A bit over two years ago my hiking partner and I went across the Pond Mountain Wilderness at Pond Mountain Peak from Watauga Lake to the Appalachian Trail (see “Bushwhacking Pond“). This day, several Saturday ago now, we were headed back to the wilderness to explore up a mountain creek that looked interesting to my partner. Now, I thought, ‘Bushwhacking up a mountain creek involves rhododendron/laurel thickets’, which gets a bit wearisome without a goal and set amount of time. But hey, I’m up for most anything, so in we plunged in, this time with an Initiate. After perhaps a half of an hour, I suggested that we add a goal and possibly a way out of the thicket. This holler is at the base of Pond Mtn. So, straight up slope we went. The thickets thinned and thickened but really didn’t subside all the way to the ridge. When you get on the side of the ridge in trees and particularly thicket, you cannot see the top. We did fairly well though, peaking the ridge less than an eighth of a mile from the peak and benchmark. None of us wanted to retrace that route back down, so we decided to follow the ridge along the heretofore low maintained trail back to the lake. Well, that was two years ago before Hurrican Helene. Except for short stints of reasonable trail, there were piles of down trees of every size to go around and through. When we finally got back to the road and the lake, we had done approximately six miles. Problem was, we estimated that we were two and a half miles by road from the car. So, I left my pack and ran/walked to the car. As I progressed up the holler, the road kept getting steeper. If you really like bushwhacking, I’ve got a “Bushwhacker’s Special” just for you. Click on it to see a few pictures.
Archive for the ‘Exploring’ Category
Bushwhacker’s Special
Posted in Exploring, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Wildflowers, tagged Herbaceous varieties, Hike, Lichens, Nature, Outdoors, Pond Mountain Wilderness, Wildflowers on June 16, 2025| Leave a Comment »
A Bright Morning
Posted in Beauty, Exploring, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Poem, tagged Baxter State Park, Glacial Pond, Hike, Naure, Outdoors, Poem on July 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
My fast and furious vacation was only 10 days, for reasons of scheduling and finances, so why am I still talking about it 3 weeks later? Well, it was that good, and I like to tell stories. Please be patient; I will be done soon.
I slept in on my 8th day of vacation, not arising until 5:30. The sun was up, the woods were calling, I could sleep later another day. I arrived at the trailhead of my last hike, Kidney Pond, at just before 7 AM. I didn’t have a goal other than to enjoy the scenery one more time, so I hiked a short distance to find a spot where I could get to the shoreline and sit down. The morning was glorious, bright, cloudless with a light breeze sufficient to keep the insects away. The sun was already high, and I was looking into it, which caused the other shoreline where there were cabins to be shadowy. It felt as though I was all alone, though in such situations, I only feel the lack of people. As time goes along, I am trusting and feeling more of God’s presence as I lean into Him, therefore, I am aware that I am never alone. The details of this very trip, how everything fell into place with incredible moments in nature and with people, both family and friends as well as strangers, strengthened my sense of His presence. It is days like these that we must remember when more difficult and mundane days challenge our resolve to live thankful and trusting.
I have some pictures and commentary of this last wee hike at “Last Morning in Baxter“, but before you go there, I’d like to share the poem that began coming to me as I strolled the 1/2-mile back to the vehicle, completing it in my journal:
Kidney Pond, Baxter State Park, ME, 7:30 AM 6/21/24
Morning sunlight glimmer
Water deeper, dimmer
Woodpeckers pecking away
Bullfrogs calling their way
Water on granite boulders lapping
Breeze cooling, stirring, laughing
Mountains against bluest sky
Spruce, fir, pine, cedar point high
Alone ‘til now when far across
Fishermen cast in shimmer loss (1)
Voices few but come on breeze
Just in shadow of far trees
Water lilies bob on the gentle swell
Almost blooming, all is well
So, God gave me this final pleasure
At Kidney Pond I drank full measure
I left B.S.P. probably never to return, but I take a piece of it home with me as memories. For me, this is what vacation is all about, making memories and learning to make more memories in the daily challenges, opportunities, and privileges of life, whether a bright day by a beautiful pond or a rainy day of further darkening skies. God is worthy and I benefit.
- A little artist license with the verb agreement
Baxter State Park
Posted in Camping, Exploring, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Baxter State Park, Camping, Hike, Nature, Northern Forest, Outdoors on July 13, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Baxter State Park is about Mt. Katahdin, right? It is certainly the most popular destination in the park, but it is a true wilderness with very few roads and those are all gravel. It has other mountains. It has streams, waterfalls, ponds galore, and some 209,000 acres of northern forest. The day after I climbed Mt. Katahdin, I took several hikes adding up to 10 miles that sampled some of the other sites of the park. Check it out at “Pond, Peaks, and Falls“.
