Posts Tagged ‘www.coryramseyoutdoors.com’
More often than not, I’ll come across the story of a true outdoorsman that makes me want to relinquish my title of “Kentucky Adventure Representative”. There is literally a state (and country) full of people living the outdoor lifestyle better than I could ever imagine. Lately, I read a tale from my hometown about a fellow sailing down the Mississippi by way of paddleboard (!). Here’s the article by Charlotte Smith, as originally published in Western Kentucky’s oldest newspaper, the Hickman Courier.
A LAST LOOK BACK - Garrett Gnade, of west Texas, spent a couple of days in Hickman seeking refuge from the rain and received some wonderful small river town hospitality from its residents. Gnade takes one more look back after entering the water at the floodgate near Hickman Hardware on Friday, Jan. 27. (Photo by Charlotte Smith.)
Charlotte Smith
Editor
“Everyone in Hickman has been so nice,” said Garrett Gnade, a west Texas traveler passing through town last week. “With a storm approaching I needed to get out of the weather and Hickman was my safe haven for a couple of days.”
Since Gnade was traveling the Mississippi River on a 12 foot stand up paddle board he looked pretty disheveled and was covered in mud. “They don’t call it the ‘Muddy Mississippi’ for nothing,” he said. “I looked like a hobo, but as I traveled the streets of Hickman on my way to Broadway Pizza people waved at me, making me feel very welcome in this little river town.”
Gnade decided to order a pizza, something that hasn’t been on his menu during the last 151 days when he began his journey. While ordering he inquired about lodging and was given the name of Pat Parnell from the employees at Broadway Pizza.
On Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 25 Parnell opened up one of her apartments located on Jackson Street to Gnade. “It was nice to get out of the elements and I have been spoiled by the comforts of a mattress underneath me,” said Gnade, who usually camps out at night and keeps warm and cooks by a fire he builds.
Gnade began his “Mississippi Source to Sea Expedition” on August 28 in Lake Itaska, Minnesota. “This is the first source of the Mississippi River,” he said. “It is about five feet wide at the start and only six inches deep.”
Unseasonably warm weather and the rise in the Ohio River, which flows into the Mississippi, has aided Gnade in his journey aboard his stand up paddle board, which resembles a surfboard. “It has the same exact design as a surfboard, but on a different scale,” he said. “It has the same lines of a surfboard, just exaggerated.”
During the day Gnade wears a wet suit to stay dry, just in case he falls in. Keeping his gear dry is another concern of Gnade’s, who watches for debris as he paddles his way downstream toward New Orleans, Louisiana.
Gnade started his journey on an 11-foot board with a partner. “My partner became ill and the weight of my gear became heavier, so I had to switch to a 12-foot board to accommodate the 65 pounds of gear,” he explained.
He is carrying solar chargers, GPS equipment, and a water filtration system. “I have been filtering water from the Mississippi through ceramic and charcoal,” he explained, This enables Gnade to safely drink the water from the river.
“It has been pretty amazing to watch the changes in the river,” he remarked about his experience so far. “I have noticed changes in the color of the dirt to the accent of the people.”
Raised in west Texas, Gnade is a contractor who spends most of his time in Hawaii and Austin, Texas. This is a totally different climate than what he is use to.
This is Gnade’s first time on a water journey. “I am an outdoor-type person. I love to hike,” he added. “I recently joked with my mom that my work as a contractor is definitely easier than this journey on the river.”
Gnade plans on arriving in New Orleans in about 20 days. “Once I get there I plan on hanging a left,” he said with a smile, “toward Key West, Florida.” His final destination.
During his journey Gnade has been compiling information for research and development of stand up paddle boards. “They are mostly used in salt water,” he said. “I would like to see more people, especially kids, notice them and use them in all types of water and on lakes and rivers. It would be great to help kids put down those joy sticks and enjoy the great outdoors on a paddle board.”
“These boards provide a good core work out,” he added. He knows this first hand because he has had to contend with the winds coming from the south, instead of the north.
Things have gotten a little easier for Gnade. “It is nice to have some current and free flowing river like I have now,” he said. “It is totally different from when I first started.”
Gnade is also hoping to break some world records once his journey is complete. “I took the winter off to set a series of Guinness Book of World Records,” he said. He hopes to complete the longest fresh water trip, the longest saltwater trip, the longest overall trip, and the smallest vessel to do – all aboard his 12-foot stand up paddle board. “The trip has been previously made on a 14 foot board,” Gnade said.
