Montgomery Bell III

Outcasts total 351.6

Day one
Jim Bailey Trail .5
Campground Trail both ways .4
Overnight loop to Woodland Shelter 5
Bewildered 600 yards
Woodland Trail .5
Day one total 7 miles

Day two
Woodland Trail .5
Overnight loop 4
Ore Pit Trail 2500ft
Wildcat Trail 3710ft
Day two total 5.6 miles

Craig couldn't’t make this trip. He was hiking with his dad in the Smokies so he called on me to lead this. Not sure this was a good idea but the other’s seemed OK with it.

I picked up Marco at the fire hall around 7 and headed toward Nashville. We were ahead of schedule so we opted for breakfast at Waffle House. I had forgotten the directions to the park (not starting out as a good leader) but recovered nicely thanks to Google Maps on my phone. We finished up breakfast and headed to the trail head. We arrived about 9:30 and Troy was already waiting on us. He said he had gotten there 10 minutes prior so we weren’t doing too badly and Taylor was 10 minutes or so behind us. Craig called Marco while we were still at the parking lot making sure his group was going to make it without him. We assured him it would work out one way or another. I searched the ranger station which was closed looking for a sign in. Look, look…..nothing. Then Marco and Troy took a gander and still nothing. So Troy left a note with our tag numbers and away we went. Within 30 minutes I had made a wrong turn. Reviewing the map once more, we figured out where we went wrong and decided to hike the road for a couple hundred yards or so until we picked up the M Bell trail head. All was well and a fairly uneventful hike until lunch. We had stopped at the Wildcat Shelter to eat where we ran into a man, women, and dog hiking out after an overnight trip. We also found the humor of Marco texting Craig and asking if we were on the blue trail or white. And again later if we should turn right or left at the Exxon. Then Marco sent Craig a picture message of the shelter which got a quick reply of “First Shelter”. Ya think? Troy and I would have kept up the charade a bit longer before we let Craig off the hook. The game was over and so was lunch and we started out once again.

The farther we hiked along the water, the less it looked like a trial. A few more minutes and even less trail. We reviewed the map once again and saw that we should have left the shelter and hiked in the opposite direction. Strike two. Once again, we were backtracking a couple hundred yards or so until we picked up the right trail. An hour or so went by before we stopped for another break. Troy tied Shadow (his dog) to a tree and the dog begins to circle the tree. As we are getting ready to leave, I notice Troy trying to lead Shadow around the tree to untangle her. Next thing I know he has picked her up and now Troy and the dog are circling the tree.

We made the Woodland Shelter by 2….much earlier than we expected. Collected the fire wood and realized the fire ring was still hot from the hikers previous. I don’t think Taylor even struck a match to get it going. We made some coffee/tea each and were just talking when WHAM! After a few minutes of investigating we realize acorns are falling from the tree above and onto the shelter roof. Sounded like a gun going off according to Marco. Several more fell during the afternoon and we realize this is going to scare the crap out of us during the night. We each enjoyed a peaceful dinner with the recall of the 5 pound spider story from the trip before. I wasn’t there when it happened but Marco has a great recount if you missed it. My favorite part is when Craig called out “Marco..HELP ME!”

I was going to bake a brownie for dessert only to find that my large pan had a hole in 3 of the 4 corners. Not sure if the holes were a result of folding or riding in my pack all day. Since I already had the brownie mixed up, I decided to try it in my Jet Boil stove. Twenty minutes later I had successfully baked the brownie.

Just after crawling into my sleeping bag I heard a THUD! Wouldn’t find out until breakfast that it was the sound Marco’s body made as it hit the ground. It seems that his knot broke on the foot end of his hammock resulting in the brief fall and the thud as he slammed into the ground. He seemed relieved that it was the foot end and not the head that gave way.

Thirty minutes or so after crawling into my bag I am awakened by a familiar WHAM on the shelter roof. Not as startled as I thought I would be. Though I slept through, the others said they were awakened several more times during the night. I only woke again around 5:30 to find Troy poking at the fire and once more at 6:30 with Taylor stirring the fire this time. It was light out this time so I began the coffee.

Taylor asks around camp to see if anyone else heard the “Coaching” this morning. Troy agreed that he had heard something but wasn’t sure exactly what. Taylor said it sounded like a football coach in the distance yelling RUN, RUN! We finished breakfast and broke camp.

We resumed hiking at 9AM and made great time to McAdow Cabin. I suggested that we could add a few more miles onto the trip but it would require about 500-1000 feet of cross country travel. It didn’t seem too bad to me as it was only an 80 foot elevation change and would be downhill. I was quickly outvoted three to one. Marco was dead set against the cross country part, Troy needed to get out for his daughter’s ball game, and Taylor was ready to eat again. I see why Craig likes him!

We headed toward the parking lot and arrived at 11:30. After the traditional Waffle House post trip meal we called it quits. It was a great trip and I was careful not to get my third strike. Thankfully for the others, Craig will be leading the next hike at Savage Gulf.

