BUFFALOPALOOZA TRIP REPORT

“wow, i don't know where to begin....guess i'll try the beginning. i saw jegeils and slickrock(his brother) at the compton gas station and we went on down to the center point trailhead to wait for the others. soon after, moz & jerbear & tex pulled up, followed by stickmon ,liz and crazy mike ,and arky and chilie showed up at some point too. everybody was there on time ,so we all introduced ourselves and loaded up and made like #&%!$ and hit da trail. it was wonderful weather for hiking and the snow was getting pretty slushy on alot of the trail but it wasn't slippery. we hiked along highway 43 for awhile then started out desent. there were some awesome views going down into the river valley. it wasn't until later, when i picked up my truck from the trailhead, that i realized just what we had done. looking down into where we had hiked and how far down we had hiked almost stunned me. the stark contrasts of this area really are awesome. we hiked in good cheer all the way down to steel crik(around 3.8 miles), crossed the river and camped about a half mile back into the woods. we found a great little meadow to camp in. there was snow around the area but we all found dry spots for our tents. it was really cool to be with all these great people, who all appreciate hiking the way i do. it was also neat-o to watch all the different variations on backpacking skills....different tents, different styles and preferences. everybody was learnin from each other. we all made dinner and ate around the fire. at this point, with darkness quickly aproaching, it started turning cold in a hurry. the fire kept us alive and we all crowded around it as long as we could. around 8:00 or 8:30, somebody said..."well, i'm goin to bed" and everybody else said..."yeah, me too!". it was colder than heck and i wanted in that sleeping bag! i brought a wenzel star light bivy that i borrowed, to see if a bivy was right for me. it was fantastic having such a small light shelter. i had my pack weight down to 32#! but i didn't enjoy the bivy too much. it was hard to get in and out of. i had terrible condensation problems(no ventalation, single walled tent) and ice got all over everything in that tent, including me and buckshot. i put off peeing for 2 hours cuz i din't wanna hassle with crawling out of that thing and putting my boots on, without sitting up. with a hand warmer in my bag and a warm dog on my feet, i survived, and so did everyone else. some of these people seem to really like cold weather.....not me boy! i'm a total wuss when it comes to cold temps. gimme hot anyday, i'll just jump in da water to cool off, lol.

day two brought complications...which were complicated even farther by that fact that the roads down into steel creek and kyles were still quite slick and hazardous. after much jostling, and buffalo babe's arrival, we all went in 4 different directions, agreeing to hook up at kyles that afternoon. stickmon and liz took the high road, moz, jgeils, slickrock, and jerbear and el loco mike-o took the low road, me, chilie, arky, buffalobabe, and tex took the road road. there was a nice french family on stuck on the road out of steel. we tried to help them to no avail so i called the sheriff from ponca to go and help them. luckily i had snow chains or i wouldn't have made it down into kyles. that road was bad. we set up camp and soon after "the low roaders" who had followed the old river trail showed up with wet feet and smiles. moz, jerbear, mike and tex decided to go up into the hills to camp and hiked up above camp oar. the rest stayed down at kyles and enjoyed the good company and the great fire that buffalobabe kept going for us. we stayed up till 11, not wanting to repeat the phenominom of going to bed too early and waking up too early the next day. the camp oar people got back around 11 and we all sat around yappin and cuttin up. unfortunately, buffy and i had to scoot, to pick up our kids. they had to stay with grandma because they all had the flu and we didn't want them to be out in that cold. i started feeling bad last night and now have the full blown version of whatever evil bug they had. buffalobabe has it too. we are miserable, all moping around, feelin cruddy(the kids are doing fine now).

anywayz, it was a pleasure to meet all you you. nobody was quite like i expected but everybody was great. we talked about future hikes and floats in the area, which i am looking foward to. hope to see all of ya'll again soon.













....and i'll never look at bacon the same again......”