GOOD TO GO - After spending a couple of nights in Hickman last week Garret Gnade was rested and ready to complete his journey down the Mississippi River on his 12-foot stand up paddleboard.
More kind and genuine compassion was experienced by Gnade when Mike Sheehan, owner of Hickman Hardware assisted him with his gear and offered to take him to the other floodgate if the water wasn’t deep enoughfor him at the one by the hardware store.
“This town is the best kept secret on the Mississippi,” said Gnade before he boarded his board and paddled away.
***
Special thanks to Charlotte Smith and staff at the Hickman Courier.
From Columbus to Elkhorn City, Highway 80 is Kentucky's Longest Road.
Eggners Ferry Bridge
Who helps the bridge over troubled waters when the bridge itself has been troubled? Crews from several agencies began combing over the wreckage within hours of it taking place. Luckily, no one was injured though cars were traveling across at the time. I came to the scene after the crowds had come, taken their novelty picture, and left. I felt for the towns and small shops that depended on the traffic the bridge provided. The layoffs that had already begun to occur. The state park that sits within earshot of the waves lapping against the bridge piers.
1940s Charm
Free Sunrises at KenLake
Thanks again, Kentucky.
-Special thanks also to John Rittenhouse and Tammy Nanny for a great stay at KenLake.
-*Note: Prior to recent events, the Eggners Ferry Bridge was scheduled to be replaced by a new span in 2017. The timetable may now be moved forward.
KenLake (Courtesy Parks)
The shorefront acreage around the Land Between The Lakes National Recreation Area is blessed with several options for outdoor activity. Lake Barkley State Resort Park sits east of LBL on the dammed up Cumberland River. Mineral Mounds State Park boasts a golf course (and red foxes) further north. Kentucky Dam Village Resort is on the western side of the twin lakes, and tiny KenLake provides the southern vista of Kentucky Lake here in the bluegrass. What a breath-holding moment it was to get to that place from the eastern end of the state! You had to cross the Eggners Ferry Bridge on US 68/80, a narrow stretch erected before the advent of the modern SUV. Once across the span, you were then safely greeted by the warm and friendly confines of KenLake.
That short trip changed last week when a cargo ship hit the bridge and took out an entire span in the process. Road Closed.
To say the least, the entire LBL area needs your continued support right now, and especially KenLake State Resort Park. Established in 1948 as Aurora Landing, by 1955 it was considered the most modern park in the still young park system. It was the first state park to be built on a major reservoir, so when you think of the beauty of the Dale Hollow, Lake Cumberland, or Barren River Lake State Resort Parks, you have KenLake to thank for setting the early bar high over 50 years ago.
Book a weekend there by clicking here.
I’m heading there this weekend, detour and all. And hope to see you there!
A drop in the bucket.
article published in last month’s Kentucky Living Magazine that has me touting 5 places across the commonwealth as must see destinations. A “bucket list” stemming from an actual KFC tub I used to carry the paper around in. Dave Shuffett was kind enough to give me some airtime, well, page time and help plug Cumberland Falls as the top pick. Then came four other destinations across the state. As I had to be fair and pick locations from all points of the compass, I feel as though now I need a bucket of apologies for those that were left out of the pile.
Put yourself in my hiking boots for a minute. 158 hikes since April 2009. Yeah, we both read that right. Some places across the country, but most of it right here where the grass is blue and the horses are fast. How the heck am I supposed to narrow all those experiences down to just five? Or get west of the I-75 corridor?
Kentucky is not like West Virginia. There, the entire state is mountains until you get around Huntington. I mean it. In Kentucky, however, they evaporate into farmland about the time you get west of Somerset. Then the mountain fan that I am can get a little lonely wondering why the rest of the state isn’t as elevated with its landscape. Of course, we still have the lakes and rivers and forests that make the other two thirds a paradise still, but where’s the beef, er, elk? Still in that mountainous one-third.
And so, most all of my favorites are ultimately scattered about in Kentucky as noted, but my really favorite places are the mountain locales and especially those that feature a hemlock tree or a thousand.
For example, I left out the Daniel Boone National Forest and Big South Fork. I left out Pine Mountain. I left out Carter Caves and Greenbo. I left out Bernheim, Buckhorn, Kingdom Come, and Otter Creek. Natural Bridge (and Arch). Dale Hollow and Duke Cumberland’s Lake. And I left out my secret place, Shanty Hollow Lake along with several others, not to mention our nature preserves and such. Looks like the bucket is a little bigger than we thought. Next time, I’ll ask for an upsize in article space. For now, I’ll reach into my bucket and pull out an olive leaf of peace and beg forgiveness of my park manager friends and fellow hikers across the nation. I know better.
