Billco's Outdoors

The History of Rock Mountain - Published

2011-12-09T13:10:00.001-08:00

Here is the link to Barnes and Noble:

The History of Rock Mountain

Blistering Hot, but Found a Few Artifacts

2011-08-23T14:28:00.001-07:00

After a quick breakfast at McDonald's, Kathy and I took the dogs for a walk. We thought about waiting for the temperature to go down a little, but we got impatient and left when the day was at its hottest. With all the Kool-Aid and water Kathy packed, we looked like we were catching a plane to begin a week long vacation. I didn't want to carry all of that, but if I hadn't have taken my bag, she might not have "happily" given me any of the stuff in hers. Just a few minutes after we left our house a pickup truck passed us and made a quick turn-around to see if we were drifters up to no good. I'm sure we did look like drifters.

Just a few minutes after that, we checked out the spot I recently found via Facebook. It isn't a large area to hunt, but it didn't take long for me to see this.

A nice scraper with a lot of polish. This color chert isn't found here so it was brought in.

Not much later Kathy told me that she was uncovering dirt from something. Just a little of it was showing above ground.

I walked over and saw that it was a bone awl, probably deer. Awls were used to punch holes, often in leather. These are very uncommon finds in this area. Bone doesn't usually last long in the high humidity and acidic soil we have here.

We picked up several more tools and then left that area. We will not find very much there in the future. The underbrush is growing fast, and it will soon cover the entire area.

We then went back to the paved road and walked to a dirt road where we find a lot of flakes and chips and the occasional artifact. We stopped about every fifteen minutes to drink, and it didn't take me long to realize that it was a good thing that Kathy had packed so much to drink. On that road the best thing we found was this.

This would have been a great find if it had not been broken. As it is, it is still a good find. This knife was resharpened many times before it was broken.

That was the last good find. It wasn't one of our best days for finding artifacts, but still not bad for two hours of walking.

The History of Rock Mountain Alabama Coming Soon

2011-07-28T14:29:00.000-07:00

When I’m enjoying the outdoors at Rock Mountain, I can’t help but wonder about the people who were here before me. There is a big flat rock on Fire Tower Road where we like to picnic. It’s a certainty that people have been enjoying meals on that rock for thousands of years. Those people walked the same trails and they waded in the same creeks as we do.

Who were those people? Why did they leave this area? Who replaced them? Where did those people come from? Those are just a few of the questions that I have pondered during the half century since I first walked over Rock Mountain as a nine year old kid. Rock Mountain has been building a history spanning 10,000 years, but history books have barely mentioned it.

I set aside the time to write this book when I realized that I watched so much of the tangible history of Rock Mountain disappear, and I didn’t realize it until it was gone. Several years of prior research about the Native Americans who built their villages here and recently reading about the first settlers traveling down the Huntsville Road to Jonesboro convinced me that I had to spend more time writing that I had planned.

I think that I’ve written a book that will be an entertaining read for those who want to know more about where they live, as well a book for those who love history.

http://www.facebook.com/historyofrockmountain

Coming soon from Dog Ear Publishing.

A Beautiful Drill and Other Indian Artifacts

2011-07-20T18:43:00.000-07:00

We went walking last Sunday afternoon and found some nice Indian artifacts. I spotted the first one in the bank of a trail where rains often wash things out.

It would have been a big one if it wasn't broken - still a nice find.

On the opposite bank this was showing.

It looked better in the bank. It is probably just cobble that they used to make tools, but maybe they used it as a scraper.

After walking a few steps down the trail, I turned around to see if we missed anything.I picked up a tool made from a split turtle shell. Unfortunately, the picture didn't take. Those are uncommon finds in this area.

We see logs and trees that beavers have chewed on all the time, but this one looked good enough to me to drag the three miles home.

The thrills never ceased.Just a few seconds later Kathy spotted this turtle egg in the creek.

