A Silver Lining

I missed out on hiking this week. Yesterday morning I was going to hike, then decided not to because it was starting to sprinkle... Then I decided, it was just spitting, I could go hiking and get a little wet... Then I looked out and it was a steady shower. So I gave up and drove to town instead. It stopped raining by the time I got there... and was sunny the rest of the day.

Today, it rained all day. A gentle shower, but very, very wet.

I drove to town again, and when I came back there was sunlight trying to break through the clouds, even as the rain kept coming down! The light was truly extraordinary. I decided to drive over and walk out to the East Rim Overlook and try and capture it. It was golden.

A Scouting Expedition

I went for another bike ride after work today, but for a specific purpose. I went out on Duncan Hollow Road again, past both the places I turned before, and went down Alfred Smith Road. This leads out to a trail junction along the Grand Gap Loop, a hiking trail with a lot of overlooks of the river gorge. The most popular of those is Angel Falls Overlook, which can also be reached by hiking along the river and then climbing all the way up to the top... but I know I would not be up for that.

I really want to see that overlook, so I thought I might hike there from the end of Al Smith Road and back. (The entire Grand Gap Loop is almost seven miles, which is too far for me. This would be a little less than two miles each way, I think.)

The problem would be the road. Earlier this summer, my boss, Bill, had me drive a park SUV out on all the back roads in this part of the park, so I could describe them to people if they were thinking of going there. Alfred Smith Road was one of the roughest ones - it had been raining all week, there were several very deep ruts and I had to line the car up very carefully in order to get across them. That was several months ago, and I wanted to go scout out that road and see what it looks like now and determine whether I would be able to get all the way to the end in my Malibu!

The first section of the ride is familiar by now - except that they apparently just put down some new gravel on the road. Since there's not much traffic it hasn't really been packed down yet, so it was a little slower to ride on that section. The new gravel petered out by the time I got to the part of the road I hadn't ridden on before.

The ride in on Al Smith Road was easy, not really rutted at all. In fact it was too easy - I was coasting all the way in! I kept braking, because I didn't want to come upon a rough spot too fast. I was starting to dread riding back out, since it would be a long way uphill, but at this point I wanted to see it through. I made it out to the parking area and trailhead at the end of the road, and there was only one deeper trench, which still looked passable. I stopped at the end, got off and stretched for a minute, and then headed back.

Apparently a lot of that road is fairly level, because it was actually not too bad going back out! There were only a few uphill spots, and only one that was difficult. I had just gotten up enough momentum that I was coasting on the level stretches as much as the downhill sections, so I thought it was all downhill!

In fact, the hardest part of the ride was the last section, on the loose gravel! This was a bit longer than the other rides I've done, and it was a good workout. Best of all, I now know that I will be able to drive out there and take that hike to Angel Falls Overlook!

Haunting in the Hills

Today I didn't start at work until noon, because I was to stay late for the evening events. Since I was off in the morning, Joanne and Amanda came over for breakfast. They provided eggs and bacon, and I provided pancake mix and maple syrup. It was delicious - I don't usually buy bacon for just me! And they let me keep what was left!

The big event this weekend, and today in particular, was the 23rd annual "Haunting in the Hills" storytelling festival, which is always the third Saturday in September. Because it's been going on for a number of years now, it's well known and draws a big crowd. The campground had been completely booked well in advance. The main events are always on Saturday; there were various ranger talks and activities, including several demonstrations of traditional country crafts. There were also a lot of local venders of crafts and food. There was a huge tent set up in the field across from the visitor center, and throughout the afternoon there were different local music groups playing.

I worked in the visitor center all afternoon, but I did get a chance to go out and walk around the grounds at one point. There was an afternoon session of "family friendly" storytelling going on at the big tent - the P.A. system was powerful enough that it could be heard just about everywhere. There was one story that was getting a lot of giggles as I was walking by, about how "Rindercella" and the "Pransome Hince" got to go to the "Drancy Fess Ball" with the help of the "Gairy Fodmother"...

The Grand Tour

We got a much earlier start this morning! I drove over to the campground, where Joanne and Amanda were just cleaning up from breakfast. We set out right away. I had volunteered to drive, since I was already familiar with the roads, and they had just driven all the way from St. Louis!

We drove west and north, out to the Twin Arches trailhead. This was a no-brainer when I was thinking of places to go. I had hesitated to just tell them, "This is what we're doing," but their reaction was, "Oh good, she already knows what we're doing." So it worked out well.

Twin Arches was gorgeous, as always.

