Outdoors Books I Recommend

 I love books!!  I don't know about you, but in most cases I prefer an actual book, something I can hold in my hands and open, sit and read, turn down page edges or use a yellow highlighter.   My books are loved and well used, read and re-read in some cases, marked up and treasured.   If you're an outdoors type of person, like I am, you are probably always on the look out for an interesting book that relates to your particular outdoors niche.   I've compiled  a list of many of my favorite "go-to" books and I thought I'd share them with you....

America’s Great Hiking Trails

After reading this book I dare you to tell me that at some point you didn't imagine yourself hiking at least a small section of one of these scenic trails.  Each of the eleven chapters is dedicated to showing what is unique to that particular trail.  Each trail receives star treatment as the author supplies pertinent information about its route, shares interesting historical tidbits and highlights particular spots of beauty.  Each trail offers something unique to its region and Ms. Berger offers up a host of factors such as communities, landscapes, environment and land use.  Every chapter gets a thorough description of history, a map, trail information, and extensive, glorious photos.  Each chapter concludes with special points of interest.  Are you strapping on your hiking boots yet?  This is one of my personal all-time favorites.....

Appalachian Trail - Celebrating America's Hiking Trail

In the decades since the trails' inception, it's the dedication of hundreds of individuals who were instrumental in the vision and building of the trail.  Learn the names of the people who fought for funding, blazed the trails, installed markers and maintained over 2000 miles of footpath.  If you've ever seen the iconic bronze plaque that marks the first northbound steps of the trail atop Springer Mountain, then you'll read about who posed for that plaque and what role he played.  The time it takes to hike the trail varies from person to person.  I will tell you that it ranges from 46 days to 46 years.  Did you ever wonder who was the first soul to hike the entire trail and the reason why he was on that trail in the first place?  My personal favorite story is the one about the first woman to thru hike the entire length.  She did it with a simple sack tossed over her shoulder and guess what, she was 67 years old!  You will have to read the book to learn more about her and others as well...

Complete Outdoors Encyclopedia: Camping, Fishing, Hunting, Boating, Wilderness Survival, First Aid

Complete Outdoors Encyclopedia is packed with over 1300 beautiful colored photographs and hundreds of illustrations.  It is the ultimate reference guide for anyone, of any age or gender, who wants to spend time in the great outdoors. 

National Geographic Guide to National Parks

This 8th edition of the guide has been published to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the National Park Service.  It's been completely redesigned with updated information and maps.  Did you know that there are 59 National Parks?  Pull out your notebook and start making plans because once you open the book, you're going to want to visit a large majority of the parks....

The Adventurer's Guide to the Outdoors

As a lifelong camper, hiker and nature lover, this is the type of book that I can truly appreciate.  Written by Guy Grieve, it showcases 100 essential skills for surviving in the wild with easy to follow explanations,  light humor and clear illustrations.....

The Adirondacks Season by Season

Have you ever visited the Adirondacks?  Did you know that they cover more ground than Yellowstone, Yosemite and the Grand Canyon combined?  The Adirondacks: Season by Season focuses on the changing seasons and how they transform the landscape.

The Appalachian Trail:  Hiking the Peoples Path

The Appalachian Trail spans 2200 miles and crosses 14 states.  Along the way you will experience thousands of species of plants and animals.  Follow the path which is marked by small white painted blazes.  Shelters are scattered along the trail where you can camp for the evening.  The trail crosses many roads that lead to towns along the way where you can stop, resupply, and indulge in ice cream or grab a much needed shower.   A thru-hike of the entire trail generally takes from 5 to 7 months.  But have no fear, you can access the trail from numerous locations and enjoy shorter hikes that will let you experience the trail.   Tailor trips that will only take you a day, a weekend, or a few weeks.  The beauty of this "mini edition" is that is it exclusively photographs.  It allows the viewer to sit and experience the trail and every page is a delight.  Footpaths beckon you to follow as they twist and turn into the distance....

The Complete Guide to Camping and Wilderness Survival

The Complete Guide to Camping and Wilderness Survival by Vin Sparano contains 320 pages of in-depth coverage of tents, sleeping bags, footwear, camp kitchens, tools, backpacks boating and all-terrain vehicles.  It also features over 600 color photographs and illustrations that explain techniques for any camping/wilderness survival scenario....

