For 33 years adventurous cycling spirits have literally rolled across the state of Georgia. I wasn’t there when it started and, in fact, have only participated in the June Bike Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) ride four times, but, once you’ve done it you will either always want to do it again or never want to do it again. There really is no in between. The years that I did it, the majority of the of the riders were veterans of prior rides, so for my money, the do it again crowd far outweighs the others. Every year in June, I wish I was on the road again. To get you “ready” for the 7 day ride across the state, BRAG sponsors a spring tune-up around Madison, Georgia. I’ve done these a few times. The pictures on this blog are primarily from the Spring 2012 tune up with some older pictures thrown in.
First some facts. 2012 Bike Ride Across Georgia starts June 3, near Chattanooga, Tennessee with stops at Dalton, Jasper and Roswell, which is just north of Atlanta for a day of rest before turning north again to Winder, Mt. Airy, and ending in Tiger on June 10. For real details, go to the official BRAG website . Essentially, this years seven day ride covers about 320 miles with a rest day on the 4th day. Some of the cyclists will use this “rest” day to complete a century ride (100 miles). The official ride days range from 40 to 72 miles in distance with rest stops every 10 to 15 miles on average. If you ever want to learn how to run a ride, then you should ride BRAG and watch how the rest stops and SAG wagons work. The volunteers manning the rest stops can’t be beat and the people in the support vehicles never fail to help you out. Sometimes, in June, Georgia is a little hot and these folks make sure any cyclist who isn’t on their A game gets to the next stop. Further, you need to watch the care BRAG gives to the Special Olympians who ride with them every year. You will see some very special people.
The Spring Tune Up started on Friday with rides from Madison’s Heritage Park with the Brer Rabbit Ride. Saturday brought the Oreo Cow ride which gave the cyclists another opportunity for a century ride or the optional 57 mile Blue Willow ride which generally meanders westerly over to Social Circle, home of the Blue Willow Inn. Sunday brought the Rock Eagle Ramble which would take a rider past the Georgia 4-H camp and back to Madison past the Stefan Thomas Museum. Here’s how I saw it from the Bike.
A Madison home from long ago
Madison is one of those old southern towns with many old homes that have been taken care of and now provide a glimpse into an earlier time. The house above, stands beside the Saturday and Sunday routes and is striking, but you might have liked another just as well. Sometime during the year, there will be a tour of homes and this one may be on it.
Riding by the rails
Leaving town you’ll cross the railroad tracks that once upon a time tied the small towns of the south together and carried merchandise and people across the states. Today, they speed past the whistle stops loaded with freight and cars and things bound for distant places while the old depots have been torn down or turned into different uses. Out of town, you’ll find what many of us ride for: Vista’s like these
Making Hay
where you have time to look and linger on the bike while watching the cyclist ahead of you and the car behind. The bicycle riders who do these rides are ordinary people who do extraordinary things. The people who organize these rides are extraordinary people who create an extraordinary event.
Riding with your friends
On Sunday, near the end of the last day’s ride, you will come across something else quite extraordinary.
A museum in a cow pasture
The Steffen Thomas Musem of Art sits aside Bethany road adjacent farm fields and cow pastures and has served as a rest stop for the Spring Tune up for a number of years. We had stopped outside several times, but this year, the door opened and we went in. It is an exceptional museum and serves as a cultural anchor not just for Madison but for a much wider area and audience. More importantly the Museum is dedicated to educational programs to reach many of the places our bicycles, cars and trains roll past. We’ll feature the museum in another article, but if you are near Madison for whatever reason, don’t wait for us to write about it. Go see for yourself. Meanwhile, bike, camp, live and learn.
Our little group just finished another hike to Mount LeConte near Gatlinburg, Tennessee, USA. I’ll post all the details later, but I wanted to share a part of the trip with you in a condensed version. We were at the top of Mt. LeConte for two nights spending the entire day there on April 27. As usual the weather was changeable. We had hiked up in a thunderstorm on the 26th and had intermittent clouds and sunshine most of the 27th.
The dining hall at LeConte Lodge
As you can see above the day started off with clouds. It was somewhat humid, but the temperature by afternoon was in the mid 50’s Fahrenheit. Our intention was to spend the day hiking around the top of Mount LeConte and taking it easy. We had come up Alum trail again which is a fairly strenuous trek, particularly in the rain of a thunderstorm. We wanted to go over the top of the mountain to Myrtle Point, which affords the best views of sunrise on Mount LeConte, to spend an hour or two in the afternoon resting on the rocky ledge looking out over the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. As we pushed along we soon saw an unmistakable image of why these mountains are called the Smokies.
The mountain billowing smoke
Looking at the above picture, the view is along a ridge that runs south from Mount LeConte. The Boulevard trail follows this ridge from LeConte to the Appalachian Trail. The wind is from the west, or moving from right to left in the picture. As the wind rises up from rises up from the valley to the crest of the ridge there are no clouds to the west, but as soon as the wind crosses the ridge, clouds boil up from the east side like smoke from a volcano, creating a vision of smoke rising out of the ground. After a couple of hours it diminished, but it was an amazing sight while it lasted.
