Bryan January 28th, 2007
My friend Dixon Kinser posted this entry to his blog a few days ago:
Quoting Dixon quoting Jennifer Schrock from Simply in Season:
If I had to put what I believe about food and the environment into two words of advice, I would say this: Celebrate hope.
If
you can find a farm, a market, a store where you can see that love for
the earth and for future generations is a priority, sell all that you
have and buy their food. If you can find friendly faces in your local
food systems that are willing to go beyond public relations and discuss
tough questions, hug them! If you can smell the Spirit of God on their
sweet potatoes, buy 20 pounds! Eat those potatoes with gusto, thanking
God that someone, somewhere has a vision.
You are not consistent
in all areas of your life? Lord have mercy on you, a sinner: act on the
one thing you know. You can only afford one holy sweet potato and the
rest is boxed macaroni and cheese? Act on what you can afford. You will
love that sweet potato and the earth that grew it even more.
- Jennifer Schrock, Goshen, Ind.
In our microwave, pill-popping society, our food supply tries to deliver. Pesticides, unneeded antibiotics, genetic engineering, whatever it takes. You want strawberries in November? No problem, they’ve been sitting in a warehouse for a month since we got them from Chile. Our insistence on eating foods out of season (and oh by the way, it better be cheap) is harming our world. But the greatest damage being done is to ourselves. For an eyeopening look into our industrialized food system and the alternative (farm friendly food), a good quick read is Joel Salatin’s Holy Cows and Hog Heaven.
To test the alternative, try buying a few things from the Franklin Farmers Market or the farmers market nearest you. Get to know the people that grow your food.
By the way, my favorite farm is just a few miles away from me at Rocky Glade Farm.
Bryan January 28th, 2007
Radnor Lake is Tennessee’s very first natural area. Ironically, the lake is not natural at all. It was built in the 1910’s to provide water for the railroad steam engines at nearby Radnor Yard, and as a hunting preserve. The hunting was ended in the 1920s. For over 50 years, the L&N Railroad managed Radnor Lake as a natural area.
Modern locomotives don’t use steam power, and L&N sold the area to a development company in the early 1960’s. Radnor Lake was almost lost to development forever, but lots of grassroots work and Tennessee’s Natural Areas act saved this treasure in 1973.
Trails hiked: Spillway trail from Nature Center to spillway. Then across the dam to Otter Creek Road to the South Cove Trail to Otter Creek Road again. Then to the Lake Trail and back to the Nature Center via the spillway trail.
Distance: 4.5 miles
Time: 2 hours
Elevation change: I didn’t bring my GPS, but not much. Maybe a 100 ft difference, most on the South Cove trail.
Trail type: Varied from gravel to concrete to dirt (not muddy) to mulch.
Temperature: I didn’t check, but it was cold and windy. Guessing 34 degrees
Significant features: Several beautiful lake views
This is a nice hike, especially since its so close. But others know that too and it can be hard at times to watch the wildlife on Otter Creek Road, the Lake Trail, and the Spillway Trail. They are the most used and frequently people who aren’t there to watch the wildlife are rather loud. But it isn’t so bad on the other trails.
I saw 3 ducks in the lake on the south side of Otter Creek Road, but I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough. Other than that, all I saw were the birds in the pictures in the photo album HERE. Anybody know what they are? I think it’s a warbler, but they’re not supposed to be around this time of year… maybe the weather has then fouled up just like me!
Bryan January 27th, 2007
After hiking in the Smokies for 5 days, and making what I’m guessing is about 15 creek crossings, I think I can say these Mountain Hardwear Gaiters work. As a matter of fact, they worked so well, I would step in the deeper water to avoid the slippery rocks and busting it.
They’ve fairly easy to put on. The boot straps are very durable and appear to be replaceable. Mine show only the scratch marks of walking on rocks. The lace hook is a difference design than I’ve seen before. It hooks the lace from the underside, instead of over it.
I would definitely buy these again. Of course, wear these with your waterproof hiking boots.
Mountain Hardwear Ascent Gaiter (Spring 2007)
Bryan January 21st, 2007
I can’t believe Wilderness Wildlife Week 2007 is already over. I actually was hoping to get snowed in, but alas, no snow.
