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Tax time is upon us all, and for those of us banking on gearing up for this spring, what better time than refund time to do so. With that being said, here are a few deals going on now at Merrell and Rocky Mountain Trail:

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Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin

Seven Island Wildlife Refuge - 1/30/2011

Old Man Winter, according to the forecast, was loosening his grip on East Tennessee this past weekend. I reckon his hand must have been hurting or cramping. He's recovered however because it's cold once again. Seeing that springlike weather was going to grace us over the weekend, our minds raced over the possibility of getting out two days in a row. With so much going on around here, two whole days just wasn't in the cards. But we're thankful we got to get out for the time we did.

Earlier in the week, wifey stumbled across Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge during one of her morning trips across the interwebs.  An absolute gem of a place and close to home to boot. Why hadn't we ever heard of this place before? As it happens, this place is quite popular with bird watchers, trail runners, and nature lovers in general. It was at one time a large homestead belonging to the Kelly family and was donated to Knox County to become a wildlife refuge.

Seven Islands features lush pastoral land cradled by the French Broad River. Additionally, there are roughly 5 miles worth of double-track, grassy trail  that takes the walker, hiker, runner, or nature lover through the fields, up the Overlook Trail, and past all sorts of bird houses, roosts, and research implements. On the Overlook trail, the views of the Smokies are breathtaking, and when coupled with sights of the French Broad, one couldn't ask for a more serene backdrop.

The River Island, Steamboat Island, and Homestead trails along the lower parts of the refuge guide you through more fields along bluffs of the Overlook trail and alongside the French Broad. Along the way are ample opportunities to glimpse various species of birds, aquatic life, and plenty of trees, flora and fauna. There are two barns on the homestead each featuring their own Appalachian quilt marking their significance in the area and making them part of the Appalachian Quilt Trail. The Kelly home is still present on the grounds as well and is a beautiful farm house at that.

We hiked a total of 3.72 miles of trail during our visit after all was said and done. Graced by clear skies, wonderful views, and plenty of much needed sunlight, we couldn't have been more blessed. We found tons of "Critters'" eggs all along the way too. It turns out they weren't critters from outer space, nor were they brains, but rather they were Osage Oranges (aka Horse Apples). Robin and I both had never seen these softball sized fruits.

And the thorns on the trees they grow on! Oh my!

The hike was indeed wonderful and we plan on going back again. If you fancy a trip there, may we suggest getting there early. As the day grew longer, more and more people were spotted along the trails. If you are anything like us, we try to avoid the crowds so we can enjoy the peaceful solitude of nature. Early in the day, that is what we got. Once church let out and the masses arrived, it was a completely different vibe (think inner city park). Luckily, we were about done anyway.

Lunch was calling our name from the car, and the Beene was bugging about her "sammich."










Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin

P.S. Here's our track details from Trimble, and here's more pictures.

Pre-track edit:

Post-track edit:

"Crackberry" Positioning System (CPS)

After a failed attempt at getting Trimble Outdoors on my "Crackberry" a month or so ago, I thought I'd give it another shot. You see, the first time I tried, I got to a point where I needed the Blackberry App World app on my phone to download and install Trimble. Unfortunately, the phone's operating system was an older version and not supported by the Blackberry App World app. Might I also mention that my Blackberry is provided to me by work so I was hesitant at doing much with it to begin with.

After a months time, I decided I'd look at it again and somehow figured out how to upgrade the OS on the phone. After that I was off to the races. Blackberry App World was installed and after we had to ditch our plans for a Saturday hike, due to the kiddo not feeling well, Robin convinced me to take The Beene to the park for a walk.

Off to Big Ridge Clover and I went for a little walk, a very short hike in all actuality. It was the first warm, sunny day we've had this winter and I had figured we'd just walk our normal route up to the group camp from the Gristmill. Upon pulling into the gristmill parking lot, I took a moment to download and install the trial version of Trimble Outdoors. I figured this would be a workable solution to share our tracks mapped out on our hiking posts.

