The Wildman's lodge is getting eatin up by weeds!
The Star Deck in Aspen's Meadow (20' x 24')
(9/1-30/00, complete)
(pictures and text are unedited)
9/1/00 A red glow in my eyes woke me early. I stumbled out of bed and headed down to the hot tub. Now some folks think I am crazy to go jump into a steaming tub of 102 degree water in the middle of the worst heat wave to hit the Ozarks in a long time, but those that think that have never slipped into the soothing bubbles in the morning - it really does get your day started off right!
First thing I noticed when I went outside was the smell of smoke in the air - wood smoke. Oh uh, there was a forest fire out there somewhere. Perhaps that red glow was not the sun after all! There was smoke in the valley below, but it was not very thick. I spent a minute or two searching for heavy smoke somewhere, but found none. When you live in a log cabin forest fires take on a new meaning. But since I was not in immediate danger, I slid on into the hot tub.
After his usual romp in the bushes to water the flowers and chase bunnies, Aspen returned to the deck. Instead of sitting down next to the tub and studying patrolling ants below, he trotted on over to the far end of the deck, stuck his head through the railing, and let out a wail that would wake the dead. He was really excited, and focused - something or someone was down in the meadow below. Normally I would have simply ignored him, but there was something different in his voice and body language, so I got up to go investigate.
Didn't take me long to spot him - a VERY black bear just below, munching on polk berries. Aspen continued to bark and carry on, and the bear glanced up at us a time or two, but otherwise was not too concerned. Then Aspen took off running and lept off of the deck and into the thick brush. I screamed at him to stop and return, and son of a gun, he did exactly as I had said. That got the bear's attention, and he began to move on a bit. Aspen ran on over to me, took one more look down at the bear, then raced off again. I yelled and he returned. Good dog.
By now the bear was making his way towards the far end of the meadow, although I could hardly see him since the weeds were much taller than he was. One thing for sure though, he was not in any hurry. Most bears that you see out here will take off at the first sign or sound of a human or dog. I guess this guy was hungry.
Several minutes later I saw the bear again, walking every so slowly along the lower edge of the bench on the east side of the cabin. The woods are pretty open down there, and I got a very good look at him. He was silhouetted against that rising sun. I studied his ears - they appeared larger than the ones on the bear I had seen back in July. Large ears means a smaller bear. He did appear to have a full-grown body though, so I figured he was a 2-3 year old male. Man, he was COAL BLACK!!!
After watching him for more than a minute, he slid on down the hillside and out of sight. What a way to view a bear - from the safety of your own deck! I had heard that bears like to feed on polk berries late in the summer, and there are a number of large polk bushes down in the meadow here. I had noticed several of the bushes being knocked over this past week, but never went down to look for bear sign. There was a fresh pile or two of bear scat in the road up near the Faddis Cabin, but that is about all the bear sign that I have seen this past month - no other bodies.
OK, the bear was gone now, so I turned my attention back to the woodsmoke, which was still hanging in the air. Since there was not direct fire source in my end of the valley, I decided to hike on up to the star deck and take a look downstream. As I made my way up the hillside (always looking towards the edge of the forest for movement, black movement), I noticed how dry the forest was getting. Some of the bare dirt floor was beginning to crack open. And entire hillsides of poison ivy were turning yellow - actually kind of pretty. Overall though, the forest in general looked pretty good, considering that we have not had any rain in over a month here. There are a few black gum trees beginning to turn red, and I have noticed lots of small ones along the road getting very nice color in them, but the rest of the forest is basically still green, not shutting down and turning brown yet, thank goodness. I take that back - there are several nice large trees that I can see from the back deck that have turned bright yellow - hickories I bet. And since I have already heard many folks moan about how the dry spell means an ugly fall, I am counting on a BRILLIANT fall season here in the Ozarks - most folks are usually wrong. And dry conditions in fact yield brighter colors. It all depends on when we do get some moisture. Last year we had two periods of fall color - caused by the timing of the rain.
I finally made it up to the star deck. Sure enough the entire Boxley Valley downstream was filled with thick smoke - much thicker than up here at my end. So there must have been a fire down there somewhere. I was obviously in no danger, and breathed a big sigh of relief.
The star deck is basically finished, although there are still several hundred screws that I need to put into the deck boards. I have just been too darn lazy to finish the job, and too hot. I have a feeling this deck will get a great deal of use.
The meadow there is really grown up with weeds now. The rye grass burned up and died out long ago. Later this fall I will mow the entire meadow, then plant some sort of winter grass. I want to keep it all mowed each year - perhaps more than once - to keep it all open and from being grown up with brush and small trees (hum, can you say TRACTOR!). Native Americans used to burn off meadows like this one to keep them from growing up, giving them a place to feed their horses. I wondered if this meadow had been used by them that way?
It is later in the day now - after noon, and the smoke in the air is gone. It looked like a good-sized fire, but must have been put out quickly. I admire fire fighters - they really have a difficult job, especially in these heavy fire years like this one, and are never paid what they are really worth. Many of the folks who fight the big fires out west are sent there from Arkansas. In fact, it is often difficult to find forest service personnel on the job here in the late summer since they are all in Montana or Idaho.
If you dig through the official forest fire record books you will find one officially named The Tim Ernst Fire. I was on a crew that went into a wilderness area in Wyoming one summer to put out a wildfire. Once we got it under control, the others left and I stayed behind to baby-sit it for a few days, putting out flare-ups and such. While I was on daily patrol around the fire, I discovered a second fire in another part of the wilderness. When I called in the position over the radio to the fire center, they named it The Tim Ernst Fire. It wasn't all that large, but it did take me most of that day and part of the next to get it under control. That fire fighting is darn hard work!!!
There has been a steady growth of wild sunflowers in the open areas around the cabin this summer, as well as out in the forest. But now they have mostly dried up, leaving behind tall stems. But there is new yellow showing up, in the form of goldenrod plants. They are just coming on now, and won't peak until later in the month. The wild sunflowers stuck around a good long while this year, and were a great comfort to me as I wondered around in the wilderness.
AUGUST RAP UP. It was good to take a break from writing the journal, although there were many times when I found myself writing it in my head as I hiked or swam along. And there were many important events that happened out here during the month. So I thought that I would try to put down a few of those things that went on out here in the wilderness.
First off, I did not take a month vacation like many of you have suggested. I worked pretty much every day, either here at the office, or in town. Come to think of it, I drove into town nearly every day all month, working on getting my house there ready to put on the market. I thought it was only going to take a day or two to fix things up, but I ended up hiring some professional help, and they spent nearly 300 hours fixing things that needed it. Then I bought new carpet for the entire house, had it painted inside and out, got the hot tub all cleaned up and running again, and cut back the jungle that was overtaking the entire place. All in all I spent almost $20,000 putting it in shape. Now when I go by there to get my mail, I think it is certainly a wonderful place, and I should consider moving back in! Na. But for any of you who might be interested, here is a link to THE REAL ESTATE CONSULTANTS (Mark Risk) that are selling my house. The price is $149,900, plus $30,000 for the adjoining wooded property. (Please note - this is NOT Cloudland that I am selling!!! It is my house in Fayetteville where I lived for twenty years.)
Before I get further into August, I must digress for a moment to tell you about the final dark days of July. Lisa and I broke up then, and the gloom of it all would hang over me for quite a while. (also known as Lola, Lucy, Lulu, Lula, etc. - we wanted to have some fun with her name, but it was always the same woman) Lisa is one of the most wonderful people that I have ever met, a very talented writer and overall good egg. I could go on and on telling about how much she has taught me and how great our time together was, but she never really wanted to be in the spotlight. And I will spare you all the details, but will say that she means a great deal to me, I am a much better person for having known her, and you will see her name in this journal many more times as I hope we remain good friends and she returns to Cloudland to visit. In fact, she was out here last Sunday, and we had a nice wind-blown hike. But her departure from my everyday life did leave me sad and miserable. Cloudland is a good place to withdraw into.
On the other side of the coin, I spend many hot afternoon cooling off in the swimming hold down on that river. Spot was there most every day, although sometimes I would spend an hour looking for him and could not find him at all. Just as I was giving up, I would turn around and find him right behind me. All of the fish nests gave up their eggs and produced tens of thousands of tiny fish. Some days the water was dingy, while other days it was very clear. And this is a tough one to figure out, but as the days grew hotter and time went on, the water in the deep pool got COOLER. This is due to the fact that as the Buffalo River dried up, there was less surface water flowing into the pool (heated surface water), yet the many small springs that feed this pool continued to add water, but this water was COLD water, so therefore the cold water mixing with the warmer surface water dropped the temp. But I must say, that no matter how cool the pool got, it always felt TERRIFIC on this hot and steaming body under that broiling summer sun.
