Week 22: Smokey Mountain High Part II

May 30-31, 2010

This morning I was up and ready by 8AM. On his way to work, the park ranger stopped by to wish me luck and safety on my hike today. Yesterday, I had stopped into the station after hiking to get some information on trails to hike today. Ranger H had directed me to some trails on the Tennessee side of the park. The first hike was to Chimney Tops Trail. It was a steep hike, but well worth the effort. The trail was busy. At the top people were lined up to climb the rocks. I started up the face and didn’t even get half way up until I turned around. There were people who either didn’t want to climb higher or were too scared, so they just sat down. These people made it even more dangerous, as you had to climb around them to ascend. I went back to the bottom of the rocks and was quite disappointed. I talked to some people who had taken the closed part of the trail. They said that way was easier. I ducked under the fence and start up a narrow trail. I was able to climb up this part. It was a little tricky and I cut my knee on the way up. The view was fantastic. It was a 360 view of all the surrounding mountains. This was truly Smokey Mountain High and proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. What a grand creation. I hung around up there for a while before heading back down. Getting back down was harder than going up. I was filthy by the time I made it down. I stopped at the bottom and rinsed off in the “crick”. I rinsed out my hair which exchanged the sweat for fish scum.

The second hike was to the Alum Bluffs Cave. This was a much easier hike. The trail followed a stream the whole way up. It led through an arch that was really neat. The top was a huge overhanging rock or bluff. It was quite amazing. Shortly below the bluffs was a nice look out. At this point all of the rhododendrons were blooming. It was beautiful. On the way down, I saw some people with Starbucks; I would have loved a Starbucks!

Total mileage for the day: 8.6 miles.

For dinner, I had noodles and the J.E.M.S invited me over for dinner and more campfire stories. I had some potatoes and zucchini. It was very good. “S” raved about Rocky Mountain Oysters during dinner. “M” and “E” went to do more fishing. Still no fish, I guess “M” will be buying lunch today. While they were gone, I learned all about “J” and his Tupperware. Other topics of conversation were: “E’s” giant sleeping bag that prevented the J.E.M.S from bringing other supplies, “J” uses a gallon of soy-sauce a week, and “S” reckons that he is hungry for some vittles, ya’ll. Don’t worry guys; you made the book numbers 43 through 46.

Last night it started raining at about 3AM. My tent kept me dry and it only dripped a little in one corner. I packed everything up and stopped over to see the J.E.M.S. Their mansion tent had not kept them dry. It rained on them all night. I headed home and saw the sign below on the way. I wasn’t in the door 5 minutes until I was in the shower. After 3-days without a real shower, I was a little ripe.

Week 22: Smokey Mountain High: Part I

May 28-29, 2010

I drove to the Smokey Mountains this weekend for some Smokey Mountain High hiking and camping. Along the way, I saw a sign just for DY. It was “Butts in the Air” BBQ to go with your Butt sauce. I arrived about 6:30 and set up my tent. I purchased some firewood from the stables at $3/bundle. This marks the first time in my life I’ve had to purchase firewood. For dinner I had an MRE of Beef Stew. Just add boiling water and let stand for 10 minutes. Easy enough and quite good for a packaged meal. I didn’t want to mess with a cooler so I packed food in a box. The rest of the night I read a book (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) and watched the fire. I was watching the fire when I saw a flash of light out of the corner of my eye. It was a Lightning Bug! I love Lightning Bugs and haven’t seen them in years. What is it about lights that people get mesmerized by them? I could stare at a campfire or at Lightning Bugs for hours, and I did this weekend. Which reminds me of that song I sang as a kid, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine…”

I slept like a log. There was a stream by the campground that lulled me to sleep. I woke up at first light and got ready for the first day of hiking. I packed my bag, put my boots on, and stopped by the ranger’s stations. I had stopped to figure out where I could park for today’s hike of the Appalachian Trail (AT). The guy told me all of these horror stories about people getting lost in the woods and needing to be rescued. Then he told me about bears and about all of the supplies that I needed. But he said “I’m not trying to scare you or anything.” Right…. I listened patiently until he was finished lecturing me and headed out.