Once we got to the other side of the creek, I saw why the egg was in the creek. It was once with this one and probably others under it. The heavy rains we have had lately washed it out.

A few minutes later, I spotted this.

This one got me so excited I forgot to take a picture after digging the rest of it out of the ground. It's a drill, almost two inches long, without any damage. It is the best drill that I have found yet. Usually, these are broken. Artifacts like this one could have actually been used as some type of fastener or ornament, but it's easier to call them a drills, instead of guessing.

While I was admiring that one still in the ground, Kathy was digging something else out that was partially showing above ground. I told her to stop and admire mine before I pulled it up. Reluctantly she did and she was happy I made her. I was so thrilled I forgot to take a picture of it - had to take one later.

Afterwards, she went back to her digging, and I overlooked an artifact while admiring my drill as I was walking to her. This is what she saw.

A scraper/knife. My camera battery died at that moment so I had to wait until we got home to take a picture of this one ...

... and the one that Kathy found that I had walked over a few minutes earlier.

Facebook Indian Artifact Finds

2011-07-02T20:12:00.000-07:00

Last week someone posted on Facebook that some land had been clered near my house. It was only a five minute walk from house, again proving that arrowheads are everywhere. There wasn't a lot of land cleared and we haven't had much rain to dust them off. I still managed to find these:

A nice knife.

A broken arrowhead, a tool, and the other, I don't know... It looks like it might have been an arrowhead at one time.

The tractor hit this tool.

Arrowheads are everywhere. You don't always have to go far to find them.

Parowan Gap Petroglyphs - Utah

2011-05-30T20:26:00.001-07:00

We visited Parowan Gap on a recent trip to Utah.

The Parowan Gap Petroglyphs are located not far off I-15 in southern Utah, a distance of about 16 miles from Cedar City.

Parowan Gap is a natural mountain pass.

The first petroglyphs on the rock walls date back more than 1000 years.

The petroglyphs are fenced off, but they are very easy to view.

It's fun to try to figure out the drawings. Some of the easier ones depict lizards, bear claws, mountain sheep, the sun and something resembling humans.

Several rock shelters are in the immediate area. Some are not fenced off.

A half dozen people would have found shelter in the largest one.

Oranges in Orange Beach. Alabama

2011-05-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, orange groves were once common on the Alabama Gulf Coast.

Postcard Back: "The Satsuma is a Mandarin type, "Kid-glove" orange of delicious dessert quality. It was introduced into the United States from Japan in 1876. Satsuma oranges are grown extensively in the Gulf Coast section. Single orchards in Mobile County comprising as much as 1100 acres." Postmarked 1947.

There are still some trees scattered about in Orange Beach. Here is a picture that we took earlier this year of a satsuma tree in a front yard.

Some Indian Artifact Finds from Earlier This Year

2011-05-30T18:55:00.000-07:00

I took a break from my blog for awhile to concentrate on adding pages to my my five Websites. Here are some arrowhead pictures that I could find easily.

I found this one in March about an hour before it began snowing. It doesn't snow often in this part of Alabama. We got about two inches, but it had melted by mid-morning the next day. This was broken but it is still a nice find. We don't find many this color.

Later in March, I found these two hammerstones side-by-side.

Here is a close-up of one:

It's rough, but I was happy to see it since we hadn't found a complete point in awhile. The arrowhead is in the black circle. The red arrow is pointing to a waste flake.

While walking back towards home and talking to our daughter in Colorado, Kathy spotted this.

It is a beautiful serrated point. At one time the sides were more in symmetry. The left side was damaged at some point and then smoothed out by the owner.

Dora Canal - Eustis Florida

2010-10-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

The Dora Canal connects Lake Eustis with Lake Dora. It was originally called the Elfin River. In the late 1800s the river was dredged so that watercraft could more easily move through it.

We were only in central Florida for a short time, visiting relatives. In the mid 1980s to the early 1990s, we often took boat rides down the canal when we visited Kathy's parents. Her father still lives on a canal off Lake Eustis, but it has been quite awhile since he has owned a boat.

