Travels Through A Place Called SmokeHole

Friends,

I have been a Hoot-N-Aboot in a place called Smoke Hole. It seemed to be a busy weekend for the old gorge, in a Smoke Hole sort of way. All of the campers and the cabins seemed to be occupied and a handful of fishermen seemed to be out along the river. I saw many trucks with floatation devices of all types from the pool floats to old inner tubes. Their seemed to be an abundance of beverages flowing all about. It is my guess these where brought in to make up for the lack of water in the river. The entrance walls looked to be getting a little traffic in the last few weeks, besides my own. The trail seemed to be getting enough traffic to keep the weeds down.
The purpose of my trip into the area was to see the dragon and let it know that I’m still thinking about him. I men after all it has been a while since I have been to visit him after all. So I drove up through the valley, Smiled as I passed William and looked up at the Eagle. I thought about the good times that have been had under his ever watchful eye. I thought of the story of him climbing the rock that carries his name and what it must have been like on the first trip up that rock that now bares his name. On down I went past the low water bridge hung a left past Shreve’s store and started my climb up the mountain. On past the old saw mill, wondering if this was the same place that had employed the town of Smoke Hole in a time gone past. Then it was further up, always going higher, on past the winter camp where Ronin and I spent the night in freezing temperatures and in anticipation of our first time into the area of the Mushroom Towers. Arriving at the top of the mountain I was thinking about how the mountain had looked that morning after the snow with the ice hanging from the trees.
So here I stand, on the edge of the road, looking downward, searching through the receases of my mind looking for the way. I draw my trusty machete and proceed down into the abyss. As I cut my way through the greenbriers and rhodo. I keep heading down and clearing trail as I go. One hundred feet, two hundred, I’m heading down into the darkness now. There has been thunder for the last several minutes, the skies have darkened and the clouds have rolled up the mountain, you can't see down into the valley now. You can smell the rain coming, but I am so close now, I can see the trees dropping away in front of me, I have reached the head wall, before me stand's the open expanse with the mushrooms staring back at me. It is a rough trail I think, but it is a trail. If I continue any further I am going to be starting down into the playground that is the Dragon's belly, which is not the place that I want to be as the storm rolls in I turn to head back up the mountain. As I'm turning away it is with a promise that I will be returning soon. Almost as soon as the thought went through my head I saw two things almost simultaneously, a perfect campsite at the base of the head wall and a huge flash of lightning. Is it a sign? If it was then I don't know what it means, to see a campsite and at the same time the anger of the weather. It left me feeling slightly empty inside for some reason.

On my way out of Smoke hole, the storm that rocked the high ground but strangely seemed to leave the canyon floor alone was just a memory and had passed I saw some new climber's that were working on something on the far side of the river. They were directly across from a cabin that is just passed Eagle. It is kind of funny that I saw them here on my way out as I had looked at the corners on this rock on my way in thinking that they would be fun to check out in the future. It would seem that there is someone else playing in this particular sandbox right now. I have seen the gear bags in the past but this was the first time that I could actually see someone else out on the rock.
Stay tuned for the continuing story as the dragon is greeted and an accord is reached.

P