Wilson Creek, The Tall Tales...

“It's Monday morning and I really should still be in the woods with i-am-om and jerbear. *sigh*

The trip report (or at least my version of it):

TWB, Butthead, Beavis and I met with Ghost, jerbear, wwwdrr, Sasha Marie, trailbuster, and Gloria at noon at the closed gates of the Linn Cove Visitors Center. We then drove to what we thought was the trail head. We got a bit confused about our location due to the fact that there were crowds of car campers in the area. After much ado (we were just disoriented, not lost, right guys?) we determined we were in the correct spot and started our hike (much later than we anticipated).

The skies were a bit threatening as we started along a poorly, and I do mean poorly, marked trail. Lots of up, up ups and down down downs through a beautiful forest that changed rapidly from hard woods to pines to thick over grown mountain laural tunnels where the trail all but disappeared.

We went over one knoll that was an open pine grove and saw many trees marked by bears and they must have been LARGE bears by the height of the claw marks!

At the top of Timber Ridge the trail split and it was difficult to determine which way to go. This seemed to be the place where things went wrong for others coming in later, but those are their tales and I'll let them tell them.

There was a desent in the trail that was extremely steep covered with loose rocks and a nice thick layer of leaves. I give this the "most dangerous" part of the hike since you really couldn't judge where you were stepping. At the bottom the trail looked like it went straight ahead but it actually turned off to the left through what looked like an animal trail through overgrown mountain laural. Over grown and narrow we continued on to a steep, long set of switchbacks.
After several stream crossings we made camp for the night. It wasn't a great spot but we were expecting some of the others to come in that evening and didn't want them to have to hike too far after dark. Several of our group crashed early.

Skiracer, Swiss Miss and Rolex came into camp around 9:30 having hiked about half the distance in the dark and a couple of wrong turns (again, I'll let them tell that tale). We socialized for a bit and turned in.

We were expecting i-am-om but she didn't show and we figured she had arrived late at the trail head (she was coming from Florida) and decided to wait till morning to hike.

In the morning we decided to pack up to find a better spot for group camping as this spot was a bit small and extremely rocky. As we were packing up, who made the first appearance, but sarabelle! Fully packed, and tail a wagging! Gojo showed up soon after.
When sarabelle finished sniffing butts and gojo finished his coffee we headed up the trail again, with me towards the rear (as usual). Did a few creek crossings when ski racer came back down the trail to show us where to find the trail since it pretty much disappeared again. At this point we came to a set of falls. Absolutley beautiful! Wide spots for lounging and a nice pool at the bottom for playing.

We took a short rest and continued on to a great spot in a pine grove near the creek. We were home!

Set up camp and lunched. Folks sort of did their own thing for the afternoon.

wwwndrr, roots and Cabana man took a short hike and met up with a very wet MOM (she can tell you about that). Not long after radagast, Jen and i-am-om came in to camp. They some how managed to meet along the trail. i-am-om had an adventure of her own out there! But, again, she can tell you about it.

During the afternoon there were rumors of naked people at the falls and in the creek, but I never saw any:-(

We had another lovely evening socializing around the campfire. Swiss Miss came up with the trailname of roots for Chris, aka Beavis and Gopher for Graham, aka Butthead. i-am-om once referred to Graham as cabana man. Graham decided he really liked being cabana man to Gloria and i-am-om and would rather be called Cabana Man rather than gopher. So now we have two new trail names to add to our gang.

Sunday morning some of us were to say farewell and hike out. Oh, how I wanted to stay that extra day with om and jerbear!!!

On the hike out TWB dubbed Gloria Waterwalker. The name came from the fact that once she got her boots wet on a stream crossing she just went on and walked through the water quickly. Forget trying to pick her way over loose rocks!

We had a suprise ending to our trip! Waiting at the trailhead was Spam with a cooler full of ice cold sodas! Bless his sweet lil heart! He had tried to find us on Saturday night but didn't (he can tell of his adventures).

It was a great trip! I'm still tired and sore. Enjoyed meeting a few new folks and it was great to see old friends! My boys had a blast and can't wait for the next trip. Thanks to all of you for making their first ECT experience so wonderful!”

“Wow,...What a great trip report and it sounds like you have made some lasting memories as well!

Thanks for sharing that with us!”

“Belle and I reached the trailhead at about 1:00 Friday night, and crashed in the truck. We were on the trail at 7:30 Saturday morning, and walked into the then-packed camp a little after nine.