The Dora Canal is only about a mile long, but one has the opportunity to have a shot at seeing just about all of the wildlife species that live in central Florida. I had a little bit of time to spare while traveling from one relative's home to another, so I parked my car at the bridge over Highway 441 and walked under the bridge to the canal.

Lake Eustis and the Dora Canal

Bridge Over the Doral Canal at Highway 441

Its only possible to walk a short way down the canal. The underbrush gets thick in a hurry.

The Dora Canal

Huge Bamboo

This trailer is not quite "move in ready." Several more abandoned trailers are scattered about near the entrance to the canal. A few decades ago, one could leave very cheap on waterfront like this - not now.

The little speck on the water at the left is an alligator. On the right is a partly sunken boat.

A Closer Look at the Alligator

Some of the plants on the canal are probably remnants of old home sites.

Ospry

Ute Rock Art - Arches National Park

2010-10-06T09:42:00.000-07:00

When we were at Arches National Park near Moab, Utah, we followed a path to these petroglyphs. They aren't real old. They picture horse and rider along with bighorn sheep. Petroglyphs are just etches in rock, so the only way to date them is subject matter. Horses didn't get to North American until the Europeans arrived, so this rock art can't date any farther back than the 1600s. They are the work of the Utes who gave the state of Utah its name.

Moab Utah Rock Shop

2010-10-05T14:18:00.000-07:00

On our last trip to Utah we made the long drive from Salt Lake City to Moab to visit Arches National Park. When we left the park we stopped by this rock shop.

The rocks were interesting, but what got my attention were the prehistoric Indian artifacts that were for sale. I do remember back when I was kid seeing boxes of arrowheads at tourists stops and attractions, but we don't see Indian artifacts for sale at those places in the South nowadays.

The shop glued magnets on these pottery shards. I wouldn't do that. The fact they'd market authentic prehistoric Indian artifacts as refrigerator magnets illustrates how much of it can easily be found out West.

Here is part of a display case full of Indian artifacts - big pottery shards, tools, hammerstones, manos, metates ... The store even had boxes of flakes and chips for sale, kinda like the boxes of shells in our coastal souvenir shops.

Leading in and out of the shop, were (legit)dinosaur tracks.

It's Dry in Alabama

2010-09-23T09:32:00.000-07:00

We need some rain. The swamp across from our house is completely dry.

The wildlife must cross the street to the lake to get water now.

Deer and Turkey Tracks

The lack of rain has made arrowhead hunting difficult. Nothing new is coming up. Kathy and I went on a walk last Sunday to a spot where we hadn't hunted in awhile. There had been a little rain since we had been there last time, but not enough to wash more than a few flakes up. We didn't find anything finished.

We took a different route come than we had used to get there. It was getting close to dark. I decided to cut through a spot that is often good for a few artifacts after rains. It is a small spot, but has deep erosion. I had just hunted it less than a week ago and didn't expect to find anything. But a site can never be hunted thoroughly enough that something new can't be found - even if there is no rain since the last search. Thing hide in shadows and behind and under vegetation. Sometimes just a speck of the artifact is showing above ground, and it takes a certain vantage point to see it.

On this occasion, Kathy decided to walk on the side of a deep ditch on a route that we don't normally take. When she said that she saw something, I looked down and told her it was just a crayfish claw. She said "no, something beside it." I looked closer, and saw what she was seeing.

I got down in the ditch and dug this arrowhead out of the bank.

An Arrowhead and a Couple Big Points

2010-09-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday we took the 45 minute walk to the new spot that we found two weeks before. We had a little rain since then, so it was possible that some new things would be on the surface. After a few minutes of searching, I saw this.

It's an arrowhead. It isn't real pretty, but I like it. Whoever made it decided to use the cortex, so it looks rough.

It is a small spot with just a few scraped areas, so it didn't take long to search it. Considering what we find in this tiny area, it makes me wonder what lies under the surface. Most people vastly underestimate how much of this stuff was left behind.

