sausages. I mixed these with garlic hummous. Yum!
Spence Ridge was very pretty. I made note of Little Tablerock Mountain Trail for when I come back. I got to the bottom and my eyes popped a little. Out of all places to have a trail cross the river, it seemed like it was the worst spot! There was a huge green deep pool with two water chutes before and after. Then a second shelf after the lower water chute and cascades. The current was good - I imagine the mean was 2.3 (good for kayaking) and I had checked the water data before I left on Friday. The lower chute had one huge rock where I had read that people camped on. The other side of the lower chute had a smaller rock. I walked back and forth scrambling rocks along the bank with the other four (Marty, September, Dave, and John) scouting potential doable crossings. We thought of a human chain across the shelf, which was the most shallow, but even that had one foot wide deep cut in the rock where the current cut its way for eons...”

“I really liked Babel Tower and the piece of Linville Gorge Trail before Spence Ridge, but I had been itching for quite some time to try out the other side of the gorge. Tablerock Mountain was luring me and I told the group that if I didn't make it - it would be because the river crossing was too dangerous and I would camp along the river on the other side. We would meet up at Louise's Rockhouse for breakfast Sunday morning.

So as I was assessing the more shallow shelf and thinking of how we could pull this off with John, I saw some backpackers coming down the ledge of a trail. I let out a WOOHOO! It was Spam and Baume66! They came down to the river and we tried yelling across the whitewater. I climbed the big rock so we could hear each other's yelling. Spam pointed to the green pool. I said I wasn't prepared for my pack to be submersed. Spam gave me a serious eagle eye and said it would be nice for me to camp with them at Conley Cove but not at the cost of me getting hurt. I agreed. Then I thought of something. I asked Spam if he could get to that rock below him. I could throw my pack to him across the water chute. I think it was Palomino or Spam that mentioned rope. They threw rope across to John. I ran to get my pack. After I came back, I thought that my pack was way to heavy for me to get any distance throwing it. I asked John if he could do better, then John said we could put the rope threw the loop in my pack and let it slide down to Spam. Bam - it worked perfectly! I stripped down to my long john's and put my shoes and clothes in trash bags. I was so excited, I was thinking I would swim with the trash bag, but John brought reason back and said to throw them over to Spam. I did. Then, I looked across. Palomino pointed to start further up the green pool. I understood - the current would push me so the further up the better the diagonal would get me to them. Spam called my name. I stopped. They were putting up a second safety rope in case I couldn't reach the first one if my body froze up and I couldn't swim it. I waited. Nervously. I shook a little, but then I thought that it would be a piece of cake. I swam in winter in our outground pool up in Ohio when I was a kid for 30 seconds at a time. I could do this. It could be done. That was that. They said go, I slid in and went for it. When I got to the middle, I tried to gasp to get more air. There wasn't any. I faltered. I heard yelling and encouragement. I told myself to suck it up and cup my hands and shoot across. I am sure it didn't look like this as it took me 25 seconds to get across. I got to Scott who helped me out of the water. My body was pink, but I immediately started to warm up again. I was moaning a bit. Everyone was jumping up and down. What a great project and great teamwork from both sides. It was doable, but next time in cold weather - wet suit! I gave Spam a wet hug. We bid farewell to the 4 on the other side. They decided to hike back up as they didn't want to re-cross the river in the morning. Our motley TT group hiked to Conley Cove junction to meet up with HOI. We had a great and perfect fire. My adrenaline rush was gone and my lips were a'flappin from some good bourbon.
_____
The hike out Conley Cove was beautiful. Last time I hiked this trail, it was snowy and colder. HOI cut a few downed trees with the help of Baume and Spam to clear the trail. The view of Hawksbill from Conley Cove was wonderful. I thought about Tablerock again and how the clouds felt on my face. I thought about running back and forth along the river bank scrambling over rocks and yelling - totally immersed in the group project of crossing the river. The cold water contracting the muscles in my chest and my skin baby pink. I think sometimes we push the limits to refresh ourselves.

The first time I visited Linville Gorge, I was intrigued by Wiseman's View. The sound of the river up there... You know how it feels when you ridge walk and then descend down a trail and hear the sound of water? Ahhh...

So there. My weekend ended sweetly with liver mush, biscuits and gravey, forest fruit jelly and pie with ice cream. Eggs with cheese. Coffee with cream. Home fries with hot sauce. HOI gave me a ride back to my car on the other side. Baume's brake line went out so he had to have his car towed and fixed. Bummer! I said goodbye to HOI, MarkO, and Baume again after I came back past Louise's - they were waiting on the tow truck. I drove home.”

“kind of choppy - but wrote it very fast...”

“http://www.velvitoil.com/Scrapple.htm

http://arnolds-sausage.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=S

Heh heh........liver mush!!
(it's SCRAPPLE!!!)”

“1 fresh hog liver
1 and 1/2 pounds of fatty pork
2 cups cornmeal
Red pepper
Salt
Black pepper
Sage”

“Ingredients:
1 Grandmother to make sure everything is done "just so"
1 Mother to do most of the preparations. Overseen by ingredient #1
2 Children, big enough to stir the pot but not smart enough to be somewhere else
Hog heads (number depending upon how many hogs were killed)
About 1/4 of the livers (the rest having been made into liver pudding or fried)
Hearts
Various and sundry other parts of the pig not used to make other delicacies
Salt
Sage
Pepper
Maybe a little celery salt to highlight the flavors (optional)
Stone ground white cornmeal”

“No matter what you call it, it's still not something I'd order for breakfast!”

“You can buy scrapple in little frozen bricks at the grocery here. If I go shopping while hungry, I head to the frozen aisles to look at the stuff, then I don't feel hungry any more. More like vomiting.”

“Good thought, Palomino!!

treebait, do they call it "liver mush" in Florida??
last edited: 1/24/06 2:36:45 PM”