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i will resurrect it. i'll have a good go at it. i'll streak his blood across my beak, dust my feathers with his ash, feel his ghost breathing down my back.

1/13/2014

 
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The advantage of living is not measured by length, but by use; some men have lived long, and lived little; attend to it while you are in it. It lies in your will, not in the number of years, for you to have lived enough. Montaigne
Morning y'all,

It's a gorgeous morning up top. The sky is on fire, the mountain is bright with promise. It almost feels like spring. The high yesterday reached 45 degrees. The low was 19 degrees. It was 44 degrees and clear at 7am observation. The trails are in pretty good shape. I headed down and up Alum yesterday and there were no significant obstacles. Most of the ice has melted and the remaining tricky spots are manageable. It looks as though we'll get some snow over the course of the next few evenings.
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No matter how many times I nighthike, the novelty remains. There is something special about flying up your favorite trail under the cover of darkness. All of my favorite landmarks are adorned in mystery, a cool, lucid presence settles in the movie theatre of my mind. Everything is charged with an element of danger, knowing it is the time of the night creatures. Primordial functions take over. I am always pushing hard, almost running up the trail. It's become a bit of a tradition for me to crest the final turn at Alum and have my breath taken away because there are eyes in the woods! Many eyes in the woods and they are getting closer! Bobcats, bears, who are you? No, wait - that is just the lights of Gatlinburg & Pigeon Forge sparkling in the distance. I never fail to frighten myself, then laugh my way to the lodge whooping and hollering. It never grows old.
Ben
1/13/2014 01:44:34 am

JP, you are certainly fulfilling an admirable dream on LeConte !

dan waits
1/13/2014 01:54:11 am

it's ALWAYS great to read your blog - so many interesting things to hear about, as well as when you share our crazy life & spirit w/ us all

doug y link
1/13/2014 02:06:07 am

Your comment, JP, about frightening yourself, really made me smile ! I have done my share of "night hiking" and loved every minute of it. And it's often been the case that I've seen those "wild, red eyes" myself !! Yeah, I don't claim to be a "Jeremiah Johnson" or a rough-and-ready bad-ass "mountain man", but I've had plenty of time in the woods, often deep in the backcountry, too. I have to admit that more than once I took off running for my life (so I thought at the time) away from a pair of blood-red eyes staring at me in the darkness or from a sudden and loud sound not far from me !!! Great Galloping Gertie !! What a sight that surely must have been ! A friend I play chess with on a site on the internet asked me about the Smokies, and, as usual, I also told him about Leconte Lodge and how to research it, etc. He asked me about the elevation up there and I posted some comments about this on my own site. Google Earth is an enjoyable tool for looking at the Smokies, although I do wish its resolution didn't get so fuzzy when one zooms in for a closer look, etc. I have written what I think is a humorous story about a big bear following me down the Trillium trail one night, but it's far too long to post here. I'll have to see if it will fit into the few pages on my site. G'day all.

Missy
1/13/2014 02:50:07 am

doug y - We've had a bear follow us on Trillium too. The Hubs freaked. Only time in 30 years I've seen him almost panic, lol. Must be a popular bear trail and we borrow it from them.
Can you share the link to your site on here?

MaryF
1/13/2014 02:57:58 pm

We came face to face with a bear on Trillium in 2011. The worst part was we were three women, and I saw the bear over my granddaughters shoulder. We obviously did the right thing and he finally found a spot to exit left, and we went on our way (yes, watching over our shoulders the whole way). We made lots of noise the rest of the hike, lol.

doug y link
1/13/2014 10:36:23 pm

Missy: My site is yet to be fully developed, and I'm trying to work on it in between a lot of other things. Right now there's not much on it except for some of my comments / opinions and a couple of photos. If you click on the little curved arrow next to my name it will take you there. I'm going to trey to post my "bear" story there soon, too. Thanks.

jean d
1/13/2014 04:24:24 am

Though the sky is cloudy over my home, the clouds are high enough that our beautiful Smokeys are showing up, in silhouette, clearly. Yeaaa! I love it when it's like this Temp here on my back porch (facing the mountains from about 50 mi or so) is 41 deg. at 12:30. I mention that because when the temp gets to about 60 deg., the haze begins to build and obscure "ole Smokey" from my vantage point.

The view of the valley from the top must be spectacular. JP and those who are up there with him or on their way up must have a super day for hiking. I envy their fun. Enjoy it, ya'll. :-)

Tammy SWFL
1/14/2014 12:10:54 pm

I so wished I had that view on our ascent. We settled, had dinner and then ascended for sunset. We were fogged out. It was not a bad moment by any means. We hung with so many great people. We shared space with many that have rightly done this for years. It was a special moment in time whether fog or not...they celebrated life. I hope my next trip not for the view...but for the great love and ebb of life. That day was so stinking special to me...and I couldn't see a thing.....other than the crazy, amazing, beautiful people around me.


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