{"id":4138,"date":"2025-01-27T00:51:45","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T00:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/?p=4138"},"modified":"2025-01-27T13:35:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T13:35:16","slug":"west-prong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/2025\/01\/27\/west-prong\/","title":{"rendered":"West Prong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In tribute to the old days where we would spend Martin Luther King days out here at good old campsite 18, AJ, Jon and I returned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was strange when I rolled in there around 2:00 and no one was to be found. I walked the upper camps and the lower camps to make sure I wasn’t missing my friends. Figuring they were just running late I went ahead and set up to initiate camp chores which included a nice little fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a couple hours, AJ comes sauntering around the corner. They had set up at the very very bottom of campsite 18 in a newer campsite down there. So we carried my tent, sleeping bag, and pad across that bridge, you know the one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I returned to gather my hard earned fire and ferry it across the bridge. You may ask how this was done. The answer is very carefully. They had a lot of nice wood down there so my flame accepted their campsite. I placed my fire on a flat log and toted it gently across the icy bridge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was very cold so a ready-made fire was welcomed by my buds. And my tent set up over there just as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I’d say it dipped down into the lower teens Friday night. I was regretting the decision to forgo my minus 40 bag.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday morning came crisply into this holler. It was time to percolate some coffee and prepare for a hike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So gloriously sunny, we were pulled up towards the AT via Bote mountain and Finley Cane. Seems like a lot of people had the same idea and were suffering from cabin fever. Lots of smiling faces on the trail as the sun tickled our cheeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It was good to be climbing uphill for a little while. Without a heavy pack I might add. AJ passed me and went on up even further. I think we climbed about 1600 ft which was plenty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had to get back and stoke the fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For some reason I don’t have a single photo of Jon Dempsey so here is his tent. But he brought my favorite of all beef jerky. His special recipe is the melt in your mouth variety and I always look forward to this treat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AJ called this trip; we originally going to go over to rabbit Creek up at campsite 15 but had concerns about the road going down in there. Rangers told us it was a sheet of ice. And I believe it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did get one little souvenir on my car after hour three day trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I appreciate the courtesy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the words of Jon Dempsey, it’s so good to be out in nature with good friends. We are blessed to have both. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

May peace, prosperity and health fall upon you all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

-John<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In tribute to the old days where we would spend Martin Luther King days out here at good old campsite 18, AJ, Jon and I returned. It was strange when I rolled in there around 2:00 and no one was … 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\/4138"}],"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=4138"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4153,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4138\/revisions\/4153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/southernhighlanders.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}