After we left there, we walked another 15 minutes to a place where we have only hunted two or three times this year. We have found dozens of nice artifacts here, but it keeps getting harder and harder to hunt it. When we first found it three years ago, it was easy to hunt. It had been cleared a couple years earlier, but the undergrowth was slow to grow because of the droughts. Once the rainfall got back to normal, it only took a few months to get overgrown.

A year ago, this was a dirt road.

Now there is just the occasional bare spot to search, but there is something in every bare spot after every rain - flakes, chips, tools, the occasional arrowhead.

We found about a dozen scrapers, knives and broken arrowheads. Here is one big knife that I found...

... and here is a big point that Kathy found ...

We didn't have time to search the area as thoroughly as we wanted. We left just before dark. We will wait on another good rain and hope we can get back before hunting season.

A Few Indian Artifacts and a Beaver Slide

2010-09-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, we took the dogs for a two hour walk and found a few Indian artifacts. Just an arrowhead tip, but still not a bad find.

It was in a pile of dirt that was pushed up against a stump.

Just after I found the tip, I saw Kathy walking towards me, while saying that she found something that "might be something."

She was kidding.

The only other intact piece we found was this tiny tool.

It looks like a knife / spokeshave to me. Spokeshaves were used to strip bark.

A beaver found our pear tree in the backyard. The previous home owners wired the base of the tree. So far he is just enjoying the fruit, not cutting any of our trees.

The area around the pear tree must look like a zoo at night. A neighbor saw a deer under the tree. Butterflies ...

... and crows are the only creatures we've seen in the daytime.

Some Indian Artifacts in a Heavy Rain

2010-09-09T12:31:00.001-07:00

Almost two weeks ago we found the time to go on a long walk, long like seven hours. Time gets away when your on the trails picking up prehistoric Indian artifacts.

We had a few good showers and the creeks weren't dry as they usually are this time of year.

Not long after we crossed I found this scraper.

We have picked up several tools within a few feet of where I found that one.

We got to next spot and found few dozen flakes and chips, nothing finished except this....

... and it's crude. I think the material is rhyolite. We only find this material on Indian sites, and there is very little of it there. It had to have been brought in. I'm not sure what it would have been used for. It would have done a good job of stripping bark though.

As we were leaving that spot, I noticed it pouring rain about a quarter mile away.

It didn't take but a couple minutes to get to us, and we got soaked in a hurry. It was a hard rain and actually cold. We walked across the trail and found a small wooded trail that we thought might get us out of the rain a little. It didn't help much so we kept walking. Not long after we crossed this small creek...

... we begin seeing a lot of flakes. This was a new spot for us, but not very far from where we have found things. The ground had been scraped just a little here and there by heavy equipment that was clearing power lines. It was still raining hard, but we didn't mind since we were picking up stuff. We didn't find many finished tools, but we did pick up this knife...

... and this oddly shaped tool ...

After about twenty minutes we got back on a familiar trail. Where we had been picking up things in the small scraped areas was only about three minutes from where we have found several good things, including arrowheads, that wash out of a steep bank during heavy rains. This time, I found this scraper.

The sun was shining by this time, and we continued our walk. It wasn't long before I saw this...

It's hard to tell from the picture, but it was standing on its edge, straight up.

It is the top part of what was once a nice arrowhead. The piece next to it is a big flake that was a couple feet away.

Antelope Island - Utah

2010-08-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

Last week we were in Salt Lake City visiting our son and his wife Laurie. Since we had never been to Utah, wading in the Great Salt Lake was on our list of things to do. The day after we arrived, Chris took us to Antelope Island State Park, which we found to be a great place to see a nice part of the Great Salt Lake. Antelope island is the largest of the Salt Lake's nine islands.

Chris and Laurie had visited the island twice, without seeing any antelope. Not so this time - we saw two. These are skittish, shy creatures that do not allow you to get too close. I got close enough to take a photo of the second one we saw. The Great Salt Lake is in the background.

