may 21, 1989 - Tommy Parsons' Personal Audio Log Tape 2

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ENTRY SIX
"Can't believe it's already morning. I had a good night's sleep last night, but I always feel like a lighter sleeper when I'm away from home for some reason. Anyway, I just finished up eating breakfast a few minutes ago, and I'm currently looking at the trail maps to... determine where I need to be at various parts of the day today. From the looks of things, I should be stopping for lunch around the Abingdon Campsite, which is actually fairly close to the river I had seen yesterday afternoon, and uh... should be setting up camp close to the Old Hickory Campsite, which is on the outskirts of the forest near the Pinewood Glades, which looks really beautiful from the photos I was looking at before I left. As for the trail itself, it seems to be much hillier and challenging than the trail I... I had traversed yesterday, since the upcoming stretch of the trail does enter the more mountainous parts of Appalachia. This should lead to a lot of nice views though, provided the water and the trees don't obscure too much of it. Looks like it'll be a mostly sunny day today though, if the sky above is anything to go by, so... I'll be sure to make note of any noteworthy views I encounter. Going to get geared up and head out on the trail now, but I'll check in at lunchtime or before then if anything interesting happens between now and then."

ENTRY SEVEN
"Alright, just arrived at the Abingdon Campsite at approximately 1:30pm, and I'm getting ready to prepare lunch in a bit. Figured I'd give an update while I get all that ready to save time. The first part of the hike went pretty well overall, though I almost slipped and fell navigating a particularly steep uphill part of the trail about an hour after I had left the Evanston Campsite this morning. The trail followed the river's contours for the most part, and saw a couple of fairly nice views while walking along the river. However, none of them were as good as the one from yesterday afternoon, though I have to say the sunrise over the mountains did make the view more... fantastic than what they would have if I had seen them in the afternoon of course. The number of people on the part of the trail has dropped down considerably from yesterday, though I'll admit you don't typically get too many day-hikers this far out on the trail. The next trailhead is more than a day's walk from here anyway, so this part of the trail doesn't see too much traffic other than backpackers like me. [SIGH] I can actually be somewhat at peace and look around at nature as I walk along the trail now, which was the main reason I'm out here doing this in the first place, you know? Alright, I'll end this here for now, since lunch is almost finished cooking and I kind of want to eat quickly and get back out on the trail, since... I'm a little behind schedule and would like to make up for some lost time. See you later."

ENTRY EIGHT
"I'm back, and I just set foot in Old Hickory Campsite at about... 6:40pm if my watch is accurate. A little later than expected, but not by any crazy amount or anything. Uh... I'll go ahead and get dinner started while I finish this entry. So after I left the Abingdon Campsite, the trail was still fairly hilly and steep in places, but it wasn't anything close to what the terrain was when I slipped and fell earlier today. Didn't really get a lot of nice views of the river or the mountains on this stretch of the trail, since there were more trees blocking the view of things than the maps I reviewed led me to believe. No big deal really, as long as I get to see and get to note the really great views coming up around Overlook Peak; supposedly, you can see for miles from the top of it, and many folks have used that peak to propose to their significant others and whatnot. So uh... if it's that picturesque, I've really got something to look forward to later. I didn't encounter a whole lot of people on the stretch of the trail between the Abingdon and Old Hickory Campsites; as I mentioned earlier, that's not entirely surprising, since there isn't any trailheads along that particular stretch, and that would reduce the number of day-hikers on that part to almost nobody, unless you're moving along at a decent clip with no backpack or anything. Anyway, another good day out on the trail today, despite me almost taking a nasty fall earlier. Can't wait to see what kinds of things and views I'll see in the last two days of my journey here. I'll be back on in case something comes to mind, but until then, peace out."

ENTRY NINE
"Okay, so, I've heard this... really weird sound a few seconds ago, and I wanted to get this on record so I can try and determine what it is when I get back home. It kind of sounded something like-"
[DISTANT UNINTELLIGIBLE SOUNDS]
"Yeah... yeah, that sound. That doesn't sound like any animal I've ever seen or heard of before. I know animals can make some unusual sounds when they're doing mating calls or whatever... but that sound is just so... unnatural and... freaky sounding to me. I don't know what it is, or how far away it is, but I hope it doesn't come any closer to the campsite. I really don't want to know what the-"
[DISTANT UNINTELLIGIBLE SOUNDS]
"Alright, uh... I'm just gonna end this here for now, because I don't want to know if that thing has very acute hearing or something, and I'd rather not be this thing's late night snack. Bye."

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