Welcome To The Pack Jack!

It seems that when I talk about dogs, it seems it's always bad. Well, that has changed as a new member of the Wolfpack is here at St. Clair and his name is Jack.

He is a four-year-old Springer Spaniel mix. He's smaller than the Bax or Lester, so he's a junior member of the Wolfpack. He was at an English Springer Spaniel rescue in Florida because he was saved from being euthanized. Because he was a Springer mix his chance of being adopted was good...well until Terry showed my Dad Jack's profile, and they were on the way to the Sunshine State to get him. Jack loves his toys, taking walks, and barking. He is just a super cute dog. So, welcome to the Pack Jack!

Goodbye Lester...

Well, it's with a heavy heart that I post that Lester has passed. His cancer has gotten steadily worse, so the decision was made to take the old boy to the vet. I already talked about Lester here, and what a wonderful dog he was. You had a lot of good years with people who loved you.

But one thing...I had said he loves to eat. Anyway, even with the increasing pain and trouble getting around he still wanted to eat, especially chicken and ham. So, that is how I will remember him pawing me wanting something to eat...goodnight sweet prince, Bax will take care of you now...

Six Years Is Too Long Away From Trail Days!

If you're an Appalachian Trail (AT) Hiker or just a fan of the culture that surrounds "America's Footpath." Then the place you want to be in May is at Appalachian Trail Days. Held yearly in the town of Damacaus, VA, known as the "Friendliest Town on the Trail and Trail Town USA," the 2023 festival was the 36th edition. This wasn't my first time at Trail Days, but this would be my third. I first came in 2016 and then again the following year. There were reasons for six years away from the Trail Days festivities, but the top of the list was COVID-19. First, there was no event in 2020 as it was those early, scary days of the coronavirus pandemic. Then in 2021 and 2022, even though Pete wanted to go, I still wasn't comfortable in big crowds (to be honest I still don't know if I am), So, this was really my first time attending an event with this many people, but I could not think of a better place to start than Trail Days.

Trail Days 2016

Trail Days 2017

It has grown since my last visit in 2017. I mean, Damascus itself has grown in those six years. If you follow this blog, you know that I had been to Damascus many times in those years between visits to Trail Days. The most recent was in October last year. In those six years, the new Appalachian Trail Conservancy's (ATC), Damacaus Trail Center, was built, and a new park, just to name a few. This park is where I parked back in 16-17 for free. Well, you could still park near the new park, but it was $10. However, the new park, Laurel Creek, is hosted at the Damacaus Framers Market, which was open when I arrived. There was a lot of cool stuff, including a person selling really tasty cookies. Unlike in years past when all vendor booths were in Town Park now some were at the Damascus Trail Center, including some fellow Trail maintainers. While at the Trail Center, I re-upped my ATC Membership. 

One big change MRO is now a Distillery

Laurel Creek Park

Damascus Trail Center

Booths outside of the Center

Pete was itching to get to the main vendor area at Town Park. Amazingly, I ran into some thru-hikers I met at Jerry Cabin Shelter in April, talked with fellow Carolina Mountain Club maintainer and author Sarah Decker Jones, and did some networking on a project of my own. While passing the Carpenter Woodworks Booth, two cool signs, Max Patch and Blood Mountain Wilderness, caught my eye. I could only get one, and it was tough, but Max Patch won out. There are just so many cool booths with plenty of great gear and live music on the stage.

Town Park during Trail Days

Music & Watermelon Crushing

The Damascus Bridge

There were plenty of dogs at Trail Days

If you haven't been to Trail Days, the main event of the festival is the traditional Hiker Parade. It's just a fun event, and I finished my day at Trail Days. It was great to be back, and Pete was happy, so a win-win...

The Hiker Parade begins...

(T)...now the true stars (B) The Class of '23

SmugMug Photos: 36th Annual Appalachian Trail Days

The Virginia Chainsaw Certification: Rated A

 

A couple of weeks back I finally did something I have wanted to do for some time, get my US Forest Service (USFS) Chainsaw Certification. I did this by being on the Governing Board of The Clinch Coalition (TCC) in Southwest Virginia. It is a two-day course with the first being classroom and the second in the field using a chainsaw. The classroom portion took place at the office of the Clinch Ranger District of the Jefferson National Forest in Norton, VA. The class was taught by Chuck Lane of the USFS. While I'm not a novice the class itself was mostly people with a lot more experience than myself. While long it was a good class and I learned a lot. I also got to try a new pizza place in Norton, Doughmakers.

