Venture Outdoors

Standing Indian Loop

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 00:22:00 +0000

Picture Link

The story starts off about six months ago while Braveheart and I (Tidy) were talking about doing a longer backpacking trip than we normally take. We contemplated on many routes and finally decided on the Standing Indian Loop also known as the Nantahala Headwaters Loop along the Appalachian Trail (AT) in North Carolina. The loop is about twenty four miles long and we would start out on the Long Branch Trail then follow the AT to the Lower Ridge Trail and take it back to the car. We also decided on the dates of Oct. 5-9. Once the loop was decided upon we started the planning. It started out just being Braveheart and I, then it multiplied to Safety, Giddy, and Wandering Waterer aka Throttle. As you can tell I am using trail names, I will get to that story a little later on. A trail name is something that is earned or given to you while out on the trail some people also choose their own but I like the ones that are earned the most. Back to the planning, the original plan was to leave after work and camp out at the trailhead or sleep in the car near the trailhead. That turned into a night at the Days Inn in Clayton, GA and a enormous breakfast at The Dillard House in Dillard, GA, by the way if you are close to Dillard, GA The Dillard House is a must stop. It is not only a hotel with a wonderful restaurant, but a petting zoo and other activities as well. Well let’s get the trip started!

Oct. 5, 2011

Trail Miles: 0

After a long day at work for the five of us meet up at Safety’s house around 5:30. Somehow I ended up being the last one there when I originally wanted to be the first. I was a little late because I wanted to meet my mom and get the Emergency Roadside Kit that has an air compressor, light, inverter, and jump starter. After given a hard time about being a little late we proceeded to load the car. Everyone had their packs loaded except for Wandering Waterer aka Throttle. This was his first backpacking trip and was a last minute decision to come with us. I let him borrow my Gregory Z55 and he borrowed some more stuff from Safety to have everything he needed. About five and a half hours later, an Arby’s stop and driving a few miles past the Days Inn, we made it!

Oct. 6, 2011

Trail Miles: 8

Total Miles: 8

After a restless night of sleep partially due to the excitement of hitting the trail and the other half not getting any sleep due to Wandering Waterer aka Throttle’s snoring or should I say cutting some red woods down. We all woke up around 0500 and took our last showers for the next few days. We arrived at The Dillard house at 0700 and walked right in and sat down. After sitting at the table a few minutes we began to wonder how the service was going to be since they only took our drink order. Not knowing a few minutes later we would have the largest breakfast I have ever seen put in front of us. They don’t let you choose from the menu they bring the whole menu out. Keep in mind the following plates feed five grown men and still had leftovers. They brought out biscuits, cinnamon rolls, muffins, pancakes, eggs, grits, bacon, sausage, ham, pork tenderloin, fruit, sugar coated apples, hash rounds, and all the necessities like gravy, jelly, and syrup. Needless to say when we all left we were worthless. We then left the restaurant and headed to the trailhead. After arriving at the trailhead we made a bathroom break and put our packs on. After pacing back and forth looking at Braveheart and my GPS’s we finally found the Long Branch Trail. As soon as we found the trail, Wandering Waterer aka Throttle, took the lead followed by Braveheart, myself, Giddy, and Safety. The Long Branch Trail runs directly into the famous AT and is well marked and in great condition. At the intersection of the Long Branch Trail we took a quick break and checked our GPS’s, I then realized my GPS had cut off. I changed the batteries and cut it back on and it immediately cut off again, needless to say my GPS is worthless this trip, thank goodness Braveheart had his. Our first pit stop was at Big Spring Shelter for some of the guys that was their first time seeing a shelter. We relaxed a few minutes and also read a little bit of the Shelter Journal, by the way the journal is full and needs a pin. After the pit stop we made it to Albert Mountain Fire Tower which had a wonderful panoramic view. We ate lunch, took a view pictures and made one last phone call to the wife’s. That was the only place we had cell phone signal the entire loop besides on top of Standing Indian Mountain. After lunch we started the steep decent down Mt. Albert and set up camp at Betty Creek Gap. Our campsite was really nice except for the fact it was within twenty-five yards of a forest service road, we were all hoping that some crazy hillbilly wouldn’t crash our party in the middle of the night. We all setup camp, gathered firewood and water, ate supper, and hung our food. After a few hours around the fire we all retired to the tents and hammocks for a long night sleep.

