Chicago to Wisconsin

Minnesota and Spam Museum to Kinnebec, SD

Tennessee to Michigan (Day 1 to Morning of Day 2)

Original KFC

Northward Ho!

A few more things to lash on to the car and we'll be pulling out! Starting Odometer Reading: 115,268

Expo 10K

Getting ready to spend a Saturday morning one of the best ways possible... running around downtown Knoxville in the Expo 10K. This is my 3rd race of the season and first 10K. Unless we find some running events between here and Alaska, this will also be the last race till we get back in town. My goal for the race: completion. I tweaked my ankle running the Cades Cove loop on Wednesday (I know... running 10.5 miles a couple of days before a 10K isn't the best idea, but running the loop was on my "To Do Before Vacation" list, so I had to do it...). The ideal goal is to finish in less than 63 minutes, which is just a little over a 10 minute mile pace. I don't think I'm going to meet that goal, but it'll be in the back of my mind.

Running for the Void

I get to mark another item off the bucket list today. I've been itching to give running the Cades Cove loop road a try for a while now, and finally got the mettle up today. I'd planned on running 5, walking 1, then running 5, but by the time I hit halfway I was still feeling good. With the exception of three stops of less than a minute each (2 for bears, 1 for restroom), I ran the whole way. The best parts:
1) seeing a mama bear and two cubs about 30 feet off the road
2) deer like crazy
3) talking to bikers all through the loop
4) passing bikers going up hill
5) running while a bear, startled by the bikers in front of me, charged across the road less than 10 feet behind me
6) not being the startled bear's snack
7) making it!
Beautiful morning for a run. So nice I couldn't bear the thought of putting in the headphones, so it was two hours of hearing the world, my feet, and my breathing. Like Haruki Murakami put it so well... "I just run. I run in a void. Or maybe I should put it the other way: I run in order to acquire a void."

A much requested list I made a few years ago... posting here for posterity

Short Hikes Relatively Close to SMS

Greenbriar Area

Porter’s Creek Trail—Go to the Greenbriar section of the park… Take Pittman Center Rd to the end, turn right on 321, and then almost immediately left into the National Park. Go to the end of the paved road, then, when the road forks, go to the right.
1 mile up to the Smoky Mountain Hiking Club cabin, an extra mile or so up to Fern Branch Falls, another 1.7 to the campsite at the end of the trail. Depending on time, you can do any of the three trips. To the hiking cabin is 2 miles round trip (about an hour of walking at a normal pace); to the Falls is about 4 miles round trip (two hours or so); to the campsite 7.4 miles round trip (about 4 hours).
To the cabin is an easy uphill along a semi-gravel road. Beyond the cabin, it gets a little steeper and more “trail-like.”

Clingman’s Dome Area

Clingman’s Dome—Take Newfound Gap Rd until the turn-off for Clingman’s Dome Rd on the right. Take the road till the end, park, and walk the paved path all the way to the tower. Though it’s paved, it is on the steep side, and it’s almost always cool to cold. We’ve gone up there in August and September before and froze our fannies off. Also, the road is closed from November to March, so make sure it’s open before you go!
Allow a half hour to the tower, half hour back.

Andrews Bald—Park at the Clingman’s Dome parking lot. Walk up the paved path until you see a sign for the Forney Ridge Trail. Follow the Forney Ridge trail down and then up for 1.8 miles to the bald. I don’t know what to say about the balds—they are probably my favorite geographic destination in the park, even more than waterfalls and cabins. It’s just a meadow on the top of a mountain, but man, is there great view! Plus, the flame azaleas in June are amazing. This is one of three “maintained” balds in the park. If you’re up there at the right time, you’ll see park service volunteers weedeating, cutting up wood, etc.
3.6 roundtrip (1.5-2.5 hours)

Wears Valley/Elkmont Area

Little Greenbrier School—Go to Wears Valley, park at the Metcalf Bottoms picnic area. The start of this trail is on the Wears Valley side of the bridge. It’s a nice, easy, half mile walk back to the school house and cemetery. Don’t be surprised if you see a car at the school… you can also drive up another way if you don’t want to walk.
1 mile roundtrip (45 minutes to an hour)

Little River Trail/Cucumber Gap Loop— Go to the end of the road at Elkmont through the historic district and park at the gate. This is where the trailhead for the Cucumber Gap Trail starts. It will do a mostly gentle uphill for about 2.4 miles, then it will meet the Little River Trail and loop back 2.4 miles on a gentle downhill on a wide, sturdy path that goes directly beside Little River for much of the way. This is, in my opinion, one of the easiest and finest short day hikes in the park. It can be done at a leisurely pace for an all day outing and picnic, or you can get up early and go trail running.
4.8 miles roundtrip (2-3 hours, but I’ve done it in an hour running without killing myself)