“wow, i don't know where to begin....guess i'll try the beginning. i saw jegeils and slickrock(his brother) at the compton gas station and we went on down to the center point trailhead to wait for the others. soon after, moz & jerbear & tex pulled up, followed by stickmon ,liz and crazy mike ,and arky and chilie showed up at some point too. everybody was there on time ,so we all introduced ourselves and loaded up and made like #&%!$ and hit da trail. it was wonderful weather for hiking and the snow was getting pretty slushy on alot of the trail but it wasn't slippery. we hiked along highway 43 for awhile then started out desent. there were some awesome views going down into the river valley. it wasn't until later, when i picked up my truck from the trailhead, that i realized just what we had done. looking down into where we had hiked and how far down we had hiked almost stunned me. the stark contrasts of this area really are awesome. we hiked in good cheer all the way down to steel crik(around 3.8 miles), crossed the river and camped about a half mile back into the woods. we found a great little meadow to camp in. there was snow around the area but we all found dry spots for our tents. it was really cool to be with all these great people, who all appreciate hiking the way i do. it was also neat-o to watch all the different variations on backpacking skills....different tents, different styles and preferences. everybody was learnin from each other. we all made dinner and ate around the fire. at this point, with darkness quickly aproaching, it started turning cold in a hurry. the fire kept us alive and we all crowded around it as long as we could. around 8:00 or 8:30, somebody said..."well, i'm goin to bed" and everybody else said..."yeah, me too!". it was colder than heck and i wanted in that sleeping bag! i brought a wenzel star light bivy that i borrowed, to see if a bivy was right for me. it was fantastic having such a small light shelter. i had my pack weight down to 32#! but i didn't enjoy the bivy too much. it was hard to get in and out of. i had terrible condensation problems(no ventalation, single walled tent) and ice got all over everything in that tent, including me and buckshot. i put off peeing for 2 hours cuz i din't wanna hassle with crawling out of that thing and putting my boots on, without sitting up. with a hand warmer in my bag and a warm dog on my feet, i survived, and so did everyone else. some of these people seem to really like cold weather.....not me boy! i'm a total wuss when it comes to cold temps. gimme hot anyday, i'll just jump in da water to cool off, lol.

day two brought complications...which were complicated even farther by that fact that the roads down into steel creek and kyles were still quite slick and hazardous. after much jostling, and buffalo babe's arrival, we all went in 4 different directions, agreeing to hook up at kyles that afternoon. stickmon and liz took the high road, moz, jgeils, slickrock, and jerbear and el loco mike-o took the low road, me, chilie, arky, buffalobabe, and tex took the road road. there was a nice french family on stuck on the road out of steel. we tried to help them to no avail so i called the sheriff from ponca to go and help them. luckily i had snow chains or i wouldn't have made it down into kyles. that road was bad. we set up camp and soon after "the low roaders" who had followed the old river trail showed up with wet feet and smiles. moz, jerbear, mike and tex decided to go up into the hills to camp and hiked up above camp oar. the rest stayed down at kyles and enjoyed the good company and the great fire that buffalobabe kept going for us. we stayed up till 11, not wanting to repeat the phenominom of going to bed too early and waking up too early the next day. the camp oar people got back around 11 and we all sat around yappin and cuttin up. unfortunately, buffy and i had to scoot, to pick up our kids. they had to stay with grandma because they all had the flu and we didn't want them to be out in that cold. i started feeling bad last night and now have the full blown version of whatever evil bug they had. buffalobabe has it too. we are miserable, all moping around, feelin cruddy(the kids are doing fine now).

anywayz, it was a pleasure to meet all you you. nobody was quite like i expected but everybody was great. we talked about future hikes and floats in the area, which i am looking foward to. hope to see all of ya'll again soon.













....and i'll never look at bacon the same again......”

“oops, sorry, i couldn't get the thread to go through, like the site was down for minute or something....”

“nice report dewd, sorry I missed the trip, and meeting you all!”

“Man!! Dewd, I just ate. Don't bring up the bacon, that was disgusting. LOL”

“We had a great time. Look forward to the next time. Sorry you guys didn't get to do the river trail. IT WAS PIMP DUDE!!!!”