Oct. 7, 2011

Trail Miles: 11

Total Miles: 19

After a great night’s sleep in my hammock I woke up and made a cup of coffee as I’m making the cup of coffee I look up and see Safety in his spandex thermals he slept in the night before. I have to say I needed a few cups of coffee before I saw that. After coffee and breakfast we packed up all our gear and hit the trail. Our first pit stop for the day was a nice overlook on a side trail of the AT. We stopped took a few pictures and ate a snack. While we were stopped another group of three guys stopped and enjoyed the view as well. After talking to them a little while we found out they were also planning on camping around the top of Standing Indian Mountain as well. So Braveheart and I thought of it as a challenge to beat them to the top of the mountain. After finding this out we threw our packs on and headed down the trail. After a few miles of hiking we stopped at Carter Gap Shelter to refill our water bottles. As soon as we sit down the three gentlemen came strolling up behind us. Then a few minutes later Giddy, Safety and Wandering Waterer aka Throttle showed up and filled their water bottles as well. As we were about to hit the trail another group of guys made it to Carter’s Gap shelter and told us they were headed to Standing Indian Mountain as well. So Braveheart and I looked at each other and see another challenge. We immediately hit the trail again and head toward the mountain. After hiking uphill for the next few miles Braveheart turns around and lets us know it’s time to stop and eat before he passes out due to the amount of calories we had burned climbing up the mountain. Once we get the snack down we hit the trail again. After a few more miles uphill we finally make it to the top of the mountain and wait on Giddy and Safety to catch us. Once together again we take a look at the map and GPS and think we have about a mile to go. We hit the trail and about a half mile down the mountain we run into an older gentleman heading to Standing Indian Mountain to camp for the night. We then realized we were headed the wrong direction and had missed the side trail to the knob where you can camp on top of the mountain. So we follow the older gentleman back up and he shows us the correct path which was right behind where we stopped to take a break. When we got back up to the top of the mountain near the intersection we passed the three guys we had met earlier on the trail and made it a challenge to beat. Ultimately we beat them! Once up the side trail we set our packs down to enjoy the wonderful mountain top view. After a few minutes rest I followed the older gentleman back down the side trail to the AT. Then we hit another side trail that leads to a black corrugated pipe that is connected to a natural spring where the campers could get water without having to climb down the entire mountain again. I gather water for myself and Bravehheart and also fill up the gallon jug for everyone’s supper and morning coffee. Once I got back up to the top we contemplated on camping on top of the knob or walk a few yards back down and camp near the intersection of the AT and the side trail. We decide to camp down at the bottom and once we got there another two guys had taken the campsite we were going to set up in. So we then changed our minds and decided to camp on top of the mountain. After we got everything setup. Another group of hikers from GSU lead by Two-Speed show up and camp on top of the mountain as well. In the mean time Wandering Waterer aka Throttle decided he wanted to go get some water for everyone else so he hits the trail in search of water. Braveheart, Giddy, Safety and I stay behind making the final touches to our sleep systems and enjoy the view. About an hour later we realize Wandering Waterer aka Throttle is still not back from gathering water. So Giddy, Safety and I head out to look for him. We walk down to the water spout and Wandering Waterer is not there. We walk back up to the AT and head down the Lower Ridge Trail a few hundred yards and still don’t see him. After yelling his name a few times we headed back to the campsite and consult with Braveheart as what to do next. We decide to grab a few flashlights since it was starting to get dark and we were going to go hike down the Lower Ridge Trail in search of Wandering Waterer aka Throttle. As soon as we were about to leave we looked over and see Wandering Waterer aka Throttle’s yellow bandana he had been wearing all day, boy was that a sigh of relief! Instead of him coming to the group to ask where the water was he asked the old man that originally showed me where it was. He didn’t want us to know he didn’t find the water or come back without the water. Once I realize he’s not coming back over to us I head down the side trail chasing after them. Once I caught up with him I let him know we were about to send a search crew out after him. I then take over leading him to the water spout. As we were gathering the water he lets me know he had walked a few miles down the Lower Ridge Trail instead of the other blue blazed trail that lead to the water. Keep in mind we have already hiked about 11 miles today and the lower ridge trail is a decent down Standing Indian Mountain, needless to say he was worn out! After gathering the water we headed back to camp and cooked supper and enjoyed a beautiful sunset view from the top of Standing Indian Mountain. The original plan was to spend two nights on top of the mountain, but we decided to head to the car the next day and find a place to car camp and fish for the last night. Once the sun set we gathered around the fire with the other campers that were camping on top of the mountain had a few drinks and retired to bed.