One time as I was exploring the deeper reaches of the pool, a mermaid came swimming up from the cool, shaded depths below. We danced there underwater to a beautiful wilderness tune. And then she vanished. Hum, and you thought I just went down there for the fish!
We did have one party of sorts here. Actually I was not in any mood for a party, but several folks showed up to eat dinner and spend the night up on the star deck to catch the meteor shower. We all started out sleeping on the deck, with the plan being to get up around 4am to view the shooting stars. The moon was up and nearly full, so we would not be able to see any of the stars until after it set, and then we would only have a little while before the rising sun lit up the sky. So the alarm was set for 4am. But long before then the bodies on the deck were attacked and nearly carried off by mosquitoes and other biting bugs. I got up and returned to the cabin about 1:30am when Norma got up and stole the fan that I had pointed at my head (to keep the bugs off). Hete, the Wildman and Mary had also left the deck to seek refuge. Bob and Dawna and Roy and Norma were all completely covered with blankets or sheets.
Finally the moon set and the stars came out. We got to see several dozen shooting stars blazing across the sky, many leaving star trails. And I brought out the telescope and we got to view the moons of Jupiter and the rings of Saturn - a first for me out here. I discovered that even with my little spotting scope the deck was not sturdy enough to support a telescope without jarring the image when someone walks across the deck. That means that before I can get a real telescope out here I will have to tear into the deck and build some sort of support that goes all the way into the ground. Good thing the screws are not all in place.
The night before the main meteor shower I made a trip up to the star deck around 3am. In fact I had done that several days in a row. The moon set and a million stars came out. I laid there and counted forty, fifty, sixty, seventy brilliant shooting stars in an hour. Then, just as I got up to return to the cabin, I was stopped in my tracks, and rather stunned at what I saw - the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights! I had seen them many times in Canada and Alaska, but never this far south. They were not all that bright or colorful or even moving much, but there was no question what they were. They looked like sheets of light draped across the low northern sky. And if you watched carefully, they did move slowly back and forth. After about ten minutes they faded away, but came back for a second show a few minutes later.
The day the hot tub got fixed I was sitting in it in the middle of the day. I looked up and saw a white jet streaking towards the cabin. I leapt up and ran to the edge of the deck just as the jet came screaming by down BELOW tree level!!! It was the same military jet that normally passses overhead once or twice a week. But today he was down in the valley, courting death. I know these jet jockeys are pretty talented folks, but one sneeze and this guy would have been buried into the opposite hillside, along with a million dollars worth of our tax money. While I actually enjoy seeing a jet out here, it is a pretty stupid stunt to risk your life and our hardware like that. Prop planes doing that is no problem at all - they have much more control than do the jets, which fly at 300+ mph.
One quick trip out of state - just barely out of state. I had to go take a look at a new section of the Ouachita Trail that had been built recently through the Kiamichi Wilderness area, which is located just over the state line in Oklahoma. I have been working on the third edition to this guidebook, and this new trail was the last piece of the puzzle to fit in.
It was a beastly hot day. I left the cabin at 3am and hit the trail early. Within minutes after leaving the state line, I came across a pile of bear scat. There are a lot of bears in this part of the Ouachitas. Soon I hit the new trail, and followed it on down the hillside into the wilderness. I found a pile of bear scat about every mile - some very fresh. It was almost noon when I reached the truck, after a sweaty nine miles of hiking that included a 1,300 ft. climb. Lordy, this is the worst designed and constructed trail that I have ever seen! I mean, the trail just takes off and goes straight up a steep hillside, with no trail tread work at all. And the route is almost a mile longer, plus a lot steeper, than the section that it replaced. I have no idea why the forest service did this new reroute - it is terrible, simply terrible. But the exercise did me good.
It has, of course, been very hot in town, but the temp has been sneaking up out here in the wilderness as well. In fact, an all time record was set here two days ago - 99 degrees in the shade. It has been rather tolerable here though, especially since we have had a nice breeze blowing most of the time. Not to mention the temp in the TV room is always about 70 degrees, which gives me a great place to go hide out and cool down.
You expect hot temps and no rain here in August. And there will always be bugs. But this year the HORSEFLIES have been far and away the most annoying thing to deal with. They just won't leave you alone. I find myself hiking in long pants most of the time because of them. It has been a lot of fun though to sit in the pool at the river, killing the horseflies and watching a perch or small bass devour the mangled body floating on the surface. There is a certain amount of justice in all of that. I must say that I have been pretty successful in swatting the horseflies - only one bite all month, and that was INSIDE the cabin!
BACK TO SEPTEMBER 1st. It is getting dark outside now - at 1:30 in the afternoon, and I just heard a loud crack of thunder. Could it possibly rain today??? That would be wonderful. In the event that rain might actually fall, I must go prepare myself for it and take up a position on the couch under a ceiling fan to wait the sound of the raindrops. Please forgive me if I throw in a tidbit from August as time goes on. Otherwise, you can look for the regular journal updates, usually on Monday's, but also as often as I feel the need. I hope you had a terrific August!
9/2/00 Hot and crusty and dusty today. But the sunrise was a magnificent one. It began as red shafts of light peeking through the trees. Soon the light became yellow, and finally, white. It was already nearly 90 degrees by then, and the air was stiff and hard to breathe. The sky was filled with dragonflies, darting back and forth. I could see one chase down a small bug of some sort. I guess it is a bug eat bug world out there.
A number of trees on distant hillsides have turned yellow, each standing alone in a sea of green. Its as if they are making a stand that if their world is going to dry up and die out, they are going to go out in a blaze of glory. Pretty nice blaze. And down along the river there are quite a few trees turning orange and some red - beeches or sweet gums I suspect.
The June floods that rearranged the gravel bars down there on the river have created a different scene from up here - one of piles of rocks with no water in sight, instead of at least a channel of water that has always been the case. No, wait a minute, there is water visible. In fact a great deal of water. Somehow all of those rocks being moved around has opened up the view to the upper pool, and it looks like a wide and long bit of water. It is wide and long, but only a foot deep. My swimming hole is just downstream and out of sight.
These long, dry, beastly hot days have seeped into my very soul, and I often don't feel much like doing anything, inside or out. I have sought refuge in the cool air conditioned air of the cabin, especially down in the basement, where my tendency is to turn on the tube. The hike up to the office, while short, always works up a sweat. And I am chased and harassed by horse flies the size of which has never been seen - they are HUGE! We always play a game. One or two of them will land on the back of my calf as I push off with that leg, then fly away, only to land once again on the other calf as it reaches the back of its swing. It is very annoying, especially since I have been unsuccessful in swatting even a single one.
But there has been much office work to do, and a window AC unit right next to my desk that blows cool air on my face. Lots of computer work to do to get the new Ouachita Trail Guidebook finalized and ready for the printer. BACKPACKER magazine will be coming out with a story later this fall that will list the Ouachita Trail as one of the top ten long distance trails in the country. The new guidebook will be ready by then (I hope).
In a bit of cool sunshine that came my way this past week, I received the first bound copy of the new ARKANSAS SPRING picture book from the printers. I must say that this is the best printing job they have ever done for me - the book and all the images inside are spectacular!!! But of course I would say that - I am trying to sell you a copy or three. This was just an advance copy - the shipment of them won't be here for another several weeks yet. That reminds me, before I can take delivery of them I will have to build several set of shelves out in the warehouse and clean up all of my junk!
9/3/00 Today was a carbon copy of yesterday, except there were a number of buzzards flying around. Hum, they were looking pretty hungry and gazing my way. There was a bit of excitement later in the day when the sky got dark and thunder could be heard. And then RAINDROPS!!! Well, three of four of them. I suspect it did rain a lot more, but the drops evaporated high above before they had a chance to hit the earth.
Dean and Bonnie stopped by for supper. They had been slaving away over at their property that overlooks Boxley Valley all weekend. It was so good to see Bonnie - she is the one who was on her death bed just over a year ago, and now not only seems perfectly normal, but is DRIVING once again (which the doctors said she would never do), and has a full time job. I wondered if they didn't fake the entire thing just so that she could get a hundred boxes of chocolate?
And later several guys showed up with mounds of cooked meat. They were headed for the star deck, equipped with cook stoves, lanterns, a bit of booze I suspect, and electric fans to help keep the bugs off. It was going to be one spectacular star-gazing night, if you could keep the bugs away.
Back at the cabin, the bugs were out in full force. After dinner we three tried to sit out on the back deck and enjoy the cool breezes (yea, right - a cool 90 degrees!), but were ran off by all of the noseeums. This has been the worst year for them that I can recall. I will say one thing for the dry and heat though - haven't seen a tick in a very long time. And they started out to be horrible this year. So I guess the misery of an Arkansas August and now September has been good for something.
