Roam With Friends

Category: Hiking

Our Very Close Encounter With A Black Bear

This is a story that will now live forever in our family memories. I know our daughter, The Short Chic, will be passing this down to her kids and grandkids and retelling this story throughout her life. This is the story of the time we went hiking and almost got eaten by a bear in The Smoky Mountains.

As our time in The Great Smoky Mountains was coming to an end, I had hoped for one final hike in Cades Cove. All week I had read the “warning” signs of bear activity in the park. Abraham Falls was always on that list. Abraham Falls was also on another list: that of great fishing places in the Smoky Mountains. Wayne was hoping to catch a fish, I was hoping for a bear sighting, so we set off to hike Abraham Falls on our last day in Townsend.

The entire crew traveled to the welcome sign and the majority of them bid us adieu so they could hang out at the campsite and rest. Wayne, The Short Chic and I headed to Cades Cove. Going into this hike, we were a little ill prepared. We had eaten breakfast but had not had lunch. We did not pack snacks (because we were not hungry when we set out). We did not realize Abraham Falls was a 5 mile hike round trip (2.5 in/2.5 out). We did pack several water bottles but if I am honest, I carried in more photography equipment than anything. I give you this background information so you will understand that after hiking the 2.5 miles into Abraham Falls we were HANGRY and to make matters worse, The Short Chic talked nonstop about having ice cream for lunch the entire hike!

The Abraham Falls hike terrain is rocky, uneven, and generally follows the Abraham Creek although the creek is often not accessible due to the terrain of the forest. Wayne took his fly rod and practiced catching wild Appalachian Brooke Trout any chance he could access the creek. The path dipped and climbed as the terrain did and it took us through moments of no shade/full sun, to the coverage of dense tree canopy and full shade, as well as up and over a rocky ridge. Several times the path took us over offshoots of the creek where we walked over wooden log foot bridges.

The falls were a welcome site after hiking 2.5 miles! Numerous hikers had shed their shoes and clothing (yes they had swimsuits on underneath their clothing) to wade and splash in the water below the falls. The Short Chic had fantasized about getting wet in the water the entire hike and as we walked up to the waters edge the first thing we saw were dual water snakes! Wayne may have spent some time fishing there but The Short Chic and I got no where near that water and kept a diligent eye open for any additional reptiles during our short stay!

We chose not to linger for a long time at the Falls, we still had 2.5 miles to go to get back to our car and it was getting late. I think we began our return around 2:45-3:15 p.m.. The Short Chic started making up songs about food on the way back and first Wayne attempted to hush her but I had the thought that it was approaching dinner time….not just to us but for animals as well. We let her sing at the top of her lungs just to make our presence known. We also hiked in a very specific order: me, The Short Chic, and Wayne just in case any predators were eyeballing us and looking for our weakest member.

After we passed the ridge line and about 45 minutes into our return I notice some wild blackberries growing along the trail. You should all know that I love wild blackberries and was so hungry that I started picking the berries and eating them right there on the spot. I did notice that the berries were small and most of the larger ones where not yet ripe. As I picked berries for myself, Wayne picked them and gave them to The Short Chic. Wayne spied a larger ripe berry just an arms s t r e t c h off the path and he decided to reach and pick that one berry.

I never saw her. I heard the noise first. Then I heard Wayne yell. He saw her. He heard her. Just as he was about to reach that berry, a black bear who was hiding in the blackberry bush let her presence be known by woofing at him. As I turned back up the trail, there was my husband doing some Fred Flintstones thing with his feet, trying to run but yet not being able to move. I see the people who were behind us on the trail turn and run one direction and others who were in front of us run away from us. We were left to defend our ground and ourselves against this bear not knowing if the bear was going to charge us or not.

I grabbed The Short Chic’s arm and swung her around me. I stood as close to my husband as I could and in what felt like hours (but really was only a few seconds) we realized that bear had no interest in charging us; she wanted Wayne to leave her berries alone!

We moved safely up the trail. I am no judge of distance but we put enough space between that bear and us so that I felt safe. Ironically, that bear was completely hidden in the dense forest prior to letting us know she was there but after she gave us announced herself, we watched as that bear shook the living dickens out of the trees and the berry bushes. As the trees were shaking, we stopped everyone who was walking on the trail and explained there was a bear right there and I could see people up the trail hiding around a bend, their numbers growing as well.

As we stood in safety waiting for our hearts to stop racing and for us to feel strength in our knees the next part of this story occurred. A baby bear walked down from the hill, crossed the trail, and went into the trees to the bear who woofed. The realization that we inadvertently had been standing/hiking in-between a momma bear and her cub hit us like a ton of bricks.