I had no problem finding the Tyvek markers at the trailhead (I was parked 30 feet from the first one). I expected more markers, but there were just the two at the trailhead. I, too, was a little hesitant at the Timber Ridge intersection, but opted for the right fork. Then the descent to Wilson Creek - rough trail! (steep, too). The trail disappeared at the Creek (so I thought), so we moseyed along the creek banks.

Within a mile or so I recognized an eerie figure in the bush - I had seen a Ghost. It turned out to be the whole gang, and they were in the process of packing. We hiked a couple miles to a new campground. This place was TOO perfect! It accomodated all our tents with room to spare. It was well situated between the trail and the creek.

Most of us had our tents pitched before noon, and had the entire afternoon to frolic. The falls just upstream were, indeed, impressive. The creek ran noisily along the upper edge of the campsite, and provided us with constant background muzak.

The weather was perfect - warm, sunny days and cool nights. Bugs were nonexistant (though I did get a tick on my arm).

DAMN I wanted to stay another day (or two!).

Thanks, Ghost - good find!”

“Left the house about 4:20 Friday morning with the intension of doing some day hikes before I met up with the group. 90 minutes later I was on the Blue Ridge Parkway heading north. Then I remembered that Jerbear and wwwandrr may have spent the night at a campground a few miles south. So I turned around to see if I could find them. Once in the campground I saw a roaring fire, and crouched next to it, a bear. A Jerbear, that is. He was a bit surprised to see me, and told me he never did hook up with wwwandrr. I told him of my plans to day hike and asked if he?d like to join me. He said sure, and since he was camped close to Linville Falls, that was our first destination. After and hour or so of walking to different vantage points to view the falls, we headed back to camp so Jer could pack his stuff.

We headed north on the Parkway and stopped at a pull-off that overlooked Lost Cove, our ultimate destination.

We headed further north and took another short hike to Flat Rock. We took in some great views of valleys, distant peaks, and Grandfather Mountain. We got back to the cars around 11:00 a.m. and decided to head to the meeting point, and Pamster and Gojo gave a great narrative of the events that followed.

The only difference for me was on Saturday afternoon, after setting up camp, I wanted to hike to Darkside Cliffs that towered above the Cove. No one else seemed interested in a three mile, mostly uphill hike. So I headed off alone and was greatly rewarded. The view was incredible and the Cove was beautiful. I saw the silhouette of two large birds riding the thermals from one side of the Cove to the other. After awhile they disappeared only to reappear moments later with about eight of their closest friends. It was an amazing scene to witness.

After about a half hour or so of experiencing this, I headed back to camp hoping the pictures would turn out, but knowing they could never really communicate what its was like, ?being there.?

It was a great trip. And though it was said before, it was great seeing old friends, and meeting some new ones.”

“It was a good time, I gess.
I was happy to meet ever buddy and see ever buddy that I awreddy knowed. I was reel happy when I seen Ant OM. She is my favert new ant.

I did not see much aminals cept some brids, but I smelled some rat places.

Know what?
When me and my daddy was ridin in the truk to go home, some deers walked RIGHT IN THE RODE! and we had to stop goin in the truk and I yelled out the windo and sayed "get off of the rode you deers!"

Then, we seen a BIG FAT rock rat runnin (he did not run fast tho) on the rode then he runned up the dert by side the rode and I yelled at him, to, but I don't member what I yelled.

Ther was the nother dog ther. Her name was Sausage. She plays lots of tinnis. I did not ressel with her cuz I mostly wanted to rest and be lazy. She is the good runnin dog.

It was a perty place to walk in the woods and sleep in the woods. Ther was a good creek and good places to pee and good tents. I want to do that agin reeel soon.”

“THE PARTY IN THE WOODS
man I had a great time. Great experience. Every one described the trail perfect, I'll try to describe the experience from my point of view,

The intial meeting of Gloria, ghost, trailbuster, wwwdr, sasha, and jerbear was quick and infromal, but I had a good feeling about this trip. I rode up with pamster, cabana man(her son Graham), and kevin AKA twb(he is my boss so I won't say what that stands for ), it took about four huors, but seemed like a very short trip.

Hiking in was kinda hard, but I am way out of shape so that explains that. I found myself very relaxed on the trail. when we got to the first camp I was beat. We ate and started the camp fire. That was about the time that I relized what a great group I was with and how much I could learn from these people. Sitting around the camp fire talking with wwdr and jerbear I really enjoyed getting to know them and really look forward to having there company on the trail again. right as I was going to bed rolex, swiss miss, and skiracer got in to camp but I was to tired to stay up so I went to sleep as soon as I laid down.