9/4/00 It felt like Sunday all day long, but I was constantly reminded that it was Monday. And another hot and dusty day. I need to strike up a bit of rain dance music I guess, and quit whining about it all the time. But hey, when it is so hot and dry, what else is there to do?
Long about dark I wandered on up to the Faddis meadow to gather a couple of tomatoes for my dinner. Hum, I could feel a tinge of change in the air. No sweat ran down my brow. And no bugs! No, that is not correct - there was one horsefly that rode my calves most of the way.
After dinner and a bit of TV, I found myself on the back deck looking up into the incredible light from the 1/3 full moon. It was dark out, and a breeze was moving across the wilderness. My feet began to itch. Before I knew it, I was standing out in the middle of the forest, on a nighttime ramble. Gosh it felt SO WONDERFUL to be out there among my tall friends once again. The wind moved the trees around just enough for them to talk, and the did so in soft tones. They were encouraging me to continue my stroll deeper into the darkness.
I followed the trail back up to the Faddis meadow, where the moonlight really lit up the place. But it was not bright light, but rather a soft glow that illuminated the freshly-mowed meadow. Individual trees took on unusual shapes as I passed under their outstretched branches. And I could make out several bats working the air above - WAY TO GO GUYS!!! Eat them bugs. My ultimate dream is for every bat to have a weight problem - stuffed full with millions of biting bugs until they are all gone. Of course, I guess if that ever happened the bats would disappear too. And with them dozens of species that eat their guano. And others who feed on them, and so and on so on. Yes, it is a food chain indeed, and we need those biting bugs in order to keep the chain complete. But it sure would be nice if my friends the bats would eat a little faster!
I made my way along the lane between the Faddis and East meadows, Aspen running out in front as always. He seemed a bit subdued tonight, and not quite as frisky as usual. And just as we were both about lulled into a state of calmness in the soft moonlight, a loud crash out there in the wilderness brought us right back to life. Crash, crash, CRASH!
We had obviously walked up on a bear, and he wasn't interested in company just now, so went crashing off into the brush. The forest was so thick at this point that there was not way we could spot him, although Aspen did take off in hot pursuit for a moment or two - I called for him to halt and he returned to the lane. But he remained on high alert, with his stub tail waving high in the air, and his nose working overtime.
As we passed through the East meadow I thought I saw the bear twenty times. All were merely inside my head. The weeds there are about waist high now, and I probably could not have seen a bear anyway. It was comical to watch Aspen working the meadow - every few seconds he would leap straight up into the air and have a look around over the weeds. I mean that he "sprang" up into the air - he is a springer spaniel, and certainly does live up to that.
Just as my eyes were getting used to the moonlight in the open space, we entered the woods once again and all went black. The glow from the moon wasn't all that much to begin with, but once the leaves soaked it up there didn't seem to be any at all. But within a few minutes the forest began to take on shapes - I could make out individual tree trunks, and boulders, and small bushes. And as I moved on, moonlight through the trees filtered in, bounced around, and lit up much of the forest. You really did have to look close, but it was lit up.
I sat down and leaned up against this small bluffline that I have visited in the darkness many times before. The longer I sat there, the more of the forest came into view (my eyes were getting adjusted to the dim moonlight). I couldn't really see any color, but there were many different shades of grey, from the stark black of the tree trunks to the nearly white spots on the forest floor where moonlight hit directly. And with the breeze moving the tree branches around, that moonlight moved as well, creating a kaleidoscope of silent, mobile music. It just felt, I don't know, quite magical. As I stared out into the night, there was color - those light spots of moonlight began to turn color. I stood up and looked back over my shoulder and could see the moon, turning golden as it set.
I don't know how long I sat there, but I certainly dozed off, for it was PITCH black when I was startled awake by a loud and shrill noise - a barred owl in a nearby tree shook the living daylights out of me with his call! I guess when I die I will be constantly brought back to life by the sounds of the wilderness.
OK, I was awake now, but it took me a few moments to figure out just exactly where I was. Oh yea, sitting in the middle of the forest, up against that very hard rock bluff. But I could not see anything - the moon had set, leaving only starlight, and not much of that to reach the forest floor. Oops, no flashlight.
But what struck me even more than the darkness was the fact that I was actually chilled. Some of that was because of the rude awakening by the owl no doubt, but there was more - it WAS cool outside! For the first time in a very long while. And there was something else in the air. I don't know how to describe it really, but I felt a change. The air was cooler for sure, but it was different somehow. I wondered if I had actually napped from summer right on into fall. If that were the case, I should have taken more naps sooner!
I had left one lamp on in the cabin, but it was no where in sight. Looked like I was on my own to find my way back through the darkness. No problem - I've been here before. No rush either - I didn't know what time it was and really didn't care. If I wanted to I could have just sat back down and waited until first light. But I wanted to move on into the darkness, feeling my way through it all.
And that is exactly what it took - I had to feel my way along, stumbling here and there as I went. But when you move slow and are prepared to hit the dirt, it isn't all that bad.
Only problem was that somewhere along the way I remembered the bear. Hum, he would be just about the same color as EVERYTHING else in the forest - how would I ever see him if he came calling now, hungry for a midnight snack? Good thing that I had the superdog along for protection. Ha.
Before long the faint glow of my lamp came into view through the trees, and that made the last part of the trip a lot easier. So did Aspen's white butt, which kept waving back and forth just out in front of me.
It was a delightful little stroll in the nighttime wilderness, and the bear went home with an empty stomach.
9/5/00 It was just about daylight when I rolled out of bed and splashed into the hot tub. The air temp was down in the 60's for the first time in over a month. Boy, was I ready for that! Since I had failed to open the windows to let the cabin cool down during the night, I ran around this morning and opened them all up. It was 78 degrees in the cabin, a temp my AC had maintained since July.
The inside temp quickly dropped - 76, 74, 71. Nothing better than natural air conditioning! I wanted to get as much coolness out of the morning as I could, so I left the windows open and fired up the computer. There was a nice breeze blowing, dozens of birds out singing, and clouds dancing around everywhere with just a hint of sunshine.
Something was really up because I could not get a single radio station to tune in. And then I heard it - a sure sign of FALL - a chainsaw singing in the distance! YIPPIE!!!!! Now I know that chainsaws are a sign of trees being cut down, but they are also a sign of cool temperatures and folks out cutting firewood for the winter. That is an activity that I truly LOVE - cutting firewood. And while sizzling temps would return for a while yet, I could sit back and dream of those chilly mornings when I would have to get up at dawn and chop wood, without the interference of HORSEFLIES!
So I fired up the computer at the cabin and worked a bit, until the cabin cooled down all it could. The front door was standing wide open, and Aspen was laying at the opposite end of the room, in front of the back door. And then he let out one of the most blood-curdling screams that I have ever heard. He was obviously focused on something out there just beyond the front door. My hair stood on end as he began to growl and move ever so slowly across the floor towards the front door. I jumped up and we both headed for the door. I had no idea what was out there, but it must have been SOMETHING for him to react in that manner.
He bounded out the door ahead of me and ran off into the brush. I thought it may have been the bear a calling, and listened for thrashing in the forest. But there was no sound. I held my breath. Then Aspen appeared, running full tilt across the scene. I fully expected to see a bear in hot pursuit, but there was nothing. Aspen was just darting around as fast as he could, looking for whatever it was that startled him. Never saw or heard a bear, or anything else for that matter. I believe it must have been the bear though for him to have acted that way.
I returned to the computer, which is where I am right now. My tiny little desk and computer station here is positioned right in a corner of the cabin between two windows - open this morning, with that cool breeze passing right on through my soul. My hound is sitting on the futon behind me, chewing on the end of a new guitar that I just bought. Life is good, except for that chewed guitar.
9/6/00 The temp was down in the 50's this morning - very, very nice. But still quite dry out. The forest is really feeling the stress, but I know all the plants and animals welcomed the cooler temps. I had my windows open all night, and the heavy dew dripping on the tin roof sounded like it was raining.
9/8/00 I got up and left early, heading down into the Ouachita Mountains for a ceremony to thank our former senator Dale Bumpers for his great work on the behalf of wilderness. Hum, an outdoor ceremony with lots of VIP's - I just knew it had to RAIN! And just to be sure, I stopped in Russellville and washed my truck. Within twenty minutes the black clouds swirling overhead opened up and dumped a bit of wet stuff - thank goodness!
But the rain did not last very long, and while it did remain threatening the rest of the day, there was hardly enough rain to even put down the dusty dirt roads.
The ceremony with Dale Bumpers was a very nice affair, with another Senator's aide there, plus Congressman Vic Snyder, the supervisors of both the Ouachita and Ozark National Forests, Arkansas' Director of Tourism Joe Rice, myself, and several others. We were a small group that crowded around a sandstone boulder that had this neat inscription about Senator Bumpers and his great wilderness work. It turns out that there is a similar boulder somewhere at the edge of each wilderness area in Arkansas - I must go find them all!
