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Thanks to my daughter Peggy and her husband
If anyone needs to contact me use the following e-mail
address
9/13/04, my son Bob called and said that he had
electricity and I didn't, that I could stay with him until I did. I plan to
drive to Cherokee, NC today and hopefully stay at the Best Western Motel. Tomorrow morning, I plan to hike the Alum Cave
Bluff Trail to the lodge and back down before heading back to
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Hike 1287 9/6/04 The timing of this hike was brought on by the potential arrival of
Hurricane Frances at my home in Southeastern Florida, My son Bob advised me to
get out of Harms way and head to my daughter Peggy and Marks Haythorn's place
in Chapel Hill, NC. He advised me that the escape routes would soon become a
parking lot if I waited too long to leave. I spent my 79th birthday, September
1, 2004, putting up storm shutters, mowing grass and taking showers. My son
Bill and his wife Sally came up to visit and to take me to the Golden Corral
for birthday dinner. Bob, Lisa and the boys were also to go and join in the
celebration but Bob thought that their time could be better spent by Bill and I
helping him shutter the 24 windows on his home. So we did. We did stop by the
local Subway shop for salads and sandwiches. As far as the showers, I took my
first shower after breakfast. I took my second shower after finishing
shuttering Pat's house and mowing the lawn. I took my third shower after Bill
and I finished helping Bob shutter his house. I am sure that is a record number
of showers on my birthday. Back when I was a youngster, I never took a shower.
I just took a sponge bath or washed off in the local swimming hole.
I left Jensen Beach, Florida,
on Thursday, September 2, 2004 and headed north. Traffic on I 95 north of Ft.
Pierce was flowing freely but that was to change near Palm Bay. It was truly a
stop and go trip from there into Georgia. It took me ten hours to reach
Waterboro, SC where it would have taken me less than seven hours. I stopped at
the Ramada Inn, in Walterboro and spent the night. A very few rooms remained
unfilled when I checked in.
I arrived at my daughter's
home at about noon and let myself in and relaxed. Peggy returned shortly and we
settled in for an extended visit. Hurricane Frances took it's time about coming
ashore. Its forward progress had slowed to about 5 MPH but thank God the wind
speed had decreased from 140 MPH to 105 MPH. The center of the 70 mile wide eye
hit Sewells Pointe, FL, which adjoins Jensen Beach, late evening on Sunday the
fifth. Pat was in Colorado. Bob Lisa, Austin and Charlie were in a shelter at
the Martin County Jail. Bill, Sally, and pets Chris, Red dog, Quint and Kharma were buttoned up
in West Palm Beach.
I wanted to get in a hike
while I was here and checking the weather forecast, it appeared that Labor Day
was the only likely rain free day until later in the week. With the knowledge
that everyone was safe, I headed out about noon time on Sunday for Cherokee.
Traffic was light and I arrived in the early evening at Tillroe and Jo Ann
Smith's camper. They insisted that I stay with them and Tillroe would show me
the way up the Alum Cave Bluff Trail the next morning. Jo Ann put up left over food that would grace
a king's table. For dessert there was coconut cake, coconut pie, strawberries
and ice cream. YUM YUM. I also got to sleep in their
new bedroom with cable TV and all the comforts of home.
I woke up about 4:00 a.m. and
turned on the Tennessee/UNLV game and watched that as I was doing my morning
chores. (Tennessee Won. Way to Go Vols!) I then turned
on the coffee and awoke Tillroe. We had breakfast and headed for the trailhead.
It was a nice 53 degrees on Tillroe's porch as we departed. We arrived at the
Alum Cave Bluff Trailhead at about 6:25 a.m. and prepared to leave. We left at
6:30 and a nice 53 degree temperature. We paused at the trailhead to photograph
Tillroe at the sigh post. It was still
quite dark when we left but we were able to hike along without tripping. Our
eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness and at the same time the environs were
becoming brighter with the moon light and the slowly rising sun. We managed to
hike without tripping
After hiking about a half
mile, Tillroe heard a noise and ask me what I thought that it was. I suggested
that perhaps it was an owl but very soon Ron Valentine's silhouette appeared
from the darkness. We chatted a while and I took Ron
and Tillroe's picture before moving on up the trail.
As we neared Inspiration
Point, The sun was lighting the clouds up
over the
We stopped at Gracie's Pulpit
for a snack and a picture of Cliff Top and
Paul's Face. The short down hill from Gracie's pulpit to the saddle is
always a welcome respite on the way up to the lodge but read drudgery upon the
return trip. We met Neal Webb and his son
Tucker from La Verge, TN, before reaching the new log steps. When Neal said
that they were from Nashville, TN, I asked him if he were working in the
religious or medical field. I know that Nashville is famous for country music
but those folks, except for Helen Cornelius, don't seem to hike this mountain.
He responded that He was a financial administrator in the religious field. I
told Tucker that I could remember his name from the Tucker automobile that was
designed but never went into production shortly after WWII. His dad said that
he had three models of the Tucker. Tillroe used Neal's fine Nikon digital SLR
camera to take our picture. Neal e-mailed me a
copy.
We met four backpackers from the Cincinnati,
We were overtaken and passed
by a couple from Indianapolis,
I paused at Grassy Slide to photograph the mountains toward Clingmans Dome,
some Grass of Parnassus and closed gentian
flowers. I even took a picture of Tillroe
at Grassy Slide and a picture of Tillroe
and Ron Valentine. Ron was on his way back down from the lodge. We met J. L.
and Ayse Grillot from
Knoxville, TN, near West Point View and the rest of the group from
I took a picture of Tillroe on Betty Jane Barnett's
Stairway to Heaven. I also took a couple of more scenes of the mountains toward Clingmans Dome
and Sugarland. When I reached the top of
the Stairways to Heaven, I met Scott and
Stephanie Hatley family from Memphis, TN. They
spent the night at the lodge to celebrate their 22nd wedding anniversary with
her cousin and her husband. I also asked
another couple with their two young sons to pose for the picture. Before
reaching the site of the Old Horse Gate, I rook a couple of pictures of Paul's face and Margaret's
Place.
