Radnor Turkey Loop
Showing posts with label Hike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hike. Show all posts
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Long Hunter Spring Loop
I had been saving some homemade beef jerky sent to me by friends in Kentucky. Finally, the perfect day presented itself to sample the jerky in tandem with a hike, and I headed over to Long Hunter to circle the Day Loop, one of my favorite area trails. The jerky was excellent, and my supply only lasted about a mile. After I scarfed down my Ziplocked portion, I re-filled the plastic bag with cedar bark scrapings from some downed trees around the 1.5 mile mark. The bark scrapings make excellent tinder and are always handy to have in tow. Also notable was the frogsong I heard toward the end of the hike. Near a small pool of stagnant water, the frogs were raising a racket. I wanted to capture the sound with my camera, but I mistakenly got too close, and the frogs went quiet. Long Hunter Spring Loop
Friday, December 23, 2011
Long Hunter Short Hikes
Well, C and I were going fishing. But when we pulled up at Nice Mill Recreation area, we were met with a raging Stones River flooded out of its banks. On to Plan B. We made our way back up toward the lake and rendezvoused with V and E at Long Hunter State Park. Together, the four of us made our way around the Inland Trail, which sits beside a scenic picnic area overlooking Percy Priest. Then, C and I stayed at Long Hunter and completed two more nearby short hikes—the Nature Loop Trail and the Deer Trail. Midway through the latter trail, with the lake at winter pool, we combed the shore looking for lost lures. Sure enough, C found a nice, deep-diving plug right where we'd passed a couple of weeks ago.
Long Hunter Trails (L to R: Deer Trail, Inland Trail, Nature Loop Trail)
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Two December Hikes
Long Hunter Deer Trail, December 11
In preparation for the twenty-six-mile Mega-Hike at Long Hunter, I want to explore every trail in the park before October. While I've covered anything of length at Long Hunter, I haven't hit some of the smaller trails. So on the 11th, the whole family took advantage of clear weather, and I was able to hike for the first time the one-mile "Deer Trail" next to the park office. It's a nice easy circuit that loops right by Percy Priest and the Hobson Pike bridge. This time around, a fumbled button led to no track data on the GPS, but I'll record a track next time I'm out there. Worth noting are the deer we saw grazing in the large field beyond the park office. We spotted them while driving in, and on the way out of the park, we rode down for a closer look. In all, Connor counted nineteen does.
Radnor Perimeter, December 21Today, Jimmy and I met up on the east side of Radnor for a hike of the roughly four-and-a-half-mile perimeter. We routed clockwise, hitting the South Cove Trail before looping around the lake and catching Ganier Ridge. After having been office-bound for some time, I am in dire need of exercise, and the elevation changes were good for me. But as we climbed up to the last ridge, I was showing off the wind of a ninety-five-year-old, emphysema patient. Nonetheless, it was a good hike that featured some of the boldest deer I've seen at Radnor to date. Just off the South Cove Trail, we saw a group of six that looked ready to come and eat out of our hands. And as we were coming down the East Parking Lot Access Trail, we saw four more that were just as tame. In between, we gawked at two hawks perched low in trees at different points lakeside. I'm looking forward to getting back out there soon.
Radnor Perimeter
Thursday, December 1, 2011
A Man and His Murse
With too much office and screen time under my belt the last several weeks, today I fled outdoors to "look far" as my mother likes to say. Given the sunny, crisp, and calm day, I could not have had better weather. I'd planned to hit the Bryant Grove Trail, but last minute, I diverted to the Long Hunter Day Loop where, at the trailhead, I had the pleasure of chatting with Ranger Tyler Blystone. He gave me some more information about the annual Long Hunter Mega Hike—twenty-six miles in a day over each of Long Hunter's trails. This coming year, I'm going to give the Mega Hike a try, which means I need to get out more often over the next several months and build some stamina.
In lieu of a backpack, I strapped on my homemade man purse, comprised of a nylon water bottle holder and some add-on, Molle-attached pouches. The rig, an essentials kit built around a core water bottle, was light and comfortable. Around the two-mile, halfway point, I stopped at an overlook with a spectacular view and used the kit to make a quick cup of coffee.
