Pinhoti/Cave Creek--Into the Heat

I have not posted to this blog in a while because it has been so damn hot that I have not wanted to hit the trail in any form or fashion.  This has also been the case with most of my hiking buddies because they have not ventured out either.  However, there is always someone in the group that has to get things started, so the other day my Birmingham Adventure Club came up with the idea of hiking the Pinhoti Trail/ Cave Creek Loop out of the Cheaha Trail Head on Saturday morning.

This hike is close to 8 miles and has quite a bit of up and down a great deal of rocky terrain.  The hike is rather dry with only water to be found in Cave Creek.  The forecast the week before showed temps in the low 90's and cool nights.  Unfortunately, that forecast did not hold true as the humidity was high and the temps were in the high 90's.  Back in my military days when we had a forecast like that we kept the troops indoors and low activity.  Of course at that time I was all of 24 years of age and weighed about 150 pounds soaking wet.

My friend Mark was joined by his friend Charlie.  Dick Echols who I had not seen since the Chinnabbee Hike was there.  Mary Allison, Larry, Jennie and Justin joined all of us on the days excursion.  I could tell it was going to be hot when we were leaving the parking lot down the trail.  It was 8:45 am and you could already feel the humidity.  Ideally, the time to have left the parking lot was around 6 am but people were coming from different locations with different lengths of travel.

Curbie was joined on the trip by Dill a beagle mix that belonged to Larry and Jennie.  Dill is an older dog that knows how to behave himself unlike Curbie the Wonder Dog.  Curbie has been housebound all summer and has been itching to get back on the trail.  When she saw my hiking poles she was ready to go.  But she was also very rambunctious and overly friendly.  Above is a picture of the two taken at McDill Point.

Other than seeing a large snake identified as a water moccasin the morning leg was fairly uneventful.  I was walking in the middle by myself and came to an intersection that made me a little unsure of which way to go.  Curbie had gone on ahead with Dill so I just did not know which way I wanted to head.  Just at that moment, Curbie came back to check on me and then I knew the way.  She never gets too far away from me and if she has not seen me for a while she comes back and checks on me.

We had lunch at McDill Point and enjoyed the scenery.  Unfortunaltely, there was no breeze and its was beginning to get very warm.  We started the return trip and most of the first half was uphill over some fairly rough, rocky terrain.  After a couple of miles I felt very warm and just laid on the trail with my feet up and caught my senses again.  After that it mostly downhill to the trailhead.

We arrived back at the trailhead around 2 in the afternoon.  We were hot, sweaty and beat.  We usually head out somewhere to eat afterwards but I was not hungry at all.  The truck was going to be too hot for Curbie to stay in so I headed back to Birmingham.  I had a good time but I do not do well in 95 degree heat and high humidity.  I think my next hike will be when temps at least fall into the 80's.  

Wes and I at the gym, will wonders never cease

Jack Wesley brought his parents for an extended visit this week before they head back to Baton Rouge for the summer.  Wes wanted to go work out at the gym this morning and see what I am always talking about.  Dawson Baptist Church in Homewood, Alabama is a true mega church with tremendous facilities.  One that I like the best is the Gymnasium and work out facitlity.  Wes was truly impressed with the facility and that I got to use it for free.

We did 30 minutes of core work and 30 minutes of cardio and felt great afterward.  It is 6 months until our next trip to Big Bend National Park so it is now time to get serious again with the workouts.  A couple of the ladies that are there every morning were asking when I would be getting back on the treadmill with my pack on.  I said soon but I will really be waiting until the last 90 days because it is hard on the knees.

Wes and I had a great time and I look forward to Thursday when he goes back again.  He did not want to get up early for spin class tomorrow so I guess I will be alone for that.

The Good Die Young

I have been away from this blog for an extended time because of family health issues, tornadoes that decimated north Alabama and the oppressive summer heat.  All that to say "I have not been hiking lately."  However, I come back to the blog to report a very sad event.  Jay Hudson, fellow hiker, naturalist, school teacher and great human being, passed away at 3:30 p. m. Tuesday from a pulmonary embolism.

Jay Hudson

Chelsea, AL - Funeral service for Jay Hudson, 42, will be Friday, June 10, 2011 at 11:00 am at Radney-Smith Chapel with Rev. Mahlon Felkins and Rev. Lewis Archer officiating.  Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery in Sylacauga, AL.

