Father/Son Hike 2008

Over the last few years, this has been our trail of attempt. The first year we couldn't get reservations. One year it was closed because of bear activity. One year it was closed because of snow. One year it was closed due to lack of water. This year we made it happen. We hiked the Appalachian Trail from Davenport Gap to Newfound Gap. Hiking 32.8 miles over three days. I know that most people would hike the other direction going down hill, but I have a story to go along with that as well.

Planning for this trip started a few weeks in advance with food, stoves, water filters, and shelter reservations. The week before the hike, with all of the above handled, I get a call from Dad asking what day I was to arrive. Well, I picked my vacation day last December and everyone was sent the dates. I was working Saturday and would be arriving Sunday with the hike being Monday through Wednesday. So much for the shelter reservations, Dad called to reschedule the reservations and couldn’t get them for the days we were hiking. The answer was schedule the hike backwards and we got reservations that way. So what if it meant more uphill, we like challenges.

Well Steve and Kathy arrived on Saturday with Steve thinking that he was hiking on Sunday as well. I got in Sunday afternoon after running fire calls all night and Jim arrived Sunday night or early Monday morning. I was sleeping by then.

After a good breakfast at the ponderosa, we headed to the trailhead around 7:20am and arrived around 9:40. Mom and Kathy were heading out to hurt some stores in North Carolina so they dropped the van off at Newfound Gap. Due to parking hazards at Davenport Gap, we parked and hiked up Chestnut Branch trail to the AT. If anyone has hiked this way, and we have talked to a few, it is very challenging. We hiked up to the Mount Cammerer watchtower and ate lunch there while we enjoyed the scenery. This is a very popular day hike destination by the way of Low Gap trail and we saw many people at the tower.

After lunch we hiked on to the Cosby Knob shelter for the night. On this section we saw a Black racer about three feet long. Dad about stepped on it and I brought this to his attention. We got to the shelter around 4:30pm. This is where we met Kaitlyn. She is a young lady new to the area and working at the Knoxville school for the death. She is a Yankee from Massachusetts, but we didn’t hold that against her.

After we set up camp we got ready to make dinner. Jim gave us a long lecture about taking the desiccant package out of our meals. It was only fitting that when the dinners were done, Jim was fishing his desiccant out of his dinner. Right after dinner a guy walks into camp without any pack and asks how everyone is doing. Kinda like a Wal-Mart greeter. He had a bag full of chicken and noodles that he offered to us for dinner. There was a trail maintenance group that camped just down the trail from us. They had about ten volunteers that were doing trail work and five that didn’t show. He hung out and visited for quite some time. Finding that Kaitlyn was new to the area, he spent some time trying to recruit her.

After our visitor left, I wanted a fire, so Jim and I had to do some climbing to get it. There was no wood on the ground anywhere. There was a dead tree that someone had sawed off the branches about head high. With a little teamwork, we managed to get enough wood for the night. Jim actually brought his phat wood with him this year, as last time he left it in the van. It worked and he had a fire in the fireplace going in no time. We sat around and had a nice visit with Kaitlyn until it was time to sleep.

We hit the trail around 8:40. Kaitlyn was staying at Pecks Corner with us tonight, but she hit the trail earlier. Shortly after we passed Snake Den Ridge Trail we came across the wreckage of an old Air force F4 fighter. We scared off some deer at the site. It was pretty cool and we got some pictures of the aircraft parts. We stopped at Tricorner Knob shelter for lunch. Kaitlyn was there and had just finished her lunch. She headed out and we took us a break. Good time for a short nap. After lunch, the clouds came in and we lost our scenic sights. It was cool watching the clouds come across the trail. We were hoping it would clear up by morning.

We got to Pecks Corner at 4:30 and found quite a crowd. There was one couple, two men hikers, and another guy hiking alone along with Kaitlyn. It was going to be a cozy night. This was also the first water source that we came across with only a drip going on. It took quite a while for everyone to get his or her water. After dinner, Jim and I again did some searching for firewood. This site had an outdoor pit so Jim made the fire out there. We had a good visit with everyone that night. The highlight was when Kaitlyn checked her map and pointed out to Dad that tomorrow's hike was over ten miles when he had said it was seven. There goes another map reading mishap.

