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Handbook/ 1932/ Smoky Mountains Hiking Club

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  • said that few white people had ever been in this almost inaccessible wilderness. Naturally many traditions have grown up around this obscure point. We are not even yet ready to explore the depths of the unknown, but we will get close enough by "Skirting Hell" on one of the enclosing ridges. Those who took the hike last year were rewarded with views of the most beautiful and rugged portions of the Great Smokies. To see Alum Cave and spend a night on LeConte by a crackling log fire, after satisfying a healthy appetite, is pleasure enough. With a good night's sleep on the balsam beds we are ready to make the descent. Upon reaching Myrtle Point take a look over into the region we are headed for and you will see a ridge so steep that it is known as the Knife Blade. The trail we follow is on the nearer ridge to the right. As you glance over this ridge so you will see a smooth- looking knob with a hole on one side of it. Upon reaching the knob we will find that the hole becomes a clump of trees—a fine illusion. About here we will eat our lunch, feeling that we are as far away from civilization as it is possible to get within a short time. Continuing we must now descend thru the saw-briers and rhododendron over a region where trails are still "furriners." Finally we come to the creek and after jumping the rocks a bit longer we land on the smooth Grassy-patch trail. The joy of a trail and walking once again on the level is enough to make one exclaim with Walt Whitman: Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road, Healthy, free, the world before me, The long brown patch before me leading wherever I choose. Henceforth I ask not good fortune, I myself am good fortune, Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, Strong and content, I travel the open road. 17
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