A Present to Myself !

Happy Birthday! My present involved an approximate 7.5 mile walk during a break in the rain on Saturday the 5th. Dudes! and Dudettes! It was a beautiful walk which began at the gate along the road going up to the School House Gap trail. On the way up the road I passed one of the owners of this property that borders the park. I had met Jim last fall one of the times when I hiked from this trail head shortly after I moved to Townsend. At that time, as he leaned against his truck, he told me how sorry he was to see the development of the area he grew up in and pointed to a "retreat" being constructed off on a not so distant mountain, noting the noise, erosion, and destruction of trees. The picture of the house with this posting is where Jim was born.

Along the walk I noticed bunches of fat squirrels, some birds and was "flagged" by a deer. "Flagged" is a deer hunters term used to describe the vertical tail of a spooked deer during which all you see is the white tail.

The first 1/4 mile plus of road leads up to the trail head and Schoolhouse Gap. Every time I walk up, or back down, this roadway I'm blown away how beautiful Tuckalechee Cove is.
The School House Gap trail was quiet from the recent moisture and being that this is a dual use trail for horseback riders as well, it is also wide and free of downed trees etc... . These equestrians should police after themselves. Better yet, have no reason to pick up after themselves! I noticed empty cans and bottles, things not likely to be carried by someone on their feet and damn if your going to smoke while you ride or hike carry out your butts people! I used to smoke and backpack and it is not a problem to carry a Ziploc to place your butts in after carefully rolling out the fire and fully extinguishing it. My former hiking partner and I even reused our butt bag on the next trip. I get frustrated by folks seeming mental disconnect. When for example, they say, "Oh, isn't this beautiful", while they peel their candy bar wrapper off and leave it along the trail or throw the plastic bottle out the window! Are my words congruent w/ my actions? Enough.
Turkey Pen Ridge was a really cool trail and I will use it as part of what looks like would be about a 12-14 mile RT loop I'm scouting. More about that later. This route was mostly moderate w/ some difficult spots mainly in a few somewhat extended inclines. W/ patience and fluids this route is very "doable" even for the novice hiker. Peace,

Just The Other Day...3/29

This entry is short due to the nature of where we were walking. This beautiful route is "unmarked" for the most part, though it is chosen by the confused at the trail head. The trail on the maps is not clearly marked in the woods so folks, like the backpackers we ran into just before the second stream crossing; which required some technical rock hopping, choose it until they notice the diminishing trail and lack of similarities w/ their trail map. They told us they could not tell from the trail sign which way to go so chose the route less traveled. I will ask my friends at the Park if anyone has thought of placing a clearer marker for the "proper" trail. Not that I'm trying to keep the other route "less traveled", oh yea right! Enjoy the Peace while you walk.

The Elk River

There are still places in this state which civilization has not ruined even if not protected. In our five mile float down the Elk River in Middle Tennessee we saw only five houses and floated two or three miles only interrupted once by other canoeists.

The Elk has gained some reputation as a trout river and we did catch and release several highly colored rainbows, holdovers from a previous years stocking.

The River is a fairly swift moving river with no rapids above class I, so it is a river to enjoy the scenery on. For a beautiful float through semi wild country at a very reasonable cost contact Elk River Canoes. They will schedule a float of your desired length and time, supply everything in the way of canoes, life jackets, and paddles plus shuttle service to and from your point of entry/take out.

Somewhere in the Smokies

Last time I was here we saw no one, but this time there were several other hikers. Therefore, I will keep it to myself as to exactly where we were. It is a great corundrum, balancing getting people into the wild so that others will be active in protecting our great outdoors and keeping special places, special.

Sunday turned into a wonderful day after some hard rains on Saturday. The creeks had already run clear and were low enough to make rock hopping possible. About a mile into the hike I noticed dafodils in bloom. My Grandfather, a forest ranger before he retired, used to point to them and say, "This was someones homeplace at one time." After a short investigation we did find eveidence of rocks piled by human hands. Probably a collapased chimney.

Further along we stopped by the side of the stream and talked, I noted how I felt that it was deeply ingrained in my physic to meld with the wild places. I always felt peaceful and quite when in them. Near where we stopped were the reminants of a cable and the cable dog that sometime in this centery was used to shuttle logs across the creek as well as the rusting remains of several old barrels.