Avent Cabin—Go to the end of the road at Elkmont through the historic district and park at the gate. This is where the trailhead for the Cucumber Gap Trail starts. Take the Cucumber Gap trail to the junction with the Meigs Mountain Trail and Jakes Creek Trail. Take Jakes Creek Trail. About 500-600 yards up the Jakes Creek Trail, there is a slightly worn footpath that breaks off of the trail and down the hill. The footpath will cross a creek with a small footlog. The path on the other side of the creek is more defined, and leads 200 feet up the hill to the Avent Cabin. As this is an unmarked and unmaintained trail, it receives little traffic, even though it is on the National Register of Historic Places. The cabin was once used by an artist who was nationally renowned (and featured on an episode of the Heartland Series, which is where I first learned of the cabin). It’s a very neat cabin. It still has some furniture, curtains, household items, etc. Be sure to sign the log book. This takes maybe an hour to an hour and a half round trip.
To extend your trip, go back out to the Jakes Creek Trail and continue up the trail half a mile to the Newt Prong Bridge, the location of one of the worst logging accidents in the Smokies. There are still some logging cables, rails, saw blades, etc. scattered all around this area. The addition will add on an extra half hour to an hour to the Avent Cabin trip.
Just to the cabin—1.4 miles roundtrip (1 hour or less)
To the bridge and back—2.4 miles roundtrip (1.5 hours or less)

Tremont/Cades Cove Area

Spruce Flats Falls—Drive to Tremont and park at the visitors center. Walk up the road that goes past the visitor center about 10 feet, and there is a gravel walkway on the left. Take it up 200 feet or so to the dormitory, then go up the footpath to the left. You’ll be at the trailhead for the Lumber Ridge Trail. Take the Lumber Ridge trail 100 feet, and then turn right onto the Buckeye Trail. Follow it to the falls. It’s about 45 minutes of semi-steep up and down over rocks and roots to the falls, then 30-45 minutes back. Don’t be intimidated by the phrase “semi-steep up and down over rocks and roots”—my 7 year old daughter made it just fine.
1.9 miles roundtrip (roughly 1-2 hours)

Testing

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Revised AK Agenda

Departure date is getting closer, and we’re starting to nail down more of the plan. During the trip we’re going to try to blog and update photos frequently, assuming the campsites we’ve reserved with wi-fi actually have wi-fi. If not, we’ll be eatin’ at Krystals way too much!

The plan for now…

Day 1: Drive from Maryville to Michigan City near Chicago. Maybe drive the 15 minutes down the interstate to Michigan to add another state to our list.

Day 2: Drive the hour from Michigan City to Chicago. Make the pre-requisite visit to the American Girl Doll store for Jodie and Bailey while Myers and I ride the rails for a photo op at Wrigley Field, then the original Pizzeria Uno’s for lunch (Bailey was devastated when the Maryville Uno’s went out of business!), then to LEGOLAND (www.legolanddiscoverycenter.com/chicago). We were going to take in a Cubs game, but then realized the curse may be a result of how much stinkin’ bank it takes to get into a Cubs game. That, and they’re playing at Pittsburg that day. After leaving Chi-town we’ll be heading for the Wisconsin Dells to camp the night away.

Day 3: Wisconsin to Kennebec, South Dakota to sleep in a teepee. Yes, a teepee. Could I make this stuff up???

Day 4: Taking in Mount Rushmore, then to Douglas, Wyoming,  east of Grand Teton National Park.

Day 5: Drivin’ to Grand Teton and spending the night, taking in Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks.

Day 6: Staying outside of Yellowstone NP.

Day 7: The drive to Glacier National Park, one of the high points on my bucket list.

Day 8: Second night at Glacier.

Day 9: Oh, Canada! Banff National Park. Higher on the bucket list than Glacier!

Day 10: So, we’re spending 4 days in Glacier and Banff. The sad part is it’ll only be the tip of the iceberg. Pun intended. Hopefully the snowplowing will be finished by the end of May. One of the problems were running into reserving campsites here is the variable of some of the park campgrounds still being closed for snow.

Day 11: Edmonton, AB. Going to the West Edmonton Mall. Doesn’t sound like much, but accordin’ to the internets, it’s like Splash Country, West Town Mall, and Dollywood all rolled inta one.

Day 12: This is where the long hauls start. Picking up the Al-Can highway from Dawson Creek to White Horse. Hopefully. We may be driving in shifts. And stopping to have a yard sale to pay for Canadian gas prices. 

Day 13: White Horse to as close to Anchorage as we can get.

Day 14: The rest of as close to Anchorage as we can get.

Day 15: Hopefully we’ll be there.

Bikin’ || Forks of the River WMA, Hastie Natural Area

We covered about 15 miles of South Knox today. Sam, his buddy Grant, and I started on Island Home Ave. and hit the road and greenway to get to Forks of the River. Lots of up, some down, and a broken chain. I was wiped out, but enjoyed trying to keep up. From there we hit the road again to get to the Hastie Natural Area. By this point I was whipped and felt like I was being beaten to death by a combination of my handlebars and the South Knoxville ground. I did get to see where Sam snapped his collarbone though.  We wrapped it up by biking on Sevierville Pike back to Island Home trying to beat the impending storms.