A view from Myrtle Point.
On Myrtle Point, even with the Smokies haze, the view is what you go to the mountains for. Although, you might see something similar from a car, there is nothing like getting to the top of a 6000 foot mountain on your own feet and taking your shoes off while resting in the sun and the clouds. Yes, sometimes you are in the clouds. Myrtle Point juts out into space and is a granite point surrounded by low growing Myrtle shrubs. It is accessible only by walking at least six and a half miles up and over Mount LeConte or by hiking over seven miles from Newfound Gap along the Appalachian and Boulevard trails. Thus, the view above is not a sight everyone will see with their own eyes. You should try though, because it is incredibly peaceful and restful, to sit there and look out at the mountains and the ever-changing sky.
Near the crest of Mount LeConte, along the Boulevard trail, there is an Appalachian Trail through hiker shelter that gives the through hikers a respite if they decide to take Boulevard to LeConte and then venture down into Gatlinburg. Since our last visit to LeConte about 6 months ago, the National Park Service installed a new composting toilet for the use of the through hikers. It seems to work well, but like every thing else I’ve been talking about. It’s up hill to get there. In fact, at the bottom of the Alum Cave trail the National Park Service erected this sign which has warnings to hikers to take precautions
National Park Service Trail Map and Warning
because of the footing. The sign states, in part: “This trail is steep and rocky. Wear sturdy boots with adequate ankle support.” Further, if you look closely, you will see that the sign also indicates that the summit is over five miles away, at over 6,500 feet and takes four of five hours of hiking to reach.
An easy part of the Alum Cave Trail
The part of the trail shown above is in the lower half of the trail. As I stated earlier, the new composting toilet at the through hikers shelter is near the summit of Mount LeConte and there is no way to get there, except on the trails. So, take a look at what the National Park Service installed for the through hikers to use.
ADA toilet at 6500 ft elevation along a rocky trail at least six miles from the nearest road.
They have their very own Americans with Disabilities Act approved toilet. I have carried a back pack up or down every trail leading to this toilet on all sides of Mount LeConte. I guarantee you that any person who required such a toilet as part of his/her normal life would not be able to roll their wheel chair to this toilet, even if you carried them to a spot within a quarter of a mile from the toilet. At Goneguru, we want everyone to have a quality life and to enjoy travel and the great outdoors. We support research for such disabling diseases as Multiple Sclerosis, but some things just don’t make sense. If you can explain to me the logic in why this toilet was configured to be ADA approved, please do so.
This article provides the answer for the family or couple or group of friends who want to spend some time in the great outdoors, but need different levels of comfort in the adventure. Some need a bed, some a toilet, some a shower, some a hot meal, some could do without any of these but need the companionship of someone who can’t. You can share the adventure without missing any of what you need. If you are willing to go for a walk in the woods with friends, or want to do it alone and get to a place where you won’t be alone, we have the answer for you. That is, unless you need a cell phone. You won’t find or need any of those here.
I’m one of those people who say I would love to hike the Appalachian Trail, but in truth know that I never will be willing to sleep outside for four or five months and carry a pack sixteen hundred miles along the eastern half of the United States. Nevertheless, I can enjoy the outdoors along the trail, hike parts of it, and still benefit greatly from the fact that the Trail exists. If you don’t know anything about the Appalachian Trail, anything about camping, or backpacking or even have any desire to learn these things, you can enjoy an easy to moderate hike up a well maintained trail near the start of the Appalachian Trail, spend the night in a green certified lodge in the mountains, and count yourself among those lucky enough to see nature at its best.
Find your way to Amicalola Falls State Park in the Chattahoochee National Forest in north Georgia, a few miles south of the official southern end of the Appalachian Trail (AT) on Springer Mountain. The trail to the Len Foote Hike Inn starts at the upper end of the upper most parking lot in the Amicalola Falls State Park and takes you gently up into the mountains. The approach trail to the AT starts at the same place but branches off. The trail to the Len Foote Hike Inn takes you five miles into the mountains to the Hike Inn and then rejoins the AT approach trail a mile above the lodge, thereby giving you an option to hike up one trail to the Len Foote Hike Inn and come back down on another trail.
Arriving at the Hike Inn, you’ll notice that the structure is on stilts and although it is quite large, it has a very small footprint and has a very slight impact on the natural space in which it is situated. The Inn will provide you with all you need for a peaceful retreat, but, you won’t find a television, radio, or cellphone on the premises. You might find that you rather like it that way in this place in the woods.
This eco-friendly or green philosophy permeates the Inn. The roof top supports twenty-four photovoltaic solar panels that provide a percentage of the electricity used there. Composting toilets in the bathhouse provide an odor free way to save hundreds of thousands of gallons of water. Rain barrels collect water used to water the garden and vermiculture beds use earthworms to turn the Inn’s kitchen scraps and office paper into fertilizer for the gardens. The Inn has a gold level LEED certification and a Backyard Wildlife Habitat certification from the National Wildlife Federation. If you arrive at the Inn before 5 PM, you can take the tour of the facilities and perhaps learn a few tricks you might want to apply at home.