“me too BB. i am anxious to hear the others' reports on the side hikes they did. it was a great group. i think some of them are staying awhile so it may be some time before they post, lol. hopefully someone got more pictures than i did.


other notes;

crazy mike is the friggin halarious, and truely crazy and loves cat food...


tex had awesome boots when she showed up, and melted boots when she left...i'll never be boot dryin boy again-too much responsibility for someone with severe A.D.D. she's a very nice lady though.


liz was a pleasure to meet but i think i still frighten her on some level. her and stikmonsky make a great couple...


i never, EVER wanna see jerbears tatoos again!


chilie is a great guy. and he can move REALLY fast when he has to. he also knows every good and bad place to eat dinner in a 6 state area......


arky, great guy ,has an awesome 4 season tent that weighs around 1,500 lbs....


i can NOT play guitar when it's cold...


stickmon's dog has a trail name now.....


slickrock is really cool too. i think he's memorized every trail in arkansas...



jgeils likes flamable chairs(NO it wasn't my fault!)





i'm sure more will come to me...”

“we had fun too jgiels band....how bout a couple highlights from your river hike?”

“Great trip report! Glad no one got froze.”

“That Friday night's entertainment was watching Khatru (pronounced Kaa-true)"mounting" Buckshot was the best we could do in the way of entertainment..

I wondered out loud if Khatru had homosexual type tendancies, seting Crazy Mike off in hysterics. Good thing Stikky doesn't take after his dog. Sheesh, fix that dog or get him a girlfriend already!!

Lessons learned -
1) If someone says the river crossing "isn't that bad" don't believe them. Take the time to put on your Tevas and do the creek crossing the right way - then your boots will stay dry.

2) Do NOT attempt to dry your boots around a fire where beer, whiskey sours and Peppermint Schnapps are being passed around. Eventually, your boots may end up in the fire and smokin'

3) Do not leave ANY food out with Khatru on the loose, he eats everything, even other dogs' food...right Buckshot??

On Saturday afternoon, Moz, Jerber, CMB and I headed out of Kyle's landing for a short hike into the Falls to camp for the night. It only took about an hour to reach a suitable site and set up camp. Moz set about gathering firewood and then, brandishing his new saw, began cutting up logs for our fire. We quickly made dinner and then I made several batches of popcorn, just the way Om showed me in Montana. Only one batch actually got eaten as I dropped the other two on the ground - rats!

We broke for bed around 9 or so and regrouped in the morning (after a hike down to view the falls and take some pictures) for a master breakfast of Spam burritoes cooked by the world famous Jerbear. The guys added a bit of green sauce to theirs for "bite" and we quickly inhaled the food and broke camp.

Jer and CMB took the low trail down by the river so they could dispose of some nasty garbage left behind by the previous occupants of the site while Moz and I wandered back up the ridge and out the way we came in.

Once back at Kyle's Landing we all waited for the arrival of Mather and the "catered trail food" we had been anticipating. Several folks had to get going on the road so by the time Mather arrived it was Jer, Moz, Lizs, Stikky, CMB and I (Tex).

Mather showed up with her two girls plus one of Robin's girlfriends and Aaron and one of his friends. The kids gathered fire wood and a fire was quickly started and the bar-b-q chicken and fixins heated up.

The catered lunch consisted of warmed french bread, bar-b-q chicken breast tenders, steamed carrots, corn on the cob (with melted butter) and baked beans. For dessert there were TWO cakes one Chocolate cake with white icing and then a golden yellow cake with chocolate icing. Needless to say, everything was even better than it sounds on here and Mather became the trail angel of the year, hands down!

While we were in the middle of lunch, two fellow hikers (but non-TT-ers) showed up so we promptly invited the strangers to join us for lunch. We then coaxed them into posting on TT in the near future by showing them the web address on the t-shirt CMB had on, Then we can add them to the list of "people we have met" thread so we can have two TTers listed that Walkindude can't claim. LOL

With lunch complete, we loaded up the vehicles and shuttled people and gear up to the top of the hill. Jer and Moz stayed behind with Aaron and his friend Jason to stay out one more night, while the rest of us headed back to Little Rock with a nasty storm threatening. I sure hope Y'all stay dry out there tonight!!

I'm back at Mather's now, fixin to catch a bus home tomorrow at noon.

It was a great hike and there isn't anyone I met that I would not hike with again.