The good thing about shelter life is you never have to get up by yourself. Everyone gets woke up about the same time as the first person gets packing. The sky had cleared up last night and we had a frost on the ground. After breakfast we packed up and hit the trail about 8:50. Kaitlyn joined us today on the hike.

We got some good pictures today. The weather was wonderful and we had a lot of beautiful sites. We took one picture next to a cliff. After the picture was taken, I turned around and my hiking pole missed the trail so we had to do a little touchy retrieving to get it back. Our big stop today was Charlies Bunion, A wonderful rock formation on the top of a mountain. We ended up taking a lot of pictures for other people as well. They climbed out on the bunion and needed some help. Some needed help getting up as well as down. It was steep and the drop was a long way down if you messed up.

After Charlies Bunion, we hiked on to Icewater Spring shelter for lunch. Along with a good spring, this shelter also offers a wonderful view. After lunch we set up our hammocks for Kaitlyn to check out. She had not heard of hammock camping and was interested. The rest of the hike to Newfound Gap was pretty uneventful. We did see a lot of hikers being as Charlies Bunion is a very popular hike. Kaitlyn did drop her hiking pole off the side of the trail once to make me feel better. We got to Newfound Gap around 3:30 and were instant celebrities. Everyone wants to know if we came from Maine and how long we had been on the trail. There were a lot of everyones too as this is a popular stop. You would make around two steps before the next person asked the same questions. We were happy to see the van and once the packs were off, no one asked any more questions.

We had to drive back and pick up my truck at the trailhead. After dropping Kaitlyn off in Maryville with her boyfriend, we headed back to the ponderosa for pizza and beer. When Mom brought up the subject of cutting a tree down in the morning, Jim immediately said that he would have to leave before everyone got up in the morning to head home.

We spent the day cleaning up brush from three trees that Dad had cut down by the pros, and then we cut down an 80 foot oak tree just for practice. During the clean up, Steve pointed out the poison ivy that was all over the area we had worked. Luckily with washing in Lye soap and wiping down with alcohol, I didn’t have any breakouts.

Pictures

Ace Gap Hike

I drove over to Maryville after getting off of shift. As soon as I got there, it was obvious that the Cicada were here. We ate lunch at the ponderosa and headed to the trail.

Mom dropped us off after prepositioning the van. We got on the trail about 2:00pm. Dad must have felt sorry for me this time because he didn't try to kill me. The trails were relatively easy and we spent a bit of time just enjoying the different flowers and plant life that were out at this time of year. We have had a wonderful year for flowers and you see them everywhere.

We hiked Ace Gap trail to Beard Cane trail and stopped at campsite #3. We got in around 6.1 miles. Campsite #3 is a beautiful campsite along the river. It was a quite night with lighting bugs putting on a show. The campers before us had built quite a chimney for a camp ring. We had to adjust it a little just to keep a fire going that you could see above the ring. We ended up lowering it just to keep a fire going with the usual damp wood of the Smokey's.

We got on the trail around 9:00am the next morning following Beard Cane trail to Hatcher Mountain. This was a mild 700 ft climb. The weather and scenery were both really nice. We hiked through an area that they had done a controlled burn. This is where we caught site of the rare "Killer Tree". Had to take a picture of that. From Hatcher Mountain we took Little Bottoms trail to Abrams creek for lunch. After lunch Dad was a little rough on me as we climbed up and down 250 ft on Little Bottoms to Cooper Road trail. Yes Steve, the knats were still there from our last hike. We finished at Abrams Creek campground about 11 miles for today.

Mom had already hit the strawberry fields and I was forced to take home a couple of boxes of fresh berries.

Pictures

Craig's Fishing Story

This is the story of two Tennessee fishermen. The names have been changed to protect the actual rednecks.

