As I write this, I’m in a Hiker hostel where there is a TV. I had MSNBC news on a little while ago and was catching up on the Iran tensions and recent abortion rights paroxysms in the nation. I left to switch out some laundry, -10 yards away- came back and…(as God is my witness!) someone had switched the channel to Wheel Of Fortune! And the guy was eating a hamburger—close enough to meatloaf for me! Oh well… I guess I saw it coming…
(That’s what I get for introducing politics to this blog. I’ll just stick with death and taxes from now on.)
Had a great day yesterday. Went up and over a mountain that was protecting a rare ‘coniferous forest’ for these parts.
Before I came to the sign and big roped off areas, I could smell Christmas very strongly… every memory came flooding back with that lovely fir/pine smell…and we all know, just that smell can induce sentimental thoughts, way out of season or not…
Got to the top of a mountain where the ‘Cloudland Hotel’ stood. Real interesting big beautiful hotel stood here from 1884 for 20 years or so only. People could look out over the mountains from a big porch and stay here with three meals a day—all for only $2 per day! (It was dismantled due to high maintenance costs; only the foundations remain.)
Saw this old spooky chimney on the Trail. This story is well known; it is addressed briefly in the guidebooks but I also looked it up:
In 1927 a Swede, working in the local logging camps, had a cabin here and one night during the brutal 1927 winter he killed his family in an alcoholic rage. Wife, daughter and two grandchildren. Being snowbound at this extreme elevation, and expecting to remain so for weeks, he dragged the bodies out onto the trail to freeze. Later, he cut them up into ‘log-length’ pieces and tied them up in burlap and hid them in his woodpile. Eventually, he hiked through the snow to the town of Roan Tennessee and confessed to the authorities because his family ‘won’t leave me alone’—calling out to him at night from the woodpile! (The trail to his cabin later being incorporated into the Appalachian Trail.) Supposedly, many AT hikers have ‘felt’ the presence of ghosts and sadness at this point and you can see where the Trail is considerably widened out by hikers skirting the ruin. By the looks of it, and all the intact moss, nobody dares to touch it either—I sure didn’t!
Well, if you made it this far in the story- gotcha! This is just a chimney I saw on the Trail. Someone must have lived here I guess…
Penultimate 
Love the smell of pine. Always mqkes me think of Christmas. By the looks of the size of that chimney,it must have been a pretty good size house. Probably no trees around then. happy Hiking. Love, Aunt Loretta
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MSNBC ? For news? Seriously? That explains a lot. Any how after everyone watches wheel of fortune, stay tuned for jeopardy right after. James has won 22 games in a row and 1.6 million dollars. Second all time. Most people not tramping through the woods are watching. They have the teachers on now, but will pick up on Monday. Pay no attention to Kevin’s lame protestations. I really do enjoy the smell of pines and often have the little scented tree in my car. It does bring back pleasant Christmas memories ( capital M in your case ). Never saw the need to hike 2000 mile to enjoy it though. No comment on your sick chimney story.
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Jeopardy did come on right after! I do like that show…haven’t watched TV in so long its weird… had no idea there was an emerging Iran issue… if we go to war thete we are in big, big trouble. Hope not—I’ll lose lots of friends.
Kenny- remember the year we got a pinball machine for Christmas?
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I have a Balsam candle in my living room. Love the smell.
Ma would’ve loved your murder story, haha! All your stories actually, she was a reader. I know we all Miss her, especially around Mothers Day.
Try not to watch the news, it’s never good. Rain looks lighter this week and hopefully I can plant some veggies! Keep on keeping on. ♥️🥾
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I think I got hooked on the Investigation Discovery channel because of Ma and her ‘Detective’ magazines laying around the house when I was little!
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Same here for sure!
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Did u stay at Uncle Johnies hostel, Doug wants to know.lol He’s tracking u.😀
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No- I stopped there, bought some resupply (had an ice cream!), and arranged a shuttle to another place from there… met a bunch of Trail friends there…
Good people- hiker mecca… these hostels can be a lot of fun…
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Hey that was a great story about the chimney, you had me all the way. 😀
I don’t know how you cope with all this rain but you seem fine, keep up the good attitude and don’t rush, you’ve got plenty of time.
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