The American bison (which most people just call buffalo) are less shy. They are actually very easy to get close to - close enough to be unsafe. At Yellowstone National Park, more people are killed or injured by bison than they are by bears. There are about 600 bison on Antelope Island.

Wading in the lake was fun. We didn't see any fish jumping (since there aren't any). The only life under the water is brine shrimp. Plenty of ducks and birds are on top of the water feeding on the shrimp. The Great Salt Lake is six times saltier than ocean water.

Chris and I were the only ones who felt like hiking that day. It was hot, but not "Alabama thick humidity" hot. We walked up Buffalo Point, about a 20-minute steep climb.

Few places I have been were as a quiet as Buffalo Point. We only passed two hikers on the way up and a couple more on the way down. There were no boats on the lake, no planes in the sky. Just silence.

On the way out of the park, we stopped at the visitors center for this photo-op.

A Late Afternoon Walk - Indian Artifacts

2010-08-01T11:03:00.000-07:00

We had planned on a late afternoon walk to make the dogs happy and hopefully find some Indian artifacts. The temperature at mid-day was about 100. We didn't begin walking until about 6 PM. Considering how far we were going to walk, I knew that it would be pretty close to dark before we turned back towards home - so we took a flashlight. (I had walked the same trail two days earlier. I was having so much fun pulling scrapers and other tools out of the bank of a dirt road that I didn't turn back towards home soon enough. I walked the last mile on the little trail in pitch dark.)

We picked up a few flakes and a big quartz chip on the trail. Nothing great, but still anything that is found away from water is an interesting find to me. This trail runs across a mountain ridge and is mostly flat, so humans would have walked the same trail for thousands of years.

We got to a section of a creek that we had not searched for several months. Most of the time it is not difficult to find a place to cross it without getting wet. But this time we saw that the marsh area where we usually cross was so overgrown that it would not be possible to see where we would be putting our feet. I didn't want to step on a water moccasin so we just walked across the deepest part of the creek.

As soon as we got to the other side, Kathy saw this.

I had walked past it and not noticed it.

This arrowhead has a modern break at the top. It is rare that we find artifacts with modern breaks. The main reason for that is that we never hunt plowed fields that get turned over each year by heavy equipment. This one probably got nicked by the same machinery that brought it to the surface.

A couple minutes later, I saw this.

A scraper/knife.

Around this time, Maggie the labrador came out of the marsh with this.

It took a minute or two to realize that she had an armadillo shell. This is something that we would have never seen in this part of Alabama a few decades ago. In the last twenty years, armadillos have become common here. In fact, I think one has found a home in our front yard.

It's good to know that these things are edible. People who have eaten them say they taste like pork. In certain areas of South America they are a common dish. In this country during the Great Depression people without money for "regular" food ate them. They were commonly called "Hoover Hogs" - a twist of words on Herbert Hoover's promise to "put a chicken in every pot."

Just before Maggie brought us the shell, we heard her splashing in water where there had not been any last time that we were here. We made our way towards the sound and saw this big puddle and several more.

The same equipment that probably broke the arrowhead made these puddles. Most people are not going to get excited about new mud puddles, but those people are not going to be Indian artifact hunters. Near a creek, this is the type of spot where artifacts are likely to be. Churning up the mud possibly brings them to the surface. If there aren't any there now, future rains might uncover them.

This time we found some flakes and several big pieces of chert and jasper cobble and tools. The jasper was interesting because under the surface is chert, not jasper. It had to be brought in. The best tool that we found here was this tool made from chert.

It was about fifteen minutes before dark when we turned towards home, and we were glad we brought a light. We couldn't have pulled ourselves from the new mud puddles soon enough to avoid walking home in the dark.

Some Recent Arrowheads

2010-07-25T18:27:00.000-07:00

We had an arrowhead hunting trip on the weekend agenda, but never got around to it, mostly because of the heat - high 90s. Here are three arrowheads from three recent hikes that I never got around to posting.

