Woods

Ben and I spent a few hours clearing the pasture more, I had mowed to the bottom of the pasture, but in places where the briers or trees were really close, one strip was not wide enough and everyone walking last Sunday was prickered.  So we got loppers and the mower and went to town.  It's not wide enough for a car, but you could walk through with a pack and not get snagged up.  All the way from the gate to the trail into the woods.  That's no small feat! 

We could hear the creek from the pasture, so Ben finally caved and went off to look at it.  I finished up the last section and decided to see if I could find him, so I headed down the old path to the creek.  Even though we have not cleared it in years, it's still really open for the most part.  A couple hours with the loppers to get the privet and vines back and it will be easy strolling again.  

The dog pool is GONE.  The bank washed and it's not deep any more, just wide.  

But about 200 feet further down, there's a new deeper pool that has appeared. 

Jess tries out the shallow end.

Lovely!

Look how clear the water is!  All that rain, so pretty!

I walked all the way to the new to me log road that goes up to the cliffs without seeing Ben.  That's as far as we usually go, we have only been past the cliffs half a dozen times.  So I turned back and followed our 'new' trail from Sunday back to the little creek below the pasture.

This really is a log road and it really is WAY easier to walk up than the usual route.

I don't know!

The log road either ends here or just fades to the point that I can't see it because it gets really steep again.  We have a pretty good path in place to just above here, so I am going to connect the two and make a good circuit for walking. It doesn't matter that it's a fairly short walk, that climb still makes me sweat! Once I have the way clear to wear a pack, I can walk up and down several times a week with my pack on and get some better stamina.

Up on top, there's the start of the fire ring!  It's in just about the only spot with no trees above and despite the angle of the photo, it's flat there.  We will have to take down the smaller dead trees before I feel okay with heading back there with kids!  There are downed trees from the storms, too, mainly limbs and brush.

When I got to the creek, I decided to move some rocks around to make crossing it easier.  I tried to stay dry, but...eh.  I have other shoes.  

Yes, I was doing work and hiking in cotton.  I love scrubs!

While I was bent over messing with rocks, I heard this noise.  It sounded like a wild bear or rabid monkey.  I FROZE.  It really could have been a boar, my biggest fear in the woods. Or a crazy person, EVERYONE'S biggest fear in the woods.

I turned slowly after the second guttural snorting sound, figuring my Kuma boy would have alerted me to actual danger.  He was 50 feet away hauling a deer leg bone up toward the house looking very unworried.

I scanned the hillside and saw...something terrifying in a tree!  It was Ben!  He was way up this skinny tree hanging on with one hand and flailing around.  He snorted again.  I cussed at him and told him I nearly just peed in the creek.  He was DELIGHTED.  Oh dear.  So far it's only ever been Jake who considers a job well done only when I use the word. 'jackaninny'.

He came down to help, we each worked on one side of the creek to make a sturdy platform of rocks, then cleared out between them until the water was about 10 inches deep. Then we hauled/slid a huge rock down the creekbed and levered it into place.

The result is a sturdy bridge instead of a slick muddy bank!

Ben landscaped a while longer moving rocks from the hillside pile down to where we had moved things around in the creek.  The banks are clay up there and need a little protection.  

The little falls just below the bridge

These usually don't pop up until late winter or early spring.  It's a wet weather spring, they are all over the place.  Water just bubbles right out of the ground and flows down to join the rest of the water.

Ramblings

Setting myself a little goal in 2016 and that's to hike the first day of every month.  Preferably with friends, but either way, feet on a trail.

I'd post the list here, but what if you are a crazed stalker?  Besides, I keep changing it.  If you want to stalk me, just check major trailheads in Alabama and Tennessee, the frazzled looking one is probably me!

