Sunday, May 29, 2011
Blair Mountain's Fate
Come join the march and/or rally with folks from the mountains of Appalachia and other parts of this country as we honor those miners and their families who payed with their lives struggling for a fair wage and worker safety. The march and rally will commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, when 10,000 coal miners rose against the rule of the coal operators and fought for the basic right to a fair wage and safer working conditions. Please See the link (click the entry title) for important details to ensure the greatest value for your efforts and everyone's safety. The March on Blair Mountain is a peaceful, unifying rally involving environmental justice organizations, workers, scholars, artists, and other citizens and groups. Currently, Blair Mountain is threatened with obliteration by mountaintop removal (MTR) mining, and it is here that a new generation of Appalachians takes a stand.
Nina Leopold Bradley Moves On....
Nina Leopold Bradley Passes Away at 93
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of Nina's passing on the morning of May 25, 2011. After 93 years of exceptional health things deteriorated rapidly for Nina beginning on Monday of this week. She was with her family, surrounded by the wildness she loved to the very end. The Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Leopold family thank you for all of the outpouring of support.
Nina Leopold Bradley, 93, died May 25, 2011 at her home on the Leopold Reserve near Baraboo WI. She was born August 4, 1917 in Albuquerque NM, the third child of famed conservationist Aldo Leopold and Estella Bergere Leopold, of a prominent Hispanic family in New Mexico.
Nina will be remembered as a scientist, conservationist, philosopher, and humanitarian by an international community of colleagues. After growing up in New Mexico, she attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating in the 1930s with a major in geography. With her first husband zoologist William Elder, she collaborated on many wildlife projects, studying Canada geese in Illinois, ducks in Manitoba, big game populations in Africa, and the rediscovered but nearly extirpated population of Nene geese in Hawaii. During World War II, she worked for Dr. Thomas Park on the Tribolium project at the University of Chicago studying insect populations. In 1971, Nina accepted a position with the Thorne Ecological Institute in Boulder, CO, facilitating conferences to introduce corporate leaders to important ideas in ecology. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including honorary doctorates from Northland College and the University of Wisconsin.
Along with her second husband Charles Bradley, she rekindled the "axe-in-hand" philosophy of her father, establishing the Bradley Study Center on the Leopold Reserve along the Wisconsin River in 1976. This work included creation of a graduate ecological research program in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin and expansion of the land restoration and phenological observation that her family had begun so many years ago. The work of Nina and Charles was instrumental in the establishment of the internationally recognized Aldo Leopold Foundation and the construction of the Leopold Center.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the Aldo Leopold Foundation, Box 77, Baraboo WI 53913.
It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of Nina's passing on the morning of May 25, 2011. After 93 years of exceptional health things deteriorated rapidly for Nina beginning on Monday of this week. She was with her family, surrounded by the wildness she loved to the very end. The Aldo Leopold Foundation and the Leopold family thank you for all of the outpouring of support.
Nina Leopold Bradley, 93, died May 25, 2011 at her home on the Leopold Reserve near Baraboo WI. She was born August 4, 1917 in Albuquerque NM, the third child of famed conservationist Aldo Leopold and Estella Bergere Leopold, of a prominent Hispanic family in New Mexico.
Nina will be remembered as a scientist, conservationist, philosopher, and humanitarian by an international community of colleagues. After growing up in New Mexico, she attended the University of Wisconsin, graduating in the 1930s with a major in geography. With her first husband zoologist William Elder, she collaborated on many wildlife projects, studying Canada geese in Illinois, ducks in Manitoba, big game populations in Africa, and the rediscovered but nearly extirpated population of Nene geese in Hawaii. During World War II, she worked for Dr. Thomas Park on the Tribolium project at the University of Chicago studying insect populations. In 1971, Nina accepted a position with the Thorne Ecological Institute in Boulder, CO, facilitating conferences to introduce corporate leaders to important ideas in ecology. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including honorary doctorates from Northland College and the University of Wisconsin.