Oct. 8, 2011

Trail Miles: 5

Total Miles:24

After another great night sleep I woke up and fixed my morning cup of coffee and had my cliff bar. Once everyone was up Wandering Waterer appears out of know where and tells us to follow him. We follow him down the knob, in the opposite direction we came in from, to a rock overhang that had another great view of the mountains. We relaxed out there a while and talked about the days plan which was to hike back to the car, find a restaurant to eat at, and a campground were we could stay for the night. Once we got the plan together we headed back to where we camped and started packing all of our gear together. We hit the Lower Ridge Trail and made it back to the car a little after lunch. At least the hike today was all downhill and not uphill like the day before, this made for an easier hike. I have to say I would rather climb uphill then have to make a steep decent, the decent is much worse on the joints. Once we got back to the car we headed to the Subway in Franklin, NC and searched our smart phones for a campground nearby where we could fish and stay for the night. After making a few phone calls and actually stopping by one campground we decide to head to a local outfitter shop named Three Eagles Outfitters. Wandering Waterer aka Throttle asked the gentleman behind the counter a nice place we could camp for one night and fish. He told him about a place past Highland’s that had campsites along the wilderness road we could stay at and a great stream to fish in. We all discussed the option and decided to head towards Highlands, NC. After driving through Highlands we hit a long dirt road and went over a skinny bridge which underneath had a beautiful waterfall. We then stopped at a pull off that had a trail going down to the bottom of the canyon in which the stream was located. We walked down that trail a few hundred yards and then headed back to the car. We then drove a little further down the road and found a very nice campsite with a gravel pull off and picnic table. We setup camp and made the decision to drive back to Highlands to call the wife’s and let them know of our new plan. We also grabbed a quick supper at the only fast food place in Highlands, NC which was a Subway. In the mean time Wandering Waterer aka Throttle decided to stay back with our stuff and guard our campsite. I’m glad he did because while we were gone a guy on a motorcycle pulled in where we had our stuff set up and once he saw Wandering Waterer aka Throttle he left. After we ate we headed back down the mountain and dirt road to our campsite. While on the dirt road Braveheart started to smell smoke in the vehicle I immediately hit the brakes and realized it was coming from my inverter that was charging my cell phone. I threw the inverter on the ground and once it stopped smoking I put it back in the car because I didn’t want to leave it in the middle of the dirt road. We finally arrived at the campsite and gave Wandering Waterer his sub and told him thanks for guarding the campsite. After supper we gathered around the fire and had a few deep conversations, and then hit the sack for the night!

Oct. 9, 2011

After a long night sleep we eat breakfast and had our morning coffee and packed our gear up. The plan for today was to fish beneath the bridge. On the way back to the bridge we decide to stop at the pull off where we stopped the day before and hike down that trail to the stream. Wandering Waterer aka Throttle and I headed down the trail. The trail is a constant decent then it turns into a vertical decent. We climbed down the decent and wandered around the creek a few minutes and then headed back up to the car to meet Braveheart, Giddy, and Safety. Little did we know we were down in the canyon for around forty minutes and Braveheart was beginning to wonder if we were ok. He walked down the trail to where it got vertical and yelled our names then headed back to the car. He was wondering if we were ok and if he needed to gather some rope to be able to pull us out of the canyon if we were injured. A few minutes later we show up to a mad Braveheart wondering what took us so long. For our sake we didn’t realize we were gone that long and apologized for our miss judgment. I also thank Braveheart for his kind heartedness wondering if we were ok. After our little adventure down the canyon we headed to the bridge to fish, I ended up catching a small rainbow trout and hooked another but it fell off the hook, Braveheart caught three a little further down the stream, Wandering Waterer also caught one as well, and Giddy and Safety fell empty handed. After the short hike back to the car we all changed cloths to our clean drive home cloths I went to start the car and the battery was dead, luckily I had the emergency road side kit. After starting the car we hit the road home.