Although you could go up and down in a day, you’ll want to stay. The sleeping area provides bunk beds in each room. You’ll find that hot showers, sinks, mirrors and towels are provided. Perhaps you will wake up and decide to spend an a hour in the sun room, which really should be called a rain room, because who would want to be inside in this locale when the sun was shining outside. However, if you do stay in the sunroom you will find it open and comfortable with a ceiling high enough to make you feel like you are outdoors. Or perhaps is will be some quiet time alone looking into the distance on the wrap around porch.
Better, yet make a couple of new friends and find the chairs overlooking the Georgia mountains and tell each other of your tales. You’ll use washable cups and glasses that you put your name on with a biodegradable tape, so sit in one of the great chairs and refill your cup for a few minutes of peace.
No matter what you do while you are there you will find that the time passes as quickly as the sun through the eye of the needle atop the mountain. Taking a cue from the ancients who used sundials for tracking time, this sun’s eye has three great boulders that line up with the sun’s location relative to the eye at the equinoxes and the longest and shortest day of the year.
The eye of the Sun
Since the Inn is open year round, you may want to plan your hike to coincide with one of these. The sight you see may not be a serpent crawling down a pyramid as you would see at Chitzen Itza, but it is still symbolic of the balance between the sun, the earth, nature and man, so its a great icon for the Len Foote Inn. As we said in the beginning, this is a great place for each of you, regardless of what you think you might need when you spend a night in the woods.
Not everyone in the world has an Irish Heritage, but on St. Patrick’s Day many a lad and lassie believe that somewhere in their ancestral past is the vestige of Éirinn go Brách. My wife is legitimatley part Irish and I can trace my ancestry back to Dublin, but my Dublin is a city in America, not Ireland, however, even in this American town, the celebration of all things Irish is roundly upheld. When the opportunity arose for us to go to Ireland there was certainly no reason not to go. This little article shows a few pictures of a personal Ireland on a trip taken around St. Patrick’s Day and shows a few spots in Ireland from a personal point of view.
Celtic cross
The cross above stands in a graveyard in Killarney National Park. I don’t know the identity of the interred, but I am grateful for the beauty of the resting place. To the best of my recollection, this image was taken at Muckross. Nevertheless, it represents crosses we saw all across Ireland on our trip there.
Like many others we started in Galway and ended in Dublin, with too little seen in between. We were there in early spring, so the images you see should reflect the Irish landscape around St. Patrick’s Day. But, don’t take our word for it. Go see for yourself. Even at the early date of our trip, you could none the less tell the beauty of this green island and its well earned lore. I was surprised by the hilliness and the beauty of the lakes resting in the valleys.
Irish lakes and hills
The Connamera region of Ireland is full of mountain, lake and bog land, with a rugged beauty that may not fit with the bright image of Ireland that you may have. However, it can bring to mind the potato famine of the mid 1800’s that sent so many Irish to foreign shores that each of us now feel an Irish kinship. In the midst of this ruggedly beautiful land, you will find man made places that are unimaginably beautiful. One of these is Kylemore Castle which is currently inhabited by the Benedictine Order of nuns also known as The Irish Dames of Ypres.
Kylemore Castle
This is a “modern” castle, built in the 1860’s, and purchased by the Benedictine Oder in 1920. Like much of Ireland, its history can be considered tragic or uplifting and I will leave it to you to research and decide which you think it is. Here is a link to a website that will be helpful. http://www.kylemoreabbeytourism.ie/benedictine-community .
Far to the south of Kylemore Castle, you will find a castle that is far more famous and which is on the ‘to do’ list of almost any tourist to Ireland. I am referring to the famous Blarney Castle. According to the legend, if you kiss the Blarney Stone. you will be gifted with the ability to tell a tale with your listener’s being unable to determine whether you are telling the truth or lying. Blarney Castle sits on a beautiful setting but, because it sits right beside a rather mundane road, upon arriving, you may wonder if you’ve arrived at all. None the less, a few feet along the path you realize that you are in a special place, even if you aren’t sure why.
Blarney Castle
The castle does not look like a “Disney” castle, but was clearly a functional fortress, capable of defending her master’s interests. To kiss the Blarney Stone, one must ascend to the top level of Blarney Castle, find the opening in the parapet that is designated as the “stone”, lie down on your back and extend your face into nothingness until your lips press against the wall.
Kissing the Blarney Stone
It take some concentration as well as trust in the one holding your legs. As you can see the person kissing the stone hangs his/her head between heaven and earth. Note also the modern day grip bars installed to allow even the most reticent tourist to kiss the stone. I, for one, think it should be done the old fashioned way with neither grips nor assistance.
