Southern State Highpointing Stuff - July 2023

[Puma concolor]

Kind of all over the place with this trip report, but fun to write. Trail hiked Clingmans Dome (TN) and Brasstown Bald (GA). And worked in a retrospective of a 1994 Smokies trip that went all wrong.

Also, I am now the official host for the 2024 State Highpointers Konvention in South Dakota. Details at the end about how that all went down.

Clingmans Dome, Smoky Mountain Memories and Georgia Konvention Musings

 

[maineguy]

I love this line...so true:

"It’s hard if not impossible to recreate a feeling, to relive a memory.

Years pass, life changes, you become different. You can go back, but you can never really go back."

 

[DayTrip]

"… If only this moment could last, I thought, if no longer than we do. But I knew even then that we would forget, that someday all I should remember would be the memories themselves, rehearsed like an archaic dance; that I should stare at the pictures and try to get back inside them, reaching out for something that had slipped out of my hands and spilled into the darkness of the past.”

- David Roberts, The Mountain Of My Fear

 

[maineguy]

"… If only this moment could last, I thought, if no longer than we do. But I knew even then that we would forget, that someday all I should remember would be the memories themselves, rehearsed like an archaic dance; that I should stare at the pictures and try to get back inside them, reaching out for something that had slipped out of my hands and spilled into the darkness of the past.”

- David Roberts, The Mountain Of My Fear

IMO, David Roberts is the best mountaineering writer of all time.

 

[DayTrip]

IMO, David Roberts is the best mountaineering writer of all time.

That was an excellent read. I actually read the book based on this quote, which I saw on Facebook or some other site at some point and was really struck by how well it captures the feel of those moments and our desire to return to them.

 

[Puma concolor]

I feel one-upped. LOL.

But thanks for the flattering comparison.