How I almost died of frostbite surrounded by a small city of people.

October 4-5th, 2010
After hitting the east coast, my farthest eastern point, it was time to head back west. I still had two more destinations to go, so across North Carolina I went, till I finally hit the mountains. As I drove the roads began to wind more and the temperature began to drop.

As was my intention, I did a minimal amount of planning,this was my intention. This leg of the journey almost turned into a disaster as I entered Great Smokey Mountain National Park. The park enc0mpasses some 30 miles east west. It's a gigantic amount of land with hundreds of hiking trails including many that lead straight to the Appalachian trail itself.

While I knew there were camp sites in this park, I didn't know where they were. I drove up the mountains and finally hit the Tennessee North Carolina border. The border sits at the top of the pass crossing the mountains. And boy was it cold. The temperature gauge hit near 40 and I started to hear rumors of snow on the pass as I continually got out to take pictures. With a little extra time on hand, my curiosity peaked as I decided to drive up to the closest lookout tower I could find. Which just so happend to be THE highest point in the park: Clingmans Dome. As I wound up the mountain my temperature gauge began to plummet. It hit 32 when it started to snow.

Dear reader, you have to realize how scared and nervous I was this entire trip. I left on this trip with almost zero planning, just vague destinations and only basic essential gear. Also, I am from Texas. When it snows in Austin, the whole city shuts down and wrecks ensue.The snow began getting thicker and thicker, and I little fears began creeping in my head, like 'what if I fall off the mountain? or 'are my tires going to lose grip?'. These were unfounded and ridiculous I REALIZE. I just kept thinking about what my mom would say if I died because I made a stupid decision. It's around the time this guilt sunk in and I decided to turn around. As I later would find out had I driven another 5 minutes I would have made it to the top, where PLENTY of people were right now.

I finally came to an information center and was informed that the nearest campground to me was only about 5 miles away. I overheard the park ranger reporting that the nearby town of Gatlinberg expected 32 degree temperatures tonight. My campsite would be at a higher elevation than this, thus colder.
'GREAT!' I thought.
'Good thing I brought a leather jacket' (this is sarcasm)

Truthfully I wasn't sure how this would turn out. A little over a week ago I was sweating on the beach of South Padre Island. Now I was going to die of frostbite in the mountains of Tennessee. Texas' fall includes 90 degree temperatures, and the first cold front usually doesn't come in till the end of October. Until now I had enjoyed a string of beautiful temperate temperatures. Nights of 50 and days of 70.

'Oh well.' I said to myself, 'As my favorite motto goes: Fuck it'.

So I left for my campsite. After another 15 minutes I landed, bought some firewood, and set up my camp.

The Great Smokey Mountains are the most popular national park in the US. With the highest annual visitors, feeding the economies of atleast 4 towns surrounding the park. When I took this trip I figured I would be completely alone, being that I was mainly camping during the week day, and the middle of October. What I found throughout my trip was, except for the hidden treasure that is Congaree National Park, most parks were fairly populated. Great Smokey Mountains was byfar the most with atleast 70% capacity at my campground. Being an anti-socialite during this trip (I did go looking to find difficult answers in the solitude of nature) this was a definite downgrade for me. But I managed the screaming kids and barking dogs in the campground for the few hours I was at my campsite. I tired quickly of the constant 'hello's' I had to give. (I was raised in small town in the South remember) I found that many people didn't respond to these, and mainly ignored me. I felt obligated to say hello regardless and maintain eye contact! Tis polite.

It's good to note the fairly obvious fact that these are the mountains of the eastern United States. Anyone I met or license plates I saw were from the East, from Maine to Alabama. Although the distance is near the same from Texas to the Appalachians and to Colorado, every Texan goes to Colorado. Anyone that's been knows it's like a Texas reunion in Colorado. Which is the way it should be. This was like a north eastern reunion, and I felt slightly out of place. As far as hiking goes, GSM is amazing. But the Rockies literally dwarf the Appalachian mountains. The Rockies highest peak is more than DOUBLE that of the Appalachians (6.6k feet versus 14k feet). No I'm not going to change that metric/standard mix I just did. I believe in diversity. Especially in science. (quite sarcastic)

The smokies were amazing. And definitely a destination any hiker should visit.
It's hard to truly understand the amount if trails in GSM. You could get lost for a month wandering around the entire park, taking every seemingly forgotten trail. Every trail has its own hidden gem, and any not on the popular list will take you to their own unique silent solitude. If you add the Appalachain Trail, a +3000 mile trail stretching the entire length of the Mountains, well your mind begins to explode from the size. Because of the amount of people that visit the park annually, you unfortunately can't travel on any trail expecting not to run into someone. There will always be someone somewhere.
The Great Smoky Mountains are named because the blue haze that covers the mountain range. You'll notice this on any distance shot you take. This comes from the moisture moving up from the Gulf of Mexico, rising above the mountains, and coalescing into this endless haze.