Getting around in western Ireland gives you a great appreciation for the skill and courage of the Irish drivers and lorry-men who navigate these roads. The roads can be narrow and closely bordered with the ubiquitous Irish stone fences setting out the fields of one landowner from another. In this photograph,
Close Encounter
the two drivers of the oncoming buses, squeezed their buses through a space that left no more than 4 inches separation. No dents, no bumps no bruises. These narrow roads will take you past the traditional Irish fields that you have to say you’ve seen. No trip to this emerald Isle can be complete with out looking out over the patchwork Irish countryside divided by the stone fences,
Irish Countryside
each set with no mortar and expected to stand forever. Some of these fences are hundreds of years old and hearken back to an earlier time in this place where peat was burned for heat an thatched roofs held sway. In some places, the old ways live on.
Peat Pile
Beyond the green fields you come to the land of peat. As you can see, the peat is cut into short logs for burning and it is indeed still burned. Perhaps you will find a village in which some of the houses still have thatched roofs. Blarney Castle, peat bogs and thatched roofs alongside green fields and stone walls were what I expected when I came to Ireland and the land did not disappoint me.
Thatch covered houses in a row
Although the houses above were not the little cottages in the field I had envisioned, they gave me the imagery of the houses I had wanted to see.
From the western shore of Ireland, the Atlantic stretches to America. On that shore you’ll find the Dingle Peninsula, where some of the most scenic stone walls fields and seascapes will be found and to the north you’ll find the Cliff’s of Mohler jutting between sea and sky and providing sanctuary to thousands of birds. Although no one can own the scenery, standing there on the cliffs and looking along the shoreline, you feel as though you belong to it, even if it can’t belong to you. Even when you try to capture it in a photograph, you look back and realize that you couldn’t really show what you see.
The cliffs of Mohler
Once you’ve seen these cliffs and the images of Ireland will reappear in your memory and even in your dreams, some times in the strangest ways.
From the Celtic Cross to the cliffs of Mohler and back to Dublin, the emerald isle captures your imagination and lets you blend history and fantasy into one, taking part of the tales of Ireland you may have heard and fixing them in places you finally see with your on eyes. Even when you visit Dublin and all of its bustle, there may be time for you to visit the Papal Cross that was erected near the edge of the Fifteen Acres in Phoenix Park and contemplate all that you have seen.
We’ve previously posted articles about backpacking on Cumberland Island, but this post is for those of you who are looking for a great beach campground for car campers. You’ll find it at Fort De Soto Park near Tampa, Florida. According to one of the Rangers we spoke to at the campground, twenty-five years ago Tampa Bay was a polluted mess and the area around Mullet Key on which Fort De Soto is located had brackish backwater that couldn’t circulate and a dying grassy area in the bay that soured and smelled, particularly in the summer months. Cooperation between local, state, and federal agencies and the local conservation groups cleaned up the bay, cut new channels for water flow through and around Mullet Key and today the area is a haven for campers.
The island is reachable by a bridge from the Bayway or by water, but what will strike you is the fact that it has remained largely undeveloped.
Birds on the public pier looking at the beach
If you look at the background in the picture above you will see the stretch of beach running from the Bay Pier up to North Beach. Note that there is not a single highrise nor even a house on the beach. If you go south from this point, you’ll enter the Bay pass the Bay pier and reach the tip of the island passing only the Park Headquarters building, restrooms and park concessions. That is to say, other than the buildings necessary to provide services to the visitors, there are no other buildings on this island. As you skid through Tampa on I-275, you will not believe you are going to a place as tranquil as this.
Fort De Soto Park Campground sits directly adjacent Anderson Boulevard, so it cannot be missed in terms of passing it by, but it might be missed in terms of getting a reservation. Reservations are taken 6 months in advance, unless you are a Pinellas County resident in which case you get an extra month. The campground holds back 10% of its 250 campsites for walk-ins. On the weekend, a walk-in can reserve a campsite for two nights. We asked the Ranger at check in about this and when one should arrive to be certain of a campsite. He said that the Ranger office opens at 7 a.m. , but that walk-ins would often arrive as early as 1:30 a.m. and bring their lawn chairs to sit outside the door. We checked this story out and on the Friday morning we were there, a person arriving at 2:00 a.m. would have been 5th in line!
The campground is laid out in three sections, a pet area for those camping pet owners who bring their pets along on their adventures and two other area’s across a short bridge over a man-made channel. The area to the right is primarily for RV‘s and large trailers while the area to the left is primarily for tents and smaller trailers. Campsites 1 to 85 are in this area, campsites 86 to 164 are in the pet area and campsites 165 yo 233 are in the larger RV area.