THE END

Tex”

“Sounds like a great trip!

Strat. Sorry to hear you are feeling bad. Get well soon my friend!
You too Buffalobabe!

Crazy Mike. What's the MDK Factor like in Arkansas?

Tex, Keep your feet out of the fire. LOL!!!!

Stikmon, Your dog needs professional help.

Chili, See ya in January.”

“A huge trip. Many thanks to all. We had a great time despite the "free style diving contest".

Stratdewd can play a guitar even when it is cold, dont let him tell you otherwise. Buffalobabe gave me some great tips on camping with kids, Thanks!..lizs and tex are troopers..

jeils, slickrock, mozark, really reaffirm my contention that TT'ers rock,

CMB is pimp! arky is the top notch host on any TT trip!

jerbear is crazy as ever!

stickmon is....well,,,stickmon is stickmon...

but Khatru is really Queertrue”

“Great trip report, Stratdewd. It was a big group that went hiking with you all. Sorry that you and BuffaloBabe got the flu. Is she your wife, or another hiker in the group?

It sounds great that Mather brought a big meal to the cold wet hikers at the end of the trail. That must have been a fun end to the trip.”

“Sounds like a great trip, y'all. So much insanity for one excursion though...







...and Dewd, if'n yer gonna hike with Bucky and Khatru, the decent thing to do for your dog would be to get him some K-Y...sheesh!!!”

“Cool trip reports! Sounds like a fun trip!”

“nice report”

“It was a great trip!”

“you need to get up here sometime goosehead! queertru can hump on you a lil then, lmao.


dang! i can't believe we missed out on such great grub ! i also wanted to meet mather, just to see what kind of woman it takes to put up with mozark, lol.


lyndsy(i know it's spelled wrong but that's how my screwed up mind reads it) yes, buffalobabe is my wife.


ok, now who got pics? i know people took some(i only took a couple).

again, it was great to meet all of ya'll . hope to do it again soon!.....well....after it warms up a lil bit...”

“We had a great hike on the river trail on Saturday. Slickrock, CMB, Jerbear and Myself set out on about 6.5 miles of easy hiking with 11 river crossings. It turned out to only be 9 crossings because you can bypass 2 by crossing Jim Bluff. We sat and relaxed on Jim Bluff and had lunch. What a great spot!! I eventually got my feet soaked, so my river crossings basically were just me running across as fast as I could. It seemed to entertain Jerbear so I was glad to do it. :) CMB made a jump across the river at one point that was pretty impressive. Had he not made it he probably would have gotten wetter that Chili. :) Slickrock made it the entire trip without falling down and that is a new record and we really want to do this trail again sometime. I only wish more of the group had been able to see it. It was a really good group of people and I always learn something new. I also heard some things that could give me nightmares for quite some time. LOL We didn't get to say goodbye to everyone because we had thought we might come back down the hill for the great lunch. To anyone we missed, thanks for a great time and hopefully we'll hike again soon. We are going to try and make the Sylamore hike if possible. Hopefully it will be a bit warmer.”

“Great people. Great trip. I wish we could have made the bbq chicken meal. Chili & I did have a good meal before he hit the interstate. Good or bad I will never forget "bacon ring" or my 2 bathroom trips in the dark 18 deg. temp. Stratdewd, my 4 season tent weighs closer to 4000 lbs. lol. See everyone on down the trail.”

“arky is the only person I know who has an inflatable goose down sleeping mattress”

“Wow is the first word that comes to mind when I am going to talk about this trip.Man what a great bunch of people.I had so much fun meeting all the new people that I have meet at hope it makes for some good friendships.

You guys and gals were so very pimp to hike with the 4 days that I was down there.The trails and the eye candy kicked all forms of ass.The water in the boots thing felt great to me becuase Strat said that there was going to be alot of snow down there so I packed my snow backpacking boots and my snowshoes and when I got down there it was more like 2 inches.....8)

That cave with the waterfall inside was WAY PIMP!!!!!Thank you from takeing me there Stikmon and also for all the cool things that you did for me I will pay you back in such a big way you are a great friend.

