Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 was another celebration with family.  We started out with some changes right from the start.  Betty had some medical issues so her, Steve, and Kathy had to cancel their trip to Tennessee. Melissa and Samantha came down with the flu and had to cancel their trip to the Ponderosa. We missed all of them greatly!

We headed over to Mom and Dads' the day before Christmas eve.  Deanna and family came down from Wisconsin to join us that night.  We had a special dinner of Sliders and a Christmas cookie decorating party.  We enjoyed the visit.  The next morning we had a hiking adventure in the neighborhood.  We hiked all the driveways in the neighbor hood to work off the food and get us some aerobics in.

Lora and I headed out after lunch to a Smith family get to gather back on the mountain.  We ate and played games as a group of about thirty.  Afterwards we went over to her parents house to open presents and have an ice cream social.  Two great gatherings.

I worked Christmas day so Lora came over and visited me in Murfreesboro.  I have a great wife for sure!

The next morning we headed back to Mom and Dads' to visit with Lynelle and family in from Virginia.  We had a good lunch, got to plant some trees we brought for Mom and Dad as well as test out some of Gerrett's Christmas presents.  Mom and Lynelle kept watch over the progress. Afterwards we flew into some card games and a mighty fine dinner.  That night as we pulled down the covers on the bed we met,  Ms. Sally O'Mally, An interesting black doll put their by my nephews. The story goes that Deanna opened the bedroom door to find Ms. O'Mally looking her in the eye late in the evening.  It might had been followed by some screaming?

The next morning Lora and I headed back home while the rest of the family headed to Dollywood for some fun times.

The final part of Christmas was the visiting of our grand daughters Samantha and Kaylin. To watch their beautiful eyes light up as they look at the presents under the tree. To hear them read to us from books that we have.  To watch them giggle as we play hide and seek. To be the patients as they use the doctor toys to fix us up.  Life is beautiful through childrens eyes.

Pictures:

Low Gap - Cosby

Day One: 5.4
Low Gap Trail 5.4
Day Two: 10.4
Big Creek 1.0
Camel Gap 4.1
AT 2.4
Low Gap 2.9
Total Miles: 15.8

Lora and I headed out to the Smoky's for my birthday.  We started in Cosby and took the Low Gap trail up across the AT and back down the other side to campsite #37. We met about ten hikers coming down Low Gap, but the only other people we saw were two guys at the campsite.

The weather was great for our steep up and down and the clouds were hanging out at mountain top level. We knew, being a popular campsite, that there would be no fire wood around the camp.  The two guys that were there before us were scampering around picking up anything that looked like wood.  When we picked our spot they were even eyeing up some wood by our fire ring, before I asked if they were taking all of the wood.  After setting up our hammocks, we had to go down the trail a bit before finding anything to burn.

This was Lora's second night of sleeping in a hammock and she is liking it.  We had a good fire to sit around for the evening, but no stars to look at.  It started snowing while we were hanging out, but not enough to get us wet.  Sometime in the night I got up and it was so dark I couldn't see inside my hammock.  Later, I could see the moon behind the clouds.

The next morning we got up and had breakfast around the fire before packing up.  We headed up Big Creek and took Camel Gap trail up to the AT.  Camel Gap is a very beautiful area to hike.  We took our lunch break up on the AT in a sunny spot.  There are lots of views and pine forests in this section.  We hiked by Cosby Knob shelter and then headed back down Low Gap trail which seemed alot steeper on the way down.  The knees said ouch!

It was a beautiful hike a great Birthday present.  Thanks Baby.

Pictures:

Deep Creek in Smoky Mountains

Craig was going on a 5 day backpack with the Outcasts while I had a couple of days off and I got jealous. So I sent out messages to some folks to see who might be crazy enough to backpack in the Smokys in December. Judi answered with a YES. She and Gene were up for it. I got off work at 6:45, went home, slept 2 hours and hit the road to Bryson City, NC. Deep Creek Campground was our meetup spot. Judi and I got our packs on and headed up the Deep Creek Trail. Gene was planning to hike in the next morning to meet us at the second camp spot. Since daylight hours are short this month, we took off at a brisk pace.  We left Deep Creek trail for Indian Creek Trail. Pretty trail following the creek with its cascades. Martins Gap Trail was next with campsite #46 just a little ways in.

The camp sign looked new.  The camp is on a slope but we managed to find a couple of level enough spots to put our tents. We gathered our water and wood and made a good pile for the fire. I was testing a new water filter system on this trip. Craig had bought a gravity bag and wanted to send it with me to test. I was skeptical and at the last minute took it instead of my old familiar one. Only I didn’t pick up the little cover for the end of it. I had to leave the clean hose attached to the filter while gathering water. Since Craig had shortened the hose, it was challenging to hold it and the bag and keep it out of the creek, or off the ground while rolling the top of the bag closed. It worked fine at filtering.