Mr. Hudson died Tuesday, June 7, 2011.  He was preceded in death by father, Jerry E. Hudson.  Jay was an avid outdoorsman who loved hiking, wildflowers and photography.  He was a graduate of Oneonta High School and earned a Bachelor of Science from Birmingham Southern, Master of Science from Auburn University, Bachelor of Science Agricultural Science from Auburn and a Master of Arts in Education from UAB.  He was a science teacher at Bumpus Middle School in the Hoover School System.

He is survived by his parents, Dr. Walter and Judy Pinson of Sylacauga; brother, Jeffery Scott Hudson of Leeds, AL; nephews, Jared Hudson and Jacob Hudson; step-sister, Tamara Cusmariu and her husband, Dr. Jeffery Cusmariu; step-brother, Scott Pinson; aunt, Janet Bailey, husband Dane; cousins, Dana Levering and husband Mike, and Patrick Bailey wife Sharron.

Visitation will be Friday, June 10, 2011 from 9:00 am until 11:00 am. at Radney-Smith Funeral Home.

The family will accept flowers or contributions may be made to a memorial fund that has been established to Bumpus Middle School, Attn:  Jay Hudson Memorial, 1730 Lake Cyrus Drive, Hoover, AL  35244.  If enough funds are raised, the school will support building a hiking trail on the school grounds and name it the Jay Hudson Memorial Trail.  Checks should be made payable to Bumpus Middle School with Jay Hudson Memorial written in the memo line of the check.

Memorial messages may be sent to the family at www.radneysmith.com.

Radney-Smith Funeral Home in Sylacauga, AL will direct the services.

                                           Jay and I on the Chinnabee Silent Trail in the Spring
I did not have the opportunity to know Jay long enough.  He was the leader of the local Sierra Club and a leader of many hikes in the Sipsey Wilderness and the Pinhoti Trail.  Jay loved photography and wildflowers and was a wealth of information about the fauna that I usually did not notice.  Jay introduced me to the waterfalls of the Sipsey and I will be forever grateful.  


One day in the early spring I was on a hike that Jay was leading on the Pinhoti Trail.  For some reason or another I was struggling that day.  I found it harder and harder to keep up with the group.  It was a fairly long hike through some rolling terrain and I knew I was in a little bit of trouble.  Jay noticed I was struggling and began to hang back with me.  Finally, I told Jay that I need to lay down and take an extended break as I was not feeling well at all.  As I was on the ground trying to get my legs back under me Jay and I had an extended conversation about hiking, life, death and individuality.  Jay was a  very complex person with a lot of passion about many things.  He was a liberal and proud of it.  He did not hesitate to state his position on a matter even though that position might not be popular with the group he was talking to.  I truly respect Jay and wish I was more like him.  


Heaven is a better place today as Jay is with the Lord.  Jay, say hello to Hope for me.  

Nature's Fury

I was in Baton Rouge over the weekend and through Wednesday helping my family with my brother's sudden heart attack.  (He is doing well and back at home after triple by-pass)  I was going to head home on Wednesday but our friend Pam who was staying at the house said to stay there until a double round of storms came through the area.  Her advice was on target because the I20 corridor into Birmingham was strafed with some of the worst tornadoes in the last 50 years.

On Wednesday afternoon, my mother-in-law called and let us know that our nephew Clay had shot footage of the Tuscaloosa tornado from his apartment balcony and it was playing on all the newscasts.
http://www.twitvid.com/4W6PU
The fury of that tornado was just enormous and would wind up being a horrific killer and destroyer of homes across Alabama and Georgia.  My heart and prayers go out to all the people who have been affected by this terrible storm.

Mountainsmith Giveaway from my Life Outdoors Blog

Mountainsmith Tour Lumbar Pack Giveaway

In honor of Earth Day this week My Life Outdoors andYourLume.com have teamed up to giveaway a nice piece of gear. By entering below you have the chance to win a Mountainsmith Tour lumbar pack ($70 value). Get out and enjoy the earth with peace of mind because your new Mountainsmith Tour is made from 100% recycled PET. Not Fido, but Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET). Mountainsmith claims their recycled PET packs have the "Same performance, comfort and durability you've come to trust, but saving the planet one bag at a time."

