Butterflies Eat Poo. Really. || Sunday, June 01, 2008

Possibly the most groundbreaking phenomenon to come out of last week's canoe trip was not necessarily the revelation that butterflies eat poo (ask any of my 7th graders with a pulse during descriptive writing week... it started a lively discussion in some classes), but the decision to move forward with the advertising campaign. More details later--keep an eye on Sam's blog for more details.

As to the actual trip, we headed out Saturday morning at 830ish, after someone left their food in West Knoxville and had to go back and get it--though I'm glad he did... the potato salad and baked beans were kickin'. We left Maryville around 830 and got to Cable Cove boat ramp on Fontana Lake around 1030 or so. The paddle went pretty smoothly, especially once we made it off the main channel and into the cove where Hazel Creek empties into the lake. The water was a little choppy due to the wind and boats with motors, which, combined with the fact that I crammed the canoe with a crapload of gear (i.e., propane powered George Foreman grill) and you have the makings of a slightly nerve-wracked andy. Put it like this... I was on my knees in a whitewater stance for most of the way across the flatwater lake. A little wobbly. Off the main channel, though, it was pretty easy going. Once we made it to the point where the trail to the campsite meets the lake, we decided to cheat and try to paddle up Hazel Creek some so we wouldn't have to portage as far. For kayaks, this is a pretty good idea. For loaded canoes, not so good. We ended up having to walk the canoes through low water and rapids a little ways, and then had to port them up a steep and overgrown bank. Somehow I managed not to get poison ivy betwixt my toes. After porting we set up camp and had lunch. The original plan was to paddle in and start our 16.5 mile hike around, o, 11 or so. In reality, around 150 we started getting ready. Now, for the mathematically inclined, the average human hiking pace on level ground is 2/2.5 miles per hour. 16.5 divided by 2 = 8+ hours of hiking; 2 oclock + 8 hours = 10 oclock = dark. Needless to say, I wasn't too terribly enthused about the idea at this point.

Starting off on the trail, we explored the Calhoun house for a few minutes and then headed up the Hazel Creek trail. Within about a 10 minute walk we started to come upon stone foundations and a few small out buildings. Historically, the Hazel Creek area was one of the largest settlements in the National Park. It was also the last to be purchased by the park. This area wasn't Parkidized until after WWII--Fontana Lake was created for the sake of Fontana Dam (2nd tallest Dam in the US... It's the one Harrison Ford jumped off of in The Fugitive) to create electricity for ALCOA to make aluminum for planes for the war. Anyway, within about 10 minutes was came upon a small outbuilding with a group of bats in it... very cool. Behind that, we caught a glimpse of a large brick wall. Upon investigation, we made our way back to what was once a large dry kiln for drying lumber. Today, it is basically four long and tall brick walls with a partial roof and a ton of artifacts and NPS junk. Very cool stuff. Check out the pics to see what I'm talking about. I think it offers a very fine commentary on the juxtaposition of nature and industry. I'm always interested with the motif of something that was once intensely important, that people spent months and years planning and designing a building and it served as the livelihood of mulitple familes, and now it's just a very large pile of bricks. It's like Marla Singer's prom dress.

We spent about 30 minutes exploring, and then we headed off at a good clip with the expectation of finishing the hike before, say, midnight. We passed a water level measurement station (the thing in the pics that looks like something from Lost) that housed possibly the Park's largest spider. At the end of the trail, there was a NPS bunkhouse for park workers to stay in while training or doing trail mantenance. This trail, by the way, is extremely well maintained. I could have driven my Subaru along the entire trail.

On the way back, we took a side trip to the Bone Valley trail. At the end of the trail was a well preserved cabin. In the 40s, the site adjacent to the cabin house a very large hunting cabin/tourist preserve. At this point we were making really good time and were on pace to make it back to camp by 9 or so. In the end, was hiked the last 4.5 miles in 63 minutes and got back to camp at 8.

We grilled out turkey burgers and bratwurst, baked beans, potato salad, etc. Good eats.

After bedding down, we woke up to a massive thunderstorm the next morning. IN a break in the rain, we decided instead of porting boats all the way to the water, we'd put them in the creek right at the campsite. Again, great idea for kayaks, not for a heavy canoe. We ended up walking the canoe most of the way. It also led to the first backcountry injury I ever had to go to a doctor for. While walking the canoe I busted my foot on a rock and bloodied up a toe real good (I'm still heavily medicating for it) and it's gruesome. Oozy, puss-y, painful. I went to have x-rays last night and got a script for antibiotics to prevent the whole gangrene/toe amputation thing. We paddled across during a break in the rain, loaded up, and took the Dragon home.

Seriously, a blog posting can do no justice to this trip. Campsite 86 is a great place and relatively accessible and received relatively little traffic. I'm hopefully going back later this month to take my dad fishing and Bailey camping (assuming I'm not having a toe amputation :).

Map of the trip