As I looked out from the top of Black Balsam, I was sure that Tennent Mountain was right in front of me. Wrong! I knew it was a little shorter and I thought we would follow the ridge line perfectly over to its summit. Wrong again! So, we started hiking and as we did, we [...]
Some people ask why I'm hiking these mountain peaks in North Carolina. I hike because I want people to know that life does not end with Chemo. Yes, I still have side effects from the treatments. My joints ache and my feet are numb at times, but I refuse to let adversity prevent me from [...]
This past weekend we all pitched in and helped to get the Balsam house open and ready to be "base camp" for our hike to Tennent Mountain; and, hopefully, Max Patch. For a while rain was coming down pretty hard but that did not dampen our spirits. I love screen doors! I once added a [...]
This past Saturday we hiked to Pickens Nose in North Carolina. The hike departs from the trailhead along the gravel-paved Forestry Road 83 (view maps and driving directions), southeast of where the Appalachian Trail crosses FR83 at Mooney Gap. The trail wanders southbound, climbing up through a hardwood forest filled with gnarly-branched rhododendron and mountain [...]
Mountain Crossings at Neel's Gap: One of my favorite places to visit on a Sunday afternoon. We drove up this day after hiking to the top of Brasstown Bald. The Thru Hikers were on the patio adjusting their packs, and Anne was determined to photograph them. I think AT Thru hikers feel a little like [...]
I love this place. So many, many memories were built here on St. Simon's. So, many hours spent here. Some things just never change and the King and Prince is pretty much one of those places. So, it was a Perfect Day as Cokie Berenyi would say. We took kayaks out to Sea Island in [...]
We really got a kick out of the very senior citizen, who collected our fee at Brasstown Bald—the highest point in Georgia. She popped a minnow net in the driver's window and instructed us to put our fee inside it. Then she told us that the climb "will hurt our hearts going up and our [...]
A couple of weeks ago, we "went" looking for evidence of R. G. LeTourneau, the Industrialist that helped to reshape the rural area around the city of Toccoa. We found few reminders. Of course, the greatest evidence was located around Lake Louise—a private lake that LeTourneau built and now belongs to the Georgia Baptist Convention. [...]
