Bill and I hiked half of a mile into the Dawson Forest, which left us near the banks of the Etowah River. There we threw into a yellow pine recently named All-by-myself. Bill made the entry and took the climbing lead SRT Texas style. I followed on the RADS (with a Purcell Prusik foot loop) when he placed my tie-in point. Bill moved up via DRT. I followed DRT on my 31' Velocity rope. I carried my New England Fly up, alternating RADS and DRT. Bill finished out at 105'. While at the top, I experimented with the Blakes on a bight as a third rope.

The day concluded at Rogue Industries. Sure Jeff Newman has numerous innovations underway there. The coolest thing about the workshop was the refrigerator that held Yuengling beer.

Tomorrow, we're heading up to Sawnee Mountain for a group climb. Following that there will be a post-climb review meeting with Yuengling in hand.

There's a story behind almost every climb. The first ascent in this tree was done the previous week by Jonnie, who had made her first 100-foot climb in it and who had also made her first-ever traverse from it to another nearby yellow pine. Somehow, JimK and I managed to actually get a few feet higher despite a strong wind. Since Jonnie was the first person to climb it, ol' Joe of the Jungle (aka "The Living Legend") informed her that she'd also have to name it.

Her astonished reply was: "All by myself...?" And the rest is history.

But the climb in that same tree with JimK was just one more event in a great week here at Galactic HQ, a week that was filled with him meeting many of the people in the north Georgia mountains who'd managed to put our area on the tree-climbing map. Soon, Jeff (aka Swamp Fox), ol' Joe and I will have to return the favor and check out some of the trees he (and Drainhook) have found in the Columbus, Ohio area.