I think Momma Bear had been shaking that tree to knock the berries to the ground so Baby Bear could eat them with ease. A few moments after the Baby Bear joined the Momma Bear the shaking ceased. A few minutes later, both bears walked back onto the trail. Momma Bear never looked at us, she looked up the trail in the opposite direction of us but that Baby Bear turned and looked right in our direction. I had carried all of that camera equipment just hoping to spy a bear and here I was on the same trail and total strangers had to suggest taking photos!

Momma Bear and Baby Bear walked up the trail away from us. In fact, just as they were reaching the bend with all the hikers hiding they turned to the forest and walked off the trail to not be seen again. It was as if time held still. I have no idea how long we all stayed in our safe spots before finally one of the hikers behind us came around the bend. I signaled where the bears had left the trail. He made it by safely so the masses decided to get finish the hike and get off the trail.

The Short Chic never got her ice cream for lunch. By the time we got back it was nearing 5:00 p.m. and time for dinner. We met the rest of our party at PawPaw’s Kajun Kitchen in Sevierville on Wears Valley Road for some of the most amazing cajun food I have ever had. As we told our friends our story of the bears we guzzled sweet tea and munched on boudin balls and catfish. There was a lady sitting behind me who kept advising me on the menu so I struck up a conversation with her. Turns out she was the owners Momma visiting her daughter from New Orleans. Her accent was thick and she was a delight! I gave her every opportunity to take credit for raising such an amazing cook but she never once did. We ended the night with the white chocolate bread pudding and left that place happy that the bear did not eat us so that we could enjoy such amazing food!

September 2, 2016
Smoky Mountain National Park: Clingmans Dome

I hear stories told that from the top of Clingmans Dome a visitor can see 100 miles in every direction, including viewing 7 different states. We would have no first hand knowledge of this because the day we visited the highest point in the Smoky Mountain National Park, the highest point in Tennessee and the second highest point east of the Mississippi River there was so much cloud coverage that we had a near zero visibility.

Clingmans Dome is on the border of Tennessee and North Carolina. Due to road closures (Little River Road was closed because of downed trees during our visit) we had to take Wears Valley Road (Hwy 321) over to Pigeon Forge and down to Gaitlinburg on Hwy 421. It took us about 90 minutes to drive to the parking lot of Clingmans Dome from our campsite. Clingmans Dome sits at 6,643 feet (Denver, Colorado is the mile high city and sits at 5, 280 feet).

We left our campground by 6:30 a.m. and arrived in the parking lot by 8:00 a.m. The view from the parking lot that greeted us was nothing short of breathtaking. The view was not the only breathtaking thing: the temperature of the air (my goodness it was chilly) took our breath away as did the smell in the vault toilets also sucked all the wind right out of us! We held our breath and held the doors open to use the restrooms and luckily we found sweatshirts/jackets/blankets in the trucks to keep us warm on our hike.

The hike from the parking lot to the top is only a half mile but that half mile has approximately 500 feet of vertical lift. Thankfully benches have been placed to give us out of shape hikers a place to catch out our breath before pushing onward…and upward! For all of you KC fans, I thought the top of Clingmans Dome resembled the spirals at Truman Sports Complex, so we even did a short LGR chant! A long concrete spiral takes you to the observation tower. Travel and Leisure actually named this observation deck one of the coolest in the world.

We made the hike to the top, there was no reason to linger there for us. we could not see a few feet past our faces. The signs at the observation deck inform us that more acid rain falls here than any other national park in the country.

Two other trails intersect at Clingmans Dome. The most known, The Appalachian Trail, is a 2,190 mile footpath from Georgia to Maine. It crosses 14 states and six national parks. I am excited to say that we hiked the width of the Appalachian Trail! The Mountains-to-Sea Trail is a 1,150 mile trail that starts at in the North Carolina mountains at Clingmans Dome and ends at the Outer Banks.

After a morning of hiking ( I reached my 10,000 step goal by 10:00 a.m.) we were famished. Allen lead us all to Atrium Pancake’s in Gaitlinburg, Tennessee. Angie and I ordered the Baked Apple Pancakes and we were not disappointed. we were both served a golden brown pancake that was the size of the serving plate. Baked in the pancake batter were cooked apples. I am telling you, I could have eaten the whole thing without syrup it was that yummy. But, they do served the baked apple pancakes with homemade apple syrup and I just had to try it. I do not know how it was possible but the syrup did in fact make those pancakes every yummier! I am sorry to say that neither Angie or I could finish our pancakes but we left Atrium Pancakes happy and ready for a nap!