Another Family Visit

My sister, Joanne, and her friend Amanda are here for a visit! They took a few days off work to come out here. Since they are both teachers they were able to leave right after school and drive most of the way yesterday. They thought they would get here by lunchtime today but since it was such a late night they had a late start this morning as well. I waited at the visitor center, just hanging out and using the wifi. When they arrived we headed to the campground. I reserved a site for them a few weeks ago when I found out it was filling up fast, because this weekend also happens to be the annual storytelling festival at Big South Fork! Fortunately I had picked a good site - not too far from the bathroom, right at the edge of the woods, and plenty of room for two tents.

New Neighbor

A couple of times now there has been a BIG spider making its web on the railing of my porch. I don't mind, except that it doesn't like getting its picture taken and always runs away before I can get in a shot! I think it feels the vibrations as I get closer.

Today I managed to get a few photos.

These first two are from the porch looking out at the yard. There was a really nice spotlight from the afternoon sun. This is about life size - maybe just a little larger than life.

Riding Away With Myself

I went on another bike ride today! This one got a little scary. I started by heading down Duncan Hollow Road again, the gravel road behind the campground. I passed the road I turned on last time, and then turned left on another gravel road to get to the Duncan Hollow Bike Loop. This was a dirt bike trail in the woods.

My bicycle is a hybrid - the tires are wider than a road bike, but not quite as big as a real mountain bike. I've never actually ridden on this type of trail before. I will think twice before I do it again.

Part of the problem was that I hadn't looked at it that closely on the map, to realize that the first section would be all downhill. I was going faster than I would like, just hanging onto the brakes and trying to stay in control! Luckily it was a fairly smooth trail - no rocks or roots to speak of. But I felt like I wasn't in control at all!

The late afternoon sunlight was golden and gorgeous. The spiderwebs across the trail showed up really well in the light - as I was crashing through them! I managed to keep my mouth shut, at least.

When I finally slowed down at the bottom of the hill I was able to ride for a while - then it started going back up. And I found that I just couldn't get enough purchase to keep moving - probably a combination of factors, the trail surface, the narrower tires, and my own weight and lack of leg strength. I would push off, but not be able to get moving fast enough to keep my balance. I ended up walking up all but the very slightest of slopes.

When I finally got back to the gravel road it was a relief - even though I knew the trail wasn't that long, I was still having visions of walking out in the dark. At least on the gravel road I'd be able to see where I was going on the lighter rock!

As I rode out I had to get off to one side to let a pickup truck pass by. The driver waved, then did a double take, since I had just talked to him in the visitor center a couple of hours earlier! We talked for a minute then headed out separate ways.

Riding back on Duncan Hollow Road was much easier than it was last time - enough vehicles have passed through that the gravel has been packed down again. I stopped at a meadow to try and capture the evening light on the trees.

 

Driving the Grand Circle

Today I got sent on a mission: drive to all the smaller visitor centers in outlying towns and bring copies of the newly-published fall newspaper for Big South Fork NRRA. This ended up taking most of the day, starting with a twenty-minute session on Google Maps to make sure that I knew how to get to all of them!

My drive took me east to Oneida, then south to the Helenwood/Huntsville visitor center, which I drove past but quickly backtracked to. Then it was south to Rugby, which is out at the tail end of the park - a historic Victorian village, run by a nonprofit association which has provided the use of one of the buildings for an NPS visitor center. I stopped at the Rugby visitor center first, and got directions to the NPS building.

Now I headed even further south - to Wartburg, to the visitor center for Obed National Wild & Scenic River, which is a smaller NPS unit that is under the same administration as Big South Fork. I talked with the ranger there for a while, and then headed out. I was driving west through Obed, and stopped at a picnic area for lunch. It was down by the river, and a very pretty and quiet spot.

Ghost Train

This was an interesting day, because I, along with most of the other Bandy Creek staff, was scheduled to work a special event up at the Blue Heron area of the park: the Ghost Train.

Blue Heron has a scenic railroad that comes in daily to deliver passengers who want to look around at the historic coal mining community. However, one of their annual events is the Ghost Train, which is at night, and showcases storytellers at several spots presenting spooky tales. The event needed lots of staff to make sure people didn't wander off into the night!

I drove up there with Jake, another ranger at Bandy Creek. We were in a government car - a Prius. Jake and I are the two tallest people at Bandy Creek. The makers of the Prius apparently never heard of tall people. It was a little tight, but a very smooth ride. And we only got lost twice and had to call for directions before finding it - I've only been to Blue Heron twice, and someone else was driving each time. I thought Jake would know the way because he's from around here, but he hadn't been there since a middle school field trip! Luckily we got there in plenty of time.

