Today we are off to Unicoi

Well, it was supposed to warm up today but they forgot to tell the campground that. It went down into the 40's last night. It was really chilly and I stayed under the sleeping bag all night. When someone would roll over and take all the covers with him I got cold quick and had to steal them back. And yes there is room to roll over in our van bed. This morning when we woke up Beau was shivering and his teeth were chattering. Poor little boy. So we bundled him up in the beach towels. Don't think we will be needing them in the near future. It sure does get cold in this here hills.
So now we are in the Lodge having a great breakfast. They have a buffet and then we are going to shove off for Unicoi. The sun is out now so we will hike when we get there. And we are going to look for a small heater for the van in our travels. It is supposed to stay in the 60's at night for the next few nights but they are predicting low 50's by Wednesday. Right now a Caribbean cruise is looking good. Our next camping trip is definitely going to be to warmer parts of the nation. Now for Jim's hike update from yesterday. Beau and I hiked too. It is beautiful here and he goes nuts with all the good smells to sniff on the ground.

Left the campground 8:30a and hiked a mile to the head of the Len Foote Hike Inn trail on top of the mountain. I thought it was a 5.5 m loop trail returning to the lodge, buttttt, it turned out to be 5.5m each way, so I ended up doing about 12 miles getting back to the Lodge for lunch around 1pm. Great hike, lots of old forest tree's and giant granite rock outcropings. Some of the areas of the forest were dark and reminded me of those scenes from the Wizard of Oz and the Lord of the rings where old gnarled trees come to life and start walking and talking. I would not have been surprised to see a Gnome in these woods. Weather was chilly and my bronchitis persists, probably scaring off the bears with my cough, did see lots of chipmunks ! Lots of fog covered mountain tops and a couple of time the sun peaked out through the new leaf canopy creating a cheery sun dappled trail. One minute you are enveloped in fog, next you are in the sun looking out over a mountain view, very beautiful. Saw lots of hikers on this trail, some not in such good shape and some a lot older that one would think would be out on a strenuous trail.

Bear Facts: My titanium hiking poles are great. Don't know how anyone hikes without them. Help with balance on downhills and wet muddy trails, and they help power you up the hills, just like a x country skier.

Today we need to look for a van heater for Beau to stay warm, then some short hikes at Unicoi Park near Helen Ga.

Jim

While Jim was posting I was having the warm banana bread. It was awesome.