I am pretty excited about having my plan in place!  We have also worked out details for our first jaunt on the AT-we are hiking from the start to Neels Gap, some 30 miles away.  We have 4 days to do it with the group, which we will need because of the terrain.  I am thinking about continuing on by myself and finishing the Georgia section, just under 80 miles total.  It says 76 on one map and 79 on another, not counting the 8.8 mile approach trail from Amicalola.  Which we are doing as a day hike beforehand so we can count it.

click to embiggenate

There's some small part of me that feels like since I have already been to the highest point on the AT several times, I should be able to hike it all.  hahahaha.  There's a BIG part of me that sees those jagged lines and knows my ass is in trouble.  Literally.  It all can't come with me!  But where to leave it?  Hence, the challenging first of the month hikes!  And weekly hikes so I have signed up for a 52 hike challenge.  I'll go walk any time I can, especially if someone will go with me.  I thought about a gym, but here is what I will do: go gung ho for a week, overdo it, get REALLY sore, injure myself, lay around until I feel better and then never go back.  Unless there's a pool.  I also love to swim.

So, in backpacking gear updates, I have scored a used 20 degree down bag that comes in at just at 2 pounds.  I bought a brand new (last years discounted model) Osprey backpack.  Oh it's LOVELY. Now my base weight of bag, pack, pad and tent is....9 pounds.  If I could just not eat or need clothes, I could skip along the trail.  The flat bits that is.  I'm not hard core or anything.

Matt wants a pack like mine now because (quoting) "the logo looks like it's from a video game*".

*not a video game

So I am selling some of our extra gear to help fund that transition as well as get the same pack for Ben because his narrow hips are not made for the pack he has and the Osprey hip belt is superior to any other I have found for adjusting to a huge variety of hips and non hips.  In a pack that costs less than $300 at least.

We planned to keep our extra stuff so other people could come with us, but as Matt pointed out, we've had the gear for over a year now and no one has joined us yet who needed it.  I still have more tents, bags and pads that I need to sort out.

Yesterday we had an impromptu campsite planning and baked tater dinner.  Well, it was planned ahead and then plans changed because of the weather and then it was back on and then the new puppy can't come so it was back off and I decided we all really needed to go to Chattanooga and finally Katy slapped me around some and said "that's it, we are coming to your house so stop being crazy.  I will bring a salad." Zola stayed home with her greatgran to come over and give her a potty break. She will be fully inncoluated in 8 more days!  So, with about 3 hours notice, I had the first people over in over a year.  And it was fine.

The chicken houses were not invited, but invaded the fun anyway-the smell, much like the floodlights all night and the dubstep-inspired wub-wub of the fans 24-7, is just a thing we get to have now. Right across the road.  I can only hope he will follow his usual 'farming' methods and run this into the ground in a year or two.  Probably with a fat fine from the EPA.

The walk in the woods was fun and despite my efforts to mow a path, the briers still attacked.  And a few ticks.  And I fell over a root and banged my shin, which did not hurt at ALL until I saw the bruise in the tub earlier today and I immediately needed arnica gel, which I still somehow keep putting on my owies even while I know it's not going to help.  I think it's that I am putting some kind of voodoo on a bruise, it's psychological.

So we have the campsite picked out, the kids hauled some rocks and laid out a fire ring and we all walked single-file and shuffled our feet to make a path that I can hopefully follow after all this new rain comes through and start work on a 'real' trail.  We just use deer trails and the old log roads, but apparently not everyone can see those!  There was much crashing about and bleeding from walking into briers.  Plus we need at least one bridge-like device for the bigger creek, that's the most difficult bit to navigate.

Still, it's a project and the kids seem pretty excited and it will get me out of the house, which is becoming a thing.  I will recluse to the point of implosion.  hahaha.  Is that even possible?

Sunday Walk in the Woods

But first, the Kia.

So, he got smacked but he did 2 things I would never have thought of  First, he took his foot off the brake which let the car roll ahead since there was no one in front of him.  This, admittedly, was in preparation to floor it once he saw the guy was not stopping, but it still saved them some whiplash.

Also, he had his wheels straight ahead.  If I had gotten rear ended, it would lead to me being pushed over into oncoming traffic because I would have had my wheels cut to make the turn.  In this situation, that would have ended with Jake taking the full brunt of being T-boned, something that I try not to dwell on.

