Bernie.... your note makes me homesick. I used to live in Tennessee, and may well return there when I retire, to a little piece of property at Banebridge, in the foothills of those Smokies.
Thanks for the memories.... Jim (currently enjoying Southern California's harsh winter of 75-80 degree days) > Al, > > The air always get very clear here when the temps are way down. Can look > across >the valley and see the Smokies (about 40 miles) covered with > snow. Used to go >hiking in winter non-golf weather...always > exceptionally beautiful up there, >especially along the Appalachian Trail > at 6,000 feet. Temps there last night were >about -10 to -20�F with 40 > mph winds, and probably higher winds in the gaps. I've >been there on > nights like that, but when the temperature was in the 20s. Sounds >like > a freight train coming right at you and blasts the powdered snow against > the >fir trees, coating them with a hard, white frosting. I seal up the > tent and get >toasty in my -20� rated sleeping bag. By the time the sun > comes up, everything is a >post card picture setting. > > I start at Cade's Cove about 8:30 AM in a light breeze and by > mid-morning it's >dead quiet. Body heats up climbing steadily the first > two or three miles on a trail >inclined across the steep sunny side of > the mountain. Am doing a 12 mile loop. Some >places on the trail the > drifts get a few feet high, other places are blown clean. >Strip down to > a Polartec over mock turtleneck and keep going. Five miles to Russell >> Field. On top just after 11 AM, I stop for hot soup from my thermos at a > spot I >can see at least for 20 miles down the Valley. Put the > windbreaker back on...a good >breeze is whistling softly across the > mountain top through the leafless branches >and dark green, snow-frosted > rhodendendron clumps as I walk up to the shelter and >head for Little > Bald. Have climbed almost 3,000 feet. Nobody and not even any >animal > tracks up here. Trail is blown almost clean on the ridges. Tree trunks > are >stark skeletens against snow...powdered white on one side and black > on the other. >Climb through an occasional blowdown that couldn't stand > up to the winds anymore. >May be up above 20� by now. Really breathing > well in the clean air up here. Spence >Field is 2-1/2 miles along the AT > from Russell Field. Climb slightly, boots >crunching in the dry snow, for > 2 miles to Mt. Squires at about 5100 feet and then >descend into the > Spence Field gap. There's a beautiful grassy bald here in summer >that > almost always has a small herd of deer eyeballing the hikers, there're > >weather-blown, pink-flowered trees in April, Flame Azaleas in May, > flowering Laurel >and Rhododendron before June, a few blueberries toward > September. The deer are all >down in Cade's Cove this time of year and > now there're only the skeletons of the >squatty trees sticking up out of > the snow and some bare rock blown clean by the >wind. I hunker down > behind a Rhodo clump, enjoy the view into Carolina, have a >drink and a > couple of Trail Mix bars, then head down an old road the locals called >> Bote Mountain Road. There were onc e two routes where a road was planned > to get from the Tennessee side to the Carolina side. This road was the > route they voted for...or "boted for" as the Cherokees called it. In the > 1940's, you could still drive up to the top at Spence Field if you had a > Model A with enough ground clearance. The National Park still keeps it > in passable condition for horses and hikers. Mile and a half goes fast > as I jump over seeping spring water which freezes to slick ice on the > road, then I turn left down Anthony Creek trail for the welcome downhill > four miles and back where I started. Do those miles fast. The sun is > dropping behind the mountain and the tall, grayish Tulip Poplar tree > trunks down here are all a golden orange in the low mid-afternoon light. > Stop at a couple of creek crossings to see if I can spot any trout in > the bluish, snow-melt tinted water and then head for the car. The heater > will feel good...walking in snow all day is draining, but I've never > felt better. > > Sure do miss those mountains. Maybe next year when I get my legs back in > shape. > > Bernie > Writeto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Al Taylor > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 3:06 PM > Subject: Re: ShopTalk: test - too quiet - no reply needed > > > Bernie, > Follow the money trail. Who buys advertisement on the Golf Channel. > Who >supports the PGA show. Unfortunately, not the PCS. We don't have > enough money to >create a trail. :-) > > Al > > Ps. Enjoy the cold weather. I think the laws of physics say that the > more >cold that Knoxville takes, the less there is available for > Cleveland. Seems it has >been a full month now that the temps have not > gone above 22*. I surrender. > > > At 01:52 PM 1/24/2003, you wrote: > > Tom, > > Me, too. It was 5� in Knoxville this morning and had my tee time > >cancelled...AGAIN! Had 3" of snow yesterday...have had more snow so far > this year >than all of the last 3 years. Almost as bad as Cleveland. :-) > Did get to watch some >of the OEM hyped PGA Show coverage on the Golf > Channel, though. Geez, what a bunch >of baloney...seemed like a lot of > talk about "new technology" that we've been using >for 5 years. One that > got me was a "new technology" statement about "all the new >really light > shafts around 50 to 55 gram weight." (or something like that) How >long > ago did Aldila introduce the 57 gram Longwood 50/50 R...3 years ago? > Tour >Golf has been selling a $13, 54 gram shaft for the last two years. > Notice they >never say much about the increasing competition, variety and > quality vs. decreasing >cost of components. In fact, I haven't heard one > word. :-) > > PCS better get on the ball, Al, and get a word or two in there on > component >clubs. (Missed some of the coverage...maybe they did?) > > Bernie > Writeto: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Tom Byers > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 1:25 PM > Subject: Re: ShopTalk: test - too quiet - no reply needed > > > Al, > They all must be at the PGA show. It's -20�C here and I wish > I was with >them. > > Tom Byers > >