One wintery morning with the temperature around 28 degrees, "Joe" called and said that the fish were sure to be biting this morning and he knew where they could be caught. Being a fair weather fisherman "Bob" did some questioning, but finally agreed to meet Joe. The two rednecks went and picked up a flat bottom boat from Joe's father-in-law. The two stopped by Hookers, the local bait shop, and picked up minnows and many smart ass remarks from other fishermen. Off to the river they went with snow coming down. When they got to the river, which was extremely swollen because of all the rain we have had this Winter, the two fishermen had to carry the boat through the woods to a launching spot. As they look across the extremely fast moving river, Joe showed Bob a tree out in the center that was the goal to tie off to. Bob, looking at the two paddles and the current, wasn't as confident as Joe was. After questioning Joe one more time, the two pushed off and the paddling began. After an extreme battle the two fishermen made it to the tree and tied off. Let the fishing begin.

In two hours the fishermen went through the six dozen minnows and had twenty eight keepers. The Crappie were biting like never before. They had already caught over 100 of them. Well it was time for more minnows. After a very furious battle they made it back to shore about 100 yards down stream, but they made it. You should have seen the faces on these two proud fishermen as they walked back into Hookers with the stringer of fish. There was much bragging to do over lunch. The fish were biting so, with a few more dozen minnows, off to the river they went.

The snow had turned to sleet, but the action would keep them warm. The battle was a little harder this time, but the two made it to the tree and tied off. As planned the fish began to bite. Joe went to measure his fish when he realized that the measuring tool was left in the truck. Joe and Bob looked at each other. They looked at each other hard. I'll tell you right now that Bob can come up with two thousand other ways to measure fish. Joe was nervous about game wardens and insisted that they go back for the measurer.

After one hell of a battle, Joe won and the paddling began. They were making extremely fast time across the river this time. There was a bush that they were well downstream of last time, but this time they were already a good way across the river and after a quick thought they went for it. The current, I must remind you, is like that you see on movies where people drown. Surely the two fishermen could make it in front of this bush and to the shore a few yards beyond at just about the same location that they had launched out at--Surely wasn't in the boat. As the boat slammed into the bush Joe was most certain that life as he knew it was over. You see there is a few twists to this story. Joe cannot swim. Bob would have to hold up Joe and swim across the river. Bob could see the head lines now: "Two firefighters drown in river." Well much to Bob's surprise the boat did not flip. As he did a heavy exhale he noticed a minor problem. The water was coming over the top of the boat. In a matter of seconds Bob knew he had a problem. Most of you have probably seen the movie Titanic. Yes, the boat was going down. Bob just stood there. It wasn't because the captain was suppose to go down with the ship. It was because Bob was in shock! Headlines were reading: "Boat sunk in river, two firefighters drown." Just as Bob was to have his heart attack, something happened. Something very important happened. Bob felt the bottom of the boat hit the bottom of the river. The water had just gotten to his chest. Yes, dear lord, I will be in church this Sunday. Bob turned and looked at Joe. He remembered the last thing he told Joe just before they hit the bush, "Paddle Joe, Paddle!" Joe was still paddling. You have to give it to Joe. He never gave up. I had to tell him to quit paddling and get out of the boat. The water was up to our chest and he was still paddling. We grabbed the boat and pulled it to shore.

We only lost our drinks and about half the minnows. The other half were still swimming in the bottom of the boat filled with water. The fishing poles had fallen out, but were recovered. Too bad for the headlines--the old cell phone in the leg pocket of my pants was the only fatality. We fished out the minnows and put them back in the bucket. Since we weren't cold, Joe made the suggestion that we go back and catch some more fish. When I finally got off the ground after the laughing fit, he actually talked me into it. After a safe trip we ended up catching over 200 Crappie and bring home 30 of them. Needless to say the fishing story is still being told at Hookers.

Hope you enjoyed this little tale. You would have to be crazy to try anything like this.

Take care,

Craig and Hunter