ive been rather quiet lately here on C&G, mainly because they ramped up surf watch at work so there are only 3 sites we can hit up on downtime. none of which i am entertained by in the least bit. this past weekend however 3 friends and i went on a 2 day backpacking excursion through the grand canyon of the east, Linville Gorge. started out friday around 10 from the trail head and worked our way day via conely cove trail and met up with the linville gorge trail from there. it was a great interesting hike to say the least. temps friday were nuts, barely topped 45, was to drop to the high 20's low 30's that night with winds of 25-35 and 45 mph gusts (luckily we were in the gorge somewhat sheltered). saturday's weather was much more accommodating at around 50-55. all told we did around 10 miles, the trail only being 8 or so but it is amazingly unblazed so there are a lot of side trails leading to campsites to get sidetracked on. it was a great trip, i wouldnt mind doing it again, just might make it a 3 day trip instead of 2. here are some pics, enjoy. sorry for the big pics for those with slow connections.

Beautiful scenery, and at least you didn't get any rain or snow. Crisp, sunny days are my favorite.

As for your internet situation at work, have you looked into proxy's?

Wow!

Thanks for posting those - I could use about a month in a place like that!

So tired of the masses.

The Carolinas are beautiful! Nice pics!

Chris

Those are some pretty shiny photos there, cletus. Thanks for puttin' those up.

no prob guys. the bitter cold usually doesnt bother me too bad as long as theres a fire which there was. i'll be investing in one of those sleeping mats though. the other guys had the mats, but i was the only one that had a camp pillow . i was gone from the hospital for the whole week last week booyah, and it seems my problem is fixed, the nazi setting has been repealed from surfwatch so C&G is no longer off limits huzzah!! there is a nice place in GA that you would like too Camino, its called lake Tugalo (or tugaloo or bull sluice by the older folks). there was a dam built there in 1917 to provide athens ga hydro power. super strict regulations on the lake. no boat motors above 25hp and the whole lake is chock full of primitive camp sites.

http://www.trails.com/tcatalog_trail.aspx?trailid=XFA050-037

http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/tugalolake.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tugalo

i went there with a buddy and stayed a week in may. saw 3 other people camping. thats it. course once again it was cold but still.