To Mozark's wife Mather for bring the great food that was so cool of you.

And I would just like to say that you people are like family to me and I think all of you for letting me come on this trip and seeing all the great water and views down there in Ak.

See ya all soon on the trail.



P.S.

If there is one thing in life that is very special to me is to make people laugh and be happy that makes us all feel good.”

“Hi, back home. Very tired. (no sleep for moi before the 6 a.m. flight out of Memphis)

Well, this was a fun hike! Great to meet everyone. Like everyone else, I learned a lot... perhaps UNlike them, I will grill everyone to do it. lol

Stikmon was gracious enough to cart me and CMB to the hike and back... and also PICK UP A SPEEDING TICKET OF AROUND $120 on the way home, within eyeshot of Missouri.

The Arky policeman saw Crazy Mike and we were doomed, as you might guess. (If you saw Crazy Mike, wouldn't you pull an all-out search of the car? Yeah, I thought so...)

So we had to stand and wait and... well, an hour later, at least no one was in cuffs.

(WHERE WAS CHILI WHEN YA NEED'M??)

walkindude, the MDK factor was HIGH!!! But it didn't really surface, to my knowledge, anyhoo, till on the way home. Course we didn't hike with CMB Saturday. We did the ELEVATION hike... LOL!! (sorry, CMB, couldn't resist)

Great hike. Due to strange goings-in -- and good quick thinking from Tex (no wonder she's an EMT) -- we did it packless, just with dayhikes. Good thing, it's a butt kicker. I had a GPS and figured around 800 feet elevation gain from our campsite near Steel Creek -- WHICH I'LL BE POSTING AN AWESOME VIEW OF from the bluff above. We were on the Buffalo River Trail, which runs on the ridges/bluffs above the river.

Very, very pretty.

Stikmon, CMB and I got to the area late Thursday night. Camped at the walk-in sites at Lost Valley. We hiked the trail up that valley Sat. morning. Again, AWESOME!! We went through something similar to a slot canyon, a hole in rock where the stream had cut away a path, ending in a waterfall into a pool.

Also, there was a cave to climb into at the end of the trail. We climbed on hands and knees to go back into it to see the 35 ft. waterfall in a room inside, all of us with our headlamps.

OK, enough for now. More later... Plus photos.

I only wish I could have seen Chili's free dive to give it a rating. DANG!!”

“DAng!!! While I'm writing, CMB beats me to get his trip report up. LOL!!”

“Yes yes we know you guys did the high road!!!!!

Ya the MDK factor was high sometimes.

That cop I have no comment on!

8)”

“shhesh...its only a speeding ticket...couple of bucks and it'll be history...not like I was put into handcuffs or anything like that...although...Lizs has mentioned that she would like to be cuffed or cuff me...Im not sure...this girlfriend stuff is all new to me...this 90's stuff is sooooooo confusing...

and what does it mean..."Stikmon was just Stikmon"...I didn't loose nor destroy anything this time...oh wait...I did bash my eye into my tent pole as I was trying to enter it for bed...saw stars on that one...and I now sport a lovely black and blue mark, but that really doesn't count as a dissaster...

My trip report on this thing will have to wait till later...I am suffering through work with practically no sleep...and where I was hoping that I would have little work to do...has not played out...It's been busy!

I have lots of really cool photos...but, I missed taking any shots on night 2...sorry. I will post them tonight...I am not going to post them all...only the head shots and a few scenery shots...

anyone wanting all the photos...let me know...I will burn a cd with all the photos and mail it out.

I will never eat bacon again!!! Darn...and I really liked it, too...

more later........”

“What the heck is MDK?

I know, probably a stupid question, but someone had to ask.”

“i was wondering that too Chief....

wow a cave with a waterfall.....must have been awesome to experience....”

“Congrats to this crowd for a CMB-abuse-free hike. Finally, people with some DECENCY! Let's not ever return to the days when those crowds of uncivilized rouges tormented and mercilessly harassed that poor boy. He's undergone enough abuse and humiliation in his short life and driven to desperate grasping bottles of 370-year-old scotch and nasty cigars from Castros' private ass I mean stash as a crutch.”