At campsite 20 looking past the tent to the water
We’ve camped in campsites 1 and 20 which are both on the water facing out to the bay. As you can see from the picture above the campsites are laid out on a shell base to show you the area in which you should pitch your tent or park your RV. What you can’t see in this picture is that each has electrical service and water service, a grill, a picnic table, potable running water at a tap, and a hook on which to hang your lantern. A small camp store with a spacious deck for relaxation has most of the supplies you might need, if you don’t want to venture back into town. Each spacious campsite is separated from the adjacent campsites by a border of palmetto bushes and palm trees so each has a sense of privacy. However, if you are not in the pet area you will have visitors.
racoon at our campsite
It is no surprise to see raccoons in the day or night, so be sure your food is properly stowed and your trash is properly disposed of in the receptacles provided. The weighted lids are more than a raccoon can lift to get into the bins, and these are not little raccoons. The ones strolling through our campsite would easily have weighted 15 pounds. You’ll also be visited by squirrels and birds, but clearly the largest and boldest of the visitors will be the ring-tailed bandits. As you can see at the right, they are easily frightened and will scurry away or climb a tree as soon as you get near, however, if you are not around they will go through everything you have that’s not tied down.
Campsites 1 to 48, 138 to 153, and 202 to 232 are all on the water facing generally to the west, although many of these have a hedge of bushes between them and the water, however, a large grassy border extends from the campsites to the water. It makes a great spot to set up your lawn chair late in the afternoon and watch the sunset.
Sunset at campsite 20
In the picture above, you see the sun setting over the other end of the island, which is L shaped, so on the other side of the trees, the sun is settling into the Gulf fo Mexico just beyond the beach.
As mentioned above, there are no developments on the beach. However, Fort De Soto was built in the early years after the Spanish-American war between 1900 and 1910 and remains substantially intact. The fort was rendered obsolete by the development of mobile modern artillery and so the military closed it between WWI and WWII. None of the governmental entities nor developers had any interest in the island in the 40’s and 50’s and the island was largely managed as a bird sanctuary.
He owns the Island
Today, thousands of birds can been seen and are still protected on the island, therefore, a large part of the island is off-limits as a nesting area, however, the undeveloped beach is therefore somewhat secluded from the central road and bike path and relatively unspoiled. The beach is widest and most usable from the Gulf pier (fishing is free with no permit required) up to the bird sanctuary at North Beach and above North Beach to the tip of the island. The beach extends southward beyond the fort and around the bend in the island past the Bay pier to east beach. At East Beach and North Beach, parking, pavilions and bath houses are supplied in abundance and are well maintained and clean. The cycling trail runs the length of the island and connects to a multiuse trail that runs along South Pinellas Bayway for several miles. You can pedal your hybrid or cruise bike along the path for miles without seeing a hill. The road cyclist zoom past in their spandex on the road, generally disdaining the multiuse path and its slower traffic.
The island and the campground make up one of the better family camping locales on any beach anywhere. It’s also quite attractive to the RV crowd. Camp cleanliness and light maintenance is the responsibility of about 8 couples who serve as camp hosts. They get their campsite free of charge for three months in exchange for 20 hours per week (per person) spent “doing the chores” that are necessary to keep the camp pristine. A husband and wife team, who were one of the host couples we spoke with, had been on the waiting list to host at Fort De Soto for three years and were thrilled to have finally arrived for their three month stay. The Rangers we talked to had all been with the park for at least a dozen years and many of the campers had returned for year after year to the park. One Pinellas county resident shows up at 2 a.m. on Friday nearly every week to get a walk in campsite so he can spend his weekend fishing and communing with nature.
Arrowhead Picnic Area
Separate from the campground, on the north end of the island across from the pavilions and bath houses servicing north beach, a narrow road leads to Arrowhead picnic area. Again, the seclusion and sense of being out in a wilderness is amazing. The area is as well kept as the remainder of the park with trash cans, bath houses, and picnic tables available for day users. No overnight camping is allowed in this areas. You may want to just go sit there and rest by the water, or maybe you’ll rent a kayak and paddle up to here on your way to adjacent Shell island, which is also undeveloped and reachable only by boat. Either way you’ll find it a tranquil and restful spot.
This place is one of our favorite car camping locales. It’s clear we aren’t alone in thinking this. One of the rangers told us that about 10 to 15% of the winter visitors are French Canadians. One couple we met were from California, another from Maine, another lady from Pennsylvania. There was a good mix of families with kids on bikes, retiree’s in RV’s, couples hanging out together, minding their own business but happy to wave or converse if you wanted. You can see more about the campground at http://www.pinellascounty.org/park/05_ft_desoto.htm . There may be additional posts regarding Fort De Soto on Goneguru.com, however, for one last look at the kind of scenery you’ll find at Fort De Soto State Park, here’s a tree that has been there a long, long time.
Did you know that on the fateful voyage of the Titanic in 1912, the Captain had altered course and was heading for Halifax, Nova Scotia to refuel instead of going straight to New York? We learned that by accident when in Halifax, when I insisted that we should go to the Maritime Museum on the waterfront in Halifax. It was against the wishes of the others in our traveling group, but I insisted that the Titanic exhibit shouldn’t be missed. I was, of course, right and, of course, wrong. The Titanic exhibit is but a small part of a wonderful museum that you should indeed see when you are in Halifax.