Long Hunter Day Loop
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Anderson Road Loop
Though today's weather was rainy and gray, E told me that she wanted to go hiking with "just Papa, not my family." I think she's a little tired of getting left behind when I hike with C. So she and I changed clothes, grabbed our packs, and headed over to the one-mile, paved Anderson Road Fitness Trail next to Percy Priest. Though I've hiked part of the trail in the past, it was always with fishing in mind; before today, I had never made it to the other end, which comes out next to the recreation area's boat ramp. From there, E and I made a loop back along Anderson Road and then walked down to the water's edge for some rock throwing. All in all, we hiked around two miles under overcast skies, Piglet in tow the entire way.
Anderson Road Loop
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Freestyling at Long Hunter
Last night, I told C that I was going to fish and hike over at the lake early this morning and that if he wanted to go, he would need to get up and get ready. Surprise, surprise: the chronic bed hugger beat me up and was dressed before I even hit the shower. For a change, we got an early start. After stopping for a bite of breakfast, we drove to the southern trailhead of the Bryant Grove Trail and hiked north. From satellite views of the area, I had picked out a point where I wanted to fish, and getting there involved leaving the main trail and angling over to the lake. But by the time we arrived, winds were gusting out of the west and producing white caps on the water. The fishing stunk, and about all I managed to do was lose one of my new spoons. Lake, 1. Me, 0.
However, we still had a great time wandering around the shoreline, and we wound up over at the point I fished a couple of weeks ago. Along the way, we spotted numerous animal tracks—from small birds and turkey to deer and raccoons. And since the lake recently dropped to winter pool, we kept an eye out for lost fishing lures. On the hike back to the truck, I found a spinnerbait, C found a crankbait, and we squeaked out a slim victory. Lake, 1. Me & C, 2. We also cleaned up a stretch of shore and packed the refuse out to the park trash cans. All told, I think C really liked "freestyling," exploring, and making our own trail. When time and weather permit, we will definitely head back out that way.
Freestyling Long Hunter
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Radnor's Fall Colors
We normally make it a point to get out to Radnor Lake each autumn and take in the fall colors. This year was no exception, and for the first time, C and E got to try out some new Camelbak packs I found on clearance. The Mini-Mules are made for little frames but still feature Camelbak's excellent reservoirs and bite valves. Backpack and all, E managed our 3+ mile loop around the lake almost entirely on her own. On the side of the lake nearest Otter Creek Road, we saw a gaggle of geese, and we stopped on the dam end of the lake for granola bars and hot chocolate. On the east side of the lake, C and E spotted sunning turtles, collected hiking sticks, and enjoyed watching four does graze near the end of our loop. It was a great day outside and a fun hike.Fall Loop at Radnor
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Fall Hike and Fish on Percy Priest
This afternoon, I hit Long Hunter State Park's Bryant Grove Trail. My main mission? To find a nice spot and fish. I made good time to the half-way mark about two miles in and then angled over to a point on the adjacent cove. Since the lake bottom there slopes gently away from the bank, as it does around so much of Percy Priest, I flung a quarter-ounce spoon as far out as possible. I only caught three, but each was different—a largemouth bass, a freshwater drum, and a catfish. I tried hard to land a smallmouth and complete a personal quad-fecta on Priest, but had no such luck.
Also today, I tested out a new hot-drink kit consisting of a Snow Peak ti mug, a Gram Weenie alcohol stove, and a homemade windscreen and cook lid. As the days are starting to cool down, it's nice to partake of a hot drink on the trail, and the compact size of this kit will make it easy to stow in pack or pocket.
All told, I covered nearly five miles, but that was chump change compared to the people I met who were finishing a convoluted 26-mile day hike around Long Hunter. With some car shuttling here and there, the participants covered all but three miles of the Long Hunter trails. They "cheated" a bit on the Volunteer Trail—turning around midway since it's a six-mile, one-way, dead-end hike. But still, twenty-six miles in a day ain't bad.
Hike & Fish on Priest
Monday, August 8, 2011
Burgess Falls Loop
Yesterday, on the way home from the Knoxville area, the wildwoodstream clan made an impromptu stop at Burgess Falls State Park to stretch our legs and view the waterfalls. We hiked the one-and-a-half-mile River Trail and Service Road Loop, and the River Trail in particular offered some spectacular vistas. We visited the 20' cascades, the 30' upper falls, the 80' middle falls, and the breathtaking 136' lower (big) falls. On the GPS track capture below, you can click on four embedded thumbtacks and see a pop-up image of each location. The lower falls are set into a giant stone basin nearly as impressive as the falls themselves, and in the video at the bottom of the page, I tried to capture the site's scale.