The park is also famous for it's black bear population, containing the densest population of black bears in the United States. People come from all around for their chance to see a black bear. Numerous signs are posted warning you about them. The fact they only have rarely ever had a bear attack is due in large part to the parks constant vigilance to educate the public on them. 'Don't feed the bears', 'Did you kill this bear?', 'Beware bears!' signs are posted everywhere. One of these includes a long explanation about the most recent bear attack. Apparently some woman brought an entire fast food thing of fried chicken into the woods and just left it on the side of the trail. On her way back down the trail she ran into a bear (surprise!). This is not that abnormal, the problem was the woman let the bear come up to her. There is, I shit you not, a picture from her cellphone, of the bear sniffing her. And amazingly the bear attacked her (sarcasm again). She left with some scratches or bite marks on one of her arms, and the bear was killed. So the reason I didn't run into a bear on my journey was because I didn't stop first at KFC. Had I only known. Damn.Back at my campsite. I built a fire. Finding I never brought a lighter, I resorted to using the burner on my camp stove. Abra Kadabra, I had conquered nature. Fire! So for the rest of the night I sat trying to warm up by the fire. My old boots had flooded when I hiked through the flooded paths of North Carolina and were still sopping wet. In a desperate move I decided to warm them by the fire. The best part of this is watching them 'smoke' while they attempt to dry.
By morning they had only half dried, and I resorted to covering my feet in plastic bags (which does work btw)
Finding I also never brought a can opener, I resorted to opening my can of beans with my knife. A very easy prospect, and kinda satisfying. Conquering modern life with a pioneer spirit (that was corny I understand, but it's the little wins that make you the most happy).

With dinner done I climbed into my bed, and went to sleep...NOT. It was freaking freezing. I bundled myself into the tightest ball I could find and used both blankets while trying to go to sleep.

AGAIN! It's time to admit something I hate to admit. My mother (yes I'm going to use the spiteful 'mother') was right. I was not the least bit prepared for sleeping in the cold. I brought a 2 blankets instead of a sleeping bag. Neither which of these have any sort of cold rating. I put on my hoodie and jeans, and attempted to sleep.

It is only by the grace of god I lived through that night (maleodramatic). I woke up in the morning shivering, my body temperature very low. I threw on my jacket, made coffee as fast I could (warming my hands with the fire from the burner), and jumped in my car. Turning the heat on full blast, I began driving to a nearby hiking trail crossroad, and didn't leave the car till my core had heated back up.

I began my hike around 9am and wound my way up a trail that no one else was taking. This trail was beautiful, especially at the lower elevation portions. I came across many birds through the trip, from beautiful sounding thrushes to running into an amazing mixed-species flock. A mixed species flock is a common tactic by birds and especially migrating birds. Usually easy to find because of the loud chickadees and titmice. Multiple species of birds forage in a wave across a given habitat. Sometimes coming and going quickly. It's any these you can find many new birds. Just listen for the Chickadees. It's in this I found many warblers in their fall plumage, this dull plumage is harder to identify. I managed to identify the Cape May Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, and unfortunately the Yellow-rumped Warbler. Unfortunate because this is the prominent warbler in the Texas Winter, and one you get very tired of seeing. I drive 2000 miles and what do I find? The same damn bird I see 6 months out of the year. It's possible these yellow-rumps were migrating down the mountains to come straight to my current back yard in New Braunfels, TX. IT'S POSSIBLE. Very unlikely. But possible.
As I mentioned earlier in my rant about how packed GSM is. After hiking on a seemingly barren trail for 2 hours I ran into a couple heading back. The only good thing about this was I never grabbed a good trail map and was essentially hiking blind. I had a very under detailed map that didn't have all the trails on it. So the fact people were there, I knew I wasn't lost and I had taken the correct forks (yes there were forks).

The end of this particular trail came another hour later, culminating at a beautiful river sitting at the bottom of the valley. So with a few pictures taken, I headed back. And three more hours later I came back to the parking lot. My hike taking me 10 miles. With a little sunlight left, I headed across the parking lot to the very popular and concreted trail leading to a local waterfall. This trail was a letdown, while it had trail markers with fun facts about the surrounding environment, the waterfall was underwhelming. The 10 mile hike I had just taken was more beautiful and less packed. So back at the car, 12 miles, 7 hours. My knees were killing me, I was starving, but I had one last plan for the day. So with that I took a trip back to Clingmanns Dome.

