Evening Walk in The Woods

A friend and I made a short stroll to Spruce Flat Falls this evening (7pm) and enjoyed the relative solitude in that we saw only a few bugs and some birds while we walked through the pasty evening heat and humidity. Peace

Hidden Springs

Today has been a good day! Click the title to see where I was!
Got to go hiking around and along the falls, work in the garden planting beans and pulling weeds and met some pretty cool folks as well. Oh, and saw a few turtles like this one I spotted as we shared the shade of an awesome tree in Hector's garden area. Peace

The Dragon/Highway 129 Road Work

U.S. 129 Slide Repair Update for July 7 Rock slide repairs expected to be finished this week.
Crews are working on the final phase of the rock slide repairs on U.S. 129/State Route 115 in Blount County and plan to reopen the road completely this weekend, three weeks ahead of schedule. Tennessee Department of Transportation emergency contractor Pacific Blasting & Demolition removed a total of 236 truckloads of rock from the site over the course of a week. Installation of the wire mesh in the slide area was completed on Tuesday. Workers will now focus on installing guardrail, paving and striping the roadway, weather permitting.
Up to date information on the U.S. 129 rock slide removal/stabilizationproject is available on the TDOT website atwww.tn.gov/tdot/US129Rockslide/default.htm, where you can view a live camera feed of work ongoing at the site as well as video and photos from the project.
Currently, U.S. 129/SR-115 is closed from just past the Foothills Parkway to the Tabcat Bridge. A short section of U.S. 129 between the TabcatBridge and the North Carolina state line, known as "The Dragon", is open daily from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.; however no through traffic is allowed at the rock slide site at any time. Detours remain in place to allow motorists to get around the rock slide repair area.

Government Canyon State Natural Area/San Antonio

Dudes and dudettes! What a different experience this walk was in central Texas. After visiting with a few friends in the city for several days the "mysterious one" and I were able to make it to the state natural area mentioned in the title of this entry and hike over 7 and a half miles in a drastically different environment from that of the Cumberland Plateau and Southern Appalachia.



The ranger that we spoke with at the entrance to the 8000+ acre area cautioned us of the 300' elevation gain on the trail we inquired about and the rattle snakes. We enjoyed the walk with no sign of snakes, we did see a few lizards and the elevation gain was of little concern as we had plenty of water in this dry zone.



There were puddles in stream beds occasionally along the way and we were able to also enjoy some beautiful blooms still happening in this part of the world. I had noticed in the local paper the day before (7/4/10) that San Antonio was several inches above average in rainfall at this time and with a good breeze the temperature was not extreme.

Bonnaroo and Blooms

These last few weeks have been busy with working real jobs though seven days in Manchester TN working was at least always interesting. This is the second year I've worked this festival and am glad I didn't have to live in a primitive camp the whole week. I shared a camper in the VIP section where we were working, w/ someone else.
These pictures are from the first couple of days in which there was some rain though after these storms there was none for the duration.
The rodo's were seen on the Rich Mountain trail last week and there were bunches of them however many were scorched from the drying soil and intense heat.
A week after the 'roo I worked several days on a benefit concert;
'Nashville Rising', in Nashville for flood recovery efforts and it was really cool!
I'm hoping to send some pictures and reviews on Government Canyon State Park in San Antonio TX, in the next few days while I'm out there visitng some friends. Peace.

Bears Along The Way

After the recent incident on Laurel Falls Trail where a bear had to be shot because it had been fed by humans and began to associate humans with a free meal, several VIP rangers have begun patrolling the route to keep the bears safe from humans. Today as the "Deputy Assistant to the not so junior Ranger's, Ranger Fife", took these photos of one of the deceased bears siblings as it fed on a cherry tree. Folks feeding bears is stupid for your own safety and deadly, unfortunately to often for the bear. Enjoy these magnificent creatures fro a distance.

Weekend Walks

These pictures are from several hikes taken with a friend over the holiday weekend. Hikes which included a short 2 mile RT up Curry Mountain trail to fill some time before dinner on Saturday, an approximate 6 mile RT up Rich Mountain trail to Cerulean Knob 3665', and on Monday what turned out to be approx. 4.5 miles along West Prong trail and the loop to campsite #18.










There were some folks camping in the un-official site across the bridge and to the left at #18. While some others had left their garbage scattered around site 'B' w/ more hanging in a plastic bag for others to take out. We picked up a gallon milk jug and other stuff laying around this site, put it in the hanging bag and called it in to the Backcountry office later. On the walk out I collected a plastic bottle, a straw and some plastic wrappers thrown away by others and was grateful enough to enjoy the walk with a friend. Peace