I had worked with Senator Bumpers and Congressman Ed Bethune (along with hundreds of other volunteers) back in 1983-84 on the Arkansas Wilderness Bill. It established most of the wilderness areas in the state. And Senator Bumpers was kind enough to write the foreword to the very first book that I ever wrote - the original Ozark Highlands Trail Guidebook. He is a great man.
Two funny things about the event. First, Aspen and I got there early and went for a hike. I had him on a leash when we returned to the parking lot just as Senator Bumpers was getting out of his car. He came over to shake my hand, then bent down to pet Aspen. OOPS, the Superdog bit the Senator!!! Well, actually it was just one of his love bites, but it was a bit embarrassing.
Then during the ceremony, I presented Senator Bumpers with an autographed copy of my new ARKANSAS SPRING picture book (the only one in this country right now - the rest are on a boat in the pacific on their way here). I promise this was not by design, but he held onto the book, holding it prominently in front of him, during all of the official pictures at the end of the ceremony - my book got a great deal of notice!
9/9/00 It did rain a bit during the night - about a quarter inch worth. And it felt SOOOOOO great outside! In fact, during my morning splash in the hot tub, I spent ten minutes with my head tilted back and my big mouth open wide catching raindrops - such a silly thing to do, but how WONDERFUL it was to be able to do that! I plan to remain a kid as long as I can (and of course, don't really know what I am going to do when I grow up). Along with the rain came a blanket of fog, and you could hardly see out past the end of my little meadow.
I spent the day in the Richland Creek Wilderness Area, and I must tell ya, something remarkable happened to me there. I fell in love. This young lady quite literally walked right out of the forest and into my heart. Her name is Amber. She is from Missouri, and this was her first trip to Arkansas. I must prepare you right now for the fact that she is a bit younger than me. In fact, a lot younger. She is seven years old. I have never liked being around kids, not wanted any of my own, and am glad to have never changed a diaper in my life. But there was something so special deep within this little girl's soul that I was immediately drawn to her, and ended up spending the day in the wilderness with her looking for fossils. And man did we find the fossils!
I have always known that there were many great fossils there, but never had I paid so much attention to them before. They were everywhere, many uncovered because the river was very low in places. And not just one here and there, but entire beds of rock covered with them. And not just little fossils, but very large ones. I was quite amazed.
It remained cloudy all day, and misted at times, and even sprinkled once in a while, but no further actual rain. But there had been enough moisture come down to keep the dust from flying. I spend a great deal of my time driving on dirt roads, and I simply HATE all that dust! So I was a happy camper on the way home.
9/10/00 A few clouds at first light, but no rain. I was hoping for it to pour all day, not only because we needed the moisture, but because I was leading a hike and didn't want a large crowd to show up. Oops, too late for that. All in all there were 43 folks on the hike, including a few that joined our group late. We went out to Hawksbill Crag, then on to my cabin, where a batch of fresh Cloudland Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies vanished in about two minutes.
It was a wonderful group of hikers, including many that had not hiked before, and others that were grizzled veterans. I do enjoy getting mixed groups like this together. There is always so much that we can learn from one another. And I must say that even though we all tromped around the cabin for an hour, you could hardly tell anyone had been there. Hikers are generally neat and tidy people, and practice "Pack It In - Pack It Out" in their everyday lives.
I returned to the cabin after the hike and spent a few minutes with Erna and Paula, who were on the hike but were also staying at the cabin for the night. Erna is my famous "second" mom who brings me all sorts of goodies (a gallon of fresh-squeezed orange juice today). She has recently retired and spent much of the summer up in the north country, away from the beastly heat. Paula White runs the cabins and lodge at White Rock Mountain. She has been much too busy lately to do much hiking, but now is finding the time to get out a bit and explore the woods. Her husband Jack died recently of cancer, one of the genuine good eggs of the world. For those of you who have never been to White Rock Mountain, I highly recommend it! It is certainly one of the most magical spots on the planet.
After a few minutes of conversation and a quick shower, I was off again into town to go to an OHTA board meeting and our monthly meeting - more than 60 folks showed up for that one. Aspen stayed behind to keep the girls company.
9/11/00 And early sunrise today. Lots of goldfinches playing down in the meadow below the cabin. Erna and Paula told me of a helicopter they had watched the evening before. They said it hovered low down in the wilderness near the mouth of Boen Gulf, then disappeared in the trees next to a pair of black and white "markers." Later the engine fired up again and the helicopter reappeared and flew off. That sounded very odd to me. We tried to locate the markers, but they were not there this morning. I wondered what the heck was going on. I know that they do a lot of flying looking for pot plants this time of the year, but didn't think there would be any deep in the wilderness like that, nor was there an open spot for the craft to land. Only thing that I could think of was that perhaps there was a rescue, which would explain the markers (which must have been removed after the rescue), and hey cut out a landing spot down there somewhere. I would have to do a bit of checking to see what the heck it was all about. I accused them of getting into my home brew.
Soon after Erna and Paula left I was headed out myself, this time back into town to spend much of the day in the studio in front of a large video camera. We have been working on this video of the Ozark Highlands Trail off and on for several years, and they are finally trying to get it all wrapped up. I spent several hours in a chair in front of he camera with hot lights all around being grilled on every aspect of the OHT, hiking, Cloudland, and you name it. I'm not very good in front of TV cameras. I don't know, I don't get nervous or anything, but I can tell that my personality does change a bit. I have never liked a single second of my time in front of video or movie cameras, so there is no danger of it becoming a habit.
The moon was out and it was a nice bright drive home. The wind was blowing hard, and it was one of those very special evenings out in the wilderness. I parked the truck and took off on a hike, making the loop around through Faddis and East meadows. Since the wind was blowing so hard, there were no sounds of night bugs or birds that I could hear. And no bears crashing off into the brush. I think perhaps the bears are done with me for this year, although I would like to encounter just one more before fall sets in and they go den up. Hum, anyone want to go on a night hike with me?
9/12/00 WHAT? Was I dreaming? There was a crash. Then another. And another. Then a bright flash - RAIN!!!!! It was in fact a genuine thunderstorm, and it dumped nearly an inch in less than an hour. The temp was so cool that I had to grab a flannel shirt off of the rack as I walked out the door to go up to the office. And down in the valley the cloud nursery was going full tilt - little streaks of clouds would form down in the bottom of the valley, then reach up and stretch out and slowly rise up into the sky. Cloudland is a place were clouds are born! I swear I could hear the entire wilderness sigh. What a relief, and none too soon. Only problem was that the rains did not last all that long, and there is no more in the forecast for the remainder of the week. But it was an inch of rain - we'll take what we can get!
The black gum trees are turning bright reds and oranges, and you can often find these jewels scattered about on the forest floor. It is so nice to see fall on the way, and some color besides green. It is so funny how in the spring that green is such a welcome sight, but now that it has been with us for so long, anything but green is nice. I simply love all seasons here, and will welcome the browns of the winter woods when they come along. Hum, fall and winter - does that mean a FIRE in the fireplace?!!! You must know that few things in life are as enjoyable for me as chopping wood on a crisp fall or winter morning. But you will hear a lot about that in the months to come.
I must pause for a moment to thank all of you who have been concerned about my well being. I have received a number of e-mails wanting to know if I am OK, still alive, or have broken hands and unable to write. I know that the journal has not been updated as often in the past. My goal is to update it once a week, on Monday. Anytime that I am around here during the week and have something to write about and have the time to write and post it, I do so. But this past week has been a very hectic one, and I just didn't have the time to write anything yesterday. There will be many more hectic weeks for me ahead, but also a great deal of neat stuff out in the wilderness to write about. So please be patient, check the journal on Mondays, and if you aren't doing anything else, you might check in during the week from time to time. I have received so many wonderful e-mails from all of you that I will continue to write and publish this journal as long as I can. And while I may not always have the time right then to answer your e-mails, or give a long response always, I do appreciate each and every one of them. If not for you, there would be no reason for me to write anything.
9/13/00 It was about 1am when I finished my day and slipped into the hot tub. WOW!, what a wonderful scene lay before me! The full moon was high overhead and lighting up the entire wilderness, but there was also a layer of clouds in between that diffused it all, and made the light even softer, if that is possible. And there were many streaks and patterns in the cloud layer that were moving around. I was mesmerized. And down in the valley, a thick layer of clouds had settled over the river, creating a sea of white that reflected the moonlight. What a wonder it is to be alive and part of such beauty! I have found that you will almost always find interesting out there in the middle of the night.
