Coon Butt 9/24/16

Coon Butt does not refer to Laurel's posterior.  It is neither striped nor coonish in any way.

Coon butt refers to where she is standing.  And that is that.

Rather overgrown in spots, we endured half the loop in the cove to attack Rabbit Creek from it's posterior, aka Butt.  And to do so, we ascended Coon Butt mountain.  That is it's name. 

If this looks familiar, it is.  Old Rabbit creek is as low as I've ever seen it.

After all that Coon Butt business, I needed a soak.

So now it was my butt getting cooled off in what remained of Rabbit Creek.  We did four and a half sweaty miles up and down into cs 15.

  Soon old AJ, aka Otis, came walking into camp from Marietta, Ga.  That was a long walk, except he drove.

After soaking my coon butt, I was again presentable.

AJ regaled us with tales of his recent 45 mile backpacking trip in the Grand Tetons.

Pretty soon, we are barking at the moon and coon.

She had to fetch a torch to chase the coon butts out of camp.

Sunday morning, Laurel looped around Abrams to the Falls, for six and a half new miles.  AJ did a key swap with me and I went out Pine Mountain.  We all departed via different routes.

This is where the bridge used to ford Rabbit Creek.  But the NPS decided to let it go away, much like all the footbridges on Caldwell Fork and Forney Creek.  Backpackers are of little concern to the NPS, which is why we are meeting with Superintendent Cash in a few weeks to bring these issues to his attention.  Among other things.

It was an excellent weekend outing with perfect, albeit warm weather.

On another note, there is a new book out entitled:

  Deadly Peaks, Mountaineering's Greatest Triumphs and Tragedies.

In it is a brief mention of me and Brian and our time on Broad Peak in 2013.  The authors both note that the Karakoram was a bloodbath and quote my book, Tempting the Throne Room.  It is, so far, a great history of mountaineering tragedies and triumphs.  There were sufficient amounts of both in our trip to Pakistan.  Brian and I survived what the authors concede was a very, very bad year in that part of the Himalaya.

My book is still in print, if you haven't been able to get my version.   Here is a link where you can purchase.    http://www.temptingthethroneroom.com