Parrot in the Pirate exhibit
Also not to be missed when you are in that part of the world is a trip to Peggy’s cove, small fishing village not far from Halifax with an amazing view and beautiful lighthouse that never was seen by the passengers on board the Titanic.
Lighthouse at Peggy's Cove
However, there are about 180 of the people who perished on the night the Titanic sank buried in Fairview Lawn Cemetary, there in Halifax. When the word went out that the great vessel was going down, Halifax was the nearest port and ships and boats from the port headed out to give aid and assistance in the rescue effort. The grim affair was of little use to the living, but many of the lost were plucked from the icy water and brought to rest in Halifax. In that day and age, it was not realistic to re-patriate the bodies of many who had been heading to America and a new life. So, their final resting place was in this cemetary.
A cemetary in Halifax
Here , the victims are laid out in orderly rows in the form of a ship’s bow. Those who could be identified have their names engraved in uniform stone markers. They lie here together, rich and poor, young and old, made equal in the sea. Even generations after the tragedy some still seek these to find out what happened to a family member or confirm some mystery from a story told somewhere in time. There are some gravestones that bear names we all know such as
J. Dawson, lost with the Titanic
No. He wasn’t Jack Dawson from the movie Titanic, but he was a real person who lost his life on that April night. So, why did my traveling companions not want to go to the Titanic exhibit and visit the cemetary where these poor souls rest?
We had come into Halifax as the first port of call on a Canada and New England Cruise, so we had to get back on the boat and go back out to sea directly from the cemetary!
You might expect to see some wildlife on a trip along the Amazon River and you will not be disappointed. The most prevalent mammals you will see are the monkeys and you will see them when you least expect it, therefore, the pictures of the monkeys you’ll see in this post are not high quality poses of monkeys panning for the camera, but rather, candid shots of the little guys doing what they do. Steal.
Watching the humans in the hammocks below
Of course, they are just like any other creature that lives near humans: if the human is going to leave something laying around, then obviously the human doesn’t need it or perhaps thinks the passing monkey needs it more. This is particularly true of food so precautions are made to keep them away from your food, but, they are industrious and clever and if you turn your head you make look back to learn you are sharing your plate.
A little thief enjoying his melon
If you were lounging in the hammocks, you’d best not fall asleep with anything in your hand, for when you wake up you can be assured that the little guy watching you will have investigated and taken what you had if it suits your fancy. They were incredibly quick at getting around the screen enclosures and grabbing a piece of fruit or other food then settling down on the other side of the screen to enjoy their treat. If you have read the other Amazon posts on this website you will know that we were at the Ariau Towers on the Rio Negro tributary of the Amazon River. This complex has a main building in which the dining hall is located adjacent the boat dock. This is the building to the far right in the picture below. As small store and hotel type rooms were adjacent also. If you look at the picture below you will notice the plank catwalks leading to the left in the picture. To get to our room, we walked about a half mile into the jungle on one of the these catwalks.
Ariau main complexSleeping monkey
As you may notice, the catwalks were at different heights. Further, they branched out into different directions. One day we were taking an alternate route to our room when we came upon a stair where we had to go up to the upper catwalk. Asleep on the stair well was a little was a little monkey like the one shown below. As I started up the stair, I reached down with my hand as if to say “stay where you are” but before I could say don’t, he reached up, grabbed
my hand and was instantly perched on my shoulders. Now , perhaps I should have expected it, but I didn’t expect the utter lack of sympathy I received from my companions, who immediately started laughing at my predicament. There I stand, nearly half a mile from the main buildings with a wild Brazilian monkey perched on my neck. Not wanting to alarm or anger him, I reached gingerly up and touched him which only caused him to hold on tighter and begin chattering, which indicated to me I should leave him alone.
Upper catwalk
So, I continued up the stairs and walked along the catwalk toward our room. He was perfectly content. I was wondering whether I’d wind up with monkey poop down my collar, and my sisters were laughing hysterically. In a short while, that seemed incredibly long to me, I started to cross over a stream and my rider decided that was as far as he wanted to go. He hoped off, ran back down the catwalk, causing the two sisters to nearly fall off as the scurried to avoid him, and was seen no more.
We crossed the stream and were soon at the tower housing our room. Gratefully, I went inside, washed my neck, and prepared my self a beverage. Then I retreated into the safety of our screened in balcony and sat and laughed. Moral of the story is: Never offer your hand to a monkey that you don’t want on your back.
The view from our balcony.
Although we laugh about the monkey, he was not the only encounter with the wild we had on the board walk. We managed to disturb a little green snake and wound up with him on the boardwalk with two of us going in one direction and the other behind him saying don’t leave me here. He quickly escaped and we were certain to watch our step from then on. Let me know what you see when you go.
The Great Smoky Mountains National Park didn’t exist before the Great Depression. Chartered in 1934, the park took in over 800 square miles in eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina. 10 million visitors per year pass through the park, with a large number of them passing along US highway 441 between Gatlinburg, Tennessee and Cherokee, North Carolina. To the east of this main tourist area, just north of Maggie Valley, NC and just off of I-40 is the Cataloochee.