A few hours later I awoke in bed to discover the cabin engulfed in fog - it was almost a total white out. But there were a couple of maple trees that were turning brilliant orange and were poking through the thick fog. And the air was dead still - no movement at all, except for the slow motion of the fog inching through the forest.
Sometimes I have a very specific goal in mind when I take off for a hike, like this morning. I wanted to collect and take a picture of some of the things that are gathering on the ground along the trail. Acorns of all sizes, some bright green and others brown; GIANT hickory nuts, and tiny ones too; yellow sweet gum leaves; blood-red black gum leaves; yellow and red sassafras and sumac leaves; red rose hips; poke berries; and I got lucky when the wind broke off a persimmon branch - I gathered a couple of fat fruits for my composition.
What I realized though was that after about ten minutes of searching at my feet for neat things, I was not paying any attention to the rest of the wilderness - I had to FORCE myself to look up from time to time! I could tell that I really wanted to drop down to my hands and knees and spend an hour collecting nuts - there is just something so soothing about doing that, and almost addictive. But there will be plenty of time for that.
The cool temps and high humidity meant that there had been a heavy dew. And that means spider webs! I hate spiders, but do enjoy their OUTDOOR webs, especially in the fall when the dew is heavy. I came across a fat, juicy orb weaver spider sitting in the middle of his masterpiece, but he was quite shy and ran off as soon as I took out the camera.
I had never noticed the berries on the deciduous holly tree here before. At least, not the green berries of summer. This is the tree that is covered with bright red berries all winter that the birds love to eat.
A stroll in the morning always lifts my spirits and cleanses my soul. And today I woke up with a splitting headache, and by gosh my hike got rid of it as well. If EVERYONE began their day with a walk in the woods the world would be a much better place.
So here is my little composition from my morning hike in the early fall woods:
As I am sitting here at the computer in the office writing this, I just had to get up and close the blinds on my window because the sun was blinding me - the fog is all burned off now. That is a sure sign of fall - the sun is now coming in through the window on my right, while it has been coming in the window on my left all summer - it is moving south for the winter!. My desk faces east.
I just looked around and found Aspen on the floor, chewing on a persimmion!
9/14/00 I have been spending most of this week working on my new slide program - ARKANSAS SPRING. It contains all of the new color images in the book put to music, with each image dissolving into one another. At least that is what it will end up doing. I still have a LOT of work to do on it, but am progressing. One of the most important steps is picking the music, and finding just the right combination to go along with the pictures. I have finally filled all of the slots, but it took me many, many hours of listening to the CD library out here to get the right ones.
Today was a very hot day - I hope the last one of summer. After spending most of the day inside in front of the stereo, I just had to get out and go hiking. It was late afternoon, and while it had already cooled down a bit, the temp was still about 90. We took off down towards the river. Everything was dry and parched, except for me - I was totally soaked by the time I reached the bottom of the hill!
Most of the river had dried up and was sitting underground and out of sight. But up here in the "Cloudland" part of the river there is still much water on the surface, including a number of pools. In fact, the good old swimming hole has remained full and terrific all summer. A quick check found it only about a foot low from its summer high back in June (not counting the flood!). The water was a little dingy, but still mostly clean and clear. Aspen enjoyed plunging in, but I remained on the shore, looking for fossils and other things in the thousands of dry rocks.
The river has officially stopped flowing here though. The pool is being fed by many tiny springs deep down. And the water temp is actually colder than it has been all summer - since all of the water is now spring-fed, and spring water is usually colder than any surface water that the river puts into the pool. Skinny dipping today would make me much less of a man!
Most of the trees looked pretty good, although there were parts of the forest floor that were covered with dead beech leaves. This tree normally doesn't shed its leaves until spring, keeping the little golden wonders on all winter. But the stress of the drought causes them to curl up and drop off now. For the most part the big trees that are shedding the leaves are still covered with mostly green leaves, so they seem to be OK.
On the way back up the hillside, I passed by one of my favorite trees - a GIANT oak. Something about the late afternoon light made me stop and take a snapshot. There are actually three very large trees in this picture. The two leaning ones in the back being the other two. It is difficult to tell size from a photo, but I will tell you that the leaning one in the back to the right is so large that I cannot put my arms around it. The next one that is leaning is even larger. And the really big one in the foreground is so large that two people can't put their arms around it - quite an impressive oak! And right at the base of this towering creature is where the very first wildflower of the spring pops up - a tiny dogtooth violet.
Later in the evening, well after dark and after the bright moon had climbed up into the sky, I went out for an evening stroll. Something was up - the trees were being tossed back and forth from all directions by an angry wind. Actually the wind felt terrific! But it seemed like there was a struggle going on, one between the hot and steamy days of summer, and the cool breezes of autumn. There were some wild exchanges going on, and a lot of noise. So much noise that I could not hear any of the night bugs that were up there cheering. I couldn't tell if they were wanting the heat to continue (so that they could keep on making their summer nighttime noise), or calling for fall so that they could retire for the season. No secret which side I was on - COME ON FALL!!!
I guess this happens with every changing of the season - the landscape struggling with the change, not wanting to let go, yet yearning for the new season. This is one thing that I truly love about the Ozarks - there are four distinct seasons, each pretty equal in duration, as opposed to other parts of the country where they may only have brief seasons with a couple of main and long ones. (Like in Texas for instance, where they really don't have much of a fall, or in Hawaii, where it is terrific all year long, but a bit boring without fall, winter or spring.) I will take living in the Ozarks any day!
9/15/00 By daylight the dispute had been settled - the air was completely still, the wilderness calm. A cold front had bullied its way on down from the north, and the temp was 40 degrees cooler than it had been when I hiked to the river - fall was indeed almost here!
And with the cold front came very CLEAR air, replacing the thick, hazy air of lazy summer days. And there was something else - I couldn't really put my finger on it, but there was a totally different FEEL to the air, almost an anticipation of more to come. The woods would soon be busting out with color for sure, but there seemed to be something else on the way - guess I would just have wait it out and see what was going to happen.
As I laid back in the hot bubbles surveying my little wilderness world, something splashed in the water next to me - an acorn from above. I looked up and found a flock of chickadees working the branches in the big oak that arches over the deck and hot tub. Man, there was a dozen of these little wonders, constantly in motion. I'm not sure what they were doing up with the acorns, but their activity released a number of them.
And off to one side I spotted several downy woodpeckers - five or six of them running up and down the same tree. These guys are bright white and coal black, with a touch of red on their heads. And down in the meadow below the dying wild sunflowers were in constant motion, the yellow flashes being goldfinch and not their flowers. Wow, the air was still, but it was also filled with the motion of all these little birds playing and working and feeding in the crisp morning air! Life is good at Cloudland today.
And it only got better, a lot better. Just after noon I realized what else was on the way. My new friend Pam arrived, and she did indeed blow down from the north along with the cool breezes (she is from Missouri). When she stepped out of her car, music filled the air, the trees smiled, and Aspen ran over and started humping her dog. I do belive the great puzzle of life for me was just completed. We only met recently, but sometimes you just know. You know?
She was not only here for a visit, but to work. And we spent most of the rest of the day in the office putting together the new slide program. There is a great deal of time required just to clean all the slide mounts and place the images in them - each slide requires cleaning four glass surfaces plus the two of the slide itself. It is impossible to remove and keep out every single dust spot and piece of lint, but you do the best you can.
Just before dark we quit for the day and hiked down to the cabin. While the standard Friday night Cloudland pizza was in the oven, we sat out in the swing in back and watched another of the wonderful things that blew down from the north. The sun was getting low, the light turning colors, and countless golden gems filled the air, floating across the silent scene. They were monarch butterflies, and had ridden the cold front from way up north, and were on their way down to Mexico and perhaps beyond. Many of them soared out above the open meadow, flapping their wings now and then to say hi. While others detoured and fluttered down and landed in nearby trees. It was quite a remarkable scene.
And later, once the sky turned dark and the moon rose, the butterflies were still coming - flying in the moonlight! We sat in the hot tub and marveled at how bright the trees were, and that we could actually see the little gems moving around. It was a scene from my dreams.
9/16/00 We got up very early, and after enjoying the pre-dawn from the safety and warmth of the hot tub, set out on a quick hike before getting back to the office and more slide program work. We made the big loop out through the East meadow, then along the lane towards the Faddis meadow. There is always something interesting along this lane, and today was no exception.
There was a faint hint of sweetness in the air. After crashing through a thick wall of green briars, I found the source of the scent - Paw Paws - the ripening fruit filled the air with this incredible nose candy! Looking around on the ground I found several of them that had just fallen from high above. We hiked on down the lane munching on VERY sweet paw paw fruit. As sweet as I had ever tasted, although the fruit was really small (only a couple inches long each). The ones that I found a couple of years ago that were larger than bananas must have been freaks - I've never seen them anywhere near that large since. These guys were small, but the sweetness was concentrated.
