Back in Joelton

We pulled into the site we vacated last week in the campground in Joelton about mid-afternoon following an uneventful drive from Walland.  We were all anxious to get out of the truck and get our little home set up once again.

This is going to be another busy week.  Tomorrow is Gene’s annual physical which will probably take the best part of the morning.  I get to do laundry.  I think I’d rather have the physical.  Wednesday we both have dental appointments.  That shouldn’t take too long and hopefully we will have the opportunity to get in a short hike afterward.

Thursday, it is back to Columbia for service on the Everest again.  This time, our main concern is getting the leak fixed.  We will be exceedingly blessed if we don’t have rain before Thursday.

Besides the leak, there is the issue of the TV.  Did I mention that our bedroom TV fell off its door on our trip from Newport to Walland?  We have a flat screen TV which is mounted to a piece of plywood, the plywood is mounted to the inside of a cabinet door.  The plywood, along with the TV, detached itself from the cabinet door.  Luckily, the door was securely closed and the TV fell into the cabinet on top of Gene’s shirts.  The TV was not damaged.  We were shocked to find that the plywood had been attached to the cabinet door with 8 tiny nails which look a whole lot like straight pins.  They certainly didn’t look sturdy enough to hold the weight of a TV, especially one riding down America’s highways at 60 mph.

All these things that come loose, break, or fall off of a new RV are pretty typical.  We call it the “shake down period” and we hope that everything that is going to break does during the 1-year warranty period.  Even though we expect it to happen, it is nevertheless frustrating to have it happen and keep running to the dealer for repairs.

Thursday promises to be a long day.

That’s it for now.

TTA Annual Meeting

Well, we have had a fantastic weekend with beautiful weather, wonderful visits with friends, and lots of fun and frolicking at the annual meeting of our hiking club.

We arrived at Misty River Cabins and RV Resort in Walland, TN about noon on Friday.  Arriving at Misty River was almost like coming home for us.  During the 9 months that Gene worked at the Knoxville office of his employer, we parked our Montana on the very site we were assigned this weekend.  During that time, we, of course, got to know the owners and staff very well.  Just seeing these friends would have been worth a visit to Misty River.  This is a relatively new campground--it is only about 3 years old.  It has been laid out with the big rigs in mind and nearly all the 50 or so sites are pull-thrus with 50 amp electric service, cable TV, WiFi, picnic tables and fire rings.  All interior roads and sites are gravel with grassy areas between sites.  The shower house and laundry facilities are new and very nice.  Misty River’s main disadvantage is that it is about 10 miles from Townsend which is a gateway community to the Smokies.  However, it is also about 10 miles from Maryville, the closest large community for groceries, restaurants, and entertainment.

Townsend is a nice, small community with a small grocery, a couple coffee shops, and several motels.  For years, Townsend tried to become the bustling gateway community that attracted the tourists like Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, but it failed in that attempt.  It has since adopted the image of “the quiet side of the mountain” and has developed a laid back, peaceful community with a very nice greenway which meanders past large grassy lawns in front of small, privately owned motels.  The Little River comes out of the Smokies and passes through Townsend drawing a few fishermen and hordes of tubers and rafters during the summer months.

Tennessee Trails Association is a statewide hiking club with 15 chapters across the state.  Chapters take turns hosting the annual meeting--this year being East Tennessee’s turn.  The mission of the club is to promote hiking and trail development across the state.  Their primary project over the years has been to build the Cumberland Trail--a 300-mile linear trail extending from Cumberland Gap National Park on the Kentucky border to Chickamauga National Military Park near Chattanooga.  Each year at the annual meeting, both a silent and a live auction (as well as white elephant) are conducted to raise funds to build this trail.  Each chapter also has small projects to help build and maintain trail and greenway, especially in state and local parks, across the state.

Waiting to make a wet stream crossing.

Having been members of this club for many years, we have several good friends who share our interest in hiking and it is always good to see these folks each year at the annual meeting.  We got the opportunity to visit and catch up with several friends yesterday as we hiked along the Little River and Cucumber Gap trails.  It was a great hike--only about 5.5 miles in length with only one short uphill section.  We did have the chance to practice our rock hopping skills at one creek crossing.  In our large group of about 35, we only had one to fall in, but most had wet feet by the time they arrived on the far shore.

