I was going to call this “The Downside” to go with the last entry, “The Upside“, but downside has too many unpleasant connotations. There was one downside, however. As of the last entry, we stood atop Cliff Top of Mt. LeConte, 6.6 miles into the trip. Given our chosen route, we still had another 9.0 miles to go, and it wore sorely upon us. Trillium Gap Trail (TGT) was definitely the better downhill choice, but we should have hiked across to the Rainbow Falls trailhead from the TGT-head rather than leaving that traverse for late in the day. It was a pleasant walk with things to see, but, tired as we were, I did not take as many pictures. Click on “LeConte Descent” to see what notable things we saw.
Archive for the ‘Outdoors’ Category
LeConte Descent
Posted in Family, Grandchildren, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Family, Hike, Mt. LeConte, Nature, Outdoors on May 30, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The Upside
Posted in Family, General, Grandchildren, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Family, Grandchild, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Hike, Mt. LeConte, Outdoors on May 28, 2023| 1 Comment »
Continuing the story about a Mt. LeConte hike this past week (see “Approach Day“), we arose just after 5 AM and got away at 6:15 for a one-hour drive to the trailhead. I had wanted to hike Trillium Gap and Rainbow Falls Trails. My daughter asked me about how they are different. I said Rainbow Falls Trail is shorter, steeper, and rockier. She said that she would prefer to go up on a steeper trail since coming down that way would be more painful on her knees.
So, carrying one pack with food and clothing and water, about 25 pounds, and carrying a second pack with her son and water, about 35 pounds, we started off. I record our progress with commentary and pictures at “Rainbow Falls Ascent“.
Approach Day
Posted in Family, General, Grandchildren, Hike, Memories, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Family, Outdoors on May 27, 2023| 1 Comment »
I was chosen to take the place of my daughter’s hiking partner who had other responsibilities crop up. We were slated to take a 16-mile hike to Mt. LeConte in the Smoky Mountains National Park. Over the next several blog entries I am going to lay out the gist of the trip. The first day was travel and rest. Pictures of our lodging place are included at “Cabin up the Crick” along with a little flashback surprise.
Playing along the line
Posted in Climbing, Exercise, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Biking, Bouldering, Exercise, Nature, Outdoors, Tweetsie Trail on May 15, 2023| Leave a Comment »
One way I keep my little exercise outings fresh and real is to change them up and mix and match. I recently did that by way of mountain biking along the Tweetsie Trail in Johnson City with my bouldering pad on my back. This arrangement allowed me to try out some small outcroppings that I had seen and thought good for climbing when my son and I were there a week before (See that outing at “A Few Quick Miles“.) but would be beyond walking distance. The Tweetsie Railroad, begun in 1866, “the ET&WNC line… was to operate from Johnson City, Tennessee, to the iron mines just over the state line at Cranberry, North Carolina. (1)
On the way back from riding and climbing I took some pictures which you may see at “Tweetsie Special.”
A New Little Corner to Explore
Posted in Ecology, Exercise, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Mountain Bike Park, Mountain Biking, Nature, Outdoors, Tree varieties on May 10, 2023| Leave a Comment »
For various reasons I am not able to explore big and faraway places, so I content myself with exploring little nearby places. When you find one within a mile from your workplace convenient for a lunchbreak jaunt, that is even better. Right in the middle of the industrial part of town arises a 200-foot hill that is about 3/4-mile long. Half of it has two steep streets with a few scattered houses clinging to the slopes and a large water tank in the middle. The far end is narrow and very steep sided, very impractical for housing. Someone had the insight to make it into a Mountain Bike Park. Hiking is also allowed on a few of the trails.
One lunchbreak recently I walked two of the trails to see how difficult they are. I was pleasantly surprised by the good variety of trees and wildflowers, the visual seclusion of the site with occasional machinery interrupting sounds, and the utter steepness of the slopes. I invited my son to come ride a few of the trails with me. Both were pleasant days. Check out my walk and biking pictures at Tannery Knobs Mountain Bike Park.
Bushwhacking Pond
Posted in General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, Wildflowers, tagged Bushwhacking, Nature, Outdoors, Ridge walk, Wildflowers, Woods on April 24, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The day before “A Few Quick Miles“, I went on a hiking trip with a young friend from church with whom I had hiked “Through A Gorge” previously. I had actually wanted to do this hike for over thirty-five years. It is in an area now designated as Pond Mountain Wilderness Area. The draw for me was there were very few trails in the middle of this 6900-acre area. Going off trail can be challenging. I have numerous experiences with bushwhacking, some rewarding and some exhausting and very long. I have learned to avoid off trail in deep draws with creeks unless I have plenty of time, a specific goal, and a good exit strategy.* If you would like to see a few pictures of the trip, click on Pond Mountain.
*I should write a business plan based on bushwhacking.