As I ascended the elevation it once again grew colder. This time it did not snow. Once at the top, my thermometer hit 30 degrees and the wind was blowing. I made it with barely a minute to spare, as I ran to the mountain side with every other spectator. And there, 6,600 feet above sea level, 30 degrees, I watched the sun literally blink away under the mountains. It was amazing.

Back at camp, I was forced to make dinner in the dark, cold. I showed up too late to buy more firewood. I decided to retire early and read. But this time I decided to fight the cold back.
-Warning. The following will be very ridiculous. If you are one that likes to live in normality do not read on-

I made up my mind. I wore a short sleeved shirt, long sleeved shirt, my gloves, and my hoodie. On bottom I put on two pairs of jeans. I covered myself with my jacket, put my towel over my legs, and then used the 2 blankets I had. It should also probably be noted, I am a wussy for cold. I have the internal temperature of a salamander. But the important thing is I SURVIVED. I am a winner. I beat the cold. And early that next morning, I packed my stuff up and drove out of Great Smokey Mountain National Park.

The ridiculous part about GSM being the most visited park in the US is that every town surrounding it becomes a giant tourist trap. I have never seen such tourist nonsense. Small parks, Ripleys believe it or not, freak shows, family shows, every sort of themed restraunt and store. It was disgusting. These weren't just towns where you could buy crap with bears and "GREAT SMOKEY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK" written on it. These were capitalist theme parks, thinly disguised as towns.

Yes, I did stop at a restraunt in one of these towns. Yes I did buy some pancakes called the "Smokey Mountain Breakfast Special" Yes it was delicious. And yes this place was covered in silly cartoon bears and a gift shop. Don't judge me reader.

Pictures

I'm still haven't settled with a format or way I like. So you'll notice this post doesn't have the large resolution photos loaded when you view each image. If you want to check out any of the photos, here's the link to the Trip album

Snakes, turtles, and flood waters OH MY!

October 1st-3rd, 2010
Location: Greenville, NC

Finally, after an entire week, I arrived in Greenville, North Carolina. Greenville is home to ECU, where my good friend Adam just started graduate school. It was good to arrive in a solid place for a couple days, even if Greenville wasn't anything to brag about.
The weekend consisted of many normal things, bars, Football, and friends.

Yes I thought it was a joke when he said it months ago, but Adam does infact cook shirtless. His girlfriend wasn't even here yet. I think he just wanted to show off to me, and cook me tacos.On Saturday, Adam decided to go with me to Alligator River NWR. I really wanted to go to Alligator NWR for the Red Wolves recovery project going on there. The Red Wolves forced near extinction in the late 1970's when the Endangered Species Act was in it's infancy. These wolves roamed most of the South Eastern portion of America including Central Texas, Kentucky, and even Pennsylvania. With the Red Wolves literally facing extinction by the end of the year, all Red Wolves were rounded up from the remaining population in East Texas, and with only 14 wolves total, a breeding program was started. The final iteration of this breeding program exists at Alligator River, maintaining 100 Red Wolves across extreme east North Carolina.

The First thing we found was a little painted turtle, who just wanted to go back to the water. No matter how many times we tried to get him to sit still, he'd go running back.
And right after, we found this Black Rat snake sunning himself on the road. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe he's kinking himself up to help warm up faster.

He was quite a cutie, but wasn't very fond of us bothering him.
Not sure what for, but it was hunting season at the Refuge and many angry hunters sped past us as we tried to look for birds and snakes. I must have forgot that jerks rule the world. Jerks with guns. And big trucks.

Here's my first try at scoping using my binoculars and iphone together. It does work, but can be difficult to keep steady.
Double-crested Cormorant juvenile. Expert fisherman, these birds evolutionary downside is a lack of proper waterproofing and must sit and sun dry their feathers before flying again.

Adam found me this gem, an adorable Slimy Salamander
And that leads me to the cute picture of the day

In the week prior to my arrival, North Carolina received an insurmountable amount of rain, and this became painfully apparent as we adventured today (more on this later). Many of the walk ways , especially along abody of water, were flooded, forcing us to walk through calf deep water.