The Standing Indian loop was a great adventure. The weather could not have been any better and we all had a great time together. Now back to the story of our Trail names.

Myself Tidy, everyone agreed I was a little OCD about my gear I had made a large spreadsheet with the entire trip laid out as well as all of my gear and weights I also had all my food organized, labeled and weighed for each day. So they started calling my Tidy.

Braveheart got his trail name from his five years of military service. We all sincerely thank him for his service!

Wandering Waterer aka Throttle has two trail names Wandering Waterer came from his search to find the water on top of standing Indian Mountain. Throttle came from his hiking speed he would be at the front of the pack racing along the trail or we would lolly gag around the back it was like an instant on or off speed!

Giddy got his trail name from around the campfire the night on top of Standing Indian Mountain he had several adult beverages and began to giggle and become a little more talkative so the name giddy stuck!

Safety got his trail name from always being the caboose of the hiking line. He was always the last one to get everything packed up and also liked to follow behind the pack just in case one of us dropped something, hence he was our Safety!

Coosa Fishing Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Josh) — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 01:31:00 +0000

RR and I decided to go on a quick fishing trip with RR father. We arrived at the Wetumpka boat ramp around 1100 Saturday morning. We immediately headed upstream to fish around a few of the rapids on the Coosa. The Coosa river is a very popular canoe and kayaking getaway during the summer. We ended up catching a few fish in the rapids with spinner baits. The purpose of the trip was to try out RR new fishing rod he just finished building. The rod worked out great and RR got to break it in with a few fish. While we were fishing around a set of rapids we had to turn into a rescue squad, a father and his three sons got stuck in between two rocks in there canoe. RR immediately guided the boat over to the canoe, hoped on a rock and held the boat, which allow the three boys to jump in our boat while the father got the canoe unstuck. While all this was going on another young lady got hung up in a rock above the kayak, she ended up flipping out and floating down the rapid along with the kayak beside her. Once the traffic jam in the rapids was released we started back fishing. The young girl was found a few hundred yards down stream on a sand bar and as we passed she asked if we had seen her flip flops, bathing-suit cover-up and her paddle! Which we had not. She then informs us a guy had gone back up the rapids to find her paddle, he later returned it to her. I guess in all the commotion the paddle got lodged in between the rocks. Overall we had a great trip the weather was very hot and the fishing was decent considering the Jordan Dam was not releasing any water.

Tallapoosa Toll Bridge to Ft. Toulouse

noreply@blogger.com (Venture Outdoors) — Sun, 19 Jun 2011 18:14:00 +0000

My buddy and I decided to take advantage of the cold snap that came through this past weekend. It got down to 97, so we decided to go finish out a trip we started a while back. We were going to kayak from where we took out on our last Tallapoosa trip, at a toll bride.

View Tallapoosa in a larger map

I read somewhere that from the toll bridge to Ft. Toulouse was 10 miles...non-sense! For the record it is 16 miles per the GPS. Non-the-less, we started out our day by dropping off a vehicle early at Ft. Toulouse and then met my neighbor, who was nice enough to drop us off at the toll bridge. We were in the water at 0830. After messing around for 30 minutes we started fishing! Mr. Clean caught the first fish of the day on his second cast. Man, it was going to be a good day! We ended up catching about 18 bass and a few massive bream. Biggest bass of the day was about 3 lbs which came in very swift current. My first reaction upon hook set was "oh, NO"! He got hung up in a blow down tree, I was drifting 5 mph in current, trying to paddle back up stream to the fish...oh what a mess! But I got my hands on him and he was worth it!

Close to the end we ran into some canoers who were headed over to Jackson Island...long way to go from where they were at. Shortly after that, we reached Ft Toulouse around 1615.

Parker's Island Kayak Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Venture Outdoors) — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:35:00 +0000

Summer has officially arrived in my book! Mr. Clean (see Sipsey Quillian Creek) and I arrived at Fort Toulouse to launch our kayaks on the Tallapoosa River. Ft Toulouse is located about ½ mile from the end of the Tallapoosa where it meets the Coosa River.

Our plan was a) for me to try out my new kayak (review on new kayak to follow!)

Elie Strait 140XE

b) to explore some creeks and fish c) finally convince Mr. Clean to take the plunge and purchase his very own kayak! His kayak has been affectionately referred to as “The Barge”; “The Turtle” (slow and steady), and most recently “Hurricane Evacuation Shelter (HES)”. You could survive a Cat 4 hurricane under this thing!

