The Lonely Planet

It was 9AM on Sunday and I was all alone in front of the visitor center at Kennesaw waiting to start my timed mile. Technically, I wasn't "all alone", there were plenty of people around... but there was no one I'd gotten accustomed to over the past few weeks.

We were supposed to hike Kennesaw on Saturday, but there was a March of Dimes walk planned for that day and the hike was moved to Stone Mountain. I could not go to Stone Mountain because I needed to be home rather quickly to help Judy get our home ready for an afternoon of grilling with friends. So, it was me by myself on Sunday morning. The objective was to see how fast I could cover the 1 mile to the top and to report the time to our Hike Leader.

As I set out, I swore I would never do this hiking by myself thing again. I got to the top in about 22 minutes. Not my best time, but not too shabby I guess. I had a lot of fun on the way back. I took my time (about 1.5 hours actually) walking back down. I noticed a lot of stuff which I had overlooked during past hikes. There were a whole new set of plants that were blooming this time around. By the time, I got back to the visitor center, I was beginning to think that I just might be doing more of these solo hikes. Pictures from Kennesaw are here.

Next week, we go to a new trail. We will be hiking at the Vogel State Park. It is going to be a long day on the trail.

Hike Update:
When we started the training, we were told that we could choose from one of several different trails. The trails were classified as Categories 1 through 4 with the descriptions stating that the Cat 4 trail should be attempted only by experienced hikers who have trained hard and who have hiked one of the other trails before. My aim was to train hard enough to attempt at least one of the cat 3 trails. Ultimately, it would be up to the Hike Leader to make the call as to what trail we will be hiking.

Well, Our Hike Leader and Captain had been encouraging a few of us to go for the Grandview trail (the only cat 4 trail) and so I opted for that and that is what I will be hiking. As with all the other trails, this one doesn't go to the river either. We travel about 3.2 miles in and descend 2600 feet to Horseshoe Mesa. The entire hike is expected to take about 8 hours.

Here is a very good account from another Georgian who hiked the Grandview trail last May.

Fund Raising Update:
April 30th is here and I had set a goal of reaching the target. We are very close indeed. We have so far raised $4,395.00 We need to raise only $105 to reach the goal.

Thank You very much. If you were planning to write a check but just didn't get around to it, We still need your help. The $4,500 is a goal but one that is by no means all that is needed. Every little bit is needed. If we can raise $25 more, then that is one extra prescription for a patient. A $100 more will cover the cost of 2 CT scans for patients.

T minus 315

Last weekend was spent driving rather than hiking. Judy, Ashley & I drove up to South Bend, IN on Friday with stopovers in Indianapolis, IN and Huntington, IN. We drove back on Monday. We had a good couple of days visiting with friends and family and attending my nephew's First Holy Communion mass.

In the meantime, you all kept the donations coming and we are now only $315 shy of the target. Thank You. If you have been meaning to, but just haven't gotten around to making that donation, now is a good time to do so :-)

This next Saturday, we are back at Kennesaw Mountain where we will be timed so our Hike Leader can evaluate us and validate our choice of trails - I have been told that this will be a mere formality if one has been attending all the group hikes.

The world is flat ...

... or so it seemed this past Saturday as we hiked in the Amicalola Falls State Park towards the Len Foote Hike Inn. There were enoughs ups and downs but after some of the recent gradients we hiked up, this one seemed flat. We met at the upper parking lot on top of the falls and were supposed to do a 6 hour loop with a stop at the Len Foote Hike Inn. Thunderstorms were forecast for the afternoon and so the hike was cut short to 4 hours. We hiked 5 miles from the parking lot to the Len Foote hike Inn with no stops. The one way trip was supposed to take 3 hours on average, but we made it in only 2 hours. Everyone was in super shape. I was at the head of the pack and stopped very briefly to snap a few pictures of the Dwarf Violet Iris - Iris verna and before I knew it, I was trailing the pack. The Irises were everywhere, so were Violets and various Yellow-violets.

