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George Steffanos

🧵1/4
May 27, 1983: Perched near the summit of Camp Creek Bald beside a very futuristic cluster of communications towers was a steel fire tower with views every bit as excellent as those from Rich Mountain.

We are high atop a fire tower on the summit of a mountain looking down along the ridge crest ahead. Many of the trees below are sprouting bright green spring leaves, one is covered with bright orange flowers. A sprawling grassy clearing has been cut out of the woods near the crest of the ridge. Coming up from the valley, a winding dirt road runs through that grassy clearing past a collection of odd-looking buildings to a large structure looking out over the valley from the base of a small cliff face. The smaller buildings included a cluster of A-frames and some larger round structures. Below the clearing rugged green foothills descend towards a wide, gently rolling plain.
#backpacking#hiking#landscapephotography
Mar 17, 2025, 12:57 PM·Public·Web
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George Steffanos

🧵2/4
The sky was as clear of haze as any I have seen in these misty southern mountains. There were especially nice vistas over the rugged green foothills into Tennessee: views of a wide, gently rolling plain with a couple of solitary mountains rising in the distance from the valley floor. I took my camera out of my backpack and started firing away.

We are high atop a fire tower on the summit of a mountain looking down over a very futuristic set of communications towers (for 1983). Beyond the heavily-wooded rugged green foothills we catch a glimpse of a wide, gently rolling plain filled with farms, villages and smaller patches of forest. The sky is a soft blue with streaky white clouds.
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George Steffanos

🧵3/4
A sprawling grassy clearing had been cut out of the woods near the crest of a ridge running down towards those Tennessee foothills and the valley beyond. Coming up from the valley, a winding dirt road ran through that grassy clearing past a collection of odd-looking buildings to a large structure looking out over the valley from the base of a small cliff face. The smaller buildings included a cluster of A-frames and some larger round structures.

We are high atop a fire tower on the summit of a mountain looking down along a ridge covered with flowering trees with red, yellow or orange blossoms. Below that ridge, a long, wide green valley is filled with green forests, farm fields and pastures. A rugged green ridge forms the far end of the valley. Beyond that, a succession of ridges and valleys cascade to the misty horizon. The sky is a soft blue with a few small fluffy white clouds.
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George Steffanos

🧵4/4
I later learned these were the remains of an abandoned ski resort known as Viking Mountain.

From my book Then the Hail Came (A Humorous and Truthful Account of a 1983 Appalachian Trail Thru-hike). Available in paperback, audiobook and eBook: amazon.com/dp/B09QFG4ZR6

You can read or listen to my book for free if you are a Kindle Unlimited eBook or an Audible Plus audiobook subscriber. Both options are available from Amazon, where the paperback, eBook or audiobook can also be purchased.

High atop a fire tower on the summit of a mountain. Below is a swath of trees below covered with bright orange flowers. Beyond that the wooded mountainside descends past rugged wooded foothills to a narrow farm valley encircled by rugged wooded hills and mountains. The sky is a soft blue with haze along the horizon.
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