An Easy Day?
Posted in Camping, Exploring, Family, General, Grandchildren, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Exploring, Grandchildren, Hike, Nature, Outdoors on July 3, 2024| Leave a Comment »
What do you do on a day after achieving a serious goal? Rest, celebrate? Sure, that works, but how do you rest and celebrate? Frequently, circumstances dictate what you do, but I had the joy of spending it with grandchildren, yet again doing what I love to do, explore in the woods. Together with their father and mother, we went to Diana’s Baths and then Cathedral Ledge, and then I was on the road again. See for yourself at “The Baths“.
Why Hiking?
Posted in Connotations, Delights, Exercise, Experience, Exploring, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Creation, Hike, Hiking, Mountains, Nature, Outdoors on August 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »
I was talking with a man who I had just met at church today. While sharing various things about each other, we agreed that we like mountains. I mentioned that I like hiking in the mountains. He responded, “Why do you like hiking?”
I paused, not because I had to think why, but because as I momentarily replied, “How don’t I like it?” I could go on and on. The list that I gave him was brief but suggested the deep variety of my reasons for liking to be in the woods. It was fun to make and a to z list of why I like to hike:
-availability: usually at no cost other than the gas to get there and ready whenever I
have the opportunity to avail myself
-challenge: pushing myself, exercise, distance, steepness, bushwhacking,
negotiating difficult terrain
-colors: leaves of early Spring, deep greens of Summer; Fall’s polychrome; the
bronze buds and hues of grays and browns of winter bark; the many faces of
sky and water per season, weather, and time of day
-conversation: with God and with a hiking partner
-exploration: finding new, rarely visited, unique, beautiful spots
-flora: trees in every season and species and shape and maturity; shrubs
from Flaming Azalea to Doghobble to Rhododendron to Sweetbush;
herbaceous varieties in bloom and sprouting and full foliage; fungi, lichen,
mosses, and liverworts
-geology: types; landforms in rock and soil, especially cliffs; random rocks- shiny,
unique, unexpected
-glory: Due and seen for the infinite, beauty-loving, intelligent, personal Creator
-growing: alive, flourishing, productive, resilient, reproducing
-health: to body, mind, and spirit or trying hard and resting in emotion
-invigorating: Am I beginning to be synonymously redundant?
-memories: of more than 50 years of consistently being on the trail
-promoting: curiosity, knowledge, scientific and Creationist thinking
-sharing: seeing one or two others’, only rarely with groups, pleasure at things I
show them
-solitude: alone (I do like to hike alone sometimes.), quiet, space for thinking, lack
of people, distance and exclusion from development
-topography: Folded mountains particularly, I guess since that is what I grew up seeing.
-trails: smooth, rough, steep, flat, lightly traveled, leading somewhere or to the
known goal
-variety: Just look at this list!
-water: streams flowing and falling and frozen, ponds, sloughs and bogs, rain,
clouds, humidity and fog, snow and sleet and ice
-weather: anticipation, arrival, artistry, animating
-zoological: mammals from bears to bats to mountain boomers, deer
birds- song, raptors, water, gliders, woodpeckers owls; reptiles- lizards,
snakes (I don’t seek out the poisonous ones but they do bring and adrenaline
rush.); spiders and other arachnids, insects (not mosquitoes or gnats),
millipedes and centipedes; fish in the streams; crustaceans- snail and crayfish (We call them
crawdads.); amphibians- frogs, toads, salamanders
I wonder what I left off. I am so blessed and thankful to God for the opportunity and love of the mountains. They so speak of His loveliness and power and creativity and sustaining hand.
Story Bookends
Posted in Ecology, Exploring, General, Hydroelectric Dam, Implications, Infrastructure, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Ecology, Exploring, Hydroelectric Dam, Infrastructure, Outdoors on July 23, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Soon after we bought a “new-used” car, I saw a Facebook sale of old books. The seller was offering one book, an antique children’s Bible story book, for $5. So, I decided to go check it out in my new car. Along the way, TN Hwy 394, was a sign that indicated that South Holston Dam was along a road turning off of the highway. On the way back from buying the books (He threw in 3 more for $5 additional), I turned off the highway toward the dam. Many years ago, I feel confident, I had visited this dam before, because my father liked to take Saturday or Sunday afternoon drives to engineering feats around the area. But I don’t rightly remember it. So, I made a few minutes of memories of my own. I will make an effort to go back again, perhaps for a picnic or a hike or a canoe ride. Until then, here are my pictures and impressions at “South Holston Works.”
CreatorWorship 