We spent about a half-hour at the Inn and headed back at the same pace. We reached the parking lot and this time, I had to taste Dean's fine home-made brew even though I was driving. I assure you it was only a taste.

The thunderstorms never came. At least not until I got home. On the way back, we decided to stop at The Crowe's Nest restaurant in Jasper, GA. Apparently this place has great burgers and is some sort of a landmark. But, they were closed. It was Saturday afternoon so I don't know what that was about. We ended up at the "Savor" bar. A little family-owned restaurant serving Peruvian and American cuisine. the food was pretty good.... but the service was not rushed.

Next weekend, we are traveling to SouthBend, IN. and I will be missing the hike at The Benton McKay State Park.

More pictures of the Irises are here.

Fund Raising Update:
The end is in sight. We had set an Intermediate goal of reaching 75% - $3,375 by April 15th. As of April 16th, we have raised $3,835.00

We need to raise $665.00 to complete this fund-raiser. Thank You all for your support.

Website Update:
A few days back, I was looking at the analytics to see what kind of traffic I was getting on the website. As expected, most of the visitors were from The USA. I also had a substantial percentage from India. I was however surprised to see visitors from the following places.

Elwood & Sydney - Australia.
Beijing, Nanjing, Hsinchuang & Shandong - China.
Christchurch - New Zealand.
Partizánske - Slovakia.
Culleredo - Spain.
Ekefall & Karlstad - Sweden.
Rome - Italy.

Well, so far, all the donations have come from the USA and India. I definitely would not mind receiving a few Yuans and Euros :-)

29 F

After two weeks of perfect hiking weather, winter returned. Yes, it was cold ... even in the Metro Atlanta area. It was 29 degrees Fahrenheit when I left home Saturday morning. Our hike leader likes to alternate long and short hikes and this past weekend, it was time for the shorter hike at Kennesaw Mountain.

Given the cold weather and spring break, there were very few hikers (maybe around 12) in our group. It was cold enough for me to stay focussed on the hike rather than stopping to take pictures. There weren't many good ones in any case. The frost made the wildflowers look rather sad.

We got to Burnt Hickory road and back to the Visitor Center at about 11AM. The hike down from Big Kennesaw to the Visitor Center was the coldest. Even though the temperature had gone up to 36 degrees, the wind was blowing hard and it felt a lot cooler than that.

Next week, it is back to the Amicalola Falls State Park. This time we will go lot farther and up to the Len Foote Hike Inn.

Survivor Update:
Do you have a loved one who is currently fighting cancer or who battled cancer in the past? Please let me know if you would like to make a small memorial for them on my web page. After all, it isn't about campaigns, numbers or some such abstract idea. It is about real people who fight cancer everyday.

Fund Raising Update:
As of 4/9/07, We have raised 3,175.00 - We are 70% of the way there.

I still need to raise $200 to reach my next milestone of 75% by 4/15. Thank You all for the support and your generous donations.

ps - If you made a donation either on the website or by mailing me a check and if I have not sent you a personal Thank You note, please let me know. I recently heard that some website donations during the last year were incorrectly recorded and as a result the person raising the money was not credited for those donations and more importantly did not know of those donations. This was a glitch, but I want to make sure that no donations go unrecognized.

Power of your money:

• $1,000 - supports one week’s salary for a medical researcher at Emory who may discover key information to developing curative treatments for blood cancers.


• $500 - provides a patient with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma with patient aid to support medical treatment and to travel to medical appointments for one year.

The past few weeks I have included a couple of points such as the ones above regarding how your donation can help in the fight against cancer. These came from a document published by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

When we look at a problem such as cancer, it is easy to get discouraged about how big the problem is and what little we as individuals can do. I hope these few points helped convey the importance of what your contribution means to this fight. When we are done with this fund-raising, we will have bought 4.5 man weeks of additional research. The group as a whole will be raising $366,000. That is 7 years of research into cancer or 7 researchers for 1 whole year on cancer. Something good is definitely going to come out of that.

“Anything is possible. You can be told that you have a 90-percent chance or a 50-percent chance or a 1-percent chance, but you have to believe, and you have to fight.” - Lance Armstrong.

