Ramada Inn Lake Chatuge Lodge Hiawassee

... and I have almost learnt to trust that the more random it is, the more I can trust it!
Travis also.. lives in a trailer- some may judge but it brought back brilliant memories for me of our caravaning trips as kids, where you could transform a table and seating area into a bed for two (BRILLIANT!). Anyway, the one he lives in here is HUGE, with 3 double bedrooms and one even en suite - Who'd have thunk?!



Anyway ...

... and yet quite familiar. Dustin did end up seeing a midsized black bear towards the end of today. Covered nine miles altogether and set up camp at the next major trail shelter. Set up camp with great ease and comfort. By this time, we knew exactly what we had to work with and how to do what we wanted. As a wonderful turn of events, earlier this day Dustins uncle pointed out a type of tree on our hike. The Sassafrass trees on Sassafrass mountain. Apparently, their root ...

Started at 11:21hrs on Sunday August 30, 2009 at Unicoi Gap on the Appalachian Trail. Very humid weather. Reached a high altitude point of about 4200 ft. This was probably one of the most strenuous hikes I have ever been on. This segment of the AT was very mountainous. Up....then down....then back up again....and back down. It was ...

Friday September 4th

I can hardly believe this is October already....I am behind in the Blogging due to travel and family and great times!!! Read on!!!

Andy and I got to Jackrabbit Campgrounds just in time to spend the weekend with families having their last summer hurrah over the Labor Day Weekend. Children were the name of the game and that means bikes everywhere, games ...

... overgrown look. Most of Enota is worked by volunteers who work for the benefit of staying on the grounds and meals for free and getting to join in the many retreats that are offered throughout the year. at a great discount. Some folks get a stipend depending on your length of stay and your value to them. I think this sounds like a terrific idea to do one day!! Andy is less interested as gardening isn't his thing but maybe they will need ...

... tumbled over rocks and through the roots of trees.

As we got a bit higher the meadow lands stopped and the forest got thicker and deeper and darker. The smells were intoxicatingly beautiful. The Moccasin Creek began to flow faster with more width and depth and volume. We kept going. We noticed that there were some mushrooms along the sides of our now one person width path. Wait a minute...there are mushrooms everywhere! Neither ...

... Ned Beatty and 2 convincing dudes who played inbred raping hillbillys. THIS gorge IS where the movie was filmed and lots of the scenery looked familiar.

The suspension bridge had a great view of one of the 3 major falls you see along the way. After ascending the stairs we reached the interpretive center that's filled with exhibits and a film about the gorge, including footage of insane kayakers running the rapids and "paddling" down ...

We take a day trip to Highlands, NC.  Yet another mountain town. A beautiful ride as usual.  To get there we go through Brevard and Cashiers.  All of these places near the Nantahala forest are upscale and dotted with streams, rivers, lakes and waterfalls.  Along the way we spotted Georges State Park and decided to take a slight detour to check it out and eat lunch.  Turns out the park is still under construction.  It's not entirely closed.  You can drive through it but most of the ...

... trail. With the possible exception of getting on top of some mountain and missing the next white blaze and going a half mile down the wrong trail. But yeah, Tuesday was fun. Once you're wet, you don't care anymore. It's very boolean. You can't get any wetter. It's a 1 or a 0. Anyway, it stopped raining around 3 PM; I was in Low Gap shelter that night, and it was all good. But thagt night it dropped ...