Full Moon at Shining Rocks

“Have bears started wearing headlamps? Maybe I should put that flashing red LED light I use for night bicycle rides on the back of my pack.”

“Well, no they do not wear headlamps. Butt.... they are using the dogs now with transmitter collars. So carry a big stick!
OM-Bare hunting?”

“heh....in the dark, by the light of the moon..”

“I will stay awake all night to see this!!! LOL!”

“i might wear my red light, too, ski.

we'll make that place into the red light district!”

“I I I I I I I I I I I I I I”

“trust me spam..ya dont want to stay awake for such a scary sight...besides....i was jest jesting......it would have to be a blue moon before i would do such a thing!

those headlamps are cool. when i was camping with hikerchik in yosemite, there was a group next to us that all had on these blue headlamps....it was hilarious watching these little balls of light moving around in the dark...



oops...it WILL be a blue moon, wont it?

so is this the list?
rad
skiracer
jerbear
txwoodswoman
spam
bpbaby42 (maybe)
gojo
sarabelle
walkindude
hiker.tom the mystery hiker from atlanta
maybe baume66

wonderful!!~~~~~~~~~~~

so, where are we going again?......tee hee....”

“yo! i need some info please. you can move me to the i'll be there column. friday around noon? map, directions, trail info.... i need it all. thank you. mccradb@msn.com”

“I'm still undecided, will know when I find out if I can get a vacation day. I need all the stuff that baume 66 requested also! Thanks”

“This trip is gonna be cool!”

“brr!”

“bpbaby and baume66....just sent you email.
ditto dude....
gojo, if you and belle and rad and i get there after dark and hike in together, it will be remeniscent(spelling?) of the dark/foggy paddle out to cumberland is!.....we have to stop meeting like this!”

“I'll arrive at the trailhead around 7:30(?) Friday. I'm guesstimating a four hour drive, with a probable last minute stop-to-shop.”

“yes! yes! us, too!

go jo be bo!

banana fanna fe fo!

re ri re rooo!

gooo jooo!”

“OM-so what trail will you be taking/ Email me so as I will be awaiting ya'll arrival at a nice campsite.”

“raddy!
raddy raddy mo faddy
banana fana fo maddy
fe fi fo daddy
raaaaaady”

“We are coming - don't count us out! I've been out of town for a while and haven't had time for TT for a long time. Rolex bought a shining rock topo map a while back (when we bought the new packs!), but I haven't looked at it yet. We are really looking forward to it. I've gone back over and read the thread and have a few questions...

1. What times are the Friday evening people getting in? I expect that we'll get up there around 8-9 pm, unless we try to take some time off work.

2. How far are folks hiking in on Friday and is everyone hiking to the same point on Friday?

3. Do bear bells scare off bear hunters as well?”

“Iwill be at the TH and will wait until say 2pm on fri oct 26 the with whomever is there we will hike into shinn rock gap and make a camp. The people arriving lateer(night stalkers) will I assume hike on in. I just spoke to OM and she has the handle on what going on WD,Spam and Baumme66 will be arriving early, right? Yo bear
Swissmiss, yea the hunters eat bear bells tooo! LOL I am sure ski will take you in!”

“Sorry SwissMiss and Rolex -
there is a 10 person maximum on campsites. Look like y'all will hafta wait til next year. )o:










LOL!”

“swiss miss, looks like a 7:30 to 8 pm nightwalkers group forming for friday evening of which, i will be one for sure.
i hiked for five days solo there during hunting season and did a lot of singing and chanting "i am not a bear", didnt get shot or see a bear, so i think bear bells will be just as effective. It is about a five mile, give or take, hike and altho not marked, easy to follow to the shining rocks gap camp. I had the place to myself last time, it was not over a weekend, but it is a big wilderness ..and you dont need permits etc, so don't listen to gojo! heh...
that is terrific that you guys will be there!”

“if anyone other than walkindude, spam, jerbear and me are going to be there for an early entry let us know so we know to wait (if you want us to).”

“I plan to get to there on Fri. afternoon. Please let me know when and where you are meeting and I'll be there.”

“Hey SwissMiss my wife made a friend from Switzerland on one of her virtual sites and she sent us all some great Chocolate. They want us to send A1 sause LOL!”