HES

So we set out at 0800 hours. We immediately started fishing in the coolness of the morning light. Seeing how it was going to reach 95 today, at 0800 it was already about 87. So we decided to take advantage of the cooler weather! We fished the half mile stretch until we hit the Coosa.

From here we took the Coosa around like a NASCAR track…left all the way. This is what we were kayaking around, Parker’s Island. Parker’s Island was formed in 1886 by a massive flood that hit the Tallapoosa River and forever altered its course and by doing such, formed the Island. Parker’s Island is about 5 miles in diameter.

The Coosa is a relatively narrow river, so looking for wildlife is very easy. We came across a creek that years ago my dad and I took shelter from a tornado that came real close to us while we were fishing. The creek goes way back about a mile. We ended up catching a few fish out of it before we headed out. Around the bend we passed the canal that enters the river from the Walter Boultin Dam, which flows from Lake Jordan. Later on we pass a ferry that takes farmers and hunters to the Island. Here we had a stare down with a deer standing in the road that came down to the ferry. As I reached down for my camera, it trotted off.

A few miles down we passed by Dead Lake and then hit what is known as the Dead River (but is really an extension of the Tallapoosa River). We stopped at this junction for a stretch and lunch. This is also where the three rivers meet. At this point the Coosa turns into the Alabama and the Tallapoosa runs into it here as well.

We start up the Dead River and started back doing some fishing. There are a lot of stick ups here. Mr. Clean was having much luck with pan fish, and I was determined to catch another bass on my spinnerbait. Which I did!

Parker's Island ferry

At about 1445, we ended up back at Ft. Toulouse. The trip was hot, but enjoyable. We saw no snakes, 1 deer, and multiple great white and blue herons. We took our time and this was a great day trip that we will be making again, especially in the spring to catch more fish!

Tallapoosa Kayak Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Venture Outdoors) — Sun, 22 May 2011 21:16:00 +0000

It was an early Friday start. JC showed up at the house about 0615. I had been up a while and was anxious to get going. Today started our Tallapoosa River adventure trip. This was something I had been wanting to do for about 8 years. I had fished up the ‘Poosa’ thousands of times in a jet boat, but never kayaked down.

Once we got everything loaded on the truck, we headed out the door to our put in point, below Thurlow Dam, which is a tiny lake below Yates Lake (aka Middle Pond), which is below Lake Martin. Our plan was (because we only had 2 days) was to float and fish down to the toll bridge, which is about mile 40 of the 51 total miles (51 miles from Thurlow Dam to the Coosa River).

We got to your location around 0715. My wife was nice enough to drop us off on her way to work. She became a bit nervous upon seeing the 5’ x 6’ sign that read in big red letters “Danger” then proceeded to say “4 Deaths without life vest; 0 with”. I assured her that we would be ok! By 0800 we were in the water. By 0805 we were encountering the class ½ rapids that were between us and the rest of our journey!

We paddled a couple miles and then we started to fish. The weather was extremely nice..low 80s, cloudy, a light breeze…not too hot, not cool, just right. However, there was a some storms coming in later that afternoon and evening and the rain chances were 50% for Friday and 60% for Saturday.

We loaded the boats. Bass were on bed and coming off bed, so the spotted bass were hitting. So were the bream. On the first day I caught 24 fish alone, including one 3lb strip on my ultra light! We saw a lot of interesting things along the way, including a bank with a couple old cars (one of which my grandfather said was an old Studebaker).

About 1500, the weather was starting to come in. You could see darker clouds moving in, and the wind was picking up just a little. We had a couple campsites marked out, campsite 1 and alternative campsite. We past campsite 1 and said a flat no…about a 3 inch rise in water level and we would be wet. So we continued on around a couple more bends until we found the other campsite. This sandbar was HUGE. And it sloped up and the highest point was a good 8 ft above the water. This was home for the night. As soon as we were pulling the kayaks out, we felt the sprinkles start. We immediately grabbed the tent and started putting it up. When we flung the rain fly over the tent, the bottom fell out! We got soaked securing the tent and putting the rain fly on, but the tent was dry and we waited under the little porch for the rain to subside. After an hour, the rain had go to a slow rain and we continued unloading.