We don't find a lot of quartz arrowheads here, and this is probably the biggest one that I have found.

I like this one because of the size and the way it was only partly showing in the bank.

This scraper was once an arrowhead. We walked a little beyond our normal hunting areas, and came across an area that had recently been logged. Thick underbrush had already begun to take over. This was the only finished tool that we found.

Some Prehistoric Indian Artifacts

2010-07-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

The day after I was in the Rocky Mountain snow, I was back in Alabama where the temperature had been hovering around 100. Kathy and I did some things around the house on Saturday and on Sunday we braved the heat and went for a three hour walk, to search for prehistoric Indian artifacts that the recent rains might have washed up. I was anxious to get out on the trails, so we didn't wait for the sun to go down behind the treeline. We left about 2:00 and it was hot and humid, so much so that after about thirty minutes we were a little light-headed. We had brought some water, so we trudged on.

Before we had gotten very far into our hike, Kathy picked up this big tool.

After taking a water break, I walked over to an area that often shows up things after rains and soon saw this.

A hafted scraper.

Not much later, I saw a shiny white speck in the midst of dirt and sandstone. I brushed a little of the dirt away and could see that it wasn't just a flake or chip.

It was a broken arrowhead.

I picked up several more rough tools, and then set out to find Kathy, who had walked ahead of me. When I saw her in the distance, she was walking back towards me. She had had enough of the heat. A good hunting spot was just up ahead, and I wasn't going to pass it up, even though it was miserably hot. She rested while I walked on. I'm glad I did because I found this on the backside of a pile of dirt.

When I first picked it up, I thought it was a piece of chert cobble, used to make tools. Unlike most cobble this was very smooth and was easy to hold. After cleaning it off, I could see that it was a big scraper.

A couple feet from the scraper, I spotted what appeared to be a dirt clod, but still stood out from the rest of the dirt pile. I picked it up, cleaned it off and was happy to see that it was a knife.

With the next good rain, those last two artifacts would have washed into the undergrowth and eventually into the small nearby creek, most likely never to be found by anyone, ever.

I picked up a few more point tips and small scrapers, and turned back towards Kathy and the dogs, and home.

Rocky Mountain National Park Snow in July

2010-07-11T20:23:00.000-07:00

Last week I was in Colorado, and on Thursday July 8, I visited Rocky Mountain National Park. I only mention the date because it was snowing in the mountains. I forgot my sweater, and I was wearing a short sleeved shirt. I was the only one in the mountains that I saw who wasn't wearing a coat. Two people thought they were doing the right thing by telling me that I wasn't wearing one.

Before getting to Estes Park, I stopped to watch this person trout fish in the Big Thompson River. Notice the beaver den across the river.

I bypassed Estes Park. I love the town but I wanted to see as much scenery in the park as I could in the few hours that I had.

At the Highway 34 bypass, I stopped to take a photo of these ladies at their painting party.

They were painting just across the across from the Stanley Hotel.

The Stanley Hotel was built about 100 years ago and many believe it is haunted. It was the inspiration for Stephen King's the Shining. Parts of the movie was filmed at the Stanley.

Upon entering the park, I drove towards Trail Ridge Road. I wanted to get into the higher elevations to find snow. Before Trail Ridge, I parked at the Hidden Valley area to take a short walk along the creek.

Up until the last several decades, Hidden Valley was a ski resort. It closed when winters got warmer, and there was less snow at its elevation. Now it is a picnic and hiking area.

From Hidden Valley, I quickly drove into much higher elevations, and it got cold in a hurry. I snapped this picture while driving.

The time is wrong, but the temperature is correct - 39. It had been snowing off and on all day. Trail Ridge Road was closed for awhile earlier in the day until a snow plow could clear the road.

I stopped at the Rock Cut area to take a short walk and take some photos.

