old.JohnRuble.net

This year Tom and I decided to repeat our spring break from two years ago, with one major difference. Marc has been replaced by three girls - Tracy (Tom's girlfriend) and her friends Amy and Megan.

Other differences include that we made a shorter trip from the opposite direction of Uncle Johnny's Nolichucky Hostel.

	Making gorp. (Gorp = Good Old Raisins (and) Peanuts) Ours has a few other ingredients.
	This is a bridge over the nolichucky river. It has a pedestrian lane that is part of the appalachian trail.
	We were dropped off here, 35 miles away from the hostel.
	Making a fire.
	Cooking. Note the ladies' fashionable rain gear.
	Neat blurry picture.
	The sign behind me is the Tenessee state line.
	I've been told I look like Napoleon Dynamite.
	This is "Big Bald", a grassy area on top of a mountain. Great view, without trees to obscure it.
	Supertom.
	Tree Bench.
	Deep Snow.
	This huge tree fell over and took a couple other trees with it.
	I'm way in the back.
	Rawr. The sign says Bear Sanctuary, by the way.
	Long trail, eh?
	Here I try to start a fire, as Tom looks on.
	Lots of our water froze, making cool designs.
Because of the frozen water, the ladies earned their polar bear patch!
	"Look at my finger!" (The tip of the glove's finger was burnt off while warming by the fire)
	Crazy ice formations on the ground
	I took a macro shot of some moss. It has hair.
	Tracy with Rhododendron ears.
	running
	and running
	Approaching the end of our trek, we can see the Nolichucky River.
	The trail comes out right by the hostile.
	We made it!
	I no longer have the map I scanned for the 2003 trip, but here's the one we borrowed from Uncle Johnny.