Yes, that is a path, not a river
But when we found Boardwalks, the walk was nice and pretty with the water coming right up to the boardwalks, creating new wetlands everywhere.
A few lillipads, you can see how beautiful of a day it was

Another exciting find on the road, a little Cottonmouth. This being one of the few poisonous snakes Adams ever seen in the wild, because he's extremely unlucky.
He was very cute and very tolerant of us bothering him for about 15 minutes. Which we did alot
Adam even felt confident enough with his timid behavior to pick him up with a stick.
One of my favorite photos of the day, A deceiving shot, of Adam not paying attention while a Cottonmouth, that could send him to the hospital, hangs seemingly inches from his hand. Ok, fine from the previous photo you can see its not inches. Still funny.

And the final photo from the day, a beautiful shot from the lake as the late afternoon settled in.
here's the link to the fullsize photo

And at about 5 oclock we started back, using Adams GPS to get us back home just like it did to help us get there. However, on the way back, it decided to take us on unfamiliar back roads. Back roads that were flooded due to the rain. Not just one road, but every road going west for 10 miles north/south. This was the same time my Iphone ran out of battery, forcing us to find our way back using the dumb GPS. After lots of cussing and being lost in back woods North Carolina we made it back home, 1 hour longer than it took us to get there. The second time I was lost, within 3 days, what luck.

Lost in Congaree

September 30th, 2010

I arrived at Congaree National Park, with no expectations. Congaree sits 20 miles East of Columbia, SC and about the middle of South Carolina. Few people have even heard of it. I only found it thanks to Google Earth.

Once I arrived, it was hard to understand why it lay so quietly. This beautiful national park boasted zero fees for admission, camping, and even canoe tours (though I unfortunately did not have time to try them out).

When a national park/monument gets enacted it has an option of charging fees. The federal government will fork over 'X' amount of dollars for the park, anything required beyond that is up to the park. The kind lady running the visitor center informed me that of the 170 odd national parks 100 are free, but many of their amenities (like parking) may be not. Congaree, however, charged for very little. They manage this by cutting down on the staff and luxuries. There are no showers, no electricity, water, or RV hookups. To get water I had to borrow a 'key' that turned on the spigot on one side of the visitor center. This makes Congaree a popular back country camping destination, and contained only 7 normal campsites.

The campsites turned out quite primitive. All seven of them were spread around a small pond, and only accessible by a long trail. These walk-in sites required you too carry your stuff up to 300 meters into the sites. A small sacrifice to camp free at such a beautiful place.

It being a weekday in the off-season in a park nobody knows about, meant I was 1 of the 2 visitors in the entire park.

For the only time on the entire trip, I was alone and secluded. I chose a campsite 2 down from the other guest. With the campsites spaced so far from each other, I couldn't even see my neighbor. That being said, I did have 200 meters to carry all my stuff, which luckily only took a few trips.

Surrounded by trees, birds, and quiet, it was quite amazing

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With my camp set up I went adventuring. Although I was in the deep forest, I still was in the lowlands, and therefore did not worry about bears. So I took with me everything for a long journey, planning to return late in the night.

Congaree national park is the largest tract of old-growth floodplain forest remaining on the continent. It contains some of the tallest trees in the east, and some of the highest canopies in the entire world. What saved this piece of land was it's location in the floodplain. Growers and foresters alike found this swampy location very hard to profit off of, and by 1976 was finally turned into a National Park.

Old growth forests are the mecha of biodiversity in the science world. Taking hundreds of years to reach, these forests contain huge trees, large dead snags, and a rich diversity of plant and animal life. In the United States, few (and I mean few) tracts of old-growth forest even remain. Most were cut down for wood and never allowed the 200 years to grow back. This habitat being specifically an old-growth floodplain forest, one that regularly fills with water, is so rare I couldn't find another example of it online. I suspect somewhere in north central America such as Idaho, however.

With all that said, I am in love with this area, and expect pictures would do it more justice than words. So here's the results of my 5+mile hike around the boardwalk and river trail:

1. Containing some of the highest canopies in the world. These trees are counted as "champion trees". Which means they are the largest of their species in the nation








2.










3. You can see how flooded the area is. This moist understory features many fungi and mosses. It even boasts bio-luminescent fungi, though I never found any.





4. The beautiful boardwalk.










5. In most cases the boardwalk was necessary to protect the fragile moist ecosystem below it.









6. To cut cost, most of the boardwalk and bridges were made by local boyscout groups.









7.







8. The boardwalk did ended once the flooded ecosystem subsided, and the rest of the trail continued along the river.





9. I walked along the trail along the river, till I suddenly heard a loud chattering and splashing. I turned just in time to see a black mammal scurrying off into the other side of the river. And there on the other side of the river was a family of river otters, racing away from me. So I did the natural thing at this time, sat down, and waited. Eventually the otters returned, curious to see if I was still there. They swam up to this pool, then did the strangest thing. It started barking at me.
10. This guy, on the right side of the tree, would periodically poke his head from the side of the tree and bark at me. Then quickly hide again on the other side.