Burgess Falls Loop
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Radnor Perimeter
On Friday, I hiked the perimeter of Radnor State Park by combining the South Cove, Lake, and Ganier Ridge trails. The roughly 4.5 mile loop combines the two toughest trails at Radnor and offers some decent elevation changes in spots. About a week ago, I hiked the same loop in the opposite direction, and I'm not sure which I like better. Hitting Ganier Ridge first gets the heart pumping immediately, but climbing Ganier at the end really puts the burn into legs that are already tired. Either way, it's a great hike and a decent workout that I can complete in about an hour and a half. Both times around, from the vantage of Otter Creek Road, I saw wading deer—something I'd never seen before at Radnor. On Friday, however, I also marveled at how many "hikers" were oblivious to their surroundings because they were yelling to their companions or cruising along with ear buds. If I wanted shouting and loud music, I'd hit a Zumba class.
Radnor Perimeter
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Mosquito Loop at Long Hunter
This post ought to be titled Attack of the Vampire Swarm. Yesterday, I hit the Long Hunter Day Loop with tackle in tow, intending to fish some of Percy Priest's shoreline. Turned out that the mosquitoes were so bad that I just kept going. Thank goodness I remembered to spray down with some 40% DEET before I left the parking lot. I wasn't bitten, but every time I'd stop to take a picture, a mosquito swarm would envelop me. In one picture, you can even see the flash reflecting off a couple of the blood-suckers. One couple, out to walk their dogs, turned back before they'd even gotten a half-mile. Guess it's going to be a bumper mosquito crop this year with all the rain and flooding. When I got back to my truck, the flying vermin were so bad that I quickly tossed my pack in the passenger floorboard and slammed the door shut. Of course, my Camelbak tube flipped out as the door was closing, and I snapped the Hydrolink coupling. Cha-ching. There went $12. At any rate, I made good time around the loop and covered the four-miles in under an hour, fifteen minutes. Wildlife sightings included four deer and a rabbit, all high-tailing it away as I passed. The trail was grown up in spots, and next time I hike it, I'll probably wear long pants and maybe even pack a machete. I'll definitely spray with DEET.
Long Hunter Loop
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Warner Woods Trail
Spur of the moment, the family unit hopped in my truck, and off we went to Percy Warner Park, the idea being to try out Warner Woods Trail for the first time. During our hike, E insisted, "I a big girl"—a proclamation indicating she has progressed beyond the Kelty child carrier and will be doing her own hiking from now on. I was worried that the two-and-a-half-mile, "moderate" trail might be too much, but E hung in there and only asked me to carry her on a couple of the final inclines. By herself, she covered over two miles, yelling "¡Salta!" each time she jumped over a root or rock. It's a Dora thing.
Warner Woods Trail is wide, well-marked, and surrounded by lush old woodlands. Honeysuckle is in bloom, and large swaths of the fragrant vines were hanging trailside in a number of spots. Aside from a few squirrels, three deer, and a couple of snails, we didn't spot a lot of wildlife, but we did see quite a few downed trees, including a big maple blocking passage around the second-mile mark. We had to scramble to get past it, and I imagine Metro Parks will have to get out there soon to do some clearing. In terms of difficulty, the trail doesn't feature near as much elevation as nearby Mossy Ridge, and it looks to be a popular spot for trail runners, who zipped past us with fair regularity.
After peering at trail maps, I realize that C and I have now hiked all the main trails that Warner Parks have to offer. At Percy Warner, that means Mossy Ridge and Warner Woods. And at Edwin Warner, the only trail of any note/length is the Harpeth Woods Trail, which we've hiked a couple of times.
Warner Woods Trail
Monday, April 18, 2011
Mossy Ridge Run
Really. There was running, though it surely wasn't me. Mostly it was C running up hills or running to catch up after he'd straggled. Come to think of it, Jimmy's dog, Kacie, ran a good bit too. Still, despite all the bursts of speed yesterday, we took a couple of hours to cover the 4.5 mile Mossy Ridge Trail at Percy Warner Park—mainly because of frequent stops and starts. The trail itself was in pretty good shape since Sunday's warmer weather had dried up a lot of the muddy stretches. The hills were the main obstacles. On the first incline, C showed some signs of fatigue, but he caught second and third, maybe even fourth, winds and did a nice job tackling a trail with more elevation than he'd ever hiked. Near the midway point, C really enjoyed seeing the waterfall, which cascaded nicely after all the recent thunderstorms. We had a good day out, and I was proud of C for managing the trail as well as he did.