We had big plans to eat fish!! However, that was squashed after the massive rain….plus we were give out tired from the fishing and paddling. So we opened the tent, looking out at the river and at off the camp stove. Not long after that, we were asleep!

About 0330, thunder sat me straight up in the tent. It had started to storm again. I laid there listening to it and eventually fell back asleep before I woke up at 0530 ( I get up early at home too!). I went and purified us some water, started the coffee, at some breakfast, and we started to pack up. The sun was peaking through the clouds, it was going to be a nice day (thanks to technology, we learned from JCs phone the rain chances went from 60% to 10%).

At 0800 we pushed off to start a new day. We were half way to our destination. We started fishing almost immediately trying to get the early morning bite. We fished on and off for about 1 ½ a caught about 6 – 8 fish among us. The wind was picking up too, and not in our favor. We decided it was getting to hard to fish in the wind, and we really needed to get going so JC could get to a wedding he had to go to. So we put the paddles down! The wind was white capping portions of the tiny river….if you stopped paddeling, you were almost immediately going in the opposite direction. So we put our head down and stayed close to the bank and would get out to stretch our legs and rest about every 40 – 60 minutes.

I called my wife and told her we were going to be there earlier than expected, that I would call her when we were closer to taking out. At about 1330 we reached the bridge…man, we were hauling it! We scouted for a path to take the kayaks through some woods to reach the road, and found a small trail. We lugged the kayaks up, sat them down on the side of the road and waited on our ride.

All in all, the weather did not effect us. I have been in much work backpacking! This was one of the best, and most fun trips I have ever been on. It was peaceful, fun, and relaxing. Would I do it again?? You bet…JC and I are both buying some new gear to continue to kayak, fish, and camp some more…and planning the next trip!

Kayak/Canoe Camping

noreply@blogger.com (Venture Outdoors) — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 12:00:00 +0000

It is coming to that time of year when backpacking is out and water sports are in! With a recent invitation to join some buddies on a weekend kayak trip down the Tallapoosa River, I figured I would pass on what I know about planning for your “expedition”.

Planning the Trip

As with any trip you take where you take everything you need with you and can’t run to the store in your car if you forget something, careful planning should be done. Hopefully with careful and insightful planning, any challenges you face, you will have prepared for.

First things first…much like running in a group…you always send the slowest runner to the front and everyone follows suit. If you are going with a group of people who are all capable of going down class V rivers and you have the experience level of being able to float in a wood canoe on your grandfather’s pond, make sure your first trip is of a skill set of the ‘least’ individual.

If you are going on an out of town trip, a good place to start would be local outfitters and guidebooks. These are excellent sources of information you will need to plan your trip. Also, if you are taking your own floats, a local outfitter will usually offer a pick if you need it.

Be sure to check the dam cycles. Most rivers are on some sort of dam system. Down in the south we have a lot of lakes. Most power companies use hydro electric power down here as well as lake level adjustments after a big rain. Make sure or the rain and the dam schedule. You should be able to find a contact for this from the local outfitter.

Gear

Like any camping trip where you lug your stuff in yourself (not via car to campsite!), you’ll regret trying to weigh your boat down with too much stuff. Also, don’t forget, you still have to carry all your stuff from the truck to the kayak, from kayak to campsite, from campsite to kayak, etc! So what should you take? If you are into backpacking, same stuff really. Good quality, lightweight gear is the way to go.

Necessities include:

Tent/tarp
Sleeping bag
Inflatable mattress
Stove
Headlamp and/or flashlight
Bug repellant
Sunscreen
Dry bag
Hygiene stuff
First aid kit
Extra ground cloth is nice to have
Trowel
PFD
Something to bail water

The list can go on and on, but these are pretty important items. I always have paracord backpacking, and it makes for good use kayak camping too. You can tie it around a couple trees and make a clothes line for your wet gear to dry. One of my luxuries I carry camping is my inflatable folding camp chair. It beats sitting on rock or log at the campfire after a long day! Other items can iclude:

Small whisk broom
Carabineers
Cooler
Camera
GPS
Espresso maker
Recliner

In the Boat

Make sure your gear is waterproof. Even in a dry compartment on a kayak, water can still find its way in. Dry bags are very important for this. If you don’t have one, you can use an old ruck sack or heavy duffel bag and line it with a thick garbage bag. If you are in a canoe, tie everything in as well. In case you roll over, you don’t want your stuff floating away or sinking.