A bunch of us walked around the grounds setting out luminaries - gallon milk jugs with electric tea lights in them. Then we went back to the depot and went over the schedule for the evening - there would be five groups, and each group would start at a different storytelling spot and then rotate. We ate supper while we waited for the train to come in. It started raining - hard! And kept raining! We lucked out, and the rain stopped just as the train arrived. It was quite dark by this time, especially with the clouds still covering the sky. The milk jugs we placed earlier had turned into beacons in the night, marking our path.

A Leetle Leezard!

Today I started late because I was going to be working at an evening event, but I went to the visitor center early to use the wifi. As I sat in the rocking chair on the porch outside, I saw one of the many lizards that live under and around the porch - it is just about impossible to sit still for more than a few minutes and not see one of these darting in and out from under the porch railing and in between the cracks. This one actually stretched out in the sun for a few minutes.

That is one relaaaxed lizard. I believe it is a Southeastern Five-Lined Skink - according to Tennessee Watchable Wildlife the juveniles have a bright blue tail and very distinct stripes. That's blue all right!

Lets get rolling!

Today I brought my bicycle with me to work, because I wanted to go for a short ride after work, and all of the bike trails are on that side of the river! It was nice out, not really cool but not too hot, and overcast.

I didn't actually go on a bike trail, but on Duncan Hollow Road, a gravel road that goes out the back of the campground and connects with several other gravel roads and trailheads. This is the same route that a major horse event took place on today - a long-distance endurance ride. I'm not sure how many people and horses showed up for this, but it's veen very busy in the visitor center, and we've sold more bags of ice than any other week! However many horses, they really churned up that gravel road - it was a bit of a slog riding through the loose gravel and dirt. When I got to the side road that leads to the John Litton farm trailhead, I took that, since it was still packed down. Also, I've been wanting to check out that area.

Duncan Hollow Road was a pleasant ride through the woods, but this was a real tunnel. Lovely!

Out to the edge again

I had a longer week this week. My usual days off are Monday and Tuesday, but since I had to work at the Visitor Center on Labor Day, they got slid over to Tuesday-Wednesday. (That's what happens when you work in the place that people go to on holidays! At least I got double pay for that day!)

My hike this week was to an overlook on the Leatherwood Loop trail. The whole loop goes down to the river and then back up - or vice versa - while following the winding gorge road part of the way. I didn't want to do the climbing, but it's not far to the overlook from the parking lot for the Sunset Overlook trail. Just heading to a different spot on the rim.

Raft trip

The Big South Fork River is a popular destination for whitewater rafting and kayaking, and I had been meaning to go on a raft trip. I kept putting it off - first I wanted to wait until after Fourth of July was over, and then there were several weeks in a row of rain, and then it slipped my mind... When I finally went to book an expedition, the outfitter was no longer doing daily trips except on weekends. They told me they could let me know if a large group booked a trip, and I could go with them. I asked them to let me know if any trips came up for Mondays or Tuesdays. "Actually, we have a group going out this Tuesday!"

Sheltowee Trace Outfitters does raft trips at several different locations. They actually do rafting in Big South Fork NRRA, but only in late spring and early summer, when the water levels are higher. At this time of year they are starting their expeditions further north - just below Cumberland Falls.

I had to get an early start, because the trip was supposed to start at 9 a.m. and I wanted to get there well before that. I got there just before they opened at 8:30. I put on my sunscreen and went to check in. I had thought that might take a while but I had plenty of time to wait for the rest of the people to arrive. Then a whole crowd of jeeps rolled in - the group that had booked the rafts for the day was taking a break from off-roading to do a float trip.

At 9:00 they called us together, but it turned out that everyone else still had to fill out the liability forms, etc. so I had more time to wait. At around 9:30 we went upstairs to watch a video about rafting safety and how to properly use the equipment. Afterward we went back down and were assigned life jackets, helmets, and paddles. (The two other times I've done this were in the mountains, and everyone had to wear wetsuits to ward off hypothermia! It was nice to not have to worry about that!)

Now came the bus ride - about 20 minutes to our put-in location, at Cumberland Falls State Park. It was a bit of a walk from the parking lot down to the put-in below the falls. One more lecture, and we were assigned our rafts and guides. I was in a raft with three other people who were not part of the larger group, and a guide who was doing a float on her day off.

It was about 10:30 that we were actually getting out on the river. If I had realized it would be that long, I would have brought my sunscreen on the bus and reapplied it when I got to the river!

We were putting in below the falls, but we were able to paddle back upstream and get closer to them. I had bought a disposable waterproof camera at the shop when I checked in, so I was able to try and capture that unique view! Some of the pictures ended up a little smeary from the water, but the views are still great!