My initial plan was Clingman’s Dome. Unfortunately, the road was closed and from the nearest parking it was 8 miles one-way. Too long. So I decided to just go out the trail a bit and turn around. I doused myself in bug spray and headed off. The AT is narrow and the trail is rough with roots and rocks. Surprisingly I made it through the day without injury. As I crested a hill, I walked into the fog. This was so cool. Walking through the misty forest with the sun rays shining down was aw inspiring! I continued south on the AT for about 1.5 miles or so. I had not seen a single person; I decided to turn around. I may be crazy about hiking by myself, but I try not to be stupid. One neat area on the AT was fenced off. It was to protect the beech trees from wild hogs that are not native to the area. They had some interesting gate-bridges on this part of the trail to get over the fence.

When I got back to the parking lot at Newfound Gap, I went North on the AT. This time I saw tons of people. Some boy scouts offered me lunch and some other hikers offered trail advice for the best views. And there were some marvelous views along the way. I saw birds, snails, and a deer. I hiked up to a Y in the trail and followed the signs for “The Jump Off”. When I got to the top of the mountain the trail continued, but this trail wasn’t on my map so I turned back and headed for the AT shelter. At the shelter I visited with 3 groups of 2 people. They were all backpacking to various places along the AT. The one older guy said “what is wrong with your generation of men, that you cannot find one to hike with.” Apparently he must have thought I was the bee’s knees. I visited with Pam and her husband; they were up for the weekend. We all talked about the cool technology of my latest gadget “Spot II.”

The clouds were rolling in and I didn’t want to get drenched so I headed back down. I decided to do “The Jump Off” trail after all. The folks at the AT shelter said it was an amazing view and not too long. They were right. Amazing and breathtaking views were found at the end of the trail. I snapped a ton of pictures and sent one off to LC and the wine group. (While you guys were guzzling fermented grapes at the festival, I burned off all of your calories, lol!) I got back to my sight and was starving. Tonight’s menu was lasagna with meat sauce. I was completely impressed. It was pretty good. I cleaned up as best I could. No showers, so I should be quite ripe by Monday. As I was reading my book, the guys in the site next to me invited me over for some campfire stories. The J.E.M.S were a nice bunch and were quite entertaining. They go on a camping trip every Memorial Day together and go fishing. As of today “M” did not catch any fish, I think it had something to day with falling and hugging a tree. “S” however is the All-American fisher and serenades everyone in the morning. More to come in Part II about the J.E.M.S.

Total mileage for today: 10, give or take a couple tenths.

Week 21: Butterflies and I ate a bug!!!

May 22, 2010

Well, I ate a couple of bugs. But I’ll get to that in a bit. Today’s adventure was a “peace like a river” adventure. (LC I wish you peace like a river.) I went to the Butterfly Bash as the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. The place was packed. I headed straight for the butterfly conservatory. It was so crowded that it was shuffle room only. The people cleared out shortly since most of them were waiting for the butterfly release to happen. How many butterflies do you see in the photo below? You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it.

There were more butterflies than you can shake a stick at. Now I’m going to digress for just a minute here. The phase “more than you can shake a stick at” first appeared in print in 1818 in The Lancaster Journal. Good ol’ Pennsylvania. The article read “We have in Lancaster more taverns than you can shake a stick at.” Now for those who aren’t from PA let me help you out here. It is not pronounced Lan – caster; it’s more like Lank – aster spoke quickly and not drawn out.

What I saw in the conservatory were hundreds of butterflies. None of them were native to NC or the US for that matter. I spent about 2 hours in the butterfly hut and took 100 pictures. That would be 1 picture every 1.2 minutes. Is that a lot? The butterflies were absolutely fantastical. For those who may not know, I absolutely love butterflies. I saw the most amazing thing with in the conservatory. I watch two butterflies hatch from their cocoons. What a beautiful event to watch. I even caught one on video tape. What a blessing to watch such a transformation!!! After I left the butterflies, I saw some beautifully color PIOSONOUS frogs. They also had cockroach that I didn’t look at. By now you know my viewpoint of those awful creatures. Ewww…I think my skin is crawling.