Go to My Life Outdoors and leave a comment and enter the sweepstakes.  

After the Storm in the Sipsey

Mark Dutton, Ranger the Chihuahua, Curbie the Wonderdog and I went to the Sipsey Wilderness on Saturday to explore some trails we have not hiked and to see a few waterfalls.  Our trip began in Houston, Alabama (I had never heard of it either).  There is a restaurant on the north end of Smith Lake in the middle of nowhere only known for being the home of Alabama's oldest log jail.  The restaurant known as Chef Troys Talk of the Town is a real little gem.  Chef Troy is a trained chef from San Francisco who loves to cook cajun food.  I had a wonderful andouie sausage omelet and french toast that was out of this world.  What a great way to start the day.

Our actual hike started at the Thompson Creek Trail Head heading up the Northwest Trail (Trail 208) which actually is an old forest service road that has been closed since the Sipsey became a national wilderness.  Roads are not allowed in a national wilderness so it was allowed to return to nature.  It actually serves as one of the few horse trails so it was a little cut up because of the horse traffic.  The trail headed uphill for about 2 miles and connected with Trail 224 which is the old Bunyan Trail which runs near Braziel Creek.  At some point I want to do a little exploring in this region because Clifty Falls is nearby but will require some bushwhacking to get to.

We eventually hit Trail 204 which was to take us to our central destination which was East Bee Falls and the Big Tree.  This was a very beautiful area to hike in and produced a very interesting tree along the way.

We finally made our way down to the top of East Bee Falls which is one of the prettiest places in the Sipsey.  There is a campsite at this position which I must come back and stay for at least a night.

We headed down the rocks into East Bee Branch and home of the Big Tree.  The Big Tree is the largest Tulip Poplar in the state of Alabama and may people come here to see it.  Now I am not really that impressed with the Big Tree but I really love where it is located.  This is truly a beautiful and serene place.

We decided to have our lunch among the rocks and rest a little before continuing on with our hike.  I got Curbie and I a sausage biscuit from MickeyD's along with some peanut butter crackers so we had a feast.  Mark and Ranger seemed to enjoy whatever treat they brought along.

We then headed off down East Bee Branch Trail to the Sipsey River and Trail 209.  This part of the trail down East Bee Branch is not maintained and the dead-fall is everywhere.  I truly hate dead-fall.  I am not nearly as flexible as I once was (and even then was not very flexible) so going over and under logs wears me out.
But eventually we reached the Sipsey River but we needed to cross the creek and the water was running high.  Rather than wade to thigh deep creek we decided to utilize a fallen log to test our balance.

We headed down 209 which follows the Sipsey River and eventually runs into Trail 206 after passing through some private land.  The river was running very high with some nice rapids.  We spotted some canoers enjoying the day on the river.

There are some very nice campsites in this area of the wilderness.  The river creates some sandy banks and the hemlock trees create wonderful shade.  The rocks in the river were almost covered by the high water making for some great hydraulics.

After a long 12 mile hike through the wilderness we finally hit the end of the trail which was the Thompson Creek Bridge.

It was a wonderful day to be outside with partly cloudy skies, cool temperatures and low humidity.  One downside was a few ticks made the ride home.

The Skyway Loop Trail on the Pinhoti Trail

Mark Dutton, a new friend from Jasper, and I left Friday afternoon for a three day backpack trip off the Pinhoti Trail to an area known as the Skyway Loop.  The loop starts for us at the Turnipseed Camp parking lot on Highway 281 just below the Cheaha State Park.  From there it is a 4 mile hike to Lake Chinnabee joining the Skyway Trail for another 6 miles.  This trail then intersects with the Pinhoti Trail at Adams Gap.  The toughest section of the trail is the 5 miles up the Pinhoti Trail utilizing the Stairway to Heaven and joining the Chinnabee Silent Trail back down to the parking lot.  The total distance hiked for me wound up being about 19 miles but Mark took about a 3.5 mile side hike to make his distance about 22.5 miles.

We met Dick Echols in Leeds who wanted to join us for the first night camp.   Dick would be joining the Sierra Club hike from the Cheaha Shelter on the Chinnabee Silent Trail to Adams Gap.  Mark and I would hike with the group until we found a good place to spend the second night out.