Anyway, the main event was day two, and getting my hands on a chainsaw. We met in Norton and I rode with one of our evaluators over near Little Stony Falls between Coburn and Dungangon. It was an area burned in a forest fire so it had plenty of cuttable trees. When we got there they had to cut one of the trees out of the road. Once at the test site, we had to get ready to put on our PPE (Personal Protection Equipment). This entails chaps, a helmet, ear and eye protection, and gloves. Because I was going to get my chainsaw certification the USFS mandates PPEs. The fact is chainsaws are dangerous and I should have been using PPEs. Well, for today I borrowed most of my PPE from Uncle Sam, except gloves. 

Because this was my first time getting certified the highest rating was a Sawyer A. I got evaluated on felling and bucking three trees. I will admit I have bucked plenty (that is cutting a downed tree) but I haven't felled many. While I got off to a rough start with instruction from my evaluator Chris, by the third tree I had it down. It showed because when I got my Sawyer Certification Card it had feller added. Oh, when we got back to Norton the trip wouldn't have been complete if this Wood Booger didn't head to the Woodbooger Grill. A Wood Booger has to eat...  

Gone But Never Forgotten...Bax

Friends come in all shapes, sizes, and species and our dog Bax fits this description. Sadly and with a heavy heart, we had to make that decision one has to make. The Wolfpac is down a member as Bax has left us.

My Dad with members of the Wolfpac.

See, Bax was more than just our dog he was one of my best friends. He is also one of the reasons I am sitting here writing this right now. Back in 2017, I was suffering from a mental issue. While at the Cabin, in a moment, I decided I just couldn't take things seriously and was contemplating suicide. While there were other factors that prevented me from doing it, hearing Bax on the side of the door was a big factor. You could say he saved my life. 

My Buddy Bax!

So, the Kaiser (my nickname for him as he was actually from Germany...he has a passport) was more than just a dog he was my friend. I feel bad for everyone, especially for Lester because he's lost right now. With that I chose to remember when we picked him up at the Gate City Police Station (he was a former police dog), playing in the snow, chewing on his pig, and being the best hiking partner (sorry Pete) a Wood Booger could have. I'm not a spiritual guy, but we will hike one day, old friend...

The day we picked him up.

Bax loved...

...snow!

Bax & his pig

...

..when you tried to take it or his ball.

Bax with me at Margarette Falls...

...& Cliff Ridge. (Below) how I will remember him...

Test Flight Of The Nostromo (My New Drone)

You know I bet someone will say to me you swore that you would never buy a drone. Well, technically I did as it was a Xmas Gift. So, today was the test flight of the new drone.

The drone, a DJI Mini SE, is a small lightweight beginner craft. It just weighs 249 grams which places it on the line for registering it with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), since it didn't cost much I went ahead and did it anyway. I named it after the ship in Alien, the Nostromo. This one has good battery life and a good camera that moves Like most beginner drones it uses a cell phone as the screen hooked up to the controller. I did end up getting an extra battery, landing gear, and pad. You might ask it is the end of February, so why am I now doing a test flight. Well, there are a number of reasons let's just say I needed to learn to drive it. 

Oh, when I went to finally fire it up I had forgotten I needed to charge the controller up. Finally, after I got the stuff ironed and it was time for the test flight. I decided to play it safe and do a flight that was mostly up and down and just 20 meters up (I preset the height). I mean I didn't want to break it on the first flight. I took it up and then down without breaking it. 

So, there will be pictures on this blog from the drone, but there is only one first flight... 

This Camp Creek Bald Benchmark Is One-Of-A-Kind

As readers of this blog know one of my favorite mountains is Camp Creek Bald. Also known as Viking Mountain, Camp Creek Bald is what I consider my Appalachian Trail (AT) Backyard. I have had many adventures on this mountain, so it holds a special place  It isn't a secret that I have an affection for summit or benchmarkers, on tops of mountains in particular. I had always wanted to find the one on Camp Creek Bald and did it back in Halloween of 2018 as someone had uncovered it. So, when on Etsy I stumbled across a guy Jerald who runs MountainMonkeyCo. He specializes in making custom summit markers. It didn't take long for me to decide on what I wanted to be done...Camp Creek Bald. 

The summit marker is above the slab (L) & Me with it (R)

Clockwise: The picture I sent (TL), The proof Jerald sent (TR) & the finished product

The summit marker (T) & mine on top of it (L & B)

Jerald said all I needed to do was send a description of what I wanted and would send a design, so I sent a picture and it was long before I got the proof. After approval I got a private listing on Etsy and in a week it was ready to ship, but Jerald first sent a photo of the completed summit marker...it looked fantastic. He even added the raised circle on the center of the marker. Yes, it is the same size as I put it on top of the real marker on the summit. In closing I will say, I might be biased but I think mine from MountainMonkey looks better. But they do share one important thing, they are both one-of-a-kinds.