“LMFAO!!!!!!!

8)”

“yeah, wtf's MDK? lol


om, that's the lost valley trail liz was talking about.










crazy mike like swisher sweets! sorry all the snow melted mike. there was like 3 feet of it the day before, i swear.”

“yeah, wtf's MDK? lol


om, that's the lost valley trail liz was talking about.










crazy mike likes swisher sweets! sorry all the snow melted mike. there was like 3 feet of it the day before, i swear.”

“Crazy Mike didn't explain the MDK Factor?!?!
EEEEEEKKKKKKK!!!!!!

If you want to know what MDK stands for, Watch the movie "Demolition Man".”

“MDK=Multiple D...K syndrome”

“Ya I know I had some diffrent cigars and they fit the bill.

As far as the snow goes well I could see how it all melted.

8)”

“WD, i've seen that movie a couple months ago but i dont recall MDK factor....


man, i miss all ya'll already...lets go hikin!”

“Murder Death Kill!!!!!!!

I know I can't wait to go backpacking there again that place was pimp!!!!!

8)”

“oh.....well, i think qweertru tried to kill bucky by sodemy but other than that.....”

“LMFAO!!!!!!!

8)”

“So I don't know what to make of stratdewd. LOL!! Have to keep ya wonderin' then. ;-)

I MAY have photos by tonight. Last night my camera @#$@#$#@ when I tried to download. I had to pull each shot and save it to the computer separately, just to get it off the camera. ughhhhhhhh

Lotsa nice shots. Even stratdewd and buffalo babe. :-)”

“3 guys got shipwrecked on a remote island in the south pacific. they were soon captured by a vicious tribe of natives. they chief came to them and told them that sincee they had steeped on sacred ground, they must be severly punished. he gave them a choice of their punishment. he told the first guy, you can choose death, or ruerue....the man had no idea what ruerue was but how could it be worse than death? so he chose ruerue. the tribe got all exited and and they carried the man off to the top of a volcano. where they all had their way with him. the man was screaming in agony for several hours. the remaining 2 men heard this and were horrified. well, ,finally the 2nd man got to choose...again he didn't want to die so he chose ruerue.....the same thing happened to this poor guy...after a couple hours they came to the last guy and said...what do you choose? he was horrified at the possibility of sharing the same fate as his companions and since he was an older man and had lived most of his life already....he chose death.
the crowd of natives went completly crazy when they heard him say that and the chief stood up and yelled.....DEATH BY RUERUE!”

“Well don't take it out on the camera Lizs!

LMAO!!!!!

8)”

“aww liz, you like me, you just don't want to admit it, lmao! it's ok, i won't tell anyone .......”

“I haven't read of any killings on this trip. That must mean Chili and stratdewd didn't talk any politics”

“i liked chilie alot and i have no doupt that we could discuss anything in good cheer. we even talked about doing a float trip with our kids sometime in the spring. it never seems to amaze me that people want to prejudge someone based on their views or ideas. some of my best friends are liberals. i'm a musician and most of my fellow musicians are liberal. still, we have no problem getting along or having a good time together. it actually never comes up in my personal relationships very much, which is fine by me. chilie is a good man with a fine demeanor and values. i respect him and had a pleasant visit with him and look foward to hiking(or floating) with him in the future. politics ain't everything man, and it has nothing to do with me liking them personally. never even crossed my mind to tell you the truth.




wish everyone felt the same way....”

“So you really want to see Chili floating in the river, eh?

(just kidding. he sounds cool, even if he is liberal)”

“well lyndsy, i can neither confirm nor deny my knowledge of chilie's boyancy......



i did get him a bandana with chilie peppers all over it , however....”

“Hey that is what we need for the Pathdewd when he visits up here! Will it go with the new Trailtalk T-shirts? We could make it part of the uniform.

When I was in Atlanta at the REI store, there was a truck with Arkansas plates in the parking lot. So I looked all over the store for a Trailtalk T-shirted hiker, but to no avail. Of course, I wasn't wearing my shirt either, but whatnever.”

“CMB It's AR not AK no wonder you brought your snowshows with you Sheesh!