Okay, before I continue further, let me say this. I've been using a regular Garmin e-Trek Legend for sometime, but electronic solutions are still no match for a plain old map and compass. Even though I've never learned to navigate with a map and compass (that will be resolved as I learn meself how through Cardinal Points software by Yon Yonson). I can read a map and we rarely ever hit the trail without having done our research and bringing a map and/or a guide book.

So where was I again? Oh yeah, Trimble was freshly installed and The Beene and I were on our way. It took no time at all to start tracking our walking trip on Trimble. Really it's pretty self explanatory and an intuitive user interface. Rather than walk up to the group camp, I decided we'd walk back towards the Fisherman Trail. I wanted to see how accurate this thing was. Trimble is a pretty sweet GPS app for the phone I must say. I was able to mark waypoints with ease and take photos that show on our GPS track with decent accuracy.

After we were done with our walk/hike, Trimble showed a total of two miles. It sure didn't feel like it considering the Fisherman trail is only .3 miles one way, and the walk to the trailhead is maybe .25 miles.No worries though, I still had to check the online portion through my account at home. By the time we made it back home, the trip had already uploaded to my online account automatically (you can turn that off if you like). Unfortunately not all the photos I had taken had uploaded with the trip so I had to manually re-upload the whole thing. I don't fault the app for that, I fault the signal I get out 'cheer' in tha sticks.

I was able to upload the trip without much effort and got all the waypoints and photos with no problem. Looking at the trip online, I could tell that the GPS was all over the place but I'm used to that with the Garmin in the woods. Luckily, once logged in at home I was able to edit the track (actually laid a new track over top the one that uploaded and deleted the original. Don't worry the waypoints and photos stay right where they are and you can tweak those around if needed too). After doing all that, the trip mileage was calculated by Trimble to be 1.17 miles which was more like it compared to 2 miles.

I have to say that part of the way down the trail, I wanted to change the activity of the trip from walking to hiking but in so doing, the walking trip ended and a new hike trip began in the app. So be sure to pick the right activity before starting out other wise you may have to manually merge them at home like I had to. There's no way to import a track from one trip into another, at least not that I could easily find.

Pre Track Edit
We Apparently Hiked a T-shirt.

I've used Trimble one other time since then. It was the very next day when Robin and I went and hiked at Seven Islands Wildlife Refuge. It showed we had hiked 5.99 miles after all was said and done. The track was all over the place but the general route was correct. After post trip edits it turned out to be more like 3.72 miles. On our next hike I plan on bringing the Garmin along too just to compare side by side.

Overall, I think I will pay the $9.99 for the app and continue to use it as it will add that extra touch of interactivity to the blog for you, our readers.

Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin

Happy February

“In the depths of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.”

~ Albert Camus

Cumberland Trail Conference - Call for Volunteers

Spring is almost here and it's time to get outdoors. State parks, national parks, natural areas, and more offer an abundance of hiking trails, camping spots, and other outdoor recreational opportunities. However, the only way these outdoor destinations can continue to provide us with that escape from society and/or technology requires more than what the employees (park rangers, maintenance crews, etc.) can handle. That's where we, the outdoor lovers come in. We enjoy these places. Otherwise we wouldn't be out there. It's time to give back though. There are plenty of opportunities to pay it forward, to show our appreciation, to show that we care and want to continue to enjoy our natural environments.

This year we've already mentioned the volunteer opportunities available at Frozen Head State Park in Wartburg, TN. Now we have another opportunity to list, and this one is just as near and dear to our hearts as Frozen Head. The Cumberland Trail Conference (CTC) is need of volunteers. Remember that grant survey from the CTC that we posted last week? Well they are ready to get the project rolling and have several dates in the books for the New River segment projects. In addition to these projects, they also have a few trail maintenance projects for the Obed segment, a different portion of the New River Segment, and the Tennessee River Gorge segment of the trail.

So hop on over to the CTC's volunteer page, see what's on the schedule, and sign up to be a volunteer. They will be glad you did, and we would be too. I'm hoping that we can make it out to lend a helping hand on some of the weekends myself.

Happy Trails,
Tim and Robin