April's Supermoon Is The Pink Moon

For those who didn't know April's Supermoon, the Pink Moon, was last night. This was the second of the year (the first the Worm Moon) and in a row of 2021 as May and June will feature Supermoons too. Here is NASA's definition of this phenomenon. I had heard about this a few days ago but actually forgot. Then I read out about it's I was headed to bed. So, I made sure I could see it and went outside for a look...beautiful! Remember you can still see it for a few more days.

Here are some of the Full Moons of 2021 (Super in bold)...

April 26 -- Pink moon

May 26 -- Flower moon

June 24 -- Strawberry moon

July 23 -- Buck moon

August 22 -- Sturgeon moon

September 20 -- Harvest moon

October 20 -- Hunter's moon

November 19 -- Beaver moon

December 18 -- Cold moon

One Year Ago It Became A COVID World

Wow! It has been a year this week when the world went upside down with the COVID-19 Pandemic. So, I am doing a short blog about this year that changed our lives. 

Yes, I could have done this blog last week as rightfully there is a push to make March 1 National COVID-19 Remberence Day. I remember when I did a COVID Blog back in April the case and death numbers were high, but we had seen the worst, nowhere close (as of today in the US has almost 30M cases & 528K deaths)! It was also the week that the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. But I decided to write this one now because this was when everything went off the rails. On Monday, of this week, last year I did my last Appalachian Trail (AT) Section (Spivey Gap to Chesota) because I knew things might get bad soon, so I wanted to get it done because I needed a shuttle. I even talked with my shuttle driver about it. Then on Wednesday, everything went crazy as Rudy Gobert became his positive test, for coronavirus, shutdown the NBA and professional sports as a whole. It coincided with the first confirmed case in East Tennessee. I remember the following day I went hiking at Laurel Run Park, which would be my last outing anywhere (besides the Cabin) until May. It was also the first day I wore a mask in a store what I didn't know at the time I would be wearing one up until the present.

Last 'COVID free' AT hike, Spivey Gap to Chesota...

Laurel Run Park the last place until May...

I remember not knowing what this virus was totally about. So, I was wiping down mail and stayed home, like I said until May. Eventually, we learned that with masks, social distancing, and other mitigation practices it was okay to get back on the trail. However, it was a lonely year out. Not counting Bax, who hiked with me at the Cabin (after recovering from ACL surgery), I only did two hikes with people. One was an overnight backpack at Mount Rogers National Recreation Area (NRA) and at the Channels in Virginia. While I don't mind soloing I do sometimes miss outings with people. Still, I did plenty of camping and saw some great sunrises and sunset

Mt. Rogers NRA (Top & Left Middle) & The Channels (Right Middle & Bottom) 

Bax & I

Eight of my campsites...

Sunrises: Grassy Ridge Bald (T), Cold Springs Mtn. (L) & White Rock Cliffs (R)

Sunsets: Max Patch (T), Beauty Spot (L), Brier Ridge (R) & Camp Creek Bald (B)

As I pointed out in a few blogs I also started a new hobby, collecting old trail guides. I was also successful with an old one, making Maple Syrup. Hiking in the snow got me through the Dark Days of the Pandemic this Winter. The saving grace was that competent adults are back in Washington following the since when it comes to COVID. Now the vaccines are getting out (my Dad has gotten both of his shots) with the third vaccine being approved and the announcement that there will be enough to go around by Summer an end...a finish line is in sight.

Guides: GA & TN (UL), Sierra Club Smokies (UM), TN Guides Box (R), Guide Box (BL) & Southern Appalachians (BM)

Maple Syrup Making

Snow on Roan Highlands (UL), Roan High Knob (UR), 

There are a lot of things I haven't done in over a year. I haven't been to an REI (there is a new one in Sevierville), been to the Smokies (that one is hard to believe, slept in a trail shelter (the ones on the AT are mostly closed), a Coffee Donut, eaten in a restaurant and many others. After I get vaccinated, which I hope is soon, I might eventual get to do some of these sooner, but all sometime later. However, mask-wearing maybe something I don't give up. The flu all but disappeared and one big reason was mask use, so these will be a part of my attire going forward. 

REI (UL), Jerry's Cabin Shelter (UR), Foothills Pkwy (M), Status Dough (UB) & Korean Taco House (BR)

One of the last times before mask (UL) & some of the places where I had a mask...

In closing, I just want to say add this is not the time to let our guard down. Keep your distance and that mask on! Oh, when it is your time for the vaccine...JUST GET IT!

Pete's message & mine...