Sanguinaria canadensis

Last week, I posted a couple of pictures of wildflowers that I snapped during the hike at Kennesaw Mountain. My friend Suzy Gruenhagen of Dahlonega, GA. pointed out that the white flowers were called Bloodroot - Sanguinaria canadensis and the red flowers were called Fire Pink - Silene virginica. Well Suzy, I am happy to report that I found a lot more Bloodroot blooms this past weekend. I also found a few other wildflowers that I had fun trying to identify. I found Taraxacum officinale, Rhododendron catawbiense, Conopholis americana and Viola rotundifolia to name some. I also found an Actias luna on the hike back up Rocky Mountain. There are a few that I wasn't able to identify.. so, Suzy, I am looking for your input :-)

We went back to the Appalachian Trail. It was my turn to drive and we had the Sienna full from Canton. There were two groups again, one hiking for 4 hours and I was with the second group going up to Tray Mountain on a 6 hour hike. the weather was perfect (mid 50s). The ice that we saw on the slopes of Rocky Mountain were gone and there were plenty of wildfowers in their place. The hike up Rocky Mountain from Unicoi Gap was just as hard as the last time. We got down to Indian Grave Gap (where I turned back the last time) in about an hour and 15 minutes. After a brief stop, it was back on a long, steady climb over about 2.8 miles to Tray Mountain.

There were 15 of us and a dog and it felt like a crowd at the Summit. We started back after about 20 minutes at the top. The area close to the top was covered with Catawba Rhododendrons. These were still budding, but in trying to identify this plant, I saw pictures of the blooms and I can't wait to go back when they are in full bloom. Of course, I could be totally wrong about what plants these really are... :-(

We started the hike back and I snapped most of the pictures on the way back. After what seemed an eternity and another hike up from Indian Grave Gap to Rocky Mountain, we got to the trail head in 5 hours and 50 minutes. We had hiked 10.8 Miles, climbed 3,500 vertical feet and gone approximately 3.5 dots on the A.T. map. At the parking lot, Dean had home-brewed beer for the group. Of course, I had to drive.

More pictures from my day on the A.T. are here.

Rocky Mountain and Tray Mountain facts:

• The Rocky Mountain we climbed is one of 9 peaks in Georgia of the same name.


• At 4,430 feet, Tray Mountain is the seventh highest peak in Georgia. Rocky Mountain is number 27 on the same list. Tray Mountain is also the second highest peak on the Georgia section of the A.T.


• The climb up to Rocky Mountain took us from an elevation of 2,949 feet at Unicoi Gap to 4,017 feet at the Summit in about 1.3 miles. That is an average climb of 821.5 feet per mile. The most strenuous trail at the Grand Canyon has an elevation change of 2,600 feet over 3.2 miles. That is an average elevation change of only 812.5 feet per mile. I guess I am ready.

Hike Update:
Several of you have asked when exactly I will be hiking the GC. Well, the dates are in. The hike is on June 2nd. Judy and Ashley are also going to fly out with me. We will be leaving for Phoenix on May 31. After spending a night, we travel to our hotel near the canyon on Friday June 1st. After the hike, the team leaves for Phoenix and Atlanta on June 3rd. We are planning to spend June 3rd in the Sedona, AZ area and travel to Las Vegas with a stop at the Hoover Dam on June 4th. We will be leaving Las Vegas on the 5th to get to Phoenix in time to catch a red-eye back to Atlanta.

Are you planning a vacation? How about the Grand Canyon? Come on out and join me on my hike weekend.

Fund raising update:
As of March 31st, We have raised $2,700 Yes!

Next target is to hit the 75% mark - $3,375 by April 15th. We have to raise $675 to make that goal. Thank You everyone.

Power of your money:
As you consider a donation to this cause, consider what your donation can do...

• $ 500 - allows 10 patients to logon to a webcast and hear the latest information in treatment for their disease.


• $ 150 - allows 5 patients to make a First Connection with a trained peer volunteer.