Want to see more? You can check out our family video of our hike up Clingmans Dome:

August 6, 2016
We Went Geocaching And I Lost My Cool

The thought of searching for and finding hidden treasure is so exciting; it speaks to the adventurer and maybe even pirate in all of us. A coworker of mine loves Geocaching and her enthusiasm for it made me decide I wanted to try it as well. In my head, I thought my family would love it.

I downloaded the app Geocaching App by Ground Speak (from my research I learned it is the best app to use) onto my smartphone and thought I was ready. At first glance I was pretty amazed at the number of geocaches around me. They appear to be everywhere!

During our last weekend camping trip, I checked the app and found several geocaches close to where we were camping. One of them was only .6 miles away. (I did not realize at the time that was the distance from point A to point B not the distance it would require to find the cache!) The entire camping party hopped on board and off we went. I should pre-warn you: this is not a happy cheery post about how easy Geocaching was for us. This is the kind of post we will be retelling around the campfire forever. I can hear it now, “Remember that time Mom lost her nuts while Geocaching?”

We sure had not gotten far when the shorter people in our group started complaining and wanting to know how far until we found it. I noticed the app kept counting down: .6 miles became .4 miles and then it went to feet. I thought it was a great idea to keep them motivated by telling them the numbers as they dropped. (What I had no idea was the numbers went up and down frequently as the trail took us closer and further from the cache!)

Wayne took the phone from me and actually figured out how to read the directions. I thought we were making great progress so I did not hesitate to take the phone back and continued to read and direct us myself. At one point we got within 250 feet of the cache. I was so excited as that was the closest we had been but a little disappointed too because I knew that meant to find it we were going to have to leave the trail and hit the woods. Wayne then speaks up and tells me we were within 100 feet some time back when he was directing us.

I felt my blood pressure jump to the sky! How could we have been within 100 feet and he not say a thing. He reminded me that he ask if there was any secondary paths. How was I to know that was code for we are super close? Instead we walked a good half mile on and now faced with the notion of backtracking our steps. Unlike myself, my dear husband has no expectations that things will go smoothly when you start something new. He is always reminding us that it is suppose to be an adventure and adventures often come with challenges.

Admitting defeat is not something I do easily so I refused to give up! But we also knew that the rest of the crew was completely over this whole treasure hunt. We sent the rest of the crew on giving them a pass to head back to the camper. After waiting a few moments, secretively laughing at my hysteria, they happily headed back to the camper.

Wayne and I began retracing our steps, me yelling the entire way. We never got within 100 feet of the cache but it was within 180 feet. We did have to leave the trail and had to navigate gooseberry branches (they are thorny), a steep hill, rocks, and a dried up creek. The app kept telling us we were close but we were just not seeing it.

Then I stepped in another direction and holy smacks there it was; cleverly hidden, obvious once you saw it, just hanging out waiting for us. I felt triumphant like I had found something valuable! We did not bring and baubles to trade so we just logged in our find in the log book (even gave credit to those back at camp). We took photos and then re-hid the cache for the next person. Then Wayne and I gave each other a high five. Apologies for short tempers and bad communication were given freely on the way back to camp.

I learned a few lessons from our first near traumatizing Geocaching outing. First, the distance is misleading. We set out on this trip thinking the Geocache was .6 miles away. That .6 might be as a crow flies, meaning a straight line from Point A to Point B. The truth, we walked over 3 miles.

Second, the Geocache App has some important information about terrain and difficulty that I either ignored or did not understand on this first trip. The difficulty scale gives insight into how much mental brain power will be needed to find the Geocache. The terrain scales gives insight into how much physical exertion you will need to find the Geocache.

I also learned that when you get so close (under 30 feet) of the Geocache you should actually put the phone away and just use your senses to find the hidden prize. The final lesson I learned is that not every time you seek a Geocache you will find it on the first try. It is okay to walk away not having found it.

With a success under our belt and having learned a few lessons, we decided to try again. We selected one that was lower on the difficulty and terrain scales. The kids were with us on this hunt. Again, the short ones got bored easily. I think if I would have been better about putting the app away when we were within thirty feet and just encouraged them to look, we would have had better success. The Boy found it and proclaimed it super easy.

Here is the deal; we got a rough start. In the end, we enjoyed it enough that we will not be scared to try it again. I think we will stick with some easy ones to build up our confidence as well as experience. Then we will move into tackling some harder ones!