A Few Quick Miles
Posted in Exercise, Family, General, Grandchildren, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Covered Bridge, Exercise, Family Time, Mountain Biking, Tweetsie Trail on April 19, 2023| 2 Comments »
A little too quick and more than one or two miles. My middle son and I went mountain biking this morning. Because there are several public trails nearby and one under the main road 1/2mile from his house, it is easy to get on multiple and various surfaces. This is the second time I have ridden with him. I have been trying to get into shape by riding a steep hill behind my house. It has increased my power, but riding with my son involves endurance. I am always lagging behind. So, I guess we keep it up and I will build endurance, too. If you can endure my pictures and commentary, check it out at Multiple Surfaces.
Coolest Cave
Posted in Family, General, Grandchildren, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, Travel, tagged Cave, Cave Tour, Geology, Nature, Travel, Underground on March 16, 2023| Leave a Comment »
It was in the low 20’s with a stiff little breeze. I was looking forward to going into a warm cave (usually 59 degrees at our latitude). From the moment I stepped inside I thought that it felt colder than outside. It turns out that among the many entrances are two large ones, one a collapsed chamber at the top of the hill and the other one where the creek exits, plenty large enough to walk in upright. This arrangement makes for a nice chimney with a good draw of very cold air on this particular morning. At one point the guide was saying that a narrowing in the passage has been measured to have lower barometric pressure and “they” don’t know why. It was too simple. I explained Bernoulli’s Principle and how the narrow section of passage acts as a venturi in a carburetor. The faster the wind, the lower the pressure. It is also interesting that the seven species of bats (five of which are endangered) in this cave are not being decimated by the White Nose Fungal outbreak among bats. The regular exchange of fresh air is probably the reason. The cave also sits at a transition zone where sedimentary and igneous rock are interlayered. Of the several dozen caves that I have been in, it seems to be the most geologically diverse. I enjoyed the tour with my daughter and two grandchildren. It was supposed to be a 45 minute tour, but between Mr. G’s* enthusiasm and knowledge of the cave and our curiosity and general knowledge, the tour was more like 1:45. We as well as he professed to having learned a lot. Check out my pictures at AC Underground and then check out the Appalachian Caverns Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/appalachian.caverns)
*If you want to ask for a tour guide whose name begins with G, then I would recommend him. I don’t name people on my blog.
Getting out with the Guys
Posted in Blessing, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Mountain Biking, Outdoors, Time with the Guys on February 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »
The two brothers and the two old men went for a mountain bike ride. I had claimed that I would dig my bike out of storage and repair it to go sometime, but it has not yet become a priority. My young friend from church graciously decided to offer that I ride his “spare” bike. It was far nicer than any bike I could ever imagine owning. I will still need to get my bike out and actually make an attempt at getting into shape. We had a fun, and at moments, intense ride on steep climbs and rocky descents. It had been so long since I had been on a mountain bike. It was good to cycle back around to this activity. Check two group pictures at “A Few Friends“, one of the guys, and one of the one guy’s family.
Short Solitude
Posted in Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, Reflection, tagged Nature, Outdoors, Reflection, Solitude, Waterfall on January 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »
Do you cherish quiet, alone time? It can be a great benefit to calm and focus the soul. Don’t push it away with noise of music and voice, dear reader. Lean into contemplative moments of quiet. It will make your time with others more enjoyable and meaningful. I had a short time in the woods to quiet my spirit. Check out my pictures and reflections at Laurel Falls.
A little hike to smaller falls
Posted in Consequences, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Consequences, Hike, Nature, Outdoors on December 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Exercising and staying in shape is such a relentless, daily task. I don’t mean tedious, though if you don’t enjoy it or sufficiently appreciate the results, it can be. I mean that any let up in the pursuit of staying in shape is met with more likelihood of not staying thus. And I am not even talking about the psychological difficulties, though the tendency to give up or give in is ongoing. I refer instead to the accelerated decline in fitness with each occurrence of inconsistency. I am finding, as I may have been able to guess, that age is a factor trending towards an accelerated acceleration of decline, a real Jerk (1) if you ask me.
Now, I am not the giving up kind, so, I am always thankful for an opportunity to get up, dust off my behind, and jump into the saddle again. After three weeks of minimal exercise because of responsibilities and poor health, I went for a little hike with my middle son. It would have been longer, but neither of us had the stomach for a creek crossing in cold weather. The woods were quiet, the stream bubbling, and the conversation good. See my few pictures at Diminutive Falls.