Settled by white men who gradually displaced the Native Americans between 1800 and the Civil War, the Cataloochee as it is today gives a glimpse of life in the remote valleys of Appalachia at the turn of the twentieth century. The settlers descendants were themselves displaced by the creation of the park, leaving behind their houses, barns, fields, churches and cemeteries. When you go there you will feel the shadows of both the Native Americans and the white settlers, or maybe you’ll just feel the wonderful remoteness and stillness of the place. Getting there is not difficult, but don’t expect to roll in your RV; you can’t get them around some of the curves in the road. For an idea of what the road in is like you might want to take in a video someone posted on You Tube.
The campground is located on the banks of one of the streams flowing through the valley and like most National Park Service campgrounds charges a modest fee for a reservation which can be made online up to 6 months in advance of your trip. It is perfect for car campers who want to unload their gear from the back of the car onto the picnic table and sort it out from there. Bathhouses with shower are there, but note that the last time we were there, the filtration system was not working so take along a water purification system or plan to boil all the water you intend to consume.
If you proceed down the road a few yards past the campground, you’ll find the trailhead for the Boogerman loop trail. The trail climbs the mountain on the side of the valley and comes back down to the stream. Along the stream you’ll find yourself walking across a dozen or more log bridges.
A typical Cataloochee footbridge
Along this part of the trail, you will share space with horseback riders, but up on Boogerman loop proper you won’t see any horses. What you will find are some of the foundations of the houses of the farmers who cleared the fields on these mountains and maybe a little rusted tin from the roof of one or two. You may even feel as though you are trespassing, walking through a forest regenerated from a field cleared with back-breaking work. Along the way you will come to a low wall, three to four feet high and three feet wide stretching for a hundred yards into the forest. Most likely, as the field was cleared and plowed, the rocks in the wall were unearthed and carried to the edge of the field, where they were laid into an orderly wall. As you can see, in the 85 + years since the Park took over the farms, along these hillsides the forest has reclaimed fields.
Something in the earth doesn’t like a wall
Look for the giant Poplar tree near the wall. Its base is hollow and two of us stood inside it. These giants haven’t been seen by everyone. I could post a picture, but you need to go see it for yourself.
The trail comes back down the mountain past the old farms and rejoins the stream. If you went along Boogerman loop clockwise, you’ll turn to the right to get back to the trail head. As we did so, we soon encountered where the forest had tried to reclaim a footbridge. We made it across, and as you see it was gracefully done.
Footbridge 8, too far along to go back
Back at the trail head you can turn left and drive or cycle a few miles down into the valley where the meadows still grow tall grasses. You’ll likely see turkey or deer or, if you are out early in the morning or just at dusk, you may encounter a herd of Elk. Once native to these mountains, a re-population project was started a few years ago with 25 Elk. From what we have seen the project has been a success and Elk can be found over a wide area of the National Park. We intentionally went to the meadow at dusk and were literally surrounded by Elk. Although they know they have to share the meadow with mankind, they remain nervous creatures, so don’t get too close. They are wild and deserve their space.
Part of the herd in the meadow by the schoolhouse
If you take the road on down past the bridge and the school-house you’ll come to a farm-house and its barn. Get out and go into both. Sense the presence of a time long gone. It reminded me of my grandparents farmhouse that was built about the same time. I’ll come back with another post about the houses, barns, churches and schools left behind and the Elk who have returned.
Our Italian hiking trip to Capri found us staying on the southern side of the Island at Marina Piccola. Although there are many fine hotels in the town of Capri, which sits astride the middle of the Isle de Capri, we chose to stay at the Hotel Ambassador Weber, mainly because it was right on the sea, which I prefer and because it was reasonably priced. Our window did indeed look over the sea, the beach below, to our left the Faraglioni and to our right the cliffs rising up to Mt. Solora.
The view from the Ambassador Weber
The staff at the hotel were very friendly and always tried to help, even pointing out trails along the map of Capri that they provided, however, when we told them that we wanted to walk up La Scala Fenicia, the concierge looked at us with dismay and exclaimed, “Oh no, it is very tiresome. You do not wish to do this!” We persuaded him that we did indeed want to go see the staircase, but we did not tell him that we intended to go all the way to the top of Mt. Solora, so he directed us to the other side of the Isle de Capri to Marina Grande, where the staircase begins a few feet above sea level.
To get to Marina Grande from Marina Piccola, we walked up a brick pathway to Capri and then took the funicular railway, an inclined railway running between Capri ad Marina Grande. If you go to the Isle de Capri, your trip is not complete without riding it. From the Funicular we walked past the beach and docks up the road to the west of
Boats at Marina Grande
the fishing boats, then turned south with the street until we came to a small sign near the Church of St. Constanza marking the bottom of La Scala Fenicia. The staircase has approxiamtely 900 steps cut into the granite from the port to the town of Anacapri. For centuries, this staircase was the only way to get from the port to Anacapri. Although the name implies that the steps were cut by the Phonecians, they are likely to have been hewn by the Greek settlers of the island instead.
