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When we left the Gear Head Inn a week ago Sunday, Bruce (cobra) and his friend Ivo took Bubba the Truck and we followed in Red to a state park in north Georgia. Bruce left his own truck at GHI, will be back to pick it up in about two weeks. They were going to hike the Appalachian trail. Well, the Guessers say it's going to snow up there tonight. It's bringing flashbacks.
When I was in my late teens, a friend of mine said let's go for a hike this Saturday. Okay, sounds like fun. We lived in South Carolina, it was only about a three hour drive up to the mountains, we could do that and get back home in a day. Day trip. John. He died at the age of 43 somewhere in Thailand. Heart attack, as told. I'll bet he was puffing on a Thai Stick in Thailand when he went, always of frail health and he just LOVED pot.
But anyhow, I rode with John to a spot at the base of Mount Mitchell in a VW Rabbit, if I remember correctly. Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi River, if I remember correctly.
He parked the car, we got out. We had light jackets on, it was about 55 degrees. 5 miles to the top, 5 miles back down, through the woods. It wasn't a part of the Appalachian Trail at all. It wasn't much of a beaten path or trail, somebody had painted tree trunks blue every so often so you could see the next blue tree trunk from the one you were standing beside.
Uphill, yes. Probably about 2500 feet of elevation change in that 5 miles up. Through creek beds and uneven ground....5 miles to the top. We were young. About 500 yards into the trek we were huffing and puffing and sweating and took our light jackets off and started carrying them. Hike, hike, hike.
At the top, it was about 24 degrees and the wind was going 60 mph, blizzard, snow going sideways, whiteout conditions. All of the facilities were closed, nobody up there. Nowhere to get out of it with our light jackets. We were in peril. Get back down FAST. So we trotted down the mountain as fast as we could and about 1000 feet of de-elevation later things calmed down and warmed up a lot. The terror was only at the top. That's the mountains for ya.
If we had slipped and fallen down, anything....nobody else up there, cell phones had not even been dreamed of yet (plus, cell usage in the mountains is spotty at best)....one or the both of us would have been done in.
Kids. On a "let's do it" adventure.
When I was in my late teens, a friend of mine said let's go for a hike this Saturday. Okay, sounds like fun. We lived in South Carolina, it was only about a three hour drive up to the mountains, we could do that and get back home in a day. Day trip. John. He died at the age of 43 somewhere in Thailand. Heart attack, as told. I'll bet he was puffing on a Thai Stick in Thailand when he went, always of frail health and he just LOVED pot.
But anyhow, I rode with John to a spot at the base of Mount Mitchell in a VW Rabbit, if I remember correctly. Mount Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi River, if I remember correctly.
He parked the car, we got out. We had light jackets on, it was about 55 degrees. 5 miles to the top, 5 miles back down, through the woods. It wasn't a part of the Appalachian Trail at all. It wasn't much of a beaten path or trail, somebody had painted tree trunks blue every so often so you could see the next blue tree trunk from the one you were standing beside.
Uphill, yes. Probably about 2500 feet of elevation change in that 5 miles up. Through creek beds and uneven ground....5 miles to the top. We were young. About 500 yards into the trek we were huffing and puffing and sweating and took our light jackets off and started carrying them. Hike, hike, hike.
At the top, it was about 24 degrees and the wind was going 60 mph, blizzard, snow going sideways, whiteout conditions. All of the facilities were closed, nobody up there. Nowhere to get out of it with our light jackets. We were in peril. Get back down FAST. So we trotted down the mountain as fast as we could and about 1000 feet of de-elevation later things calmed down and warmed up a lot. The terror was only at the top. That's the mountains for ya.
If we had slipped and fallen down, anything....nobody else up there, cell phones had not even been dreamed of yet (plus, cell usage in the mountains is spotty at best)....one or the both of us would have been done in.
Kids. On a "let's do it" adventure.
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