- Physics term, look it up
Sixer Seven
Posted in General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Six Thousand Foot Peaks on December 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I missed out on the Mt. Collins/Clingmans Dome hike, which is OK because I did the hike from Newfound Gap to Clingmans in the winter of ’82 with a foot and a half of snow. I spent the night at Mt. Collins Shelter. I spent the next night under a rock overhang because the drifts prevented me from making it to Spence Field Shelter. But I digress. This hike with my daughter and son-in-law last Saturday was for the purpose of going to Mt. Kephart, a 6217′ knob just off of the main ridge toward Mt. LeConte. We added in a few other notable views, The Jumpoff, the highest single drop in the Smokey Mountains N.P., and Charley’s Bunion, a bare rock with an expansive view, for a total of 9 1/4 miles of hiking. For the pictures of this seventh six thousand foot peak that my daughter has hiked to, click on Mt. Kephart.
Morning Quick Out
Posted in Hike, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Bays Mountain, Hike, Nature, Outdoors on November 20, 2022| 2 Comments »
If the park had opened before 8:30, we would have been there earlier. Even so, we waited at the gate for 10 minutes and watched a rafter (flock) of turkeys, and then on up the road a Coyote scampered across the road. A half-dozen other cars came in at gate opening. They all gathered to talk in the parking lot. They seemed to be regulars who knew each other. For the other things we did and saw click on Bays Mountain Morning Hike.
Bushwhacker Extraordinaire
Posted in General, Hike, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Bushwhacking, Exploring, Hike, Outdoors, Waterfalls on November 12, 2022| 2 Comments »
I asked my wife when I arrived back home, “Why do my children all want to plunge down through the brush and off the trail?” She rolled her eyes and said, “Maybe because that’s what their dad taught them?”
Well, what can I say? My middle son texted me and asked if I’d like to go on a hike. He didn’t say where. The Appalachian Trail traverses Cross Mountain from Iron to Holston Mtn. In the gap where the road crosses there is a parking space and a gentle walk across a large field with excellent views. Next it enters an open middle-aged forest of predominately Yellow Poplars, Chestnut Oaks, and Northern Red Oaks. As we glided along this gentle grade on the leaf strewn trail on a balmy November day, my son suddenly said, “I want to show you something. Let’s go down here.” We followed a reasonable slope along a spur ridge for several hundred feet, then took a sharp right and down into the draw. As we slid down the slope we entered rhododendron thicket and rocky creekbed with the slickest leaf and algae combination. Check out my further commentary and pictures at Stoney Creek.
2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
Posted in Family, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Black Mountains NC, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photos on November 3, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Hiking the sixers continued this past weekend with a proposed assault on the backside of the Black Mountain ridge that runs from south to north beginning at the Clingmans Peak above the Blue Ridge Parkway, and proceeds to Celo Mountain. The “back” or west side of the ridge is less populated and less accessible. The idea was to go as far up gravel and logging roads in our compact cars as gates and undercarriage clearance would allow, and then hike to the ridge and take in Celo, Gibbs, and Winter Star Mountains, before descending back to Deep Gap and gravel roads and our cars.
Several locals described that last gravel road, which is about 600 feet below the top of the ridge, as the top or high grade. One person explained that this was where the logging and mining railway had been cut many years ago and is relatively flat. There were no gates closed but the road got progressively rough. We should have parked our cars sooner, but we had to push on until the next switchback in order to have a wide place to park and turn around. The extra distance of hiking this resulted in caused us to decide not to include Winter Star on this trip. It definitely could have been done, but there were people already waiting below for longer than anticipated. So, we opted for 2 out of 3.
I continue the story with pictures at Celo and Gibbs.
A Day in the Sun
Posted in Family, Grandchildren, Outdoors, Photo, Relationship, tagged Family, Grandchildren, Lakeside, Outdoors, Picnic, Reunion on October 11, 2022| Leave a Comment »
I went to a family reunion last weekend, but the majority of the people there were from an in-law’s family. They were nice people, but I didn’t have much to say to them since our connection is tenuous at best. Instead, I talked to the few closer relatives there and most spent time with my oldest son and his family. The day was absolutely beautiful and at that perfect temperature so that you could warm up in the sun and cool down in the shade. And it all took place by a lake with plenty of views, wildlife, playgrounds, walkways, easy places to lounge, and smiles. Click on Grandchildren Run to see what we enjoyed.
Walking in a New Place
Posted in Beauty, Blessing, Change, General, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Autumn, Blessing, Contemplation, Fall, History, Outdoors on October 9, 2022| Leave a Comment »
Moving, unpacking, settling in, finding your way around, starting a new job are time consuming. One must make time for the more relaxing moments. My preferred way to relax is walking. Having a job that involves standing is not good for flow of body fluids, so I walk, observe, think, and pray during my lunch break or converse with my wife during evening walks. The pictures at Fall Begun come from three different walks, two at lunch and one in the evening. I feel so blessed to live in a part of the world where seasons change, and I work and live in neighborhoods where I may daily range. God gifts many larger blessings, but the smaller daily ones help to fortify the soul for daily stresses. Be active or quiet and at any rate contemplative so that you may absorb the goodness of God in His creation and through His other manifold blessings. Being contemplative means quiet and open to observation both internal and external.
