It was a long time before I realized that the mother ship wasn't
coming in behind the Hale Bopp Comet, so now I just try
and watch the showers that ensue as we hurdle through
space on this rock and pass through the tails of comets.
The Draconids were touted as being the best in many years
for 2011 so I figured why not hang as close to them as
possible right? Predicted to begin Friday October 7th and peak
Saturday October 8th in the afternoon, we decided to hang
for the weekend.
HB and I left late Friday afternoon and set up camp just off
the Art Loeb Trail in the Shining Rock Wildeness, which is
part of the Pisgah National Forest. Our goal was to set up
a base camp and view the show atop Black Balsam Mt
(Elev. 6214') Saturday night.
We were joined later that evening by Carolinasbackpacker
at about 10PM. We chewed the fat, tipped a few, HB and CB
took a trial run up the trail a ways, then we bedded
down for the evening.
I awoke about 4:30AM and took a stroll. All of the
vehicles were encased in a frost so thick it shattered
when I opened the car door. Later on, when all arose,
we put up some coffee and awaited the arrival of ldcakes.
It was a wee bit nippy but we all slept rather warmly.
We lolly-gagged for quite a bit.
We took an afternoon hike up to the summit, along with lots
of other folks taking advantage of the views of the Fall foliage.
An adventurous kite flyer
Some great views
We headed back to camp for a weenie roast with all the fix'uns.
Following dinner we headed out to see the show...Well, we're
still waiting. We stood out there for hours. Not even a latent firefly.
We had a beautiful huge moon-bow and we did see a contrail
that went from one horizon to the opposite horizon but that was it.
No-one cared. We were hangin' in the piney woods
Sunday morning we packed up and headed to Hannah Flanagan's
in H'ville for lunch and the renowned "Bull-Burger".
A fun time was had by all
CB and Cakes will be posting lots more pics and some video
Thanks for reading!
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