Liz, I didn't exactly witness Chilli's dive but I did see the aftermath. He WAS WET! At least the temperature was above freezing or we would have had to chisel those rain pants off the boy!

CMB did very well at the Camp Orr waterfall site until supper. I think it might have been the jalapena juice he downed or the habenaro sauce. We'll never know for sure but I know one thing for sure. Crazy Mike hates finding trash in the outback.

Haley's Comet has a new meaning for those one this hike! Katybug would have a cow!

Jerbear can't make alcohol stoves as fast as he gives them away! A warning to owners of the new improved version. It may soot up the bottoms of your pans. But, don't worry he is working on a redesign and will gladly replace any stove for a nominal shipping fee of $49.95. For an extra $10.00 he will engrave the initials TNF on the bottom. That way you won't have to mark em out. You can just smear dirt on them everytime you use your stove! LOL

Did Jgiles mention car camping? Of course not, I couldn't get my car down to Kyles Landing. The road was just too slick. LOL

It was a very very "cool" hike!

Crazy Mike has too much energy. I think he must still be a teenager or something!

TEX looks real funny running around in TEVA sandals in the snow. I wonder why her feet got cold?

Stratdewd - too bad the boys didn't make it to Kyles with their Geetars! Maybe next time. Don't give up on the bivy yet!

Buffalobabe - Hmmm, no one reported the keys locked in your car or the nice policeman getting his door thingy stuck for an hour in your door or the very slick descent down to Steele Creek.

Too many tales to tell but I'll keep trying.

I am thankful that I'm not one of Jgiles brothers. Imagine trying to sell your blood brother a pair of rain pants with a bug ole burned spot on them for almost full retail price. Geez, everyone knows that Jgiles doesn't pay full retail price for anything! Jgiles and I both broke in our GoLite Speed backpacks with no complaints. Meaning, JG didn't try to sell it to his brother! All puns aside they performed very well with 24-26 lbs in them. Of course JG got his weight down by letting his brother (slickrock) carry the tent! I wish I had a brother. JGiles I'll swap a sister for a brother whata ya say? We can discuss terms on my next Car Camping Adventure.

Chilli & the WDude. If things work out I'll try to make the Sylamore hike. I'm already trying to think of ways to lighten my load so I can keep up with you tall boys! Maybe I could sneak a few pounds in Arky's backpack. I doubt he'd notice the difference if he carries that fortress tent.

Jerbear / Crazy Mike Backpacks! I think that CMB is actually a Jerbear clone produced while Jer was involved in a secret government program in the navy. Won't be long before CMB starts using one of those JBTNF stoves! You guys just wait and see for yourselves.

Liz I was really impressed with your ability to get Stickmon to carry those creature comforts! For the record folks! (1) Down booties (2) Oversized thermalrest chair. (3) Warm blanket (4) Stickmon snuggles. I never heard you complain about the "cold"! LOL Then there was TEX running around in in the snow in TEVA's while her fellow hikers were roasting her wet boots! Hmm back to Liz and Sticky. Now I hear that it was just a little speeding ticket ($120) hmmm, that could have bought you a pair of rain pants with a burned spot on the leg. You gotta think in terms of gear boy not dollars!

Pictures I didn't take no stinkin pictures cause I was tryin to go the Ray-Way which doesn't include cameras. I'm going to burn that boooook!

Oh yeah, Sunday night Jerbear, AJ,"Brick" & myself did truly "no joke JGiles" car camp at Kyles. then Monday we drove to Ponca and visited my favorite watering hole "I don't think I'll want another natural Black Cherry drinkg for months". Then we headed to the trailhead of Hawksbill Crag. Once we arrived it started raining and proceeded to rain for about 12 hours. We couldn't have been at a better place for this type of weather. We setup camp under a waterfall (just like in the Tarsan movies without the elephant bones)and stayed warm and dry all night long. This is the place that young Jason became the "BRICK"!

My I've got to get to bed it is 2003! HAPPY NEW YEARS!

Mozark err MC in the Ozarks...............”

“good lord moz....you sure do write a good trip report....
that camping under a waterfall thing is VERY attractive!!
when are you arkies doing that again?”