The climb takes you past the residences, school, and olive gardens and fields. As you look back down the steps, the fishing boats in the marina grow increasingly smaller and the climb becomes steeper and steeper. You look up to see where the staircase may come out and wonder if you can get there. Eventually the trail crosses the modern road to AnaCapri, and as you walk from beneath the roadway people look at you as though you were insane. It is probably the fact that your mouth is hanging open gasping for air. Above the road the steps continue, and the panorama below you grows ever larger until you come to Villa San Michelle, built by Axel Munthe and now a museum. There, you find yourself on a street passing little shops and leading into Anacapri.
La Scala Fenicia above the road
We walked through the town and found our way to the Church of St. Michele. The floor of the church is a hand painted tile depicting the explusion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Walkways around the floor preserve its beauty and allow you to see it up close, but you won’t appreciate it until you climb the staircase and look down from the galleries above. We returned to the center of town and debated taking the chair lift to the top of Mt. Solora. However, we decided to walk instead, so we cut across the village to the east of the cable line and soon picked up the trail. It was a moderate hike through a pine thicket so that you only saw the cable cars passing overhead occassionally.
The cable Cars to Mt. Solora
After about an hour, we had passed the spur leading down to the Hermitage of Cetrella and were making our way to the summit of Mt. Solora. As with most of the island, here you find the ruins of by gone battlements and outbuildings, in a setting so picturesque as to defy imagination. Looking down to the east we can see the Faraglioni east and south
Faraglioni from atop Mt. Solora
of Marina Picolla. Jutting out at the far eastern point of the island is Villa Jovis, with Capri and Anacapri on either side of the island. The sea below is a multi-color pallet
Anacapri from atop Mt. Solora
and you wish not to leave, but the small cafe is closing and it is clear that they want everyone to leave. The few tourists, besides ourselves, and the cafe staff board the cable cars and head down while we return to the path and hike our way down to AnaCapri, where we catch the bus back to Marina Picolla. It was a great day.
Hiking the Southern Presidential Range of the White Mountains along the Appalachian Trail is a test for an outdoor adventurer of any level. The mountains are beautiful, but the layer of soil over the granite building blocks of the mountains is extremely thin and you will find yourself walking on, over and around areas of exposed rock throughout the hike. That should not dissuade you from the hike, however, since in our group were people in their early twenties and mid-seventies. Each handled the rigors of the hike and finished with smiles. We met at the AMC Highlands Center at Crawford Notch in northern New Hampshire and followed a well marked trail that crossed the road and lead us up the mountain to the AT. There are stretches along this hiking trail where you will believe it was designed for goats.
The access trail from Crawford Notch to the AT
Note that the Highland Center is at 1900 feet above sea level. In a few hours or so you’ll reach the AT and from there on you follow the ridges and flanks of the mountains. It was on this hike that we learned the meaning of the term “peak bagging.” During our first night on the trail, at a hut named Mitzpah Spring Hut, one of the AMC hut workers gave a seminar on the subject. At first I thought he was saying Peat Bagging, then he explained that peak bagging entailed reaching the summit of a named mountain rising at least 4000 feet above sea level (asl). Mitzpah Spring Hut sits at 3800 feet asl on the south flank of Mt. Pierce. To get to Mitzpah Spring, we scrambled up the access trail to the summit of Mt. Webster where we picked up the AT and headed north, summitting Mt. Jackson before getting there. So we had “bagged” our first peak on this hike before we even knew what the term meant. The “hut” sleeps 60 in coed bunkrooms that accomodate up to 8 people. You must eat what you put on your plate because everything used at the hut must be carried in and everything left must be carried out. After the hike from Crawford Notch, you will have no trouble cleaning your plate.
The next morning, we hustled up Mt. Pierce, bagging our second peak and set off up the AT toward our goal for the evening. The summit of Mt. Washington which is one of the the highest peaks east of the Mississppi River and the site of the highest recorded winds on any continent on earth, clocking in at over 200mph. To get there we followed the AT and loop trails to summit Mt. Franklin, Mt. Monroe and Mt. Eisenhower before we reached the Lake of the Clouds Hut in the saddle between Mt. Eisenhower and Mt. Washington.
Lakes in the Clouds Hut
After checking in at the hut, which sits at 5050 feet asl, we dropped our backpacks and headed up Mt. Washington. We reached the peak late in the afternoon and rather than backtrack down the trail we headed down the far side of Mt. Washington and back around the flank of the mountain to Lakes of the Clouds Hut. Our plates were dutifully cleaned and we were elated to sit at the dining hall tables and look at a beautiful New Hampshire sunset.
Sunset from Lakes of the Cluds Hut
I’ll post more pictures of the terrain in the next post on hiking the Southern Presidential Range.