After a great lunch in Oxford at Billys Bar-B-Que the three of us made our way to the trail head to begin our trip.  The first day was really just a short jaunt to the Cheaha Shelter to spend the night.  There were no cars in the parking lot so I felt we would have the shelter to ourselves.  Not long into the hike we hit Cheaha Falls a wonderful area below the Cheaha Shelter.   A short walk up the hill would bring us to the shelter but I was wrong about being there by ourselves.  There were approximately 20 college students and 2 teachers at the shelter.  The students were from Faulkner College in Montgomery and were finishing up on the backpacking class.  They were very pleasant and seemed to enjoy the company of Curbie the Wonderdog.

I am posting a picture below taken by Mark Dutton of Dick Echols, Curbie and myself at the Cheaha Shelter.  Mark is a wonderful photographer and was using a Canon G-12 digital camera which I am in love with.  I am sure Mark does not mind me posting this image as I am giving him proper credit.

After a restless night sleeping in the shelter with the students talking around the campfire we were joined by the Sierra Club hiking group to continue our trip.  Jay Hudson, the very capable leader of the group, was not feeling well and would not get better during the day.  We hiked over to Lake Chinnabee through Devils Den Falls, a popular local attraction and swimming hole.  Some kayakers were taking advantage of the high water to run down the creek.

After lunch at the Lake Chinnabee campgrounds we headed up the Skyway Trail to Adams Gap.  The weather was great with blue skies and a little breeze.  The trail was mostly uphill and through some rolling hills. We met a couple of hikers and their Brittany Spaniel who did not want to play with Curbie.  Late in the afternoon we arrived at a beautiful campsite on Hubbard Creek about 2 miles from Adams Gap.  Mark and I made camp by the creek while the group headed on to Adams Gap and a finish of the day hike.

This spot wound up being a great place to spend the night.  The creek ran over some shoals near the site and gurgled all night.  I set up my hammock and slept very well until about 4:30 when Curbie growled at some sort of creature lurking by our campsite.  After a breakfast of Pop-Tart we were off and hiking down the trail.

Soon we were at the Adams Gap junction with the Pinhoti Trail.  The weather was beginning to warm up but there was a nice breeze.  Up the Pinhoti we went.  This section of the trail is best known for an area known as the Stairway to Heaven.  This takes you up to a wonderful overlook of the valley below but is one rocky and difficult portion.  I am not where I need to be fitness wise and it took a toll on me.  I was too tired to take a decent picture from up top so I am going to use the one that Mark took.

From there we headed over to the junction of the Chinnabee Silent Trail, the Odum Scout Trail and the Pinhoti Trail.  The trail down to the car on the Chinnabee Silent Trail is one rocky road.  It was really hard on the feet and knees and I was already pretty spent.  After somewhat of a struggle we reached the car and it was a welcome sight.  The only bad part of the hike is that it was on Sunday and a  beer could not be bought.  So after a stop at the Park Headquarters and a Diet Coke we headed to Wendys in Oxford for a great chicken sandwich.

Up to My Knees in Cold Water

Last weekend I went up to the Sipsey Wilderness with the Sierra Club for a day hike down Eagle Creek, Little Ugly Creek and then looping back up Horsepen Creek. The weather had been very rainy the two days before raising the water levels all across the wilderness. The timing for the trip could not have been more perfect. Of course, the only problem was that the warm weather never arrived and the temperature stayed in the 40's all day long.

We started out off Cranal Road at the beginning of Eagle Creek. There was a trail to follow for a while bringing us past a very nice campsite at the bend of the creek. A couple of guys were camping there for the night as evidenced by the smoke from their campfire.

Down from the campsite was our first waterfall of the day, "Eagle Creek Falls". This is one of the most beautiful off trail falls in the wilderness. Some of the rest areas in the Alabama interstate system display Eagle Creek Falls. The lead photo in this article shows the falls from down the trail. The below photo is a closer up view.

We continued our trek down Eagle Creek crossing back and forth across the creek. As I mentioned the temperature was in the mid 40's and the creek was high and the water cold. At first I tried to keep my boots dry but after a while I gave up. When the terrain got tough I would just wade down the creek rather than try to walk the muddy ridge side.

There were a couple of feeder creeks that came into Eagle Creek and a short hike revealed some unknown water falls. One I decided to name in honor of my Louisiana heritage "Bengal Falls". I am sure my Alabama friends will love that. Below is a photo of Bengal Falls.