Kentucky as a whole is in the bucket, how about that?
* * *
Off to an eagle tour on Kentucky Lake this weekend. If you have never taken part in this, there’s no better chance than now. Bald eagle populations are at an all time high in Kentucky, and you are pretty much guaranteed to get your money’s worth for a day on the water being inspired by our national symbol. For information on the tours, visit www.parks.ky.gov. Hope to see you there!
Lake Malone
I was on a quest for three more hiking trips before the end of the year. Last year’s count was 57, and currently I sat at 55. Lake Malone State Park in Muhlenberg County was tapped as a choice for a late afternoon stroll close to the shortest day of the year. I was battling daylight to say the least. Having been to the state park several times over the past five years, I knew the 1.5 miles could be knocked out in ample time to avoid being left out in the dark.
I wanted to try something new and decided to take Interstate 65 south out of Bowling Green to Franklin and then highway 100 to Russellville, onward to 68/80 and 431 to Dunmor. But the road trip got off to a stall. Ten miles southbound from Bowling Green and traffic was stopped. The entire corridor threatened to back up clean to Chicago. Up about a quarter mile from where I sat was a u-turn opportunity, illegal as the sign may have boasted. I and a hundred other drivers took this and headed back to Bowling Green. Russellville Road would be my route instead.
On the way to Russellville I passed Amish furniture stores, signs to Shakertown at South Union, and multiple reminders I was passing Auburn, a casualty of the highway reroute several years ago. But the real treat is on 431 north of Russellville. It’s four lane for a while to accommodate the massive Logan Aluminum plant. Here’s a factory so big, it has its own fire department on site! A few miles north though and you’ll drive through tiny Lewisburg, proclaiming a status of “Purple Martin Capital of Kentucky.” I saw a mocking bird if that counts (but I’m not mocking…).
Baugh Station is where the scenery got good. Wait a minute though. Diamond Springs is the official name of the spot in the road. It hadn’t been named Baugh Station since 1901. All that remained now of the stagecoach stop namesake was a church with the title. Highway 431 from Baugh Station, er, Diamond Springs to Dunmor reminded me of the roads right outside Gatlinburg. Drive there and see for yourself. Tall ridges with a creek running near the road and tiny log cabins built right next to the steep hillside. The curves make a good handling car smile. I kept my hands at ten and two like the trooper suggested when I took a driving test 15 years ago. And within minutes, I was at the lake.
Lake Malone State Park is an awesome example of generosity in that it sits on land donated to the state by Mr. Malone and his wife in the 1960s. Fifty years later, the small park is still enjoyed by visitors from all over the region and continues to be one of my favorites. The blue water is comparable to Dale Hollow Lake, and the woodland trail close to the shoreline remind me of Grayson Lake State Park in Carter County. As per my hiking ritual by now, I walked the length, snapped a few pictures, and was soon enough back on the road to Corvette City by way of route 70 (that will have to be another blog).
Thanks Kentucky, for the Christmas Gift of a great December roadtrip!
Down in the Hollow
The woods post-fall present a different feel from any other time of the year. It almost seems like “woods forgotten,” or “woods left behind.” No crowd to content with on the trail. No bustling ecosystem full of spider webs and horseflies. Seems everything slows down to a babbling brook-like pace. My favorite time to come to the woods. Well, next to spring. And fall. And summer.
Shanty Hollow Lake was the locale for the post meal hike last Thursday. It was around 3 o’clock and the sun was beginning to cast shadows on the trail as it was making a late year retreat to blacken Friday. I looked at the white oaks reflecting in the lake. I thought about how good the Hollow looked in the spring, excited about another blossoming year, now all come to another end. It was like watching a child grow up and with bittersweet emotion seeing them go away for a season. It had been a good spring. And a great fall. Every year seeming shorter and shorter.
I made it back to the seasonal waterfall and it was flowing for the first time since May. No matter how many times I see the falls, the marvel I have for it never dries up. I’m sure I had seen something far better than anything a discounted flat screen TV could promise.
Till next trip…
It’s my belief that we don’t see the forest’s true colors until the fall comes. Man, I need another cup of coffee or this blog is going nowhere.
