Hi Ed,
I thought I
would drop you a line and tell you about our hike to LeConte two weekends
ago. Dave DeShazo and I met Bob Hutchins at Hardee's for breakfast on Sat.
morning for our prep for the hike. Dave is the guy that hiked with me last
Christmas when we stayed with Ron and Marty Underwood at the top. He's
the one that had a heart attack on me that night at the top. Bob
is my neighbor in Townsend and is a member of the 900 mile club. He belongs
to two hiking clubs and hikes every Wednesday.
The parking
lot was almost full when we arrived at seven fifteen. There were two
groups that were planning to stay at the top overnight.
Pop Hollandsworth's group had around fifteen or so and Tim Line had twenty
seven for the annual volunteer party. Pop remained at the 'Base Camp'
(motel) to hold things together ( he said).
We had a good
hike up with only a few hundred yards of bad ice. I made the hike a lot
better since the doctor changed some of my meds. We
had a long visit with Ron and Marty then went to the kitchen for a bowl of
Marty's wonderful chicken soup. It sure beat the cold Bar-B-Q we brought up
for lunch.
Henry Neal looked
well and seemed to have gained a little weight but also seemed to have aged
a little.
I met several
others that I knew by first name only and had a great time chatting with
them. Dave and I were the only ones of the Alabama Gang that made it for the
weekend I think. After
about an hour and a half we decided to hike on back down and head home. Bob
lives in Knoxville so it wasn't a hard trip for him. It's 308 miles from the
trailhead to my house in Leeds, Ala. We met several more of Pop's group at
the Upper Steps and had a long chat with them. They told me where Pop was
staying but I forgot. We referred to them as the two girls and the French
guy on the way down.
In that it was a beautiful day
there were a lot of hikers on the trail, an unusual site for late Jan.
Even with all the chit-chat we made
it down in two hours and Twenty minutes. Bob headed on back to Knoxville and
Dave and I packed up and headed for Leeds.
We had a lot
of fun on a gorgeous day. Wish you had been there!!!
Take Care
Joe Steele
