Wow John, we really are neighbors! I'm off Hwy 5 (I-75 exit 267), and just a couple of miles from Hwy 92's run through Woodstock at Hwy 5. Small world - 125 members on this board and two that are a couple thousand miles away live just a few miles from each other. Damn right I'll take you up on some hiking! I'm 52, so we're awfully close in age as well.
My late-year hiking trips west are also usually in August or September, but the Sierra will be July this year since it'll be combined with a family vacation - with school starting the first couple of days of August this year (just insane) we kind of got boxed in to July, with or without a lottery permit. I also try to spend a week in Death Valley in February most years. This year I had planned to hike there with Rod and Joe (Quillansculpture), but that one blew up after a family death in January. We're about 15 weeks out from our Sierra trip, and I'm a bit behind in training. If the rain will ever let up, Kennesaw Mountain and Blood Mountain will be seeing a lot of me the next 3-plus months.
I'll give you a shout this weekend and we can see how our hiking time availability matches up. All my buddies would rather play golf than venture into the wilderness, so I've been hiking pretty much solo for years - at least when my wife and daughter can't accompany me. My contact info is gfh34@comcast.net, cell is 678-772-3962.
Gary