But really! Chlorophyll has the woods wrapped in green as soon as leaves appear in the spring. The ambers and browns and oranges stay hidden until October. Perhaps my true colors stay under wraps until fall as well. I avoid the woods in the summer for the most part. Endure turkey mites and tics and mosquitoes enough and one enjoys looking at nature pics indoors when the weatherman uses dirty words like “heat index.” A midsummer trip to Cumberland Falls was about all I could muster. Then the temperature dropped. My happy face appeared as soon as frost did.
Driving to Bowling Green from my parent’s home in Fulton last week, I couldn’t help but notice the colors along the parkways. You know, parkways were called such because the route was supposed to be as scenic as driving through a, well, park. But the drive wasn’t enough and I needed a real park. Land Between the Lakes appeared on the brown signage ahead of me, and I pulled off for a drive down the Trace and a stop at Hematite Lake. Here was a trail I had seen in the spring, but had never been to in the fall. Wow. Here’s a trail for the entire family, with plenty of wildlife and continuous views of the lake. It was a quick hike with the sun beginning to set, but put me back in a mood to get outdoors for the rest of the year.
If you go, call ahead and get a seat at Patti’s restaurant. They have a pork chop bigger than your fist. Also, stop at the LBL visitor’s center and stock up on goodies and info.
Till next trip…
Unbridled Adventure is pretty dependent on having, well, an outdoors to enjoy it in. Last week, I had a lady from Florida email me. She let me know that a guy was hiking around in Kentucky. I thought “What else is new?” and proceeded to delete the email with some spam. Then I read the next sentence. This guy had started hiking three months ago…in Key West, Florida!
John Davis (Courtesy Wildlands Network)
John Davis was spending the next couple of weeks in his home state of Kentucky, hiking the Sheltowee up the gut of the Boone National Forest, part of a route eventually taking him into Canada (!) and over 6000 man-powered miles when all said and done. I had to find out more. He’s with the Wildlands Network, and calling his journey TrekEast. It’s his goal to create awareness for the patchwork of wild lands along the eastern United States, including a long couple of stretches in Kentucky. He’d biked down the Pine Mountain Trail to the Blanton Forest before turning north up the turtle trail.
I’m a hiker. But I’m no John Davis. This is his first undertaking of this magnitude, according to that “lady from Florida” who is actually his publicist, Kelly Harris. She went on to tell me that he’d grown up in Lexington, and had done a lot of adventuring over the years, resulting in his love for the outdoors and passion to see it conserved for future generations.
I wasn’t able to meet up with John like I had wanted, but if the world is one big wilderness, we were both on the same trail I’m sure at one point or another. For more on John and his epic adventure that Kentucky had a part in, visit www.wildlandsnetwork.org.
National Trails Day 2011
It’s the eve of National Trails Day 2011, and I hope you have an adventure scouted out for the morning! Lots of our state parks have outings for the day, and a list of those can be found online at www.parks.ky.gov. I’m moving my hiking times to 5am or earlier to beat the heat the next couple of months. Sunrise city! Stay cool, and till next trip…
Tioga Falls
What a wet month April turned out to be! Usually the wetness of the quarter month brings flowers with due process, but this year a deluge. Flooding, property damage, homes lost, lives changed. I saw Nolin Lake State Park submerged and several other state parks threatened. Forget the hiking stick. Where are my oars?
I’ve been busy leading and taking hikes over the past month since the end of the Unbridled Adventure Tour. I found the Bluffs Campsite waterfall at Mammoth Cave National Park. Finally. I showed off a Warren County wilderness to some folks from SKYe Magazine. I dropped and destroyed my camera in a cripple creek. Still haven’t recovered from mourning. Celebrated my nephew’s first birthday and hung out with my mom on her day last week. So much activity that a blog got neglected. Hey, hike before write, right?
Thus, a Tivoed hike. I took a trip to Tioga Falls a couple of months ago that I never got around to mentioning. Western Kentucky, bless its heart, bats zero for waterfalls, and north central Kentucky is not far behind. Except for Tioga. On the Fort Knox Military Reservation near West Point is a faded obscure sign that reads “Bridges To The Past.” Drive to the nearby parking lot and see railroad trestles high above you. Venture into the woods and you’re in for a surprise.
I had made the trip from Bowling Green via 101 and 259 north to Leitchfield, then east on the Wendell Ford Parkway to Elizabethtown. Seeing that 31W was listed as a “bypass” I took it and unknowingly landed square in the commercial strip of E-Town. Ten million stoplights later I looked over at a pawn shop sign that read “Gold City.” “Gold City? Why’s it called that?” I wondered. I remembered a half mile north. There, in the distance, sat the key building in an old James Bond movie. The United States Gold Bullion Depository. Impressive enough to do a rubberneck on the highway.