Balance the load. Do not load everything in just the front or back. This will cause a lot more work for you paddling and make your craft unsafe. Keep it balanced for best performance and handling on the water.

Leave No Trace

As an avid backpacker/hiker you may have heard of Leave No Trace. Lessening the impact we have in nature is a responsibility we all share, especially if we want to continue to enjoy the outdoors. Some principles of LNT: Travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize campfire impacts, respect wildlife, and be considerate of other visitors. Also, pack out what you pack in….we are talking about garbage here...never bury your garbage.

Remember to have a good time. With a good attitude, you are bound to have fun, enjoy the scenery, enjoy nature, and enjoy the company you are with. With the right attitude, even a not so great trip can still be fun.

A Healthier Trail Mix

noreply@blogger.com (Venture Outdoors) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:10:00 +0000

Create your own Healthy Trail Mix

Select 8 of the following ingredients. You will need 1/4 cup of each ingredient you choose.

**Buy unsalted, unroasted nuts, unsweetened dried fruit for healthiest choices.

Mini pretzels
Sunflower seeds
Dried cranberries
Dried apricots
Raisins
Dried pineapple
Kashi Go-Lean cereal or other high-protein, non-fat, non-sugar cereal
Dried cherries
Granola
Almonds
Walnuts
Cashews
Mini, dark chocolate chips (only if it’s your treat day!)

Ingredients for Coating

Give your trail mix a kick with these optional coating.

1 1/2 Tbsp melted olive-oil-based spread
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
dash of seasoning salt (optional)
dash of garlic powder
dash hot pepper sauce

Preparation for Trail Mix with Coating

Preheat oven to 250°F / 121°C.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine 1/4 cup each of eight ingredients of your choice.
In a small bowl, whisk melted olive-oil-based spread and seasonings. Pour the liquid mixture over the ingredients in the large bowl. Toss until all ingredients are well coated.
Bake for 25 minutes, tossing every 8 minutes to ensure your trail mix is toasted evenly.

Preparation for Trail Mix without Coating

In a large bowl, combine 1/4 cup each of eight ingredients of your choice.
Toss until all ingredients are mixed.

Nutritional Value for ¼ c serving w/ coating (estimated):

Calories: 173

Protein: 10 g

Carbs: 19 g

Dietary Fiber: 2 g

Sugars: 8 g

Fat: 10 g

Sat. Fat: 2 g

Sodium: 40 mg

Cholesterol: 0 g

Sipsey Quillian Creek

noreply@blogger.com (Venture Outdoors) — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 01:01:00 +0000

JC and I arrived at our trailhead at about 0930 Saturday. We had both been looking forward to this trip for a couple weeks. We couldn’t have had better weather. It was suppose to be mid 70s, sunny and low 40s clear nights. What great weather for packing. We got our packs ready, I sent a last minute text to my wife, and off we went hitting the trail…er…wood rather. There wasn’t really a defined path and the first half mile was true bushwacking down the side of a ridge. About 20 steps into the trip we saw a white tail on the next ridge over heading away from us.

First Falls

Once at the bottom of the ridge we pick up a drainage creek we were going to follow to Quillian Creek. On the way, we found an old moonshine steel, though if we hadn’t of known it was in the area, it would have passed for “wonder who brought that scrap metal all the way down here?” Venturing along, I was taken aback by all the beautiful ridges and massive trees. The leaves were just enough to be beautiful, but not full enough for you to be able to see as far as the eye would let you in the forest. All of a sudden we finally came upon our first waterfall.

We took a few pictures, admire the beauty and rock formations and the journey went on. We scaled down a couple canyons, took some more pics, thought about how long the water took to pound the holes in the rock…were mesmerized by how such huge trees grew on rocks, and just the simple beauty of God’s land. We eventually made our way to Quillian Creek.

Quillian Creek is an unofficial trail (or loop) in the Sipsey National Forest. Though Sipsey is a National Forest it would pass more for a wilderness. It is located in the northwest corner of Alabama in the town of Double Springs.

The creek was flowing great with just enough water. We had had some rain earlier in the week, which made all the waterfalls have a nice rate of flow to them. We turned at the junction and headed up Quillian to our camping destination.

