Money Shot

EDWARDS POINT - CUMBERLAND TRAIL

Stowe and Maria recently asked me about the main picture on my blog. I completely agree with them that it's a great picture. But, what makes it great to me is you can't drive up, point-click-shoot, then get back in the car. Depending on the direction you take it's a minimum six mile round trip hike, and the only flat ground is where you left your car. I took this picture while on a winter hike with my friends, Mike and Cooper.

This little slice of the world is in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and is part of the Cumberland Trail. This past Spring, Jennifer and I went back there again. Jennifer wrote about our trip and included some of the pictures we took. On her post the first picture on the right is Edwards Point (uppermost rock formation) as it is seen from Signal Point. I personally love this trail and it's on my short list for my next overnight trip. The terrain can be classified as moderate to challenging. During the Spring hike, I wanted to push and make it to Edwards Point to recreate the picture. However, after the second suspension bridge, Jennifer decided that was enough for her dogs.

MIDDLE CREEK BRIDGE

I don't blame her one bit. Travis was on the cusp of his second MACH title and Reagan is the up and comer with lots of potential. The terrain is rocky and steep in a lot of places. Recent rainfall had also made the bridges rather slick. I think I enjoy hiking with my dogs more than anything else. The girls (Allie and Julie) seem to really enjoy it and can be rather ornery if we haven't gotten out in a couple days. Our trips are much shorter now as flare-ups from old coursing injuries make it impractical to attempt anything farther. I'd say that's my regret with coursing. I find myself tempering my desire for hiking everywhere with the dogs to cherry picking short, easy trips so they can come along, too.

The history behind this area is interesting as well. The "points" along the Tennessee River were used by Union forces to signal messages back and forth from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Bridgeport, Alabama. Earlier than that, Native Americans used these advantageous points to pick off settlers floating down the Tennessee.

Hazel Creek - Part 4 - Final Chapter

My last trip post stopped in the middle of day three of our trip. We were heading for the lake to follow the shoreline back to our boats because our feet (Smith's especially) were not up for the ridge traverse. We made it down to Fontana Lake around noon.

We were rather discouraged at the daunting trip ahead, but remained optimistic. We were dealt another bad hand when we discovered that, ironically, the Lakeshore trail did not follow any kind of shore. It was ridge after ridge after ridge. Great. Just great. Forget making good time anymore. This was going to be a grunt-fest. We stopped to rest and collect water about two hours later. Smith pulled out his cellphone. I joked at him. We couldn't get a signal at the lodge on the inhabited side of the lake. What makes him think he's going to get a signal in the park?

Well, he did, somehow. That seriously changed the rest of the trip. After a very brief discussion which involved nothing more than a glance, Smith called his girlfriend who, in turn, called the marina to see if they could meet us with the pontoon boat. Hooray! They agreed to meet us at the next campsite, just two miles away.

So, onward we hiked, and hiked, and hiked, and hiked. Something wasn't right. We should have been at the campsite by now. The next time we stopped on a ridge so I tried to get a signal on my GPS unit. Great! (sigh) We overshot the campsite by about two miles. Later, we figured out that the campsite was only accessible by boat. The trail was some 200' higher up on the ridge. We were in between campsites and had to make a decision. First things first, we attempted another call on the phone. Amazingly enough, it worked again. We knew from talking to some people earlier that the campsite ahead of us was on the water and the trail went right by it. So, through a relay of phone calls the plan was changed to meet us at the campsite 98 ahead. Coincidentally, earlier we had determined we would stop for the day at site 98. After another handful or two of gorp and a couple slugs of H20, we set off again. After a while the ridges became indistinguishable. However, somewhere between two of them I finally got what I had been looking for the entire trip.

I had the good fortune of spotting this fellow well before he made it onto the trail. To give you an idea of how fast these bruins are, that slope he just motored up was a little less than 45 degrees. Again, no noise in sprint mode. I can't figure it out. I could hear him when he was foraging down the creek below me, but not when he ran off. This was the biggest one on the entire trip.

As we closed in on site 98 we descended the last hill and a cove from the lake appeared off on the left. Good, the site can't be that much farther ahead. About halfway down the hill I could see the entire cove and I saw something that stopped me in my tracks. Now, you've heard the stories of people that have been stranded in the desert or other harsh conditions and hallucinate, envisioning something or someone that's not really there. Well, we weren't in that type of condition by far, but I reacted the same nonetheless. There it was, floating out in the cove, a pontoon boat! I hustle-imped (that's hustling and limping) down the hill, throwing my pack on the bridge and heading out to the shore of the cove. I'm thinking if we can at least get over to our boats, we can make the trip back to the marina. Fortunately the boat was headed into the cove so they saw me and headed my way. After some negotiating and discussion back and forth, they agreed to take us over to our boats in Hazel Creek.

Moving at 15mph, it took 45 minutes to get from the cove over to our boats. We graciously thanked them for the ride, then pulled the boats down to the water and loaded them up for the trip to the marina. Smith went ahead of me since he had the slower boat. As he was coming to the second bend in the creek a small fishing boat came up the creek, made a wide circle, then headed back to the lake out of sight. Then it came back and stopped. Smith paddled over to them. I figured they were just being friendly. Then I saw him hand his paddle over to them. Is this possible? I picked up my pace and caught up to them. The man in the boat looked at me and said, "How'd you like a ride to the marina?" Hmmmm...let me think about that. 8 miles back to the marina. It's getting dark. We have no lights on either boat. I think we may just have to take him up on that offer.