Not much further north and I was parked and trail-hiking. Vegetation had still yet to show itself in the trees. The sky was a perfect rendition of blue. Winds cooperatively calm. I meandered for a mile, crossed a railroad track and meandered some more. I saw some folks standing near a creek and asked “How much further to the falls?” They pointed directly to my left. Whoa.
Tioga was in early spring runoff mode. Prime time to chase any waterfall. A double barrel shot of water blew out of the hillside and generously cascaded several earthen stairs before finding the creek I was standing beside. I took multiple pictures from different angles and caught myself staring more than once. The style of waterfall and character of it is unique to any I’ve seen in Kentucky. Truly a hike to put on your to do list this summer, though maximum flow will soon be reduced if you don’t go soon.
Buttermilk Falls
Back to real-time and another blog soon. Till next trip…
My Ebenezer? Nah.
“Kentucky rain keeps pouring down, and up ahead’s another town that I’ll go walking through, with the rain in my shoe…”
-Elvis
My right eyeball sat three inches from the roaring water rushing down the mountain stream. I had gone from standing to flat on my side in less than a second. I was just lucky to have landed on the rock instead of in the water. My right arm was now throbbing, scuffed, and I feared it might be broken. Meanwhile, I took stock of my situation. A little wet. Still had my camera, my wallet, my keys, but my pride had floated downstream somewhere…
* * *
The picture perfect day at Greenbo Lake had been a Technicolor dream, much like Dorothy’s in the Wizard of Oz. Back to the black and white reality of storm clouds on Friday and the last smidgen of the tour. The radar on the morning TV weather updates showed a big blob of rainy reflection covering the entire state. I was used to it by now. Back onto route one and south to I-64, then west for the first time in days.
Carter Caves State Resort is so close to Greenbo Lake that I had barely finished my coffee before pulling into the park. I was curious to see how the karst environment here compared to the caves around my base camp in Bowling Green. Carter County has some 200 caverns around the park, and two are open to the public. It used to be more before White Nose Syndrome and its fungus started to destroy bat populations on the east coast.
A hike was first before the cave tour, and I got advice from Kacie Bledsoe at the front desk. She suggested the 3 bridges trail, and I had the mental image of picturesque wooden structures over mountain cascades. It would rather be more like the natural bridges I had seen a couple of days earlier. I filled my water bottle, jerked my head around to the front desk, and said “If I’m not back in three hours, then I’m having too much fun!” I was off.
The forest had a misty ruggedness associated with a springtime rain. Though it was not falling from the sky, water did drip continuously from the vegetation. And calm were the woods on this day. I jumped several turkey and deer on the way to the rock formations, and was pleased with yet another scenic hike for the week. The area around the lake’s dam was the most enjoyed, as a “fake” bridge crossed over a spillway and gave reason to watch the rushing water for several minutes.
After the hike and fried green tomatoes for lunch, it was time for a cave tour. I showed up to the visitor’s center down the hill from the lodge and missed the tour by five minutes. The next wouldn’t be for two hours. So I bought a few things in the gift shop and drove to a nearby pull off that overlooked a stream. It was loud and white and in a hurry, and I was curious to see what was in a nearby cave across the way. It looked like a waterfall! I surveyed the stream. Rocks were available to cross without getting submerged, at least for 75 percent of the span. The other 25 percent was going to have to be that fated hop, skip, or jump. I looked and looked, but no other way around it. Either get wet, or jump across. I found my rock. The water still rushing, I skipped (why not?). The rock was slick. I wasn’t so slick. Down I went (see kids, this is why you stay on bridges…).
Ouch!
Though my life didn’t flash before my eyes, the water sure did. I came within a foot of going in the drink! You should have seen it! I went from upright to downright in less time than it took to gasp. I got myself back up and checked on my arm. Then the inevitable happened. The sky burst asunder in further punishment. A mountain sized downpour. All I could do was drop my shoulders and mumble. I made it back to my car and shut the door, laughing. It could have been worse.
X-Cave
To the long awaited X-Cave at that point and a tour led by park naturalist Sam Plummer. Several were on the tour this day from a multi-state area including as far as Wisconsin. The cave really did form an “X” in the center, a result of two caves becoming one after several years of getting closer and closer together. Kind of like me and the Kentucky State Parks this week.
I am heading back to Bowling Green and bringing the tour to a close. A reflection on the trip in a few days. Stay tuned…
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