We were just starting our campfire at dusk when we heard voices and horses. Company coming. 2 cowboys rode up to the camp, right up to our fire. Those poor horses can’t read the sign that said “NO HORSES” so they didn’t know not to invade the camp. The cowboys wanted to know what in the world we were doing staying out on this cold night. And where we had started and where we were going. And boy were they loud. When we asked where they were going, we hoped they weren’t planning to  camp here. They were headed back to Deep Creek, and with  loud Yee Haws headed their horses down the trail. They sat there with their buddies for a little while before heading on. We got that fire going great. Plenty of heat. The stars came out and put on a show.

I left the water bag out that night, it still had a lot of water. Since I had to leave the hose on to keep it from all draining out, the hose froze during the night. 22 degrees. Fun stuff. We got our fire going that morning, ate, packed up and started uphill. Always right after you eat. Uphill. Martins Gap to Sunkota Ridge, to Thomas Divide. Once up there it was ridge walking with pretty winter views both ways. We didn’t find any good open spots for pictures of the surrounding mountains. But we did find bear prints in the snow.  We got off the ridge at Deep Low Gap. This trail is a rocky roadbed with lots of downed trees, seeps, water running down the trail. We were glad to see the camp sign. We were also glad to find Gene already there, set up with water and wood gathered. Now that’s a treat. He got Judy a hot drink, collected water for me, and then got supper going. My sweetheart had packed my food for me so I had noodles with meatballs. Tasty stuff. Lots of chocolate for dessert. We had a nice fire, the stars popped out. We were tired and well fed and headed to bed. It wasn’t as cold tonight, but I warmed up my feet and socks before heading into the tent.

Woke up to Gene getting the fire going. Sweet. We ate and packed up. Judi and I headed out while Gene finished packing up. We had a few miles to hike out and I had to work tonight. We hiked Indian Creek Motor Trail, nice roadbed, not rocky, not too steep but all uphill.  Back to Thomas Divide and mostly downhill to the car at Galbraith Road parking lot. This is the southern trailhead for Thomas Divide. Just a little way from Deep Creek Campground. I got a pic of Judi with her 900 miler sticker on her car. I plan to have one of those one of these days. She took me to my car and then back to pick up Gene.

I headed to Bryson City to pick up lunch to go. Back to Tennessee…..not jealous anymore of my sweetheart still out on the trail somewhere.

Beautiful hike with good friends.

Pictures:

Chimneys State Natural Area, Sewanee Natural Bridge, Buggytop Trail

Lora and I headed out for a day of exploring.  We started out at the Chimneys State Natural Area in Marion County, TN.

You drive into the park and there is a circle drive.  From that area you can look across at the chimneys in the Gulf.  There is a unmaintained trail to the right (South) that if you follow the flagging it will bring you to a trail down into the Gulf.  It is about a quarter mile.  There was a old rope there to help you get back up.  We did not go down, but went back to the parking area and then left (North) where there is a steep trail heading down to the base of the overlook area.  From there we explored and crossed a tree laid over the creek to the Chimneys side and went up to the base of the Chimneys.  There is a natural bridge connecting the two Chimneys and a small window through on as well.

From there we headed to Sewanee to check out the Natural Bridge.  This is just off a side road and about fifty yards from the parking area.  There is a small rock house next to it with a spring inside.

Our next stop was Buggytop trail which is part of the the South Cumberland Recreation Area.  It is a two mile trail back to a huge cave.  Buggytop cave has creek flowing through it and goes quite a ways back, but you would have to travel through water to explore it.  There is an overlook above the cave entrance and a trail to two more cave entrances.  One was named Peter Cave.  We did some exploring in and around each of the openings.  It was a great day out and a lot of fun.

Pictures:

Collins Gulf - TN Meetup Hikers

Black Friday is the perfect day to go hiking. Car had gas, didn't even have to shop for that.

Met one hiker at the proposed trailhead. The gate across the road that had a private property sign on it had us turning back. We met the other hikers at the road, studied the map, and drove to the Collins Gulf trailhead in Gruetli Laager. 7 hikers ready for an adventure. Jeff was our fearless leader. GSP in hand, off we went. 

Suter Falls was our first adventure. The icicles hanging from the rock walls were sparkling in the sunshine. The steps were a little tricky but our leader showed us how NOT to take them. Lying on your back is not the best way to descend.....He shook it off and kept on. 