It always amazes me that flowers can bloom in such a harsh environment.

After getting back on Trail Ridge Road, I didn't get far before traffic backed up. The road was being resurfaced, and it was about twenty minutes before traffic began moving again. There are worse places than Rocky Mountain National Park to be "stuck." I wouldn't have noticed this alpine lake if I had not been forced to wait.

Once traffic began moving again, I made my to Milner Pass at the Continental Divide, where water flows two ways - to the Pacific or to the Atlantic.

Not far from Milner Pass is Never Summer Mountains, the only volcanic mountain range in Rocky Mountain National Park.

It was getting late in the day, and I had to return my rental car by six. So I headed back towards Fort Collins, stopping to take a couple photos of these people enjoying the snow. A ramp was constructed to keep people of the fragile tundra. I suppose rocks are underneath the snow.

I thought I had hit more road construction, but it was only an animal sighting.

There is no better place in the world than Rocky Mountain National Park to see elk, but these bulls were all I saw on this day. At lower elevations, especially in the winter, it is the norm to see herds of elk.

Oil Spill on the Alabama Gulf Coast - Mid June

2010-06-21T12:44:00.001-07:00

We spent some time in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach this weekend. There was no oil on the beach, but we did see some in Perdido Pass.

Very few people were at the Pass, certainly a lot less than normal. There were more people checking out the oil and the BP oil response than there were people enjoying the sand and water. There were a few who didn't mind swimming in oil though. Kids were having a lot of fun diving and jumping from one of the bridge bases.

These rocks were stained from when a lot of oil washed into the Pass last week.

This BP oil spill response barge is parked at the Caribe docks.

The tip of Robinson Island. Normally on summer days, this island and the others in and near Perdido Pass ar covered up with boats. They are literally anchored side by side at the islands. Boat traffic is heavy also. The only traffic now is the BP oil response team and government officials. The red line in the foreground is a boom to protect the island.

A boom extending into Perdido Pass from the bridge.

This barge sets in the Gulf just off the east side of Perdido Pass. It holds a massive amount of equipment and machinery.

Most of the common access areas on the beach, like this one at Perdido Pass, are dominated by the BP oil response team. The common access areas that are still open to the public are not crowded. Normally at this time of year there is not enough parking places for cars.

BP Claims Office at Romar lakes in Orange Beach.

No fishing at Gulf State Park Pier in Gulf Shores. It just opened last year after being rebuilt after Hurricane Ivan.

Normally in the summer this pier would be very crowded. A handful of sightseers go out now to see the tens of thousands of fish that are looking for oxygen. We saw bull sharks, redfish, stingrays, sheepshead, trout and pompano. In some places the water is black with fish.

Bull Sharks.

Berm at Little Lagoon Pass where the Pass meets the Gulf.

Berm on the Lagoon side of the Lagoon Pass Bridge.

Double red flags on the beach means swimming conditions are not safe.

No worries about finding a spot on the beach.

Perdido Beach Boulevard is normally bumper to bumper on summer weekends.

This Shell station was a BP for years. A temporary sign is over the BP logo.

Another Snake, an Old Tool, and Indian Artifacts

2010-05-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we took the dogs for a walk. When we get to the creek we always stop for a few minutes and look for Indian artifacts.

We didn't find any, but Kathy did see this.

It's an artifact, just not Indian. Its an old combination wrench/screwdriver. The old dirt road that crosses this creek has been used for over 100 years, so no telling how old this is.

A minute or two after crossing the creek we got to some mud puddles that hold water for a long time after rains because of all the ATVs that spin their tires in them. I have a method of getting around the puddles. I grab a tree where the X is, and swing around it to the other side.

After I got to the other side this time and took a couple more steps, Kathy said, "Snake."

Yep, I walked right past a snake where the X is.

He blends in with the environment, but that's not why I didn't see him. I couldn't see what was on the other side of the tree before I swung around it, and after I did, I just moved forward to keep from getting in the water.