Now we arrive at the bug part. I ate lunch after paying with my left arm and right leg. I prepared myself by purchasing lemonade and I went to the bug sampling table. Two people were there deep frying crickets and sautéing mill worms. There was also an assortment of topping for these delicacies including chocolate, honey, hot sauce, and soy sauce. I took my cup of mill worms (about 10) and put a little chocolate on them. I took a picture, so you will believe me and then down the hatch they went. At first crunch, yes they were crunchy, it wasn’t so bad. But the aftertaste was sort of like dirt. Next I took a medium size cricket and put some hot sauce on it and then down the hatch legs, head, and tentacles included. At that point I decided that bugs don’t really have flavor, unfortunately hours later I still have this nasty aftertaste in my mouth. Yuck!

Now back to the butterflies. Apparently there are over 100 species at the museum. I didn’t see that many, but I think I’ll go back on a less crowded day. These are the one I saw that I know the names of:

Blue Morpho (Morph peleides), Postman (Heliconius erato), Paper Kite (Idea ieuconoe), Tiger Mimic (Tithorea harmonia), Scarlet Peacock (Anartia amathea) , Clipper (parthenos Sylvia) – This guy had just hatched.

Finally, there are 13 flutterbies in the photo. Have a “peace like a river” day!

Oh, ma and pa, on a side note: Can you bring down some Mallow Cups when you come? A big bag, I’m working on a job for the candy factory and people down here have never had a Mallow Cup.

Week 20: Myrtle Beach, SC

May 14-16, 2010

This week I decided to relax and spend my weekend at the beach reading a book. I'm not much of a beach person. I usually go just once a year. My weekend went as follows:

1.) Drive down I-95 and see way too many signs for "South of the Border". Those of you from the area know what I'm talking about. "South of the Border" is a '70's theme park turned bad (for more information see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_of_the_Border_(attraction) ). The billboards say things like "Pedro's weather forecast. Chili today, Hot Tamale"

2.) Drive through the country and discover a little town called Lakeview. What a gem! This town had the neatest swamp. It’s finds like this that make the adventure worth while. As Budda said “It is better to travel well then to arrive.” I completely agree!

3.) Arrive in Myrtle Beach, check in, and go running out onto the beach and take a little stroll.

4.) Read a book (since that is what I came to do). It's called "The Two Lives of Miss Charlotte Merryweather" and it's about a girl who drives a New Beetle. Very fitting I think...don't you?

5.) Day two: Get a sun tan. I lounged on the beach, got a tan, read my book, and found about 10 neat shells that I think are called whelks. It's the fanciest shell I have ever found on the beach.

6.) Put on a hippie dress and go listen to some beach music. People watch: bikers, mullets, tattoos, ZZ Top beards, people who shouldn't be wearing that...all smashingly entertaining.

7.) What the fireworks from my balcony. Ooooohhhhhh….Ahhhhhhhh…..

8.) Day three: Get a sun tan. Try to cover the 2 burnt streaks on my back that I missed with sun block yesterday. See a SHARK!!!!!! What? Huh? How exciting!!!! The lifeguard called everyone out of the water. And of course I have to check out what's going on. It's a shark swimming about 15 yards out from the shore. The lifeguard says it's about 4-5 ft long. You can tell it's a shark because you see 2 fins (I think you see the fin and the tail). If it's 1 fin, that's a dolphin. I never new! The shark hangs out for about 15-20 minutes before disappearing. COOL!!!!!

9.) Drive home. See a giant bell. Could it be a contender for the worlds largest? Nope, not even close. That claim to fame belongs to Russia.

10.) See more South of the Border signs and about 10 signs advertising Wigs. Really? I didn't know there was a high demand for wigs.

And finally what would the adventure be live without an injury? Yes, I managed to slice my foot on a shell at the beach to the point that it was bleeding. I also have several cuts on my ankles from shells getting washed up on the shore.

Week 19: Hanging Rock and the Atrium

May 9, 2010

I threw may phone in the cup holder this morning and jumped out of my skin. There was a cockroach in there. It took a second for me to start laughing at myself for the cockroach was a fake. WildWest gave one to me and to LC last night as we were porch sippin’ and wine swingin’. This was a memento of a creature that I can’t stand. I was headed out to Hanging Rock State Park today to finally get in the hike I planned to do the day of the snow storm in February. I arrived around noon, ate my lunch, and hit the Hanging Rock Trail. The trail was busy. But, in the first 5 minutes of my hike I saw a swallowtail. This is always a good sign since butterflies are my favorite!