“hiker.tom, i don't see an email address for you so you is either gonna have to post it or email it to me at mccracdb@msn.com”

“Hey SwissMiss!
You gonna bring us some o dat Chocolate I've been hearing sooooo much about?
:@)”

“I can bring Snickers, Snickers Cruncher, Skittles (any flavor) or Starburst (any flavor).

Name yer poisons, but make it quick!!

Tex”

“Snickers for me!!!!!!!”

“Snickers for me too please!”

“Crunch is my favorite!”

“snickers!”

“Is the campsite in the gap or on the hill?”

“Can I get in on the SPAM breakfast buritto thing? If so, what should I bring?”

“a fork.”

“walkindude....at the gap by the hill....:) I think there are spots to camp on the hill, for a good view of them there rocks shining.

baume66........green eggs
i have never eaten spam.......perhaps one should not die without at least trying...

I shot a video of my last trip to shining rocks
( i did not carry a regular camera. ) I was reviewing it tonight and the date I started was October 26th 1999!!
there were still plenty of colors, sky was blue, clear crisp and beautiful for five days....mild sunny days and frozen water overnight....and a full moon too. I hope it will be the same this year for this crew....I cannot believe i will not be alone this time! kewl”

“iffin i throw those eggs in my pack tomorrow mornin, they ought to be pretty green by saturday! then all i'll need is my spork.”

“I missed Spam-n-Eggs at RRG. I recon I'll have to try 'em this time.”

“Spam? Ewwwwww..

How about Pork Roll?? Man, I haven't had any of that since I left Jersey almost 2 years ago..

ahh..memories of what food used to be..

real pizza
cavetelli
pork roll
italian bakeries
dunkin donuts

those were the days..”

“Of course I'm bringing the chocolate...the only problem is I am down to 6 bars until I replenish in early Jan. I'm planning on bringing 3 for this trip and 3 for Mt. Rogers.

By the way, I'm assuming there is a good sourse of water up there. We haven't had any problems in the PNF so far. Let us know if it is going to be otherwise.”

“It's predicted to be a bit on the chilly side.

Asheville forecast

We will be about 3,000 feet above this forecast. No fires allowed. Bring your warm clothes!”

“You've only been gone for two years, Tex? The real texans would be horrified to see us calling you Tex! Come on, admit it, you miss more than the food. Like the traffic, smog, traffic lights every 100 feet, toll booths every 1/4 mile, strip malls stacked three deep along the road, so that anyone searching for a store is guaranteed to smack into your rear bumper when you stop at a light (every 100 feet). Brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?”

“Okay guys and gals I have a proposal. I've been talking with a local outfitter that knows this whole area very well and he said that there is a nice campsite just a couple miles up the Ivester Gap Trail and I was thinking that maybe since we have several folks coming in the evening time that we might want to camp there Friday nite so nobody gets lost and also we CAN have a fire at this site. It comes before the no fire zone.What do ya think??????????”

“I think this is I-am-Om's trip and she should be allowed to make that decision, even though she won't be there until Saturday. That being said...I'm all for a fire on a cold night.”

“Skiman that was a suggestion ONLY! I would never try to take over for our beautiful hostess! LOL!

I bought a map for Dude and he already got one so iffin anyone needs a map please let me know!!!”

“i'm for whatever goes. reckon i'll have to get out the long johns.”

“Spam, don't take it the wrong way. Knowing just a little bit about I-am-Om, I'll bet you she wouldn't mind us fiddling with any plans she had made. Whatever goes is good for me, too. I'll just go with the flow.”

“I hate not having a fire, thats one of the most rewarding parts of the trip.My friend says that having a small one up there isn't a problem.”

“does the ivester gap trail leave out of the second parking area?”

“Sounds ok to me.

I thought OM was arriving on Friday p.m.
I'll wait at the trailhead for a while until she (rad too?) arrives, then we can hike in together. If their cars are there, but they are not, I'll come on in.

I prolly won't wait later than 10:00 p.m., tho.”

“I wouldn't mind if we walked a little less in the evening and had a fire. Sounds like we'd have a little more togetherness time.

GORP says to go all the way to the end of FR 816 for the Ivestor trail:

GORP article

gee, hope that worked.”

“(I'm soooo cool)

Gojo, Om said that she was going to TRY to be there about 7:30 or 8pm. Same goes for Rolex and I. I wouldn't wait til 10pm either...unless it is an especially beautiful night.”