May 13, 2016
Fly Fishing At Montauk State Park

When most think of trout fishing they think of exciting places like Colorado, Montana, or maybe even Tennessee. I am pretty sure Missouri is one of the last places people would think of. I am here to assure you, there is amazing trout fishing right here in the great state of Missouri.

Missouri State Parks operates three trout parks in the state: Roaring River State Park, Bennett Spring State Park, and Montauk State Park. This post is about our time at Montauk State Park.

Montauk State Park is located just outside of Licking, Missouri. From Kansas City, that is a 245 mile drive southeast, from Springfield it is a 110 miles east and slightly north, and from St. Louis it is 140 miles southwest. The drive is longer than we would make for a two day weekend so we usually add a few vacation days and stay for at least three-four nights on trips to this park.

The park is a state park so camping fees are very reasonable (approx $25 per night). There were no full hookups so we camped in an electric only site. Missouri State Parks offer an online reservation system that allows you to see photos of each site. When we camp in an electric only site, we always try to select a site close to the water source in case we need to refill during our stay.

Setting up and settling in was relatively easy. We took a tour of the park and hiked around exploring the spring that feeds into the river. The Park stocks this river each night with trout. The fishermen like this river for fishing because they say there is more space to fish in, which means a less crowded fishing environment, and larger fish to catch.

The women judge the campgrounds by the campsite and the activities available to keep the young non-fishermen kids entertained while the Dad’s, brother, and papa spend hours each day fishing.

The Campground:

I wish we had brought our bicycles. We opted not to bring them as we were visiting the Ozark Mountains and honestly felt we would be required to bike up and down hills all day long. On the contrary, the park is relatively flat. At first inspection, it seemed that the shower rooms were really far from our campsite, but in actuality they were only a short walk away.

We lost all cell reception a mile or so before we reached the entrance to the park. We noticed there was wi-fi available in the park but we could not connect to it. We had no TV reception but that was not a big deal. Our electric box kept blowing the circuit but a quick call to the camp office and someone came out and replaced it for us. (We learned later it was not just a maintenance man but actually the park superintendent!) On Day 3 of vacation the superintendent came back to our site to fix the “broken wi-fi” which we had no idea was located between our two sites. As soon as he fixed it, we could once again interact with the outside world (still no cell service).

Our camp space was huge! The staff were nice host. They even came by and cleaned out our fire ring while we were visiting. My only complaint is that the trash dumpster was located right in our site and since the fish cleaning station was closed for repairs, there was a lot of fish parts going into the trash dumpster. Unfortunately, that made for some pretty foul smelling air. Our buddy, The Superintendent, did tell us that the dumpsters get emptied and washed out three times a week. That did help the later part of our stay but there was two days of unpleasantness to get through!

Camp Activities:

Each night of our stay the park had a scheduled event. One of the events, a candle-lit bat tour, looked like a lot of fun to us. However, we never managed to make it there. I do wonder, are we the only people who lose track of time when camping?

Hiking:

There are hiking trails at Montauk State Park. There was a short hike to the spring as well as a Lake Trail. Both of these hikes were easy and the short people in our party loved hiking them. We passed the hatchery, the lake, and we saw a variety of wildlife even during the short hikes.

We did convince the kids to hike the Pine Ridge Trail despite it having a rugged label. The Pine Ridge Trail is listed as a 1.5 loop trail. I think our girls were finished before we even hit the 1/4 mile point. That is when the complaining started. By the time we were 1/2 of a mile into it, the girls’ complaints were getting more desperate:

Short Person #1: “Mom, I think there are ticks on my socks!”

Mom #1: “No, honey, those are not ticks, that is dirt. You are fine, let’s just keep going!”

Short Person #2: “Mom, there are ticks on my legs and they are crawling all over!”

Mom #2: “There are no ticks, you are fine, stop complaining!”

Big Brother #1: “Those are not ticks, you are sweating and it is tickling your legs.”

By the time we reached the 3/4 mile point, it was obvious to all of us adults that in fact we had walked through a nest of seed ticks and they were hungrily crawling up our bodies at a very fast pace! We could no longer brush the short chic’s (aka our daughters) complaints off as just whining! We rushed through the hike as fast as possible, went straight to the showers to wash as many off of us as possible.

In case you have never seen seed ticks before, I found this photo online. Those might look like oil spots on the jeans but in fact they are seed ticks. It took us hours to remove all we could find. And if that were not enough of a vacation time commitment, it also required a trip into Licking the next morning to visit a laundry mat so we could wash all clothing (including our shoes) to really make sure we had eliminated them.