I made it up to hanging rock quickly and took in the breathtaking view. It was spectacular! Unfortunately peaceful wasn’t a descriptive word I could use here. I kept trying to hear with my eyes to drown out the family that found it necessary to yell about everything. There were maybe 10-12 of them in the group and “theys from dem dare southern hills”. They were even calling themselves hillbillies. “Why yes you are,” I thought to myself. Courtesy to others was not in their realm of living. I snapped a few pictures and headed away from the crowd. I wandered out on a few ledges and took in the beauty. It was like being in an atrium. The flowers were blooming, the eagles soaring, and butterflies were everywhere. Did I mention that I like butterflies? As I was leaving, I noticed the crowd left just before me. No way was I following them down the trail. Time for a little off-trailing. I cut down through the woods and was following what appeared to be an animal path. I’m not sure how I didn’t crash on the way down. It was quite steep. To my luck (and surprise) I actually found the path and end up in front of the crowd. Awesome!

After visiting hanging rock, I took the Moore’s Wall Trail. It started by following one side of the lake and then went up and up and up. Earlier from the top of hanging rock, I could see the peak of the mountain I was now climbing. This hike was most spectacular. Because of its “strenuous” marking, not many people were on the trail. Ahhhhh…peace at last. I did pass a few people on the way around the path and they were not peace disturbers. The trail was lined with blooming Rhododendrons (Greek for rose tree) and Kalmia Latfolia (aka Mountain Laurel). For those who don’t know, Mountain Laurel is the Pennsylvania state flower and is illegal to dig out and plant in your yard. I may know a couple of criminals that did this. You know who you are. The butterflies were still following me…well actually they’re following the Mountain Laurel. I visited what I think was Moore’s Wall, some big giant rock structures. I saw more great sights. And I had peace and quiet. Now I felt like I was on God’s great Earth with all of its beauty and wonder. The last stop before heading down was the fire tire (inside family joke). The fire tire…er… tower was a stone structure and offered fabulous views. I could even see Mount Pilot…I mean Pilot Mountain…from there. It was breezy on top and I welcomed this breeze since I was sweating like a pig. It wasn’t an overly hot day, maybe about 75. But after hiking all day it felt like 95.

I started down the trail and caught a few more views along the way. The path down had many steps. Going up steps is a good work out; Going down wrecks your knees. I took my time since I had plenty of it. I crossed a meandering little stream on the way back just before the campground. Then it was back to my car to climb way too many steps to use the pee house. It was a great 7ish-mile walk in the atrium today. Check out the cool spider web below.

Happy Mother’s Day to my favorite mom and grandma!

Week 18: Falls Lake

May 1, 2010

Today I went to Falls Lake with MR. We were going to hike part of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail. What I thought was a good entry point, according to the Internet, turned out not to look to good. We drove down to another point just inside the state park and started from there. I had just gotten out of the car and walked over to the map when I realized that I already had a tick on me. I doused myself in bug spray. I naively thought that this would be a well worn path like most of the other state parks I had been to. I was wrong. The path was high in weeds and not well worn. I was wearing shorts for all of those nasty little ticks to attack me. MR was much smarter by wearing pants.

After taking 5 minutes to determine which way the path went we were off through the woods. Most of the trail provided plenty of shade on this hot sunny day which we were grateful for. The beginning on our hike was very pretty - trees growing up among a sea of green clover looking plants. We walked for a small time near the lake, but at most points on the trail you could barely see the lake. At one point we ever lost the trail as it crossed into the state park. On the way out of the park we saw a monstrous blue herring. All in all it was a pleasant walk except for the spider webs, millions of them in our faces.

I dropped MR off and headed home. I got a text shortly after that MR had found 6 ticks on her. A bit later she found 4 more. YIKES! I searched and searched and found none on me. Maybe my bug spray actually worked. Later in the evening, I jumped in my car and headed out. As I was driving down the road I saw 2 ticks scampering across my windshield. By the time I got to my destination I had lost sight of them. My skin was crawling. I can deal with insects like spiders, beetles, and grasshoppers. I can even deal with mice and snakes. But there are 2 creatures that I can't deal with - ticks and cockroaches. Even the thought of them make my skin crawl. So now I'm wondering how to I get an infestation of ticks out of my car?