No sooner had we finished our daylight treat when we heard a crash in the brush ahead. Aspen took off into the impenetrable brush after the sound, his new buddy close behind. Pam's dog Lucy is about the same size as Aspen, but much thinner and lighter. And coal black with a pair of white feet. One thing I noticed right away was that her coat, while long, did not pick up hardly any burs. Aspen is constantly picking up scores of them, but for some reason they just weren't sticking to Lucy. Good dogs.
We never saw what was crashing through the woods, but the dogs soon returned and we headed on up to the Faddis meadow. The sun was just beginning to hit the freshly-mowed open area there, warming things up nicely.
While we were exploring around one of the most unusual sights ever out here appeared. High overhead a group of hawks soared by in formation - 5, 10, 15, 18 of them! That was really bizarre. Not the common red-tailed hawk that is usually seen around here, but something else. We could not ID them, but they were hawks for sure.
A few minutes later, after we had searched the pond for bear tracks (didn't find any), we looked up and saw an even more unusual sight. Eleven of the hawks were flying in a circle together - they looked like buzzards! And the circle of hawks was moving across the sky. It was a feather ballet against the bright blue sky. And further down range there was another group of hawks doing the same thing. Strange. Really strange. And wonderful at the same time.
More long hours over the light table at the office, and then more, and the finally all of the cleaning and mounting work was complete. Now the really HARD part of creating the slide program started. I had recorded the sound track the day before - first putting all of the music selections onto a single CD, then dubbing that CD onto a metal tape. This tape is what would run the entire slide show - it would play the music and advance the two projectors to the programmed beeps that I would have to put on it. That was the hard part - selecting the order of the slides to go along with the music, and the pace of the dissolves (I have four choices of how fast one slide fades into another - instantly, 1.5 seconds, 4 seconds, and 10 seconds). I select this pace simply by feeling the music and figuring out what images go with it and how it all should flow.
Some people consider my photography art. To me, you really just push one button on the top of the camera and it is all over, and so I really don't call it art. But putting this slide show together (and the book itself), now that is art to me!
OK, so we had all the mounted slides spread out across the large light table, the music cued up, the office dark, it was time to BEGIN! And this is how I actually put the slide show together - I literally run the music and stand over the light table selecting images and dissolve rates, programming it into the tape as it plays on. I really get into the music here, and the images - letting the sound and the images flow over and through me. I know Pam must have just stood back and watched it all in horror - this old guy standing there in the dark dancing and singing and tapping his feet and hands to the beat and reaching out and grabbing this slide and that, all the while pushing buttons and yelling out instructions to her ("switch that sunset with the mayapple"). And then I would have to rewind the tape and start all over again - it often takes me dozens of passes to get it right, tweaking things here and there.
When it was all over, I collapsed in the big chair, out of breath and mentally exhausted, yet filled with giddy anticipation of actually seeing the finished product in its entirety - that would come later.
Just about the time we made it back to the cabin, Roy and Norma showed up. While shrimp kabobs and tuna steaks were marinating in the frige, we all sat around watching the monarch show. And for once in my life I made the PERFECT gin and tonic! This is my favorite mixed drink, but I have never been able to perfect it myself - my friend Greg Heinze makes the best ones, but I just never have been able to get it right. But tonight everything came together and it was nectar of the gods. Hum, golden gems floating by in the crisp fall air, sitting on my deck in great conversation with my friends, the perfect drink, fresh seafood on the grill, and Pam - was this a sign of things to come?
Needless to say the seafood feast was a grand one. And after the dishes were piles up in the sink, we wandered up the trail in the dark to the office. Tonight would be the first official showing of the new slide show. Well, I guess it would be an UNofficial showing. A couple of glitches showed up (which is why I have advance showings!), but overall I think it looks like a pretty darn nice show. Whew, I breathed a very large sigh of relief.
9/17/00 The cabin was quiet as we slipped out the front door for an early hike. I had on my jeans for the first time this fall - I just LOVE wearing blue jeans! It was cool out - in the low 50's - and the sun was just peeping up over the far ridge. We wandered on out into the middle of the maple grove between the cabin and the East meadow and just stood there in the fresh light, taking it all in. What a wonderful moment! Both dogs were out roaming around, although I think Lucy's leg muscles were a bit stiff after Aspen spent the day yesterday running her everywhere. We continued on up to Aspen's meadow, then back to the cabin, where we were greeted with hot blueberry biscuits right out of the oven. Yea, Roy and Norma can drop by and spend the night anytime!
Before I knew it all of my company had departed, and I was left with nothing to do but hike back up to the office and get to work. I spent the day refining the slide show a bit more, and getting rid of those glitches, until I was happy with the final product. Good thing, because I had a major showing of it the very next morning!
9/18/00 I was sitting in the hot tub at 4:30am, gazing straight up at the bright moon. It was flanked by Saturn and Jupiter. The three of them are spending a lot of time together these days, or nights. A jet liner flew by in front of it all, which was very approiate because I was due in Eureka Springs in a few hours to give the opening program to the Arkansas Airport Operators Convention.
I must tell you a funny story about this first showing of the new slide show. I arrived at the hotel early and got all my gear set up and tested. Since I had an hour before my 9:15 show, I drove on over to Lake Leatherwood Park and took Aspen for a short hike. For the very first time this year, I was wearing a watch - just to be positive that I would be back on time for the show. I in fact arrived ten minutes early, but was met at the front door of the convention center by a frantic man - "we introduced you ten minutes ago - you are ON!" I found all of this very amusing on two fronts. First, the program just before me was an address by the mayor of Eureka Springs. Apparently he had only taken a few minutes of time instead of the half-hour they had allotted for him. How many times does a POLITICIAN come up SHORT? And since it was an AIRPORT operator convention, I never thought they would be EARLY!
I will always take my full allotted time - in fact, it is often difficult to get me to shut up when I give programs, especially to such a great audience like this one was. The room was full and they were asking a lot of questions. For a shy, timid, borderline recluse I sure can talk up a storm!
A quick update on the new books - they are still on a boat somewhere out there in the Pacific, and we still expect them to arrive sometime in the next two weeks. Journal readers will be the very first to know when they are available.
9/19/00 I was in the hot tub well before dawn today, and the moon was high overhead, still in the company of Jupiter and Saturn. It was interesting to see the dimmer Saturn fade into the blue sky while Jupiter continued to shine long into the light of pre-dawn. It was not too cold, but the wind was really blowing - a very nice combination, although a bit chilly on my bare, wet behind when I got out to dry off. With cooler temps coming on, I want to figure out a way to warm my towel. It would need to be something that I can have out on the deck, plugged in somewhere. I may try one of those electric coolers that I have for the truck (they will also heat).
It was clear and bright all day, and the wind howled forever. As luck would have it, as I hiked down to the cabin to check the wind speed, I discovered that the wind gauge was not working. The first really hard blow in many months, and no way to tell how fast it is blowing! Probably 30-40 mph I would guess.
I biked out to the mailbox twice, but spent the rest of the day in the office, slaving away in the warehouse making room for the new shipment of books. And by the way, I just got word today that the books are off the ship and headed this way. They may arrive as early as tomorrow. They are being sent to a warehouse in Springdale, and I will have to trailer them here, one pallet at a time. Once I get them all here and secure, I will let you know so that you can order your very own copy! Ha, ha.
9/20/00 Jupiter was out in front of the moon as I slipped into the hot tub this morning, but still high overhead. The moon rises 50 later each day, and was at about the same position today as it was a couple of days ago at 4:30am. That means that I was lazy and did not get up until after daybreak today. It was a blue backdrop with only a few stars still out, and there were a number of pink streaks across the sky. The wind was howling, as it had been doing all night - I had to close all the windows in the loft because it was so loud.
Just as the sun began to rise I took off on a short hike around the loop. The maple grove was magical once again this morning (although not quite as nice as it was on Sunday), with many of the smooth tree trunks glowing yellow from the early light. At this time of the day when the angle of the sun is very low and the light is soft you can see a long way into the forest, especially in this maple grove that has practically no underbrush at all. The trees waving in the wind tossed the yellow light around, and the entire scene was in motion. Mornings are always worth getting up for at Cloudland!
Remember that banana test that I have been doing? It has been a year or so since I tossed a fresh banana peel onto the forest floor, and have been trying to keep up with it to see how fast it "biodegrades." There it was, right were I had left it last fall - hardly any change in six months. The moral of the story is that squirrels don't eat banana peels, or orange peels, or aluminum cans, or many of the things that we throw out - they simply sit there and become scars on the landscape. I'll check back with this banana peel in a few more months.
