So the extraction from the mountain went well. I managed to make it down the hill from the campground and up the hill to the base of Springer Mountain to pick up Jim from his hike. It was a lot easier driving than I thought it would be. Jim said he had a good hike. He will post his hike stuff next. And the Verizon cell phone reception was good so we were able to be in contact when he was on the hill and I knew right where to go to pick him up. That's the good news. Now for our Verizon nightmare. I am currently typing this in the Lodge using their wifi. That works great. But the Verizon aircard keeps shutting down the computer. So we went to a Verizon store and they said we needed to uninstall the aircard and reinstall it. Well they uninstalled it and were not able to reinstall it and so now we have no air card. And then they sent us on a wild goose chase to the Geek Squad to see if they could fix the problem and they were useless too. So now if I can't reinstall from their web page, which I will try next, then we are stuck until we get to Ohio and Christopher can have at our computer. But the good news is that we have wifi and most of the campgrounds have it. So we just won't be able to post as often as we hoped we would be able to. But we will let you know one way or another that we are ok.
Beau is having a great time. He loves the cooler weather and all the neat smells in the woods. I am loving the outdoors but would kill for a real bed. Other than that the trip is good so far. The woods are gorgeous and it is nice and cool out. Of course I am bundled up like it's winter. But it is supposed to get a little warmer tomorrow so that is good news.
Short hikes on the agenda for today. A long one tomorrow when it's a little warmer. We are supposed to get thunder storms this afternoon too so we didn't want to be stuck on a mountain in a storm. There may be a backgammon tourney in the van this afternoon if it rains hard. The dice have been in Jim's favor lately too. I have lost my edge. Yikes.
TTFN
The approach trail up to Springer Mountain was not as bad as most of the books made out. Couple of challenging climbs at the beginning and end, rest was rolling hills similar to the Fingerlakes trail. Wore my heartmonitor and most of the time it was not over 100, and 118 on the climbs, so the climbs would be equivalent to a moderate run / jog. Took some pictures at Springer Mountain and had a nice chat with Roger Dutton, the ridgerunner and caretaker of the AT southern terminus. Roger must be late 80's or early 90's, should have taken his picture.....full white beard and a hearing aid in each ear. I was the only hiker thru there today. Total Mileage 12 m in about five hours with three breaks . Going to rest today with some short side trail hikes as the storm front that caused the tornado's a few days ago out west is supposed to hit here with thunderstorms and I have a slight head cold and sore throat.
Bear Facts : Not all hikers are friendly, met two sets of college age kids , one grunted a reply to my good morning , the other didn't reply at all...oh well, they were dressed as for a snowstorm, and looked pretty miserable!
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