{"id":3279,"date":"2022-01-09T23:49:21","date_gmt":"2022-01-09T23:49:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/?p=3279"},"modified":"2022-01-19T14:30:06","modified_gmt":"2022-01-19T14:30:06","slug":"holiday-smokies-rambles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/2022\/01\/09\/holiday-smokies-rambles\/","title":{"rendered":"Holiday Smokies Rambles"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3280\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220103_184535137-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220103_184535137-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220103_184535137-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220103_184535137-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>From back to front. This is a shot of us celebrating Richards 60th birthday and retirement from Denso.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3281\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220101_103040844_HDR-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220101_103040844_HDR-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220101_103040844_HDR-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220101_103040844_HDR-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This is a View from the road out of Clingmans dome. I departed there on New year&#8217;s day after spending the night at the shelter with&#8230;.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3282\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220101_085403162_BURST000_COVER-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220101_085403162_BURST000_COVER-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220101_085403162_BURST000_COVER-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Abby and Kelsey, the Sausage and Bert. Plus our two new friends Tom and Tammy.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3283\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_224941088-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_224941088-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_224941088-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It was the Sausage&#8217;s birthday. And this is the second year in a row I&#8217;ve spent it up there with him.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3284\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_204226326-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_204226326-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_204226326-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Bert holds Court.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3286\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_151607526_HDR-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_151607526_HDR-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_151607526_HDR-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>\u00a0Madonna has entered the building.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3287\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_175357084-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_175357084-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_175357084-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Bert had them eating out of the palm of his hand.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3288\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_160113611-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_160113611-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_160113611-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_160113611-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Women folk have to earn their keep around us, though.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3289\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_142156912-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_142156912-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_142156912-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211231_142156912-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>I rode my bike from Newfound Gap up Clingman&#8217;s dome road and began my hike.<\/p>\n<p>When we departed the following day, the road was closed. This was a flashback to the year before. So, I did the only proper thing which was to ride my bike from Newfound Gap all the way down to the Sugarlands.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3291\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220101_095813435-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220101_095813435-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20220101_095813435-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/>\u00a0On the way out, we found a lot of junk deposited by some kids who didn&#8217;t know what the heck they were doing. We know who they were because they showed up at the shelter soaking wet. Carrying Walmart gear. So they just dumped it trailside.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday prior to that I met AJ and his friend up at the Crooked arm.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3292\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211227_172307735-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211227_172307735-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211227_172307735-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3293\" src=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211227_173716310-225x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211227_173716310-225x300.jpg 225w, http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/IMG_20211227_173716310-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>This was on the Tuesday night prior to New year&#8217;s Eve. So good to see AJ and so good to get two backpacking trips in one week.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From back to front. This is a shot of us celebrating Richards 60th birthday and retirement from Denso. This is a View from the road out of Clingmans dome. I departed there on New year&#8217;s day after spending the night &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/2022\/01\/09\/holiday-smokies-rambles\/\">Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3279"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3279"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3322,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3279\/revisions\/3322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}