The rear passenger tire wheel well.

The other side...not so bad!

This is the trunk space from underneath.

Damage to the tire.  We JUST replaced this tire because Matt had gotten something in it on the edge and it could not be patched.  It's the only one that doesn't match!

All of his drum hardware was in the trunk from his $30 plastic case to the $400 bass pedal.

The only things damaged that we know of so far-he still needs to set up the whole thing and see-is that locker above and the high hat stand below.  AMAZING.

We got the call Friday night that they will repair the car and should have it ready by New Year's Eve.

Allstate is covering a rental for the duration, so that's nice!

On Saturday, I got my Cairn Obsidian box in.  I get Cairn (getcairn.com) (use roamschool at gmail for your reference!!) every month already. It's just over $20 a month when you sign up for a whole year and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  

It's seriously that same feeling I used to get at birthday parties when I just KNEW one of the boxes had just the thing I really, really wanted.  I get that EVERY MONTH. And it's always awesome and it's always backpacking/hiking/camping stuff I USE. Granted, I probably won't buy any of the snacks they include because $4 for a snack bar is INSANE, but I have used loads of the coupons for gear. And for things like free Mountain House meals, got new hammock straps for $22 (for the new double hammock in the Obsidian box!) It's been an awesome gift to myself.  Eep

When they offered Obsidian, which is $200 4 times a year, I gave it some thought and that thought was 'I WANT'.   So, I did it.  They gave me back 500 points, which is 2 free monthly boxes! And I was so excited when it arrived, I almost could not open the package. hehehehe  Totally worth it.

This is my new Prana hat, tags still on, that Ben took immediately and I will probably never get back.

I do share the goodies.  On occasion.  haha

I also got a waterproof backpack, a waterproof bluetooth speaker, 7 Picky bars, 3 chocolate bars, a full set of Sierra Sage outdoor products (I use their green goo bug spray and green goo first aid ointment and was STOKED to get more!) that hat and a 2 person Thermarest hammock.  $342 in goodies.

The backpack is awesome, we already came up with a half dozen trips to take with it, but the best thing other than kayaking was that we can take it caving with Park and it will spray clean!  The clay in the caves around Monteagle is STICKY.  I'm already booked on an overnight canoe trip this spring, so I can use it then, too!

Okay.  I guess I have wound down.  Even cooler is that-the regular December Cairn box has not shipped yet, so I still have THAT to look forward to!

Saturday afternoon we had to do some work on the fence because Murphy just leaves on a whim. He will have a new spot he can fit through soon enough, but while the gate was open and we were going in and out working on it, I promised Kuma I would take him out Sunday to the creek.  Because having the back gate open only means one thing and that's running around in the woods time!

8 a.m. Sunday morning, he's barking at the door, then under my window.  I poked my head out and he started jumping around like a bronco.  hahaha. I love that dog so much.

So, I crammed on some shoes and gaiters and Matt put on some orange and we walked down to the creek with all 4 dogs for the first time. I haven't taken Murphy yet because he's hard to predict, he spent the first few months running away, I wasn't going to give him free reign over 800 acres.  He's not my favorite animal ever, but I don't want him lost for good.

EVERY fire ant hill was covered in deer poop.

WHY?

The water is low!

View from our resting perch, should have brought a hammock!

I love all the poplar trees down in the hollow

My obligatory "WOW.  Mushrooms in December!" pic.  Because I have one every year.  hahaha

Nia awaits a snack

Murphy is horrified that he was made to sit, he wanted the goodie and human flesh.

He's a snatching little shit, still working on that bad behaviour!

LOOK!  All four dogs in ONE SHOT.

Jessie is always up for a snuggle.

She's 10 this month.  WOW

Planning a backpacking trip to this spot above the cliffs, looks like a good spot for many hammocks!

The pasture is SO overgrown.  We have someone coming to see about bushhogging, we picked a few trees to leave, though.

This is a SOLID wall of blackberry about 50 feet thick.  I told Matt I am getting the mowers out, that's miserable trying to get through!