As we headed down stream we ran into the merger of Little Ugly Creek and Eagle Creek. The map seems to name the merger as Little Ugly Creek as it flows on into the Sipsey River. We walked up Little Ugly Creek or in my case waded to one of the most wonderful places in the Sipsey. Little Ugly Falls and Deer Skull Falls are next to each other on Little Ugly Creek. This is in an area with steep canyon walls and tons on Hemlock Trees. What a great place. The first photo is Little Ugly Falls and the second photo is Deer Skull Falls.

We explored above these falls to find another wonderful waterfall called upper Deer Skull Falls. It was a little bit of a climb and a creek crossing but it was worth the effort.

After a lunch break at the falls we headed down Little Ugly Creek toward another feeder creek called Hemlock Creek. A short distance up the creek we found this little beauty called Hemlock Falls.

A little further down the terrain began to change and began to flatten out and actually became a little marshy except for one little place that was a waterfall named for the ferns that grow in the spring around this area. This little waterfall was called Fernglade Falls and is pictured below.

Shortly after leaving Fernglade we ran into the Sipsy River and was it high. We turned right and went down the river about a quarter mile and turned up Horsepen Creek. This turned out to be the most difficult walking of the entire trip. I spent a lot of time wading this portion of the trek. It was quite an amazing sight though. A lot of boulders, moss and fauna all up, down and in the creek.

We eventually came to a very lovely waterfall called Horsepen Falls which would be our last waterfall of the day. There was a wonderful campsite above the falls with some nice benches people have made utilizing the available rocks in the area.

The exit out of the wilderness was about a half mile of dead fall and an uphill of briers. But the road was a welcome sight and meant some warmth from wading the cold creeks all day. This was a great day full of eye candy and new knowledge of the Sipsey.

Today I head to a different part of the state and more waterfalls. Mark Dutton, an attorney from Jasper, and I are heading to Mount Cheaha and the Skyway Loop. We will hike in on the Chinnabee Silent Trail to a shelter with a wonderful view of the Talledaga National Forest. Below the shelter is the Cheaha Falls. We will spend the night there and will meet up with the Sierra Club hikers in the morning. We will continue the Silent Trail (so named by the Boy Scout Troop of deaf scouts who helped develop the trail) to Lake Chinnabee and then the Skyway Trail over to Adams Gap.

It should be a great weekend and I will report on the trip next week.

OMG---HTML and CSS

I think that I must have too much time on my hands.  I am striving to learn html and css to better understand how to do my blog and possibly my own website.  The older you get the more difficult it is to learn something new but I am going to give it a go.

If anyone has any tips please let me know.

The Field Lab and such other nonsense

I mentioned in an earlier post that John Wells, a New York photographer, had exited his busy world of high-fashion photography to move to Terlinqua, Texas and live off the grid. The New York Times recently sent a writer and photographer down to do a piece on John and his lifestyle. The article can be found at the following link.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/10/garden/10texas.html

John lives one of those lives that I would love to live but would never have the nerve nor the recklessness to live, but I really like to think about it. I am perfectly happy living my life as it is, but there is a certain romance and nostalgia to live out in the old, wild west living on nothing but your wits. Any way it is always a good start to my day.

John has a very small cast of characters and places that are interspersed into his daily blog. Belinda, an adopted long horn cow meanders in and out of his daily life. Belinda has become a small time favorite face book page and coffee mugs can be ordered from John with her likeness on the cup. Floppy is a burro that hangs out at the field lab and usually is in to some sort of mischief. John operates a live web cam of the field lab at his website and Floppy is always knocking it over.

Some friends of John are two western cowboy singers Brent Lovelady and William Rich, better known in west Texas as the Bent Lovehandles. They recently released their first album called "Sacred Order of the Lonely Hearts" which can be purchased from iTunes for $9.98. Brent and William play at local establishments in and around Big Bend National Park and can be seen at the Starlight Theater, a favorite haunt of John and many Big Benders who frequent the area. Brent actually created a YouTube video of a song he wrote and performed at the Field Lab.



John seems to enjoy his notoriety and seems to enjoy entertaining visitors a the field lab.  So if you are in the area and would like to enjoy the company of a true individual, give John a call.