To top it off, we made it back to the marina, loaded the car, and made it back to the lodge just as they were closing the dining room. They made an exception for us and let us eat. It was so nice to sleep in a bed that night. It was really amazing that we came across the couple with the pontoon boat who happened to drop us off at our boats when this fishing boat was in the creek. The next morning, we headed for Smith's house in Athens, TN via Deal's Gap. Anyone with a knowledge of the area, or a motorcycle for that matter, knows that Deal's Gap is the top of the Tail of the Dragon, an 11 mile stretch of US 129 consisting of 318 turns. Unfortunately, there are no signs in North Carolina that suggest that this section of 129 is impassable by semi.

This semi is not moving forward. He is backing up. I took this picture a little after 9am. According to what we heard, he had been stuck since 1 or 2 in the morning. Fortunately for us, we only had to wait 5-10 minutes for him to get clear for traffic to move through.

This was, by far, one of the most memorable trips of my life. I learned a lot, too. Black bears, at least in this area, are cautious around humans and would rather run away than be curious. No matter how long you let your pocket shower "warm-up" it's still going to be freezing cold when you're standing under it, naked, in 40 degree temp with the wind blowing. Don't mix freeze dried red beans and rice with macaroni and cheese shells. Just don't. I think this trip would have been better if we had allowed more time and traveled less each day. I was concerned about making it back because I had told Jennifer that if she hadn't heard from us by Friday evening she should contact the park ranger's office the next morning. The remaining section of the trip would probably have meant two additional nights out there which would have put us past the cutoff time.

Hmmm.....the only thing left is to start planning the next trip.

Huzzah!

The Death Star has deemed me worthy of a role-addition. While I've been quite accustomed to playing the part of scapegoat (total responsibility and no control), this new "opportunity" is the perfect setting for breeding hate and discontent amongst my peers. Hooray! (sigh)

In addition to all the other "hats" I wear, it has been determined by the powers that be that I should also handle the interior/exterior, hydrological, electrical, material, ingress/egress and overall perimeter integrity of the property I work at.

I, AM, BUILDING MANAGER!

Doesn't sound as impressive or awe inspiring as "Gladiator", huh?

To steal a line, "If I woke up tomorrow with my head sewn to the carpet I wouldn't be more surprised than I am right now."

If anything, anything, goes wrong, I'm the one who is called.

The biggest problem is the local meth-head du jour who sees dollar signs where the copper sits in the yard. Undeterred by the barb-wire topped fencing surrounding the compound, they've resorted to ladders or even cutting straight through to get at our provisions. It's been quiet recently, but I'm sure they are regrouping and comparing strategies for their next siege.

When I worked in Atlanta, there was an office that was more secure than most prisons. Two rows of perimeter fencing with razor wire topping each fence AND in between. They needed it, though. Before the upgrades, thieves made off with the transmissions and batteries from two work trucks. Transmissions for crying out loud! How flippin' motivated do you have to be for that?!

My friend and co-worker that bore this illustrious title before me has geared me up for what's to come when the weather is warm.

Most common complaint?

"Water don't taste no good"

I only wish I was paraphrasing, but, a quote is a quote. No reason to break out the Scrabble board. No chance of any exquisite verbal jousting. My only solace is that I've learned from my mistakes. Never lock horns with an individual of this caliber. They will only drag you down to their level and proceed to beat you with experience.

Alas, an opportunity beckons from within this otherwise oppressive addition to my daily grind. Whenever an uninvited entrepreneur makes off with our bronze gold, the representative from the security division of the Death Star arrives to personally take in the loss. I'm not ashamed to say I've always been intrigued by the work he does. I know that this division hires from within and, according to my co-worker, all it takes to get a foot in the proverbial door is to show a smidge of interest. That's all well and good, but, unless it is a promotion, my Imperial Leader is not obligated to sign me over. Any attempt at a lateral defection would receive an immediate kebash, but I will maintain my optimism.

Thought for the Day

Kick this around in your cranium today.....


President-elect Obama goes on record during the primaries saying Senator Clinton's suggested foreign policy experience equates to nothing more than tea parties with foreign dignitaries.

Senator Clinton's rebuttal, in part, states Obama is weak and is not ready to be Commander in Chief.

Now we have Barack Obama as our next Commander in Chief and, gee whiz, Senator Clinton is the top pick for Secretary of State.

One of the obvious questions to President-elect Obama that came up in a round of exchanges with reporters yesterday:

"You talked about the importance just now of having different voices and robust debate within your administration, but again going back to the campaign, you were asked and talked about the qualifications of the -- now your nominee for secretary of state and you belittled her travels around the world, equated it to having teas with foreign leaders. And your new White House counsel said her resume was grossly exaggerated when it came to foreign policy. I'm wondering if you can talk about the evolution of your views of her credentials since the spring?"

Our Commander's response...(sigh)

"I think this is fun for the press to try to stir up whatever quotes were generated during the course of the campaign. No, I understand, and you're having fun."

Translated:

How darest thou insult thee with such pithy inquisitions. As ruler, I chooseth not to answer thine inquiry. Instead, I shalt find jest and amusement in belittling thee.

Guess he really didn't mean what he said time and time again during the primaries. I wonder if there was anything else he really didn't mean...


Now you just go and have yourself a terrific day!



The thoughts and ideas expressed in this blog posting are in no way consistent with the thoughts and ideas expressed by Barack Obama or the Democrat party. Therefore, you have been notified that any thoughts and ideas expressed in this blog posting are the equivalent of hate speech as defined by any mainstream media news outlet. Furthermore, aforementioned thoughts and ideas may cause offense to Democrats, liberals, non-achievers, those afflicted with wealth-envy, and any and all followers of the "Chosen One"...