Pictures

Montgomery Bell (Take Two)

April 2007
Montgomery Bell (Take Two)...............Trail Rating....Outcasts Total: 83 Miles
Jim Bailey Trail.........................0.5........Moderate
Wildcat Trail to Ore Pit............0.75........Moderate
Ore Pit to Spill Way..................0.75........Moderate
Spill Way Trail..........................1.0............Easy
Overnight Trail to Laurel............1.5........Moderate
Laurel Furnace........................0.12.........Moderate
Overnight Trail to Woodland.......3.0.......Moderate
Woodland Shelter.......................0.6.........Easy
Overnight Trail to Creech............0.5........Moderate
Creech Hollow to Overnight........1.2..........Moderate
Overnight to Creech...................5.0...........Moderate
Creech Hollow to Overnight.........1.2.........Moderate
Overnight Trail to Parking...........1.0.........Moderate
Total………………………………........17.2 Miles

It just so happened that I had a couple of free days off during the week. I made a few calls and came up with Troy and Logan Gill. Greg had to cut grass with his boss. Troy had missed out on the Montgomery Bell hike and I wanted to finish the rest of the trails there so here we go. Take Two.

We met up at MFD headquarters, my new home, and headed out. We got to the park in good time to make an early start. Let me tell you about Logan. Logan is a woman slayer, a young man who has just turned 21. When we pulled up to the visitor center he dove out of the truck and headed over to a young blonde woman who was having trouble with her car door. He headed over there with his tail wagging and tongue hanging out. Well after Troy and I got out of the truck, I looked over at this sad sight and told Troy to watch this. I wondered over there, Logan backed out of the way. I unlocked her door, sprung the latch and told her she had nothing further to worry about. She grabbed a hold of my neck and gave me a big hug thanking me profusely. She turned and patted Logan on the chest and got in her car. I just looked over at Logan and told him to get back on the porch. He whimpered and wondered back to the truck.

We got signed in and headed out. I found out that it was well worth coming back for. The Spill Way and the Creech Hollow trails were some of the parks finest. We ate lunch at the Spill Way. We found us a picnic table and I pulled out my peanut butter and honey sandwiches. I started looking at the map to figure out our miles when out of the blue two-gallon size zip lock bags full of Troy’s famous fried chicken hit the table. I couldn’t hold back the tears of excitement and whimpered like a small child as I dove into the fried chicken. Logan watched in amazement and Troy just sat back and grinned at a job well done. I missed my cook!

The wildlife was abundant this time with Turkey, Deer, Snakes, Fish, and one of the biggest Moles that I have ever seen. It measured in at four inches and looked about the size of a rat. I didn’t think about it at the time, but I should have skinned it and kept the Moleskin in my pack.

Even though we surprised the weather god’s there were only two other hikers on the trail. One was described as Big Eddie with a neck and cane. Now you would have to know Big Eddie who is our largest roundest firefighter on our City fire department. The other was a round woman with a couple of dogs. Nether of which we would like to consider being in our ranking of hiker.

We did pass some Amish gals at a picnic table in one of the parks that we passed. I told the guys that I had arranged for the Swedish bikini team to arrive and there must have been some miscommunication. They both end in “ish”. I did make a mistake in the last log of our journal.

I said that I didn't remember even having to step over any trees on the path. Well Logan kept track of the number of trees and counted them off as strikes. After nine he said that I was out of the park. Over all we had a wonderful hike and we highly recommend this park.

Montgomery Bell

March 2007
Montgomery Bell.......................Trail Rating........Outcasts Total: 65.8 Miles
Jim Bailey Trail........0.5 Miles........Moderate
Wildcat Trail............1.4 Miles........Moderate
Overnight Trail.......10.4 Miles........Moderate
Woodland Shelter....0.3 Miles..........Easy
Total……………….....12.6 Miles

When it comes to temperature, there is no record that we won’t break. This time we went with record highs. 81 was our record breaking high for this time of year. Out with the cold weather gear and in with the summer.

This park actually has shelters to stay in on the overnight trail. Three of them to be exact, and you must reserve them ahead of time. It was a good thing that you did because none of us thought about Spring Break and all of the campgrounds were full.

This time Greg brought the two boys, Nathan and Chase, and two of the girls, Mia and Paige. Unfortunately, Troy who came down with some serious illness, had to cancel out on this trip.

We were quite impressed right of the bat with this State Park. The lady at the counter was quite knowledgeable of the park and they handed us a 3D GPS Navigation Map of the park to include details of the trails. They checked our reservations and then said that the park ranger would usually be out to check on us except that this was an extremely busy weekend.

After a minor delay of gathering the family together and all equipment/food accounted for we headed off. Basically we wanted to wait until it was HOT. We started off with the Jim Bailey Trail, which was a good warm up and then headed out on the Wildcat trail, which we took to the end and turned around and hiked back to the Overnight trail. We didn’t quite explain this to the kids and the facial expressions where quite impressive when we came to the end and said to head back the way we came. They were not impressed with the “switch back” trail.