Along with her second husband Charles Bradley, she rekindled the "axe-in-hand" philosophy of her father, establishing the Bradley Study Center on the Leopold Reserve along the Wisconsin River in 1976. This work included creation of a graduate ecological research program in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin and expansion of the land restoration and phenological observation that her family had begun so many years ago. The work of Nina and Charles was instrumental in the establishment of the internationally recognized Aldo Leopold Foundation and the construction of the Leopold Center.
In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations be made to the Aldo Leopold Foundation, Box 77, Baraboo WI 53913.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
GSMNP Trail Update....This just in
A SECTION OF ABRAMS FALLS TRAIL REOPENS FOR
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
A popular portion of the Abrams Falls Trail from Cades Cove to the waterfalls has been repaired and reopened today after an EF4 tornado extensively damaged it and 8 other trails in the northwestern portion of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in late April. Visitors are now able to access the trail from the Cades Cove trailhead and hike 2.5 miles to the waterfalls.
The trails from the falls to Abrams Creek campground via Rabbit Creek, Hannah Mountain and Little Bottoms Trails remain closed.
Over 33 miles of trails were severely impacted from the tornado’s effects where thousands of trees were blown down and their roots upended tearing huge gaps in the trails. The Park has hired a number of local people and is receiving assistance from 23 trail workers from six western parks to help support Park efforts to clear and rehabilitate trails.
The trails that are officially closed are: Ace Gap Trail; Beard Cane
Trail; including Campsites 3 & 11; Cooper Road Trail from junction at Beard Cane to Cades Cove Loop Road; Hatcher Mountain Trail; Little Bottoms Trail from Campsite 17 to Abrams Falls/Hannah Mountain Trails junction (Campsite 17 is open); Hannah Mountain Trail from Rabbit Creek Trail junction to Abrams Falls/Little Bottoms Trails junction (Campsite 16 is open); Rabbit Creek Trail, including Campsite 15; Wet Bottom Trail; and Abrams Falls beyond the waterfall.
MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND
A popular portion of the Abrams Falls Trail from Cades Cove to the waterfalls has been repaired and reopened today after an EF4 tornado extensively damaged it and 8 other trails in the northwestern portion of Great Smoky Mountains National Park in late April. Visitors are now able to access the trail from the Cades Cove trailhead and hike 2.5 miles to the waterfalls.
The trails from the falls to Abrams Creek campground via Rabbit Creek, Hannah Mountain and Little Bottoms Trails remain closed.
Over 33 miles of trails were severely impacted from the tornado’s effects where thousands of trees were blown down and their roots upended tearing huge gaps in the trails. The Park has hired a number of local people and is receiving assistance from 23 trail workers from six western parks to help support Park efforts to clear and rehabilitate trails.
The trails that are officially closed are: Ace Gap Trail; Beard Cane
Trail; including Campsites 3 & 11; Cooper Road Trail from junction at Beard Cane to Cades Cove Loop Road; Hatcher Mountain Trail; Little Bottoms Trail from Campsite 17 to Abrams Falls/Hannah Mountain Trails junction (Campsite 17 is open); Hannah Mountain Trail from Rabbit Creek Trail junction to Abrams Falls/Little Bottoms Trails junction (Campsite 16 is open); Rabbit Creek Trail, including Campsite 15; Wet Bottom Trail; and Abrams Falls beyond the waterfall.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Abrams Falls Trail Update
The Abrams Falls Trail is now open from the Loop Rd to the Falls.
It is still closed past the falls to the junction of Hannah Mtn. and Hatcher
Mtn. Trail.
It is still closed past the falls to the junction of Hannah Mtn. and Hatcher
Mtn. Trail.
From Breaks Interstate Park
This state park sits on the line with Virginia and Kentucky and is 4000+ acres of awesome beauty. The terrain is of one I am not familiar with and was pretty rugged as you may be able to tell from the pictures.