One of the highlights of the meeting is the live auction.  In times past, the items for auction were usually well used hiking or camping gear and those items which would normally be donated to Goodwill or the trash bin.  The “auctioneers” were volunteers from the club.  Gene has even taken a turn or two. We always had a great time though, bidding ridiculous prices for some worthless piece of junk.  Eight or ten years ago, someone decided that we really could make more money if we had items that people would actually like to own.  With that decision, the club started getting donations from sports outfitters of everything from gift certificates to packs, from state resort parks for 1 and 2 night stays at their lodges, B and Bs were offering packages, club members were donating finely handcrafted items, and a host of other really nice items.  They also started hiring professional auctioneers.  There still are a few traditional items that always appear at the auction which never cease to amaze the auctioneers.  One of those items is the pan of fresh homemade brownies.  Each year the auctioneer (since the meeting is in a different area of the state each year, we never have the same auctioneer) starts the bidding off around $10 for the brownies.  This year, that pan of brownies went for $375.

This morning, 6 of our good friends came over to share breakfast with us and we spent the morning enjoying everyone’s company.  Friends are truly precious gifts.

We have had a great weekend, but now we are pooped puppies.  We extended our stay by one night just to rest before the drive back to Nashville.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park

Great Smoky Mountain National Park is located at the Tennessee--North Carolina border and consists of approximately 550,000 acres.   GSMNP receives more visitors each year than any of our other National Parks.

Most of these visitors can be found along the 4 or 5 roads inside the park. US Highway 441 cuts across the park from Gatlinburg, Tennessee to Cherokee, North Carolina.  As it crests the mountain at Newfound Gap, there is a side road which takes visitors to the highest point in Tennessee--Clingman’s Dome.  Perhaps the most popular drive within the park is the Cade’s Cove Loop Road.  It is not uncommon during fall leaf season for the 11-mile drive to take a couple hours to complete.  It is a beautiful cove with several restored cabins, a small visitor center/gift shop, and almost a guarantee  of seeing a black bear.

A great place to fish

Great Smoky Mountians National Park is our home state park so we’ve spent a great deal of time here.  I had a few photos on the computer taken during previous visits to the park. Enjoy.

Charlie's Bunion

Clingman's Dome Lookout Tower

Greenbrier School

Laurel Falls

The Sinks

We are here this weekend for our hiking club annual meeting.  More on that tomorrow.

Little Cataloochee Trail

This morning I dressed in the same hiking clothes I had on yesterday.  They don’t seem to be as fresh as they were.  This is just like backpacking--putting on the same stinky clothes you wore yesterday and probably the day before and the day before that.  These clothes, however, had the chance to dry out overnight as I was sleeping in my nice soft bed after a long hot shower.  That is not at all like backpacking.

Cook Cabin

We were up and out early again this morning and drove that same horrible road to our trailhead on the very edge of the eastern park boundary.  I say the eastern edge of the park; it would be more accurate to say the northeast edge.  The park lies in a diagonal orientation straddling the Tennessee/North Carolina border.  Our hike today was in North Carolina in the area of the Little Cataloochee settlement.  There were two Cataloochee settlements--the Big and the Little--with about 1200 residents farming the rugged mountainsides in this area.

Little Cataloochee Baptist Church

We were on the trail by 8 AM and passing through what remains of Little Cataloochee.   The Park Service has restored two cabins in the area.  The Little Cataloochee Baptist Church is also located along this trail and is still being used for special occasions.  It really looked nice with a fresh coat of white paint.  As is typical of the old churches, especially in the south, there was a small cemetery in the side yard.  The church was located 2 miles from the trailhead along a dirt road.  The park service keeps some of these old roads passable for those special occasions (usually homecomings) when there is a service held.  Some of the old cemeteries are still active and many, active or not, have “decoration” days periodically.  The gates that bar these old roads are opened on those days to allow access.  The old road we hiked today as far as Cook Cabin at mile 2.6 was actually in better condition than the road we had to drive to get to the trailhead.  Beyond Cook Cabin we were still on the old road, but this portion is no longer maintained.

Hannah Cabin

Old stone walls

Our hike took us up and over Davidson Gap and down the other side to the junction with Pretty Hollow Trail at Pretty Hollow Creek.  We had our lunch at the trail junction  overlooking the rushing water and then retraced our steps to the truck.

Pretty Hollow Creek

Tomorrow is moving day.  We are going to the other side of the Smokies to the community of Townsend where we will spend the weekend.

Long Bunk and Mount Sterling Trails

Two more trails have been colored in on my Smokies map.

We got an early start this morning, leaving the house at 6:15 for the hour drive to the Mount Sterling Trailhead.  The portion of this drive which is in North Carolina is along a very bad, narrow dirt road.  We were surprised at the number of people we met along that road at the crack of dawn this morning.  Mostly, it was hunters trying to find their dogs.  However, there was one couple who was obviously confused and/or lost.  They had been traveling east on I-40 and seemed somewhat disoriented when they were forced off the interstate at the state line.  They were ahead of us and finally stopped and flagged us down for directions.  As bad as the road was, they were more interested in continuing the 25 or so miles along that bone jarring washboard than taking the 100 mile detour.  When we stopped at our trailhead, Gene once again showed them the map and wished them well on their journey.  Hope they made it.  We’ll have the privilege of going over that road again to get to our trailhead for tomorrow’s hike.

