This is Gene he is from Oliver Springs, TN. I met him and his band of wild hiking buddies on Gregory's Bald today. Gene is in his late 60's or early 70's. He is a six year survior of pancreatic cancer. His doctor only gave him six months to live with cancer. Little did his doctor know that he would beat the cancer and live on for as long as he wants to.

The hike to Gregory's Bald is a tough one, ol Gene here made the 5.5 mile trip up the mountain in three hours. It took me three hours and twenty two minutes.

That flat space of land is cades cove in the background with Rich Mountain behind it.

A funny story about his friends and hiking buddies. I was talking with them over some packed lunch on the bald. They got to talking politics and local goverment. One fella asked me my opinion about Alcoa, TN. I let him know that I didn't care much for Alcoa. The company Alcoa did me dirty once when I was employed by them, the town is full of speed traps poised to take advantage of the tourist traffic heading to the Smoky Mountains for vacation and they mismanage their money and considering that they have the largest tax base of any small town in East Tennessee they don't need speed traps to generate revenue. Then I went on to say that I can't wait for them to finish the I-140 extension that I have dubbed the "Alcoa bypass".

The crowd was quiet for sometime and then the oldest fella, who was 77, of the hiking group spoke up and said "Hey kid don't you know you just told the Mayor of Alcoa to shove it"? Yeah I am good a sticking my foot in my mouth. But Gene's friend the mayor just laughed it off.

UPDATE: I now have a gallery of images from hiking Gregory's Bald that can be found here. http://www.pbase.com/lundy/gregorys_bald