At times, there are 3 or 4 presentations going on simultaneously and at least 4 hikes most days, all requiring varying skill levels. What I noted here was just a sampling.
Remember to save January 12-20, 2008 for Wilderness Wildlife Week 2008. Check back at Pigeon Forge’s website for more information. You can also contact the Music Road Hotel to make reservations starting February 1, 2007. I’ve already marked my vacation calendar.
Bryan January 20th, 2007
On this finale evening, presenting are Doug Mills and Bill Landry of the Heartland Series. I would consider this the rough equivalent to Tennessee Crossroads here in middle Tennessee.
Interesting notes from Doug’s presentation:
Book on Mountaintop Removal: Lost Mountain by Eric Reese
Logging Company artifacts remain. Don’t attempt to find this but here are the directions (take the Thorney Creek trail from Clingman’s Dome. Look for an old logging road about mile down.)
Freshwater jellyfish exist and appear in Fontana Lake
Bill Landry, the host presented a few clips, including one of him grabblin’ for catfish. Bill also mentioned an action group called Save Chilhowee Mountain that is acting to stop development and protect the watershed into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park
Bryan January 20th, 2007
Bert Kunze presented a talk and slide show about his trip hiking the John Muir Trail. For those of you unfamiliar, the JMT (not the one in Big South Fork) runs 216 miles between the Yosemite Valley and Mt. Whitney (at close to 15,0000 ft, the highest peak in the contiguous United States).
The most interesting point was his bear repellent. <GROSS Comments>Warning, it gets a little gross right here. He collected his urine throughout the day. At night, he sprinkled it around his bear proof cannister and in a circle around his camp site. He has a picture showing a bear approaching his camp, but it went away. Later he heard that a bear had decimated a camp across the river and he assumed it was the same one. For your information ladies, he says this only works for a male’s urine.</GROSS Comment>
Bryan January 20th, 2007
The Happy Hiker is another of my favorite stores in Gatlinburg and I just had to stop by. Everyone is so friendly here and always ready to talk about gear. I must have spent an hour there browsing and talking SureFire flashlights. Very friendly and helpful. They were nice enough to say that MSR’s pricing on titanium products is going up. Apparently, the price of titanium has gone up drastically to support the war effort.
Items purchased: SureFire G2 flashlight, and MSR Titanium Mini Cookset
Bryan January 20th, 2007
Michael Harvey, biology professor emeritus of Tennessee Technological University (my alma mater), presented this interesting slide show on bats.
Here are some interesting notes on bats:
Bats are considered good luck by the Chinese people
70% are inspect eaters
There are 33 species of fish eating bats
Agave Cacti are pollenized by bats (we get tequila from the Agave Cactus)
Bryan January 19th, 2007
The pictures I’ve taken during Wilderness Wildlife Week are now up.
Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday: Camera broke 
Thursday
Friday
I hope you enjoy them.
Bryan January 19th, 2007
Michael Hodge, Tennessee State Park Ranger at Frozen Head State Park, presented information on the biodiversity of the Cumberland Plateau.
Michael spent some time celebrating the successes of the reintroduction of the Black Bear, River Otter, and Elk into the Cumberland Plateau. All of their numbers seem to be increasing on the Plateau.
Michael also spent a lot of time explaining the threats to nature on the Cumberland Plateau:
1. Mining Mining companies are giving up the destructive process of strip mining for an even worse one, mountaintop removal. They simply use explosives to remove the soil from mountain tops to more economically extract coal from the ground. The process flattens the mountain, washes sediment into the valleys, and exposes sulphur and iron. The streams are polluted which results in fish kills. The coal is needed it keep pace with OUR ever increasing demand for electricity. For more information, see Kilowatt Ours.
Oil spills and habitat fragmentation also result from the increasing number of natural gas wells on the plateau.
2. Logging Logging is also a threat as logging companies remove the heterogeneous hardwood forests and replace them with homogeneous softer woods such as pine. This practice has made the plateau’s forests much more susceptible to pests (such as the pine bark beetle) and disease.
The amazing biodiversity of the Cumberland Plateau is threatened, but there are some bright spots. The State of Tennessee and other groups such as the Nature Conservancy are trying to preseve some of the habitat. There are currently over 600,000 acres under public ownership for preservation (National Park Service, Tennessee State Parks, and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency).
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