Little Bottoms, Hatcher Mt., Cooper Rd (13.5 Miles)

Because this hike was in essence a square with Cane Creek one of the sides, I wanted to do the 2.1 miles of Cane Creek that projected from the square to the NW Park boundary (i.e., in and out) or else it would be something that I would need to make a special trip some other date just to complete. Thus I sent an e-mail out to all Wed. hikers to see if I had any takers. Ellie Doughty called me and said that she would hike it with me; she did not need it for she has completed all 900 miles but she wanted to help me (folks really try to help each other in this group--Ellie also said that she wanted a longer hike since she is training to get back on the AT). Derl's group (the Wed. group that does the shorter hikes) also met at Food Lion at 8:00; I ended up taking Janetta and Amy and led the caravan as Amy directed me through a route starting on Montvale that eventually lead us to the West side of the Park at Abrams Creek Campground.

The other hikers were Tom, Dale, Ellie, Liz, two women whose names I do not recall, BZ, and Bob (new to our group). The Brown Book states that Little Bottoms should be taken by only those sure of foot; the fellow leading our group demonstrated that for he took a fall and had he slipped another couple of feet would have fallen off an ~30 foot precipice. After we had done 3 legs of this square route Ellie, BZ, Bob and I turned right on Cane Creek as the rest turned left on the shorter hike back to Abrams Campground. Spent a bit of time talking to Bob; he and I almost crossed paths at NAS Pensacola in the late 50's. It was an enjoyable and relatively easy hike to take after a long lay off.