Welcome to the AppalachianTrailCafe.net!
Take a moment and register and then join the conversation

Just another overnighter

    This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse this site, you are agreeing to our Cookie Policy.

    • Just another overnighter

      I could only get away for one night, but you gotta take what you can get. I went to Hightop Mountain in the SNP for probably the umpteenth time. I like this spot because it's a got a good climb to give my legs and cardio a workout, great views, great sunsets, and usually no crowds. It's nearly always extremely windy and yesterday was no exception. I got up to the summit about 4 pm and scurried the last .5 mile down the other side to Hightop Shelter, filtered water for the night, threw up my tent and scurried back up to the summit for the sunset. My plan was to cook dinner will watching the sunset. But I was about 5 minutes late to see the sun go down and it was even more windy so I decided not to cook there. After snapping some pictures I went back and cooked at the shelter.
      After dinner and a few sips of Skrewball peanut whiskey I retired to the tent to read a book on my phone. Got sleepy and put everything away. Just as I'm nodding off I hear something crashing through the brush coming straight up the mountain toward me. I've heard it enough to know it was a bear- they sound like a little bulldozer coming through the woods. A deer is very dainty and tiptoes through. My tent door was shut so I never actually saw him, but I yelled at him to Get Out of Here and he did. Now I'm full of adrenaline as you can imagine- I'm the only one there- and bears have a tendency to come back after being scared off because they are curious creatures. So I read some more and he never came back. Then the coyotes started up. They stopped and I fell off. Then an owl, which I love, starts up right above me for what seemed like an hour. Finally quite again except for the roaring wind. And then a bobcat screams out nearby. At this point I'm thinking what's next? Finally got a little sleep got up and had five or six deer in camp in the morning.
      "Dazed and Confused"
      Recycle, re-use, re-purpose
      Plant a tree
      Take a kid hiking
      Make a difference
    • max.patch wrote:

      It's a shame the whip-por-wills didn't join in. :)
      Those dang things annoy the entire forest...... Was doing a canoe thing on the Buffalo National River and one of those took up residence at midnight. It went on ALL FREAKING NIGHT! My buddy emerged from his tent at first light, I peeked out from my hammock and said something like "terrible sleep with that" and he said "dang whip-or-whills.."
      Pirating – Corporate Takeover without the paperwork
    • rhjanes wrote:

      max.patch wrote:

      It's a shame the whip-por-wills didn't join in. :)
      Those dang things annoy the entire forest...... Was doing a canoe thing on the Buffalo National River and one of those took up residence at midnight. It went on ALL FREAKING NIGHT! My buddy emerged from his tent at first light, I peeked out from my hammock and said something like "terrible sleep with that" and he said "dang whip-or-whills.."
      Nature's car alarm.
      its all good