Glenn & Balzaccom,

Thanks so much for the replies! Glenn; I love your ideas and I will definitely put them into play. The last thing you wrote; I'm already on it. I have two people qualified to be assistants. They are students with heavy class loads, but I'm trying to push them on the administrative side to get them there.

I agree with you both about carrying the pack. I should not have. What I left out of that story is; the person who's pack I carried is my son. I showed a bit of weakness there. I think I will incorporate this mistake into that story for future posts.

The bailout point is a great idea! I am fortunate with the areas here in the Carolinas where I take many trips for newbies. One of the areas is a flat terrain, 1.3 mile hike to the campsite. It allows for people to bailout (just walk in the other direction). Which did happen. I'll discuss this in my part 3 story. And I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to actually use the word "bailout" option. I'll give credit for your input.

I know my website needs work. I'm getting there. Running a coffee shop only allows so much time for leisure. I had to postpone my hiking trip for this weekend (AT section in GA). The weather is going to be too nasty. So instead I'll work on adding content to my website.

Since you mentioned the AT. It would be awesome if we ever hooked up for a hike next summer.

Thanks again!

Jerry