That is the trail going between the rock.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Walking with The Mysterious One
The sky was pretty much overcast, temps in the low 70's maybe, with the walk quiet except for the birds and sounds of water sliding through the rocks of the several streams we crossed and traveled beside. This path OTG continues to receive more traffic, to a point, from folks fishing and some of the lucky ones who just know of the route. We were among the lucky ones today who enjoyed the shades of green cast amongst the different plants in this forest.
How many more beautiful places have been destroyed via MTR? Hmmm?
Friday, May 13, 2011
The Spring Around Here
The picture of the Falls is from an overnight excursion the Mysterious One and I took a few weeks ago in north Georgia, Crockford-Pigeon Mtn, I believe. The others are from here and there and in between. 
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Trail Closures
Officials at Great Smoky Mountains National Park and the National Weather Service have determined that a severe EF 4 tornado swept across the northwestern corner of the Park last Wednesday causing extensive damage to seven park trails. The popular Abrams Falls Trail remains impassable due to numerous blow downs and over 40 areas where root balls were ripped out of the trail surface leaving hot-tub sized craters. Park managers hope to have Abrams Falls Trail reopened by Memorial Day.
After an inspection of other trails in the affected area, managers have announced the full closure of all or parts of seven trails totaling 22 miles. A survey by trail workers shows a total of over 4,500 trees down on the closed sections with some areas resembling jackstraws for over a mile at a time. They also counted over a thousand areas where trees were blown down and their roots tore gaps in the trail. In addition to all of the Abrams Falls Trail, the following trails are now officially closed to both hikers and equestrians until further notice:
Rabbit Creek Trail from its trailhead at Abrams Creek Ranger Station to Hannah Mountain Junction (although campsite #16 remains open)
Hannah Mountain Trail from Rabbit Creek Trail to Abrams Creek
Hatcher Mountain Trail – entire trail
Beard Cane Trail – entire trail (backcountry campsites #3 and #11 are closed)
Ace Gap Trail – entire trail
Little Bottoms Trail from campsite #17 to the Hatcher Mtn. Trail Jct.
(campsite #17 is open)
“We have closed the trails because the tangled trees and damaged
surfaces make them extremely hazardous.” Park Chief Ranger Clay Jordan said, “But to make matters worse, our ability to send rescuers in to extract anybody who is injured is seriously compromised.”
Park managers stress that no Park roads are affected by the storm damage, and that the remainder of the Park’s 800 miles of trails remain open. In the Cades Cove area visitors are encouraged to seek alternative trails. Access to Gregory Bald via Parson Branch Road is unaffected. Visitors can stop at any Park visitor center for advice or check the Park’s website at:
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm
After an inspection of other trails in the affected area, managers have announced the full closure of all or parts of seven trails totaling 22 miles. A survey by trail workers shows a total of over 4,500 trees down on the closed sections with some areas resembling jackstraws for over a mile at a time. They also counted over a thousand areas where trees were blown down and their roots tore gaps in the trail. In addition to all of the Abrams Falls Trail, the following trails are now officially closed to both hikers and equestrians until further notice:
Rabbit Creek Trail from its trailhead at Abrams Creek Ranger Station to Hannah Mountain Junction (although campsite #16 remains open)
Hannah Mountain Trail from Rabbit Creek Trail to Abrams Creek
Hatcher Mountain Trail – entire trail
Beard Cane Trail – entire trail (backcountry campsites #3 and #11 are closed)
Ace Gap Trail – entire trail
Little Bottoms Trail from campsite #17 to the Hatcher Mtn. Trail Jct.
(campsite #17 is open)
“We have closed the trails because the tangled trees and damaged
surfaces make them extremely hazardous.” Park Chief Ranger Clay Jordan said, “But to make matters worse, our ability to send rescuers in to extract anybody who is injured is seriously compromised.”
Park managers stress that no Park roads are affected by the storm damage, and that the remainder of the Park’s 800 miles of trails remain open. In the Cades Cove area visitors are encouraged to seek alternative trails. Access to Gregory Bald via Parson Branch Road is unaffected. Visitors can stop at any Park visitor center for advice or check the Park’s website at:
http://www.nps.gov/grsm/planyourvisit/temproadclose.htm
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