As we were heading past the children playing in the river at the campground I notified ours that they were having a whole lot more fun backpacking than those “sissy” campers were having in the river. Again this did not go over well.

Anyway, we started off on the Overnight trail and all of these trails were hilly but not hard on the body. Mia was the tough one who was not impressed with having to wear boots and insisted after many warnings from both Mom and Greg to wear short socks to look fashionable. Greg offered her some other socks numerous times as we were hiking and we could see the redness on the back of the ankle. When we came to the second water crossing she stopped and poured water down the back of her boot to extinguish the fire. This time I suggested she change her socks and because this was not a parental unit, she said OK. With some liquid New Skin and a band-aid she walked off a happy camper. Let me tell you, those young ladies were impressive. They hiked a long way for the first backpacking trip that they have ever been on and no complaints.

When we came to the Creech Hollow Trail I told the group that we could add three miles on the trail if they wanted to do another switch back. No takers, even from Greg who had been up all night making calls and had also caught a good house fire earlier in the day. He had been out at another station.

You should have seen the smiles when we saw the shelter. I had experienced shelter camping on the Appalachian Trail and gave them some pointers as I strung up my hammock outside between two trees. Putting anything that has smell or flavor in a tree, open all pockets on backpacks so the mice would have to open them themselves, and try to find some padding. We had a very nice fresh water spring right in the campsite which sore feet were cooled in. The kids learned about filtering water and even did it all by themselves the next morning. Time was spent catching crawfish, tadpoles, lizards and frogs. We added this to the list of deer, owls, snakes, and one coyote in the middle of the night. We also sharpened our rock throwing skills as many targets were chosen with a direct hit by Chase spinning a can lid being the most impressive. We told ghost stories and other stories around the campfire until finally everyone was ready to call it a night. For some reason, I guess God’s since of humor, on every trip except Long Hunter we heard a siren in the distance during the night. We got that, a train, some owls arguing and a visiting Coyote that night. It was good sleeping weather as long as the wind kept blowing. Greg enjoyed his shelter experience and said that the hammock would be brought along on all further trips. It’s hard to make plywood comfortable. Paige’s clothes sack was the only mouse casualty. She had even left it open.

As we were stoking the fire during a good breakfast, I heard some people talking and look to see a couple in their sixties JOGGING down the Overnight trail. I looked at Greg and he looked at me and said that he didn’t even want to hear it.

We might have misled the kids by telling them that the hike out was fifteen miles. For some reason they were not looking forward to it. We passed quite a few people today out hiking, none with backpacks. At one point the girls had asked if we could take a break and Greg said sure at the top of the hill. When we got closer we noticed a covered bench at the top of the hill and headed for it. You know what happens when you find a parking space open in a big parking lot. Yep, a couple coming the other way parked in it just before we walked up. They looked tired after carrying NOTHING for a mile or two. After all of the packs were dropped around them they got the hint and headed out. Chase had asked me about any “switch backs” today and couldn’t help but laugh and say, “of course we wouldn’t tell you, I mean of course not.”

Well when we got to the next shelter the trail led right to it and they didn’t see where it continued. They all turned and asked if this was where we were going to turn back. Greg and I got a good laugh out of that. After seeing the other shelter locations, I could see why ours was the most popular. The Wild Cat shelter was on a good river but right on the trail and the Hall Spring shelter was right on the trail but looked like a possible mosquito breeding ground. The shelters were of the same size, but the Wild Cat and Hall Spring shelters both had bunk beds where the Woodland shelter just had one plank all the way across.

I don’t remember even having to step over one tree across the path. The trails were extremely well taken care of and all of the bridges were in good shape. The Ore Pit Loop trail was the most difficult trail and it wasn’t too bad as far as hilly. The girls earned their Merit badge and we had a wonderful hike.
PS. In regards to our missing hiking partner, who was talked about and was with us in spirits. He too missed us and sends this creed to show he had not lost his heart.

Troy’s Hiking Creed:

THIS IS MY PACK
This is my pack
There are many like it, but this one is mine
My pack is my best friend. It is my life
I must master it as I master my life
My pack, without me is useless
Without my pack, I am useless
I must shoulder my pack true
I must hike longer than my enemy
I must finish the trail before he finishes me.
I WILL!
My pack and myself know what counts on this hike:
It’s not the pounds of gear we carry
It’s not the sweat and blood we shed
Nor the body and soul we test and punish
We know it is the completion of the hike that counts
WE WILL HIKE!
My pack is human, even as I, because it is my life
Thus I will learn it as a brother
I will learn its weakness, strengths, its parts, its accessories,
Its shoulder straps, its zippers and pockets, and its limits
I will even guard it against the ravages of weather and damage
I will keep my pack clean and ready, as I am clean and ready
We will become one with each other.
WE WILL!
Before GOD I swear this creed. My pack and myself are
The defenders of my country.
We are the masters of the trail, we are the saviors of my life
So be it, until there is no trail un-hiked, only peace.