And as if this were not enough, I should also say that we not only were eaten alive by the seed ticks but we also encountered more than our share of spiders, spider webs, and apparently mosquito and chiggers. Our bodies were covered in bites and required weeks to recover from being the main course at the human buffet table.

Swimming:

There is no swimming allowed at Montauk State Park. Or wading for any purpose other than fishing. Or canoeing. The sole purpose of the river at Montauk State Park is for trout fishing.

However, with that said, the Ozark National Scenic Riverways is very near to the state park. A short drive outside the park will lead you to Tam Vat, or other areas on the river perfect for swimming. I should warn you, the water at Tam Vat is near to the spring and therefore it is cold. Very cold. That of course, did not stop our short people from playing in the water.

Sight-Seeing:

My mother has a first cousin that lives in Licking, Missouri just a few miles from Montauk State Park. He invited us to go exploring with him and his family on our second day of vacation. We arrived early and the girls were able to assist in doing chores of their animals before we headed out of a day long trip.

The first part of our tour was a very personal one for me. The first place my second cousin took us to was my Great Grandparents grave sites. My mother has longed to re-visit this place as I think the last time she was not yet in kindergarten. In addition to the cemetery, we also drove past their former property. Some of the land has been redeveloped into a shooting range, so maybe the landscape has been altered but I can say it is not at all what my four year old brain remembered.

After we chased my Mendenhall family roots, the cousins took us to Alley Spring and Alley Mill. The mill is a 100 year old grist mill near a natural spring that pumps out 81 million gallons of beautiful turquoise water a day. The water feeds into Jack’s Fork River and Current Rivers.

The Mill is not functionable but many of the tools used to grind flour 100 years ago are still located inside the mill and are available not just for viewing purposes but we were able to open them and explore how they actually operated. What is funny about Alley Spring is that as I am standing looking at the beauty of this bright red building surrounded by turquoise water, I got the largest sense of de ja vue. I knew I had never been there before so it took me a few moments to realize, I had seen this building before; on an old calendar hanging in my growing up home!

A nice hiking trail surrounds the spring and leads you along the river’s edge. The rocky bluff to the right of the river is full of small caves that our short people enjoyed poking their noses (as well as whole bodies into).

After Alley Spring, we headed to a public access area on the Jack’s Fork for a mid-day swim. The water was perfect! Clear as you can imagine, crisp and cool but not cold and frigid! The short people had so much fun jumping off the log embedded in the river. We watched people cliff dive into a deep pool right across the river from where we were. What a wonderful day to spend a summer day!

After our swim, we headed in another direction from Eminence, Missouri to visit Rocky Falls. Rocky Falls is a shut-in, a narrow passage way or a constriction in a waterway. Rocky Falls is on the Current River and has a steep cascading waterfall that empties into a deep pool of water. People from all over flock to the area to sit in the water, slide down the rocks and just enjoy this geological space.

The short people loved it! The mommies were very disappointed that we did not bring our swimsuits! Instead we settled for cooling our toes, our feet, ankles, and maybe even calves in the water. If Rocky Falls had not been 2 plus hours away (one direction) from our campsite we might have returned to play another day!

Alley Spring, Rocky Falls, as well as Round Spring, Big Spring, Blue Spring, and Welch Spring are all located within minutes of Eminence, Missouri and are all part of the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. They are surrounded by National Park Services and have many campgrounds. This area is also part of the United States Bicycle Route System (Highway 76) so watch out for bicyclist as you visit this part of the state!

The Fishing:

Despite the fun we had exploring a part of the state we had never visited, the men folk never left the state park. They came all this way to fish and fish is what they did!

They got up early, they fished until the bell rang in the evening. They caught large fish. They caught small fish. They kept some fish. They threw back some others. Lines got tangled. Daily limits were met.

Other odd things happen when you least expect them to. The Husband ran into baseball friends of ours at the lodge one day. They were down to enjoy the canoeing on the Current and Jacks Fork Rivers and happen to come to the lodge for dinner one night. The Husband invited them to try trout fishing and they did. (Is it harder than it looks? I promise you should keep trying!)

We caught enough fish during our four days of fishing to host a fish fry on our last night. Threat of storm did not prevent us from enjoying the freshly caught trout.

To summarize, fathers taught sons a few lessons. Students might have out-fished their teachers. Best friends shared more than a few frustrations and developed a deeper appreciate for how tough it is to get the fish with a little mouth to open up and bite the tiny fly. But as our time at Montauk State Park came to an end, everyone agreed that the any vacation that includes trout fishing is a good vacation!

March 9, 2016