Everyday life

No hiking this weekend and that is a shame (maybe I go out Sunday and get in a short day hike).  I am working on a new piece of business (I actually do work for a living.  Yes. it is true) and they want to have a conference call at 10 am on a Saturday morning.

So now it looks like I will get out next weekend and do some hiking in the Bankhead National Forest with the Sierra Club group.  Yes, I joined the Sierra Club.  I used to be a member when I was in Louisiana but it lapsed over time.  So I am back to being a tree hugger.  Not really but I am concerned about the environment and I want to preserve the wilderness areas, national forests and public lands for future use.

I enjoyed the Sierra Club meeting night before last.  Jay Hudson's presentation was very informative and insightful.  He basically talked about the diversity of plant and animal life in Alabama and how quickly that diversity is beginning to diminish.  Alabama has the lowest amount of public lands as a percentage of total land in the US.  That means the availability of parks, wildernesses and national forests in Alabama is very limited.  If we only had a median share what a boost to tourism that would be.  Unfortunately our politicians are too short sighted to see that.

The explorer has a leak in the radiator and I need to get that fixed in the next week or so.  I need the ability to be mobile without leaving Karen without a car so the time is now.

Just thought I would throw in a picture of the basin in Big Bend National Park.  I am ready to go back.

If you have not checked out The Field Lab blog I encourage you to.  I think it is self assuming on my part that I am writing like I am talking to someone.  I just assume at a point in time someone will actually come and read about my little corner of the world.

I have been busy with life

I have been negligent in my duties to my blog for the last couple of weeks.  I have not been hiking or camping since my ill-fated trip on the Pinhoti, but I have not given up my passion, just life getting in the way.  Nothing earth shattering or newsworthy, just moving furniture, bad weather and some light yard work.

Tonight I will attend my first meeting of the Cahaba River Sierra Club meeting at the Hoover Library.  Jay Hudson, a volunteer leader of my hiking club and a true naturalist, is giving a presentation on the fauna of the Alabama woods and forests.  I am not a big joiner and certainly do not consider myself much of an activist but I like Jay and want to hear what he has to present.  I certainly want to see our wilderness and forest areas preserved and given the state of the economy it may be left up to us to make sure that happens.

I will file a report tomorrow and let everyone know how the meeting went.

PS.  I have discovered a blog that I find truly interesting.  I know you will not be surprised that it is about the Big Bend area.  A gentleman by the name of John Wells, a former fashion photographer from New York, sold everything he had, purchased 60 acres outside of the gates of Big Bend, and built a one room house off the grid.
John blogs everyday about his adventures of living alone, living off the grid and truly living by his own wits.  You can find him at http://thefieldlab.blogspot.com/

He was recently visited and written about by the New York Times.

The Odyssey of paying AARP dues for 13 years

We all have heard the terms "the new 40's" or "the new 50's" and the like.  In a lot of ways these terms are accurate and reflect the changes in lifestyles, technology and medical advances.  But from time to time you come to face with reality that you are getting older and you have to try harder to stay ahead of Father Time.

I came face to face with this reality a couple of weekends ago when hiking on the Pinhoti Trail just north of Mt. Cheaha.  As I related in an earlier post I was stricken with a case of heat exhaustion on a warm but not necessarily hot day in Alabama.  Surely something must have been wrong with me to have such a hard time.  Certainly it could not have been anything that I did or did not do on that day to cause me such stress.

Well, off to see Dr. Rene to find out what malady has stricken my body.  Surely all my arteries must have been blocked or I had malaria or some esoteric jungle disease.  Dr. Rene took the mandatory blood samples and then sent me off to see the cardiologist and a nuclear stress test disguised in the name of cardiolite stress test.  Thursday morning I showed up at this fancy health club on Highway 119 operated by St. Vincent's Hospital.  There were three other people taking the test that morning and they were all older and fatter than I.  I am of course rationalizing that some mistake had been made putting me with such an unhealthy group.

When my turn came after being prepped with some sort of radioactive isotope, I hopped up on the treadmill and performed for the technician.  She gave me the same comment that most nurses and doctors give me-"Did you know that your heart rate is low?"  Every medical person since my early teens have made the same comment.  "Yes, I do know that and should I be concerned?"