It's just a water snake, but it could have been a moccasin, copperhead, or rattler. I won't do any swinging to get to where I can't see anymore.

Since the last time we were in this area, the power line had been trimmed by a cutting crew. The heavy equipment disturbed the dirt in places, one of them here.

We haven't had a lot or rain lately, but we did have enough to expose this knife in the bank.

Ten minutes later, I spotted this.

It is a small Indian knife. We find these all the time. This one was made from a chert flake, and would have only too a few seconds to make. They would have made them, used them until they got dull, and then tossed them.

We both walked past this one at least once. The way the sun was shining, it blended into the dirt.

It's the top part of a large tool, probably an axe of some sort.

Bluegills and Shellcrackers on Beds

2010-05-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

My search stats show that a lot of people are looking for information about catching bluegills and shellcrackers (bream fishing) on the bed in spring. It is easy. You only have to do three things: rig up correctly, find a bed, and don't make a lot of noise.

Here is a rig I used last week to catch shellcrackers just of the bank in water only 1 to 2 feet deep. The water was clear enough to watch some of the fish take the bait.

This rig consists of a small float (the smallest that will allow me to cast), a number 8 wire hook), and a slip shot. I positioned the float about two feet from the hook, and the split shot about six inches from the hook. I used six pound line.

I caught these fish on red worms. Other live bait that catch fish are meal worms, catalpa worms, and crickets.

When the fish are that close to the bank in clear water, I cast up the bank. Walking up to the fish will scare them away. When I hook a fish, I try to keep him in the water as much as possible. A lot of splashing will scare the other fish. If they hear enough commotion, they will leave the bed. If this happens, I find another bed, and come back to the one I left when the fish come back.

Shellcrackers and bream will sometimes bed near each other. Sometimes you will catch both in the same bed. I have been catching bluegills about four feet out and a foot deeper than the shellcrackers.

If the water is clear, you can actually see the beds. A good bed will have dozens of craters that look "cleaner" than the rest of the nearby water. If the water is shallow and clear, you can actually see the fish. Usually you can catch fish not only in the bed, but all around the edges, several feet out.

If the water isn't clear enough to see the beds, they are still easy to find. If you are fishing from the bank, just walk the bank, casting up the bank as you walk. They will be in water from 1 to 6 feet deep, sometimes a little deeper. Adjust your float for the depth of the water you are fishing. To estimate depth, look at the bank. The water just off the bank is generally going to be about as deep as the bank is steep.

Remember where you found the beds because the fish will use the same ones each spring and into the summer for years.

If you are fishing from a boat, use the same method. It is easier to find more beds from a boat. When I fish from a boat, I use a cane pool, not a rod. I can cover more water faster this way and pull in more fish when I find them. Use the same rig as in the photo, but attach it to a cane pool. I like the line to be a foot longer than the pole. Use the largest pole you can handle.

While fishing for bluegills and shellcrackers (bream), you will often hook anything that swims underwater - catfish, crappie, bass or turtles in the lakes I fish.

When I hook a turtle, I cut the line and let him swim away with the hook. It will eventually rust away.

Bull Shark from Gulf Shores Pier

2010-05-07T16:34:00.000-07:00

Bull Shark From Gulf Shores Pier

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill - Gulf Shores and Orange Beach

2010-05-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

Normally this dredge removes sand from Lagoon Pass in Gulf Shores so that saltwater can flow into Little Lagoon.

Because of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the dredge is dumping the sand on the beach so that heavy equipment can dam the pass to keep the oil in the Gulf.

Booms have been placed on the Gulf side if the Lagoon Pass (Lee Callaway) Bridge.

Every piece of debris is being picked up from the beach areas. If it isn't sand or cemented, it's being picked up to make oil removal easier. This is the west side of Perdido Pass in Orange Beach being cleaned.

Perdido Pass is too deep and the current is too swift for booms or a berm. Booms have been placed around Robinson Island and the smaller islands near Perdido Pass.