The lodge was 60 degrees,
windy and partly cloudy. After filling my CamelBak with fresh water, we went
inside the office and signed the register
before returning to the rocking chairs on the front porch. While we were eating
our lunches, we watched the lower layer of
clouds zipping past High Top. A thin upper layer appeared to be completely
motionless in a dark blue sky. The breeze made the porch seem cool. Lodge
member Michael came by and I asked him for former lodge member Henry Neel's
address in Iraq. He said that Henry was back in Mississippi with his guard unit
that has been mobilized and is in training prior to being deployed. I wanted
Henry's address so I could post it and ask hikers that knew him to write to
him. After finishing our lunches, we headed back down the trail at
I took a picture of some colorful Witch Hobble leaves
and some fungi on the stump of a Fraser
Fir, before reaching the site of the Old Horse Gate. I paused long enough to photograph Paul's face, Margaret's Place and
the views in the direction of Newfound Gap.
We met a very sweating Nolan Hadley at
Margaret's place. He introduced himself and said that I had taken a picture of
his folks. He said that he couldn't hike and spend the night with his folks,
which I had met earlier, because he had to work. It kind of puzzled me because
his parents were from Memphis and that was too far for him to drive this
morning. He later overtook and passed us at Arch Rock and he cleared up the
mystery.
I took another picture of Tillroe descending Betty Jane Barnett's
Stairway to Heaven and when we reached Grassy Slide, I took more pictures
of the Grass of Parnassus and closed gentian as well and scenic views toward Clingmans and Gracie's Pulpit.
We met three well dressed young ladies with head scarves and each one eating a
Granny Smith apple. I wondered at the time who would hike this mountain dressed
in such finery but I did not ask. Their apples surely looked good.
We met Dave Scanlon from Knoxville, TN below Trout
Branch. He looked good and fit but still told lies. He said the "I was
looking good." I paused at Trout
Branch to gather a few blackberries. They were delicious and they were surely
the last of the blackberry crop for this year. Tillroe is a much faster hiker
than I am so he hikes ahead and rests a lot. When I reached the top of the
upper steps, He was leaning his head against the handrail at the bottom of the
steps. I tried to get his picture in that position but just as I was ready to snap the picture, he looked up.
Below the steps, we met two more finely dressed young ladies with head
scarves but they were not eating green apples. I chatted with them for a
while and found out that they are with some Baptist Church group. One young
lady was from Cincinnati, OH and the other was from Indiana. They were
beautiful young ladies. I was chatting with a guy with a Tee Shirt stating that
he was an Appalachian Trail maintenance volunteer. I told him that most
Appalachian Trail Thru Hikers were complaining about the terrible damage that
horses do to the trail through the park but they cannot lead their dogs
through. As we were chatting, I saw Michael chasing a fine looking lady; both
lodge crew members, down the trail. The lady
would not stop for me to take a picture but Michael did. The A. T. trail
maintainer was in the background of the picture.
I took another picture of fungi before hiking up on a
man resting with three ladies. I asked him how he rated such a good looking harem! I photographed more fungi. Perhaps Dr. Mike at Miami University in
Oxford, OH will identify them for me!
As we were climbing the trail
from the saddle to Gracie's Pulpit, I saw a bunch Albino rhododendron leaves. I wondered what
caused this anomaly. I took another shot of
Cliff Top before stopping for a snack at Gracie's Pulpit. When we were
preparing to leave, Ed Munger from
Sevierville hiked up. We chatted for a while before continuing our descent past
Big Duck Hawk Ridge and Little Duck Hawk Ridge. I enjoyed the view of
the Alum Cave Bluff but it was surprisingly
light on hikers for a Labor Day. We met the Johnson's
as we were leaving. He had e-mailed me a while back about a cross that was
planted on Cliff Top as a "Tribute to Dad." I gave him the e-mail
address of a supervisor in the park and he reported it to him. A park employee
removed the cross. He said that he and his wife were married at Myrtle Point in
1990. Now that is a romantic setting for a wedding and shows real love for the
mountains.
I took another picture of the
Eye of the Needle as we passed. We chatted
with a group named Good, Mike I think, from
Huntsville, AL at Inspiration Point. I took two pictures of fungi before reaching the first foot log. Nolan Hadley
overtook us at Arch Rock and answered my puzzlement about how he could be
working and missed the overnight stay with his family. Nolan said that had
attended a local Johnson's Bible College and had an Associate's Degree from
there and was now attending the University of Tennessee, studying theater.
Mystery solved.
We completed the hike without
any rain. The 6 hours and 55 minute roundtrip was the fastest trip that I have
made in a while. I took Tillroe home, had another piece of pie and a couple of
glasses of milk before heading back to Chapel Hill. The Labor Day traffic all
the way to Asheville was as bad as the northward bound hurricane Frances
traffic fleeing from Florida. Tillroe Smith is truly a great guy. If you don't
know him, you should do your best to meet him.
News from my son Bob reports
some damage to the house and yard but nothing really serious. A neighbor's roof
was blown off. As of 9.8.04 there was still no power and almost no gasoline or
food stores open.
[Home] [Trail History] [Trail Map] [Selected Log Excerpts] [Photos] [People] [Order the Book] [Links] [E-Mail Ed Wright]