Climb Crowders Mountain [Entered 8/13/06]

Sunday, we met up for the trip up to Asheville. We loaded up Jeff's car with all of our camp paraphenalia (guitars, bags, ukulele, stuff), and headed over to Crowders Mountain, which was sort of on the way to Asheville. We got there early enough, right about when they open up the park, and had a pleasant little hike up the steep road to the peak. Again, it was much cooler than Austin, but it wasn't a crisp fall day or anything like that. We had fun clambering around on the craggy peak and along the ridge up there, and after quite a while doing that sort of climbing, we made our way down the mountain on the longer but more gentle trail down the other side of the transmission tower up there. It was a fun time, and the hiking helped take the edge off my legs remaining from the race on Saturday.

From there, we drove a scenic route up to Asheville, via parts known and unknown. We stopped in Chimney Rock, NC, for a snack (we had a great all-you-can-eat ice cream feast there at this little corner store), and then came on to the Warren Wilson College campus to check into camp. Jeff and I saw a lot of familiar faces there and around the dorm, and soon enough got our stuff unloaded and into our room for the week. We lucked out and got a room in the only air-conditioned dorm on campus. After unloading, we had a good bit of time until the 7:00 orientation, so we headed "off-campus" for our traditional last dinner in town. Of course, we found the time for another hike, about 90 minutes, along the side of the Blue Ridge Parkway on a nice trail. That was an out-and-back affair.

Dinner was at one of our two favorite Asheville establishments, Asheville Pizza Company. Jeff and Andy had, duh, pizza, which they pronounced as the best they'd ever had. I had fish and chips, because I just wanted something different. That was good, too, though. A couple of good beers there (I had a stout of some sort), and we were ready to rejoin our fellow campers.

Andy took Jeff's car and headed back to Charlotte, and left Jeff and I to start our musical week. The orientation was entertaining, with the various teachers for the week giving a brief sampling of what they'd be doing in their classes, and we settled in after that for some socializing with the tribe. There were plenty of returning campers, and we basically just enjoyed the vibe of the place on Sunday night. Yes, we had another beer from the beer trailer, supplied from a local microbrewery, Highland Brewers. That's just what you do, you know?

After catching some of the nightly music popping up all around, we turned in relatively early, around midnight. We'd have plenty of time throughout the week to try to test our limits of sleep endurance. Why blow the week on Day One? :-)