And speaking of trash, I was appalled to find that a REDNECK had visited the East meadow and left his calling card. Can you believe that in this day and age stupid people STILL throw out beer cans???? You would think that they would have pulled their head out of their %*& by now, but I guess once a redneck, always a redneck. And while I have nothing against Bush beer, it does seem that by far the majority of beer cans thrown out by rednecks along the roadsides are Bush cans.
As we were approaching the far end of the meadow, I heard a loud crash and saw a flash of black - black as in a bear's rump that is. Aspen went nuts and heard the bear but did not see him. I only saw this one flash, and then he disappeared into the thick brush. Aspen ran around a bit and tried to give chase, but I stopped him. Bears normally won't stick around once they see/hear/scent a human, although I have had several long encounters with them out here.
Over near the paw paw trees I found where some critter had eaten breakfast - a pile of tiny feathers were all that was left of the poor little bird. A reminder of what the food chain is all about. I wondered if that bear had eaten his breakfast yet......
A little further along the lane Aspen went ballistic, and jumped straight up in the air three times. I strained to see or hear what he was excited about, but the wind was blowing very hard. I walked closer and stepped out into the brush. Then I heard another crash, CRASH! I did not see him this time, but this was no doubt the same bear that we had just seen. He must have been circling around or following us to pick up our scent. When the wind blows in all directions like it was doing this morning, it is often tough for game to get a good fix. Man, this little stretch of lane continues to provide many exciting moments!
As I hiked along I had been noticing that there were not many fresh nuts on the ground. Lots of green leaves ripped from their branches by the strong winds, but not many green nuts. I think was is happening is that a couple of weeks ago the trees began to shut down because of the dry conditions, dropping a lot of nuts in the process. Once we got that bit of rain, the forest went back to a normal schedule, and has been holding onto their nuts tighter. When they do finally decide to let go, you will have to hike with a hard hat on because the trees are so FULL of nuts this year - perhaps the largest mast crop that I have ever seen. You can stand on the ground and look up into an oak tree and see dozens of clumps of fat acorns. Yep, the deer and squirrels are going to love this fall.
Come to think of it, I wonder if squirrels like to bury nuts, or do they stress out about a large crop like this year's because they will have to work overtime? I suspect they really have no thoughts on the issue at all, and simply work until the job is done, then go sit in their warm tree dens and watch TV all winter.
9/20/00 This is not really a Cloudland wilderness entry, but I just had to make note of it. I had dinner at this most wonderful place tonight - the home of my new friends Ron and Judy. They built their dream house several years ago and tucked it away in a grove of oaks and hickories, with dogwoods and redbuds and a small creek in the back yard (an electric creek, but a very nice one just the same!). The setting and owners were terrific - a special place built by caring folks. And they had fixed up their home really nice too - each room straight out of House and Garden or Southern Living - elegant and rustic and most of all comfortable. Martha Stewart would be envious. And the food wasn't too bad either! (Hum, I wonder if they have a daughter?) And just about dark, I was taken on a tour of the property in a golf cart by a future environmentalist (Amber). She informed me that I was no longer allowed to cut any trees when I build trails! Oops, I had better heed her warning...
9/21/00 Today found me hiking in an unusual spot - Wilson Creek National Military Park just outside of Springfield, Mo. There were cannons and battlefields scattered about for sure, but they have a remarkable system of hiking, biking and horseback riding trails as well. And some of the hiking trails are really off the beaten path, especially for being right outside of a big city (well, big city to me). And much to my great surprise, we saw a BOBCAT, and in the middle of the day! A fat, healthy rascal too. Pam was my guide - she comes to this park to run the trails and visit a few giant oak trees that tower over the trail and Wilson Creek, which runs through the park. She is a strong hiker, with long legs and keen eyesight. In fact, I have never been around someone with such great eyesight before. I have always been able to see things that others have not, but with Pam we will often see tiny yet important things way off in the distance at the same time.
Part of the park contains the old Butterfield Stagecoach road that connected Missouri with Ft. Smith, Arkansas, going right through my home town of Fayetteville - Old Wire Road. At this park it is a historical landmark, but in Fayetteville it is a major paved street. Hum, connections are everywhere. Part of the route also goes through Devil's Den State Park in Arkansas, and goes near the hiking trail there.
OK, now for the main reason for my visit to Missouri - I attended my very first SOCCER GAME! It was Amber's 2nd grade team, The Blazers, and they won 3-0 (undefeated so far this year). I had not been to a live sporting event in twenty years or more. I do believe that I will become a regular.
And for all of you who ask every time that I say I am going to Springfield, yes, I did go to Bass Pro. It is sort of like a larger Pack Rat.
9/22/00 I arrived back at the cabin today at about the same time FALL arrived (just after noon). Fall is one of my four most favorite seasons in the Ozarks, and this year it is especially welcome. I am seeing signs of the little trees beginning to turn once again, especially the younger black gums. The forest is a bit dry still though, and really do need about two feet of slow rains. I suspect that momma nature will provide before it is too late.
It is warm today (it was near 40 yesterday morning), but the wind is blowing and the pressure is dropping - perhaps some of that wet stuff on the way?
My shipment of books has arrived, but they are in Little Rock and I will not be able to pick them up at the Springdale warehouse until early next week. Hurry up and wait.
There is a cool breeze coming through the office window right now. One of those breezes that makes you sit back and take a deep breath. It smells great. Is it time for a hike?
9/23/00 It was 2am, about 90 degrees, and I was fast asleep right in the middle of a military base in Oklahoma. The earth shook and the sky was filled with bright flashes and there were many LOUD CRASHES as I was rudely awakened. At first I could not tell if it was a thunderstorm approaching or artillery practice - it could have been either. Than a little while later it began to rain in through my open sunroof - thank goodness I was getting wet instead of blasted to pieces!
I was at Green leaf State Park to help the OklahomAnklExpress hiking club replace a swinging bridge on a hiking trail that they built back in 1978. All of the trail is located inside this military base, and there are live ammunition exercises going on all the time. In fact, in years past they have had to close some of the trail because it was being blown up!
The rain cooled everything down a great deal, which was good because I was about to melt. It just isn't supposed to be that HOT the first full day of autumn, even in Oklahoma! Soon after sunrise I was crossing Green leaf Lake on a pontoon boat, heading for the work site.
I won't bore you with all of the details, but will say that I spent most of the day working on the bridge with a terrific bunch of volunteers. We put together all of the wood tread to this 75 foot plus span swinging bridge that crossed a narrow arm of the lake. Volunteers do such wonderful work!
More than 30 volunteers showed up. We had two crews - each working from opposite ends of the bridge, eventually completing the treadwork so that we could walk all the way across the bridge. There were a number of newspaper reporters and a photographer there as well, plus the base commander (in full camouflage). He even pitched in a time or two and helped out. There were a number of state park employees there as well, and they all did a wonderful job. My hats off to each and every volunteer and employee alike!
By the way, the Greenleaf Hiking Trail is a dayhiking and backpacking trail, and you can camp at the far end of the longer loop. I think the total hike is something nine miles. A great hike if you are headed to western Oklahoma.
9/24/00 I've always considered rock climbers to be a little nuts. After spending an afternoon in one of the premiere rock climbing gyms in this part of the country today, I have changed my opinion of them a bit. They are still nuts, but I now have a tremendous respect for the physical and mental energy and skill required to do what they do. I am sufficiently impressed.
It is the Petra Rock Gym in Springfield, which is basically a warehouse filled with climbing walls, many that reach a height of nearly 40 feet. There are something like 45 different wall sections, each covered with man-made "holds" that are organized in different routes to the top. Each climber is secured by a rope coming down from the top, and has a partner down on the ground, keeping tension on the rope and ready to help if something happens.
These holds are mostly tiny, irregular shapes that one might find on a rock face. There is a genuine rock wall at the Pack Rat in Fayetteville, complete with a crack, and they have a number of holds and routes too. This wall works great to test out gear and get a feel for rock climbing.
After watching many different climbers for hours at the big rock gym, I still don't really know how they do it. But I am going to give it a try one of these days. It is not only tremendous exercise (many of the folks who climb at the gym every week have never been out on "real" rock, and use it in place or running, etc. for their weekly workout, and it certainly IS!), but it is also a mental workout as well. And hey, guess what - there are many place around Cloudland to rock climb! If I ever get to where I can be comfortable doing it, there are many places that I have seen here that I could never get to without being able to rock climb - never a shortage of places to explore!
9/25/00 The books arrived today! And Terry F. and I spent nearly the entire day getting them out to my warehouse here at Cloudland. I was expecting 7 pallets of the new book, but instead they came packaged differently and there were 12 pallets of them. We hauled 9 out today, and while it was a bit of a struggle working with the large trailers that we hauled them out on, we did manage to get all of the books transferred into the big room next to my office. Nine pallets was no real sweat room-wise, but there are still three pallets left back in town, and I have to find room for them. Hey, want to buy a book?