Horse Pound Falls was pretty today, lots of water. Then on down into the Gulf. We crossed the creek at the bottom without any wet feet. We had lunch at the Sawmill camp. We had to get our energy up for the climb out of the Gulf. We saw lots of waterfalls, lots of rocky trail, a boulder field, more rocks, and then a pretty walk on the rim back to the cars. 

Good workout and a beautiful trail with new friends.

Pictures:

Oregon November 2014

Took a trip out to Oregon to meet our new granddaughter.  Had a great time and she spoiled us pretty well.  We got lots of time with Melanie, Jagon, and Marjorie which was as always a blessing. The weather was good.  We had some rain, but we got out and enjoyed some walks.  We also learned some more about city eating trying things that we could not pronounce nor know what it was. We enjoyed a concert in Portland seeing the Trans - Siberian Orchestra's Christmas show.  On the way back they decided to send us through Chicago, which once again proved to be the windy city. We landed about three times as the pilot fought the wind.  Our next flight came in late and after we boarded we saw them pull up with a tire.  They had to change a tire and add more fuel to delay our flight another hour.  When we got to Nashville our luggage was not there.  I have not had that happen for a while, so I guess I was due.

Pictures:

Cumberland Mountain TTA Hike

We had five people do a backpack trip on the Cumberland Mountain Segment of the Cumberland trail.  Eric Luncford, Lora McBride, Craig McBride, Marco King, and Pete Broehl.  This was my first backpack with the infamous Santa Claus.

This is a strenuous hike of a special mountain.  It has two rock formations that stick straight up and run on both sides of the mountain for the entire length. They call it the Devil's Race Track. The trail actually spends a lot of time on top of the rocks.  There are lots of views!  There is also Bruce Creek and Bruce Creek Falls on the lower section of the trail.  There is a shelter with a spring to spend the night at.

We started at Eagle Bluff parking at the overnight parking area 0.2 miles down from the overlook. There was a group of four wheeler riders at the overlook when we got there. They were excited to see Santa as well.  We hiked a total 3.6 miles to the Shelter and camping area.  The rock formations are amazing and the trail traverses across some rock areas that are narrow as well.  There is one rock with a hole going through it they call it the window rock.  There are numerous overlooks all along this trail giving you a chance to enjoy the scenery and take in the color changes.

After we got camp set up we hiked another 0.1 miles to the "Rock climb", which is a large stack of rocks you climb a ladder to get on top of, for an evening view of the valley.

We hiked back to camp and had a great evening telling lies around the campfire.  The next morning Marco got a good fire going to warm us up and eat breakfast around.  We headed out for the Bruce Gap trailhead which is 8.9 miles away.  Lots of up and downs along the ridge.  We ate lunch shortly after the short road walk we had.  We enjoyed the overlook for the Devil's race track where someone has put up an American flag and then we started our downhill trek.  At the bottom we enjoyed the walk along Bruce Creek and seeing Bruce Creek Falls.  Then more ups and downs going towards Cove Lake State Park.  We even saw a large black snake for Pete.

Between the weather, scenery, water fall, and snake, I think we covered everything on every one's list on the 12.7 miles we hiked.  We had a great hike with some great people.

Pictures:

Fiery Gizzard - Friends of the South Cumberland

The meet up group Friends of the South Cumberland scheduled a hike on a Friday so I signed up.Fiery Gizzard the destination. I got there early and the gate was still locked. The other hikers got there, except for our hike leader. We waited for a while, sent him a text and took off without him. It was chilly so we started out at a fast pace. My short legs were not up for it so I was sweep for most of the day. We stopped here and there to take pics and catch our breath (me). When we got to the rock hopping section I was telling them how I always miss a turn here cause I am always watching my feet and not the blazes. One guy said Oh well I guess that would be easy to do, and proceeded to do exactly that. I looked up in time to see the blaze to the right going down and pointed him in the right direction. 

I remembered to look for the arch as we got close to the top of the ridge. No one had seen it before.

We ate lunch at Raven's Point and then walked to Anderson Falls. Lots of steps down to see the 90 ft waterfall from the bottom.
We went down the Dog Hole Trail to finish the loop. I met some nice folks to hike with, and it was a great day.

Pictures:

2014 TTA annual meeting at Montgomery Bell State Park

The 2014 annual meeting at Montgomery Bell State Park was another great success.  About 150 people were in attendance. There were lots of hikes planed for all the days.

I arrived late for Dinner, but caught the musical entertainment.  Lora arrived even later.