The next mourning when I woke so was every one else. I had my coffee(A MUST for a good mourning) and we decided to move on. as we packed up the second dog of the trip showed up(sasha being the first) along with her owner gojo.
The next trail seemed to role by real quick. The next camp site was right down the trail form some very inspiring waterfalls. The camp site it self was perfect right by the stream, very shady, and the ground was flat and soft. We set up camp quickly so we could relax and have some food. after a while wwwdr, Graham, and I went for a walk down the trails to the next set of waterfalls. On the trail we met up with mom, and walked her back to the campsite.
to be continued (I am very hungry and dinners ready) chapter 2 the actual party!!!!”

“2AM
drive
hike
tequila
sleep
hike
drive
sleep”

“Sounds like a Typical fun ECT trip. I wish I could have made it but 3 weekends in a row may be a little much in Susan's eyes.
Glad to hear everybody had fun and got to meet new people.”

“sounds like a great time! It's fun to read the different accounts...an interesting picture.

Can't wait to see pics! That campsite sounds ideal.
:o)”

“I had a great time. Here are the promised pics:
http://www.rochonworldpictures.homestead.com/wilsoncreek.html”

“I'll try to write about the trip tommorrow. Right now I've got a hockey game to watch”

“trailbuster- Thanks sweetie! What a better way to start my morning than to see pictures from a great hike! I haven't managed to get my film in to be developed. I will today!”

“Nice pics TB! When I got home Sunday evening I picked up my camera and the door that holds the film was broken and my film was exposed so now I have no pics and I need a new camera. Thats okay cause I've been wanting a new one anyhoo!”

“cool pics! looks like a fun time. :o)”

“heh, heh.

"Pitch a tent".”

“Cool pics!
Man... what a goooooood time.

Belle's a little miffed that the one picture makes her "look fat".

Whatever.




AmyG -
GET A JOB! ya bum...
hehehee!”

“gojo, remind sarabelle that the camera adds pounds;-) That's my story and I'm sticking to it.”

“Viewing those pictures should serve as a warning to you out there as to the dangers of inbreeding.”

“HAHAHA Dr Laura!


Great shots Trailbuster.”

“Yeah, great pics. Any chance of adding labels so we know who's who?”

“You guys are so lucky.”

“yeah, I'll add labels. Been very busy though. Or, if anybody's got ideas for snappy captions, let's hear them”

“The title of the group picture could be
"The Inbreds"”

“gojo....Doctor Laura....gojo....Doctor Laura....

...hmmmmm”

“Yeah, what Ski said!”

“8D”

“I've added captions of at least everybody's trailnames to most of the pictures. If there are any mistakes, or if anybody has any better ideas let me know”

“wow. tell me how I missed this trip?? I didn't even know it was goin on! I need to stop arguing about God, politics and TNF.”

“yes, please!”

“Ski, Spam-
Y'all don't know who Dr. Laura is?

See the thread "The Eleventh Commandment",
and figure it out for yourselves. I did... I think.”

“hmm. i just reread it. what am i missing, here?”

“I just reread it, too. I'm definitely missing some great clue.”

“Well, that's three of us. What did I miss?”

“i think it may be mel's quote.

but i thought that she was just being funny.”

“I re-read it, too.

Hmmmmmm...
I see what y'all mean.

I don't remember exactly what did it, but it on this thread that I made the DL connection. I would spill the beans, but a) I do not want to be the first, and 2) I *might* be wrong...”

“well, i always thought that it was amyg.... or sarabelle! LOL!!!!”

“MAYBE IT'S BACPAC!”

“I know who Dr. Laura is!LOL!”

“Who?”

“If ignorance is bliss, you fellas ought to be some damn happy bastards!”

“She's squirmin', fellas!
She knows we're on to her.”

“Ditto, Great trip and pics and people and dogs and.... I am home for a couple of daze! Yo bear”

“How do you make a hormone, bastards?

Don't pay her.

Get it? Whore moan!
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”

“gojo, tell me who Dr. Laura is. Pleeeeeease. I won't tell more than 10 people. Honest. Please please please”

“Great trip folks. Ain't spring wonderful.”

“Dr. Laura is...

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“Who's this ERROR guy?”

“I want to know how MOM got wet!!!!!!!”

“I didn't witness the actual event, but rumors have it she toppled backwards right into the creek.”