Mossy Ridge Run
Friday, April 15, 2011
Springtime at Radnor
After a stressful week dealing with job matters, I finally reached a decision on Thursday—one that felt right and allowed me to breath. To celebrate, V, E, and I headed over to Radnor to walk along the lake and enjoy being outside. Clearly, spring has sprung at the park. The woods are denser with leafing trees and lush undergrowth, and a variety of blossoms have appeared in response to the warmer weather. The lake bass are on their beds, and E had fun spotting them (and trying to throw sticks at them). Other wildlife sightings included an old and sizable snapping turtle with a moss-encrusted shell, a little chipmunk darting in and out of its hole, and a couple of frogs sunning on top of an algea-covered pool.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Percy Priest Rock Hopping
Yesterday, C and I headed to Long Hunter State Park to hike a portion of the Bryant Grove Trail. We planned to cover about a mile, turn around, and head back. However, with the warm sun shining on the winter-pool rocks along the lake's shoreline, we were enticed off trail and out toward the water, where we rock-hopped our way around part of Percy Priest Lake. Exploring the rocks was a lot of fun, and we found all manner of interesting things. C happened on a number of crawfish claws, presumably left by an animal that ate the other parts. We also began to notice all the fossils imprinted on the rocks—everything from moss to leaves to something that looked like a fish skeleton. And over the course of our rocky rambles, we found three nice fishing lures which I'll restore and use myself.
With my supervision, C had fun practicing his knife skills on some cedar limbs we scrounged. He's beginning to develop better touch and actually made a good fuzz stick that would work for fire building. He also brought along a Bionicle of his own creation that he named "Toa Krush," and we took a few action shots for the Lego Club website. The evening outing was a good time of hiking, exploring, playing, and talking. C said to me at one point, "Papa, this is a lot better than watching TV." Amen, son. Mission accomplished.
Percy Priest Shoreline at Long Hunter
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Percy Priest Island Camp
C and I hit Percy Priest for some camping yesterday evening. We got a late start, arriving at Long Hunter State Park as the sun was going down, and we still had to paddle about a half-mile to get to our spot. The Corps of Engineers campsites around the lake are seasonal, but the primitive camping on the islands is open year-round on a first-come, first-serve basis. So with temps in the mid-70s on Saturday and only a low of 50 expected at night, we made a go of it, twilight canoeing and all. We had a simple camp with just a two-man backpacking tent and a fire. Dinner consisted of some Mountain House boil-and-stir, and dessert was all about the roasted marshmallows. We both slept like rocks and then rose early to pack up camp and explore the island. Light rain, however, convinced us to cut short our exploratory hike. Of course, by the time we loaded the canoe and paddled back to the boat launch, the rain had stopped. We chalked it up to fickle March weather and headed home.
Percy Priest Island Hike
Monday, February 14, 2011
Quick Hike at Ganier Ridge
C and I made an impulse run over to Radnor State Park yesterday evening. Given that sunset was closing in and that the park has a new locking gate that engages soon after sunset, we made our hike a quick one—climbing up to the top of a muddy Ganier Ridge, snapping a photo, and then hiking down the same way we'd come. On the drive into the park, we saw some big bucks playing down in a clearing to our left, and I was able to get a near-visible image of one deer with my zoom on full. Later, as we left the park, we noted that sheds are coming into season. Two bucks stood just off the left side of road, and one of them had a right-side antler while the other had a left-side antler. The sight made me wonder if they'd been doing battle and lost some headgear as a result.
Ganier Ascent/Descent
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Two Mile Loop at Cedars of Lebanon
With a hint of spring in the air, the whole family mobilized for a hike over at Cedars of Lebanon State Park, a spot we'd never visited, but one that is close to the Nashville area. On the way to the park, we stopped at a small general grocery, picked up sandwiches, and had a picnic when we arrived at the park. It was a crowded locale that morning since a ten-mile charity run was finishing up beside the park assembly hall. After some food and playground time, we embarked on the Cedar Forest Trail, a two-mile loop that was still muddy in spots because of snow melt. The opening section of the trail felt remarkably suburban because it ran alongside a subdivision cul-de-sac, but then it angled into the woods and felt more solitary. We were sans child carrier, so E was hiking on her own for the first time. She did a good job, but I wound up carrying her the last 3/4-of-a-mile or so because of the slick trail and her tired legs. Soon, I'd like to go back and hike the five-mile Hidden Springs Trail at Cedars of Lebanon.
Cedars of Lebanon Hike
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