Never having been on this “trail” before I somehow had the lead on this trip, even though JC had the GPS. However, how hard is it to “follow the creek”. And that is what I did. By now we were out of the canyon and on the bottom. The trail was relatively flat at this point and we just followed the creek up until it started to get a little steep on the sides. We would then have to backtrack because we would run out of any room to walk and it was either cross to the other side, or mountain climb. This was tricky in itself, as the depth of the creek combined with how clear it is and moving water can be deciving…as JC would later find out!

We came into some feeder creeks and explored some of them up a bit. Most always they ended with a beautiful cascading waterfall. At about the half way point, we stopped and had lunch. I wasn’t that hungry, and plopped down on a rock with some trail mix and water. JC sat next to me, but only after he pulled out something to sit on….I guess he wanted to stay clean! Right after that we ran into a couple guys that JC knew and we chatted with them for a few minutes then both headed in opposite directions. The day was heating up in the afternoon, as the mid day sun came through the trees. Then it happened…

I was walking along, and JC said “snake”…. I immediately froze. I looked back to him and he was pointing right next to me. About 3 feet from me, was a 3 foot water snake. Now, I hate snakes. Poisionous, non poisionous…doesn’t mater….they are all deadly in my eyes. For a minute, I didn’t know what to do, I could have gone straight (the smart thing), I couldn’t have gone left, it was down the hill to the creek, right was the snake, and behind me was JC. I opted to make one giant leap into his unknowing arms…ok..just kidding, but after he took a picture and I checked to make sure I didn’t pee myself, we went on our way.

Making our way a little slower than normal now, making sure every stick in the forest wasn’t a snake we started to relax a bit and get back in the groove of things. Then we ran out of room to walk. There was a great place to cross the creek below too, but there was about a 95% grade down the side of the hill, which I dicided to go for it and slide down. JC finagled his way down the dirt “cliff” seemingly without a trace of dirt on him??? I think under all that hair, he is bald and runs a business making cleaning products!

After a few more creek crossing, we were meandering along and as I had my foot in mid air stepping over a log, I looked in front of me, and stretched out as straight and long as could be was a 15 foot snake. Ok, well, it looked that big, but it was all of 5 – 6 feet, and I was about to step on his tail. No noise resembling a screaming girl came out of my mouth. As a matter of fact the only thing JC said he heard coming out of my mouth was the last bit of remaining oxygen in my body. I quickly stepped back and the snake went into the water. After JC laughed at me a while, I think he realized that I was still without oxygen, and I was NOT laughing! I had some sweat beading up, and my heart rate…well, I felt like I had just completed the Boston Marathon. Once I caught my breath, I politely told him to go ahead, giving him the courtesy to go first. He matter of factly quite laughing and said, no after you! So we very cautiously continued.

Fossil's

We encountered numerous other falls, and about everywhere you looked, it was a picture. We explored feeder creeks sought out other water falls off the beaten path, and saw some fossils.

We passed some great camp sites, and eventually made our way to the best one. It was a nice relaxing hike (minus the snake encounters). JC discovered quite a few new friends he picked up along the way, ticks. Apparently, they really liked him, because I didn’t have one on me. We rested a bit, and started to setup camp. The weather was beautiful, and despite the wet wood from all the rain we had had that week, we still managed to get a decent fire…it at least gave us something to do. We also had a couple cold ones we packed in, and stuck in the creek to cool down. We shared some laughs, told some stories, and went to bed.

The next morning, after I thawed out ( I took my summer bag, as the weather report was about 10 degrees off), we made some coffee, ate and were on our way to the truck. Low an behold, we hiked about the entire loop, so we just about a 400 foot climb over the period of a mile, we were back at the truck before 1000.

All in all, a great loop. Could definatley be a day hike, but also a great over night relaxing hike. Wouldn’t do it to much later than now, as snakes are starting to come out. Luckily we did not see any rattlers or anything poisionous, but with all the rocks and blow downs you step over, I would be nervous as it warms up any more.

I will definitely be doing this loop again!

"Official" Trail Report HERE

Quillian Creek

Problems Packing??

noreply@blogger.com (Venture Outdoors) — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 01:44:00 +0000

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noreply@blogger.com (Venture Outdoors) — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 01:29:00 +0000

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