Well, the test went very well and I was told that I am in very good physical shape and my heart and plumbing is doing well.  It was obvious that they are not "Dr. House" who surely would have diagnosed me with some sort of dengue fever or a bite of the African Tse-Tse fly.

But since this did not happen I guess I will face the real issue and that is I am getting older and must put in more work that my younger counterparts just to be able to have a comparable result as they.  So the effort must be continual or I will digress into not being able to do what I want to do.  Even though the 60's are now the new 50's, I have concluded that to be general statement and not a complete truth.  We baby boomers are going to have to continue to work harder to accomplish what we used to be able to do in our sleep.

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The Birmingham Hiking Meet-Up group was off to the Pinhoti Trail this weekend for a 10 mile day hike of a section of the trail just off the Talledega Scenic Highway.  We left from the parking lot at the Cracker Barrel on 280 and joined up with another group at the Target in Oxford, Alabama.  The total count of hikers was 31 and was a diverse group age-wise.

The good part of the hike was that the weather was nice and warm.  By the end of the day the temperatures had risen to mid-to-high 70's.  There was a little breeze and the humidity did not seem to be that high.  The start of the hike was 3 miles on an old CCC road that would connect us to the Pinhoti Trail.  What was interesting about the road hike was all of the rock work done by the CCC back in the 30's and 40's.  The Civilian Conservation Corps was started by Franklin Roosevelt in an effort to get people back to work.  A lot of the work done was in National Parks and National Forests and their handiwork has stood the test of time.

 
As we arrived at the Pinhoti Trail I was at the back of the pack as far as hikers.  The only problem with that was that there was no rest break and we were off down the trail.  About a mile into the Pinhoti section of the hike I noticed that I really had no spring in my step and was beginning to struggle on the uphill portions of the trail.  I was beginning to feel somewhat bad and also feel the effects of the sun on my face.  After about 4 miles into the hike on the trail and 7 miles total, I arrived at the designated lunch area much later than I should.  As I set down to eat my gourmet meal of peanut butter sandwich, trail mix and Little Debbie Oatmeal cookie, some of the hikers began to move out.  I stayed as long as I could but eventually had to move on out myself.  All in all my little rest and lunch break was only about 15 minutes and I was not fully hydrated.

The leader of the group, Jay Hudson, realized that I was struggling and hung in with me at the back of the pack.  The longer we hiked the more I struggled.  I stopped a couple of times to try to get hydrated but it was always a temporary fix.  As we got near the top of a long hill climb I told Jay that I needed to sit down because I was not feeling well.  After a few minutes I tried to get up and things sort of went black.  I knew then that I was into heat exhaustion.  I got out of my pack and stretched out on the ground and elevated my feet on a log.  I have had heat exhaustion before and I knew what to do.  After 20 to 30 minutes the color came back into my face and I began to feel much better.  We were finally able to complete the hike and find the cars.  Unfortunately the remainder of the group had to wait an hour for us to get out.

I am grateful to Jay and his patience with me as a distressed hiker.  Other people might have been less patient or short with me but Jay knew exactly how to handle the situation.  I nor Jay showed any panic even though I knew that I was in trouble.  When you get in trouble in the wilderness try to be as calm as you can and remember basic first aid skills.  I think our actions kept more serious consequences from coming into play.

I will be taking a trip to the doctor this week to try and pinpoint why I had such trouble.  I have been hiking a lot over the last year without any trouble whatsoever.  I need to be checked out to make sure there is no other cause for the issues that I suffered today.

Another Snow in the South

A very nice snow event in Birmingham last night that left a blanket of white everywhere.  This time it was all snow and it is certainly a post card event.  I am going to travel today so I hope the roads are not that bad.  It is certainly beautiful while it lasts.

The Case of the Lost Photos

When I returned to Big Bend in early January I was shocked to find that the HD card in my new camera was missing.  I had viewed the photos before my return trip from Gonzales so I know that it was there at one time.  We searched everywhere and no card was found.  I was deeply disappointed that I had lost all my pictures from that camera.  Luckily, Wes had used my other camera so I was not empty handed.

In working with my camera this weekend I noticed something strange.  The camera actually had a built in 1 gig plus memory.  I thought at the time that the memory was for the instruction manual.  This morning at 4 am I decided to check that feature again.  Voila!!!!  There were my pictures!!!!  Life is good again.  It always pays to read your owners manual before using anything.