11. Till eventually I had two otters poking their heads from the side of the tree. Barking at me, then hiding behind the tree again. This went on for perhaps 5 minutes, before I gave up on taking better pictures and left them.




River Otters...easily the coolest thing I have seen yet.

12. And so I went back on to my walk







13. This just shows the diversity of the trees, where my camp was mainly pine, there now is a broad mixture of species, including bald cypress with moss hanging from them.




14. Night started winding down as I hit the lake. Make sure to check full size picture on this one.









15. I found this guy hopping across my path. Oak Toad







16. Notice how well he blends in with the surroundings.







17. I completed the circle, and I ran into a couple of bug collectors like these. Researchers placed them throughout the boardwalk while I was hiking. The collector work by attracting the bugs with the bright light, once there the bugs fall into the bucket and are unable to get out. This is thanks to the funnel like opening at the top of the bucket. I'm guessing it's was a study on the various species found in the park.



As I walked in the growing darkness, with my headlamp on, I began hearing my favorite denizen of the night. The Barred Owls. These owls generally are deep forest owls, not seen much in neighborhoods. They're best distinguished by their ridiculously cool call. Click on the link and listen to it. It's unmistakable and quite creepy in the dark. I counted as many as 5 owls calling to each other around me, as I walked along the boardwalk. It really is an amazing thing to experience. I even sat under a tree with one calling in it, but I couldn't find him. I took some recordings, and I'll try to get that up as soon as I can.

With my journey wrapping up and night clearly set in, I traveled back home. I felt confident traveling at night due to the reflective trail markers stapled on the trees. My spirits high, and confident in my location, I began gathering firewood for my camp. This was about the time the reflective tape disappeared, to be replaced by dark blue paint on the trees. Withing 5 minutes I looked around and realized, I was lost. I back tracked many meters, just to find out everything looked the exact same.

I Matt Boone, admit I suffer from over confidence, and occasional lapse in paying attention.

But before my Mother comes in yelling at me, I will admit I never was infact lost. I had a gps, map, and a light to my west. I merely was sorta-lost. So ego thoroughly shot down, I took off towards the light.

I made it to the parks field houses and took the road the rest of the way back. The night contained another first, as it was the first night it rained on me. Because of this, the rest of the night was fairly uneventful, and with morning I regretfully left Congaree.

Next stop Greenville

Stalling in Georgia

September 29^th, 2010

I left Big Lagoon SP unsure of where to go next. I was coming nearer to the Atlantic ocean and wasn't sure when I wanted to head north. About 3 hours into the drive east on I-10, dark clouds started rolling in, and I soon ran into rain. It was with that, I made a calculated gamble to head north to Georgia, hoping to bypass the storm, and hoping Georgia wasn't like Alabama.

The gamble failed. The storm ended up following me all the way into the middle of Georgia and decided to sit there for the rest of the night. The plus side is it forced me to drive through Georgia, allowing me to realize how much I loved it. Old Victorian houses next to relics from the early 20^th century, huge oak trees with moss hanging down, pine forests, and the general southern feel turned Georgia into one of the unlikely places I'd like to live at. I just kept imagining spending fall in the backwoods of Georgia, watching the seasons change, joining in the harvest festivals, and enjoying the nice weather. That's the weather I imagined it had, not the weather that day. Because that day it was raining, a lot.

It stayed bad all the way to Douglas, Georgia where I planned on camping. As I didn't feel like setting up my tent in the rain I decided to grab a motel instead.

I definitely decided that quicker than I should have. It's not that I had been camping that long at this point, it's just I was feeling a little lonely and out place. The warm bed, tv, internet, and shower made me feel more comfortable and somehow set my mind in the right place for the rest of the journey. While I always am going to be nervous and anxious, I made sure the rest of the way not to let the homelessness and uncertainty take over my emotions.

The motel was more expensive then I planned on spending, but countered it by still eating the food I bought for myself. This includes using a nifty trick I learned from my good friend David Chang: Making ramen with the Coffeemaker, a seemingly obvious, but genius idea.

Unfortunately, this night was fairly uneventful, and I left the next day after sleeping in rather late.

The day was not without a bird sighting, however! I found a flock of Canada Geese at the local Douglas, GA airport. They were likely stopping for a bite to eat before continuing on their Fall Migration.