Live Musical Entertainment: Claudia Nyguaard Singer, songwriter, and storyteller.

Natchez Trace Parkway:

Twelve of us went hiking on the trace.  Amy Sutton and Alice were our fearless leaders.  We started at Hwy 7 and went South.  Our first stop was the Gordon House Historic site where we walked around the house and then hiked down to the Duck river. From there we headed over to the Baker Bluff overlook for a view.  Some of us hiked and the rest drove down to Jackson falls.  Our next stop was the Devil's Backbone State Natural Area.  Here we hiked a three mile trail which included our lunch stop along a nice creek.  After our hike we continued on to Fall Hollow and viewed the many water falls there. Our next stop was Meriwether Lewis monument and visitor center.

We had a great time with some great people and saw lots of stuff.

Back at the park we had a good dinner and then the meeting began.  After the meeting they had the auction and then we were entertained by the Nashville Old Time String Band.

Cub Lake:

Sunday morning I had to go play firefighter and drove to M'Boro in the thick pea soup that covered Hwy 840. Lora stayed so she could hike. She packed up camp and had a quick breakfast at the Inn. Sunday's hike was at Natchez Trace State Park, about an hour drive west from Montgomery Bell. The Cub Lake Trail was the destination. 19 hikers, mostly the Memphis group as this was on their way home. The trail is really pretty even though the State Forest folks have clear cut some of the area along the trail. I don't know why thy can't leave a strip of trees between the trail and where they cut. The leaves were very colorful along the lakeshore. We saw some metal bands by a creek a creek that probably were left by the moonshiners in this area. One of the creek crossings had a nice bridge but one of our more adventurous hikers had to cross on the cables....see pics. After the hike we were driving out of the park and spotted the fire tower. We hoped to climb, but the bottom ladder had been removed, probably to keep curious hikers away. On the drive east, Lora stopped at the Station 3 to visit and had supper with us.

Pictures:

Father / Son Hike 2014

This year we were going to the Old Settlers trail again.  Yes, after a number of cancellations, we were going to do it.  Then the weather set in.  Heavy storm warnings for the second day of our hike.  We made an attempt to reschedule a day earlier, but they could not change our permit.  We headed over early anyway to make last minute changes if necessary.

After the arrival of Steve and Kathy, we started the heavy studying of the weather through several different sources.  We decided to stay with the original plan and do a day hike on Sunday.

Sunday morning we headed out to Tremont and did four miles up the Middle Prong Trail to Indian Flat Falls.  We ate lunch here and then headed back.  We even got to try out the poncho's which really worked well with what was to come. On the hike back I almost put my foot down on a large rattle snake.  Dad had already passed it on the right side of the trail.  I was walking on the left side. As we were driving out we picked up three backpackers from University of Michigan who had been out for their first backpack and had injuries.  We drove them back to their car at Elkmont.  They were happy campers to have a ride, which I am familiar with.

Our backpack started on Monday, leaving a car at the Gabes Mountain trailhead in Cosby, we started in Greenbrier.  We had 6 miles to campsite #33.  We had a doe cross close to the trail and then a buck came onto the trail by Dad and walked towards Steve and I.  The camera went wild only to catch a couple of pictures worth a damn. We passed the only two backpackers that we would see on the trail. It was a beautiful day with chimneys and rock walls to see.  We made it to camp with plenty of time to gather firewood for the evening fire.  There is a chimney in the campsite as well.

Sometime late in the evening the wind gusts began to blow.  Waking up to find the tarp flapping against the hammock a few times.  Sometime in the early morning the rain began.  We ended up eating breakfast under my tarp.  It stopped long enough to get packed up and then rained off and on, with on being more often.  We saw more history all along the trail.  The creek crossing got bigger and bigger.  It stopped long enough for us to have lunch and then cross Webb creek to find the barn.

The biggest crossing was of Indian Camp creek, which had a lot of flow and was deep.  We ended up going about one hundred feet upstream to find a place to cross which was only knee deep.  After crossing that it rained all the way to campsite #34 on Gabes Mountain trail.  This is a really nice campsite along Gabes Creek. We set up the tarp for dinner and drinks in the dark.  Sometime late in the night the rain stopped and the stars came out.  We were done with the rain.

The next morning we hiked out. There were lots of branches and trees down from the wind.  On the way out we saw a sight never seen.  A black cat was leading a couple up the trail.  When we asked the people about it, they said it was not their cat.  They thought it was the campground hosts cat.

With the Old Settlers trail finally done, we celebrated back at the Ponderosa with Pizza and drinks. We got in 22.4 miles.

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