We started our hike uphill along the Mount Sterling Trail for a half mile.  There we connected with the Long Bunk Trail and enjoyed a very pleasant walk through hardwood forest for 3.7 miles to the end of the trail.  As with many trails in the Smokies, there was evidence of pioneer settlements especially as we neared the junction with the Little Cataloochee Trail.  We walked through an old homestead where we could see the remains of fence posts and some rusting pots.  You can always tell when you are near someone’s old home place by the yucca plants that are now growing wild.  A half mile from the end of our trail, we came upon the Hannah Cemetery.  There are many of these old cemeteries within the park boundaries.

Finally, a break

With the abundance of rain lately, the creeks and streams were full of water.  In places the trail was pretty wet, also.  We were high enough in elevation that the trees had already shed their leaves.  Those leaves were on the trail making the hike difficult and somewhat treacherous.  Concealed by the leaves were all the trail hazards we have come to love--rocks, roots, ruts from horse travel, horse doo, and mud. YUK!!

Hannah Cemetery

At the junction with the Cataloochee Trail, we stopped for a short break and then retraced our steps to the Mount Sterling Trail.  We had already done the first half mile of this trail and only had 1.8 miles left.  That 1.8 miles was a doozy, gaining almost 2000 feet in elevation.  Our break at the top could have easily turned into a nap. We were dog tired by that time.

At the end of the day, we had hiked 11.8 miles and climbed nearly 3000 feet and I got to color about 2 inches on the map.  Doesn’t hardly seem worth it.

Tomorrow, we will head out early again and drive about 3 miles beyond our stopping point today to the next trailhead.

From Newport, Tennessee

We are now parked at the Newport KOA off of I-40 north of the Smoky Mountains.   We had a beautiful, blue-sky day for our drive from Spartanburg.  The rock slide which had I-40 closed at the North Carolina/Tennessee border is still blocking the interstate so we drove around via I-26 to I-81 then south to I-40 east.  Many miles out of the way (over a 100), but the road was good and the view was beautiful.

We had originally planned to arrive here last Sunday and spend the week hiking.  I am trying to hike all the trails in the Smokies and there are several on this side of the mountain which I don’t have colored on my map.  I had picked out 3 hikes which would get me 4 more trails completed.  With our trip to South Carolina, I will only be able to hike 2 days instead of 3 and I won’t have a rest day.  That’s alright--that trail will still be there the next time we are in the area.

We do not normally stay at KOA Kampgrounds, however, this was very conveniently located for the trails we plan to hike this week.  The KOAs we have visited have all been very nice, but we feel they are way overpriced.  That is true of this KOA, however, we did learn that they have a monthly rate of $450/month and that includes electricity.  That’s a great price and apparently there are no restrictions--that rate summer, winter, or even leaf season.  What a deal.  We may have to come back for a month some time.

Yesterday, we had a nice lunch and a wonderful visit with my cousin and his wife.  Our campground in Spartanburg was only about 2 miles from their home.  They came over, we did the quick tour of the Everest, then we were off to lunch at Bubba’s for some wonderful BBQ and fried okra.  When our plates were empty and our stomachs about to pop, we came back to the campground for an afternoon of catching up.

That’s it for today.  I need to get my pack ready for a very early start tomorrow morning.

A Tribute to a Special Aunt

Yesterday was spent honoring my aunt, Martha Sue, a very special lady who touched the life of so many.  Her influence on the lives of people she met was evidenced by the crowd which gathered for the memorial service at the church.  There were more people gathered for the that service than had been present for the morning worship service.  What a tribute and honor to this great lady.

As a child, I always enjoyed going to visit my cousins in South Carolina (well, at that time they lived in North Carolina) and I was always underfoot each summer when they made the trip to see our grandparents in Tennessee.  As an adult, I have been on a few adventures with Carl and Martha Sue.  They are hikers, so we took to the trails a few times.  One especially memorable trip was canoeing at the Okefenokee Swamp.  They were travelers, as well, and spent a lifetime seeing the sites across America.

A devout Christian, she loved God, she loved the church, she loved her family, and she loved the creation, especially the flowers.  She spent her life spreading kindness to the people in her community.  She stood by her husband of nearly 61 years and traveled with him as a missionary to the Ukraine, Siberia, and Central and South America.

It truly is a blessing to have known Martha Sue and she will be greatly missed.