Mr. M
Posted in Delights, General, Nature, Outdoors, tagged Creatures of God's Creation, Nature, Outdoors, Songbirds on October 8, 2022| Leave a Comment »
As I walked the other day, I observed a Mockingbird pestering a Redtail Hawk. Plucky birds that they are, he cut in and out, notifying the hawk that he was in his territory. The hawk made his ponderous circle upward to free himself from the pest. You know that if he got ahold of Mr. M he would shred him between his talons and beak, but it is not to be because Mockingbirds can make much quicker cuts that hawks can’t follow.
A few days later I heard a Mockingbird as it sat singing in a Maple tree as I walked past. He jumped up to the powerline as I passed under the tree and continued to sing. I have lost count at around 25 to 30 different songs of an educated Mockingbird that used to sit on the light pole where I once taught school, entering under his joyous morning songs. And that reminds me how that I don’t like the name Mockingbird, because they don’t sneer or make fun. Neither do they plagiarize their songs since they give credit to their composers by the songs they sing and to the Creator of them all. Perhaps they should be called Song Learning Birds or Repeater Birds or Remix Songbirds. Anyway, I love to hear them sing.
Yet another day walking I observed Mr. M making a perfect two point landing on a lawn. Approaching at full speed, he flared his flight feathers at the last possible split second and seemed to simply step off of the air onto the lawn. My eye could hardly follow the transition for the speed, but Mr. M executed the move into a bush not long after and I caught more of the action. Then he flew almost vertically from bush to an altitude of 30 feet to peck at an intruding competitor. The two M’s made their quick cuts to claw at and peck toward one another in quick succession. I thought how much more dangerous they were to one another than the hawk was to Mr. M or visa-versa.
I could not have seen any of the flight action had it not been for the color and flashing of feathers. Their lateral tailfeathers are white against the gray background of the rest. They have white mid-wing feathers that barely show until they spread their wings wide. When Mr. M turned his wings downward for the perfect landing, the white on dark gray feathers showed straight in my direction. M’s are not so colorful as other birds but they always seem to be dressed up for any occasion, looking rather sharp.
All of the brief encounters with Mr. M over the past week have caused me to reflect on this pleasure at observing him in various ways and at various times. I have always favored the species, but I think that I could now say that Mr. M at least ranks if not holds the highest regards in my mind among birds. His Creator is certainly of the most intelligent, beauty-loving, design worthy sort, unmatched by any other.
Eastern Sixers
Posted in Beauty, Family, General, Grandchildren, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Family, Hike, Mountains, Outdoors on September 19, 2022| Leave a Comment »
My daughter decided to start hiking to build up her stamina. She said that she needs intermediate goals in order to make progress and keep interested. So, she decided to start hiking to the top of the 25 tallest peaks in the Eastern U.S. That had to morph into a different goal because it is either hard or silly to do, depending on which list of highest peaks you look at. The hard has to do with deciding which peaks are the 25 highest. Different lists credit different peaks with that status. You may think that is silly in the days of Global Positioning. In one sense it is silly. One site included any peak that rose from around the surroundings for 160 feet. That means that you could “bag” five or six peaks on two hikes along two different ridges. The site she settled upon was a Wikipedia page called “Southern Sixers“. It includes all of the mountains east of the Mississippi that are taller than 6000′ above sea level, except Mt. Washington (6288′), which is in New Hampshire and would rank 22 on the list. The list has 53 entries, so 54 with Mt. W. I don’t what my daughter is going to do, but she suggested some number like 32 on the list. She will bag some peaks lower on the list with the two ridge walks that I mentioned above. I hope that I might be included in a fair number of these excursions.
Click on A Good Beginning to see how the first two “sixers” went.
Birthday Hike
Posted in Blessing, Family, General, Hike, Nature, Outdoors, Photo, tagged Family Time, Hike, Outdoors, Waterfalls, Woods on September 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »
My oldest brother turns 74 today. Always looking for an excuse to go on a hike and get together with family, he emailed the family via group email about hiking not too far a drive from any of us. Schedules being what they are, three out of the four brothers and their wives and one son out of eight children and his family made it for the hike, 14 souls in all. We had done this hike as one of our Thanksgiving hikes several years ago. For some reason, all of us remembered the falls but forgot the hike. It is not steep but it is continuously up. It is not long at 1.5 miles out, but it is rough with randomly pitched small boulders in sections. Small children needed assistance and less stable older participants gave out. The purpose of the hike was time together and time in the woods. Both objectives were completed. For half of us there was a little extra adventure as well. Check out the pictures at Margarette and Bailey Falls to see why.
CreatorWorship 