After all the work was complete for the day, I hiked down to the cabin for the first time in quite a while (haven't spent the night there in nearly a week). The high temp for the day was in the mid-40's, which felt simply terrific to me. The temp inside the cabin had dropped to 59, mainly because I had left a couple of windows open when I left last week. Time to turn of the heat pump! And much to my great delight, the wind gauge was working. Hum, I wonder if a big blast of arctic wind knocked it back online? We got a total of just under three inches of rain over the weekend - YIPPIE!!!
When I slipped my weary bones into the hot water I was greeted with one incredible display of stars above. It had been cloudy all day, but the bank of clouds moved on just after sunset to revel a black sky filled with a million sparkling diamonds. The moon is dark right now - perfect star watching weather. All I could do though was lay back and soak up the many shooting stars, and a few bubbles.
I opened the window next to my bed and crawled in between the flannel sheets - boy that crisp fall air smelled GREAT!
9/26/00 It was way before dawn when I returned to the hot tub - 40 degrees out. There was a thick fog bank down in the valley below - a typical Cloudland scene. But as I sat there in the bubbles, the air began to warm up, and the fog lifted. By first light the scene was one of pure white as far as you could see out over the Buffalo, but still somewhat clear up Whitaker Creek. But I had no time to enjoy it further, as I had to load up once again and head into town for those last pallets of books. I plan on a long hike this afternoon!
OK, so I only got to take a short hike, a very short hike. I did get back out with the remainder of the books and all of the new posters (four different scenes), but it took me most of the afternoon to unload all of them by myself, and by hand (yesterday we were able to move the pallets intact with a pallet jack, but I could not do that with the ones today - I really did need that exercise though!).
It was a spectacularly CLEAR day today - that cold front and all the rain swept the air squeaky clean. The sky was as pure blue as I had ever seen it around here. And the trees were bright green and all refreshed. And the sunshine was pure white and brilliant.
The birds seemed to appreciate the new feeling in the air as well, and they were out in full force, especially the small birds. Chickadees were everywhere this evening! Yes indeed, the forest is clean and fresh and it all just feels terrific. And the trees really haven't even started turning yet - just wait until that happens! It is going to be one fun fall season this year for sure.
9/28/00 (my virst full day at Cloudland in a long time!) I have no idea what time it was, but suddenly I was wide awake - you know, like when you are blasted awake and really don't know why. I decided to get up and go for a quick soak in the hot tub. As I slide into the steaming bubbles, I was stunned at the incredible beauty of the million brilliant jewels above set against the coal black sky.
Ahhhhhhh, that felt really good! The wind was blowing slightly, and it was chilly. No sooner had I settled in than a giant flash lit up the southeastern sky - it was a huge shooting star, and it blazed right on down and disappeared into the horizon, leaving a trail of stardust behind. I don't believe that I had ever seen a falling star go into the earth like that before! Well, it really didn't go into the earth, but it sure did look like it.
And then a few minutes later, the very same thing happened over in the southwest sky - only this time it was TWO shooting stars, falling in formation right next to each other, and both disappearing into the horizon. I shook my head to make sure that I was awake and not dreaming it all. Then there was a thud on top of my head - an acorn had fallen right on me! Yep, I was awake. I do believe that some power beyond me must have reached right on into my dreams and shaken me awake just so that I could witness the whole spectacle of the shooting stars. It was one beautiful night sky!!!
Most of my daylight hours were spent at the computer, working on the web page info for the new book and posters. And now you can dial up the information about them, and see a number of color images from the book, and what the posters look like. You can always go to my main web page (http://www.Cloudland.net) and follow the links to this info, but here are the three main places to look also:
http://wilderness.arkansasusa.com/ASbook.html
(the main Arkansas Spring book info page)
http://wilderness.arkansasusa.com/ASprints.html
(a page with 15 color images from the book)
http://wilderness.arkansasusa.com/posters.html
(the poster page with the four new ones included)
For some very strange reason, my order page is still not working correctly, so if you want to order a book or any of the posters (hint, hint), you can call my toll-free order number (800-838-HIKE) or just simply send me an e-mail (Tim Ernst). I only have seven or eight tons of the new books to sell!
9/30/00 Mornings are the best. Especially before dawn, when everything is quiet - soft and smiling like a sleeping baby. The eastern horizon glows orange, then pink, and finally - yellow, and a brilliant ball of fire creeps up over the far ridge of black trees celebrating the beginning of a new day. The wilderness comes alive with birds singing, cloud banks moving down in the valley, and Aspen thrashing in the bushes. Life is good.
Speaking of those cloud banks, I realized today that I am somewhat ignorant. I have been witness to this wonderful dawn of new day here for nearly three years now, and still I have no idea what actually creates those cloud/fog banks down there. Every morning this week there has been a small cloud hanging around at the mouth of Boen Gulf - I can see it hiding there, partly behind the nose of a ridge - hovering 50 feet off of the stream. This is normally the first cloud that develops. Is there a spring there, pouring chilled water out into the warm air? Or perhaps a hot spring sending steam out to mingle with the chilled autumn air? I know of neither in that location. But there is a large pile of dirt in that area, the origins as yet unexplained by any local that I know. Did something happen on that site long ago, and perhaps the fog bank is a sign, a message from someone or something?
As I sat in the boiling bubbles and pondered that little cloud way down in the valley, a terrible cry rang out nearby. Aspen had caught a bunny. Oops. He is a bird dog (or as Amber calls him, a "bur" dog since he picks up so many burs in his ears), and comes from a long line of national champion field trial dogs. So he has a very soft mouth, so as not to tear up any game that has been shot and is being retrieved. This fact came in handy this morning for the poor little bunny. I ran to the edge of the deck, dripping wet and steaming myself, and commanded Aspen to drop the bunny. Much to my shock and surprise HE DID! Then I called him up onto the deck and locked him inside the cabin. I was very happy to see that the bunny composed himself, then hopped off into the brush, a bit wiser from his meeting with Aspen, but otherwise unhurt.
Sunlight was just beginning to penetrate the forest as I headed up to the office, taking the long route to work (the mile-long loop trail through the East and Faddis meadows). The forest smells terrific in the early morning, and, I don't know, it is simply a happy place to be for some reason. I do wish that everyone would be able to hike to work through a forest wilderness - the world would certainly be a better place.
I came across a stand of sassafras, with their distinct three-lobed leaves all a remarkable shade of crimson. This is the plant whose roots are dug up in the winter, dried, and then boiled to make spring tonic - a blood thinner. The aroma of the roots and the taste of the tea is like no other. Of course, there is often a bit of 'shine added to the "spring tonic" to make it more effective. Corn and sassafras - they go together very well!
Today one of the sassafras leaves had dropped right into a mud puddle, creating an early autumn painting. I rather like these simple compositions.
The lane between the two meadows was lined with goldenrod, one of the plants that produces nice early fall color. There was a moth resting on one plant, and I must say that he was not very well camouflaged!
The pawpaw trees were obviously bearing more fruit, and the air was filled with their heavy sweetness. My brother just sent me a newspaper article about them, complete with several interesting recipes. I had never thought about cooking them before, but the pawpaw cookies and bread really sounded tasty! Only problem this morning was that the trees were guarded by a heavy stand of briars, and since I was in shorts, didn't want to risk ripping my legs up to collect any fruit. So instead I stood there for a few minutes and breathed the saturated air in deep. Ahhhhhhh.
By the way, this article said that they way to harvest pawpaws is to shake the tree - ones that are ripe and ready will turn loose and fall to the ground. This is the way that I have always done it as well. I am beginning to realize that the ones that I found a couple of years ago out here must have been nuked or something - their 8-10 inch length is much larger than the normal size of 3-4 inches.
Pam came by in the afternoon, and we spent most of it up at the office, working on organizing some of the new picture books and getting some dealer sheets ready to mail out. I just got a color printer, and was able to print out the information in full color on card stock, which looks very nice! By the time we finished up, it was nearly dark, so we hiked back to the cabin and grilled a bit of salmon, then sipped the last gin and tonic of the season.
As the crescent moon dipped low on the horizon, we got out the telescope for a close-up look. The lower the moon got, the darker and richer the orange light on it was. Pam said it looked just like the moon was being lit by a giant candle down below somewhere - a great description. And then the moon disappeared, and along with it the last bit of summer. To me, fall begins in October. So it was goodbye to a hot, humid, yet often wet and cool summer, a carefree time of bugs and bubbles and sweat and more bugs. I spent a lot of time under the night sky this year, and hope to do a lot more in the future. So long summer - now let's get ready for FALL!!!!
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