Civil War Battlefields:  Walking the Trails of History

 I have held a long fascination with all things relating to the Civil War.  When we travel we often seek out battlefields, museums and cemeteries, and proceed to soak up as much information as we can.  Civil War Battlefields: Walking the Trails of History contains in depth information on 32 key battlefields at 12 sites located in 12 states.  I couldn't wait to crack it open and I was not disappointed!

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Chattanooga/Smoky Mountain Trip Day 5

Chattanooga/Smoky Mountain Trip 

Day 5  WEDNESDAY

(me at Laurel Falls)

I got up to light rain - again!  Ugh.  I fired up my Jetboil and made oatmeal and coffee for breakfast and then headed out.  My sister had suggested that I go do Laurel Falls first because it was an easy, paved trail and a good way to ease into hiking the Smokies.  I wanted to get to the Laurel Falls trailhead before the parking lot filled up so I arrived before 8:00 and there were already 6 cars there ahead of me.   I pulled on a long underwear shirt and my rain jacket and headed out.

Once I was on the trail the canopy of trees protected me from most of the rain.    I’d read that you should plan to spend around 2 hours there and back so I surprised myself my making it to the falls in about 45 minutes.  

   I sat down to take a break and enjoy the view and since I was thirsty I started rummaging thru my backpack for my water bottle.  Hmmm…..  bear spray on my hip – check.  Camera around my neck – check.  Hiking stick and snack bar – check.  Water bottle??  Nowhere to be found.  I was so darn worried about having everything else that I walked off and left the water bottle laying in the back of the car.  What an idiot.   Lesson learned!   The falls were flowing pretty good.  Be careful where you step tho - I saw one woman fall flat on her ass when she walked over a wet spot.

I snapped a bunch of pictures and headed down to my car.   I made the trip back in 40 minutes in spite of the trail being extremely crowded by that time.   I doubt I walked 50 feet the entire way back without running into hikers headed up.   By then the parking lot was completely full with more cars spilling out along the side of the road.  I was so glad I got there early.   

My sister had also told me that she heard that Cades Cove is now closed to car traffic all day on Wednesdays instead of the previous 10:00 am deadline, so I stopped at the visitor station and confirmed that with a ranger.   I was glad my sister mentioned it or I would have made the trip for nothing.   Looks like Cades Cove was being pushed back to another day.  

I decided to head into Gatlinburg and walk around for a few hours.   I paid $ 15.00 for an all day parking spot and took off down the main drag.  There are so many stores and restaurants to check out and there were a lot of people there.   I headed over to The Donut Friar and got myself a delicious raspberry filled powdered donut and a cup of coffee.  

I sat and people watched for awhile before heading over to the Skylift.  I wanted to do the Pedestrian Bridge at the top because there’s a glass section you can walk on.   I thought that sounded kind of cool so I’m happy I did it.  

It was extremely windy at the top but the rain had stopped and I got some good, but cloudy, pictures of the Smokys in the distance.  

This is the ride back down.....

I did a couple geocaches and then stopped at Ole Smoky Moonshine and did a Moonshine tasting.   

That was fun!   I tried several different flavors, including Apple Pie, Blackberry, Watermelon, Grape, and a few others.  I purchased 3 jars of Apple Pie, no not all for myself, 2 were gifts and also bought myself a sweatshirt.  

The rain had started up again and since it was already past 2:00 I decided to drive over to the Hungry Bear for a BBQ Brisket sandwich for a late lunch.  I didn’t realize how hungry I was!  

I decided that I had had enough for one day so I went back to the campground, cleaned up my car, and then sat in my tent for awhile and watched the rain fall.   Enough already with the rain!!!  I debated pulling my bedding out of the car and moving into the tent to sleep, but decided against it.   It was just too comfy in the car and the tent was serving well as a catch all for my cooking equipment and wet towels.

I spent the rest of the evening just reading and catching up on email and facebook before going to bed by 9:30.  I planned on getting up early and heading to Clingmans Dome  in the morning - finally!

 

Book review - The Appalachian Trail: Hiking the People's Path

The Appalachian Trail: Hiking the People's Path by Bart Smith, Rizzoli New York, 2017

2012 marked the 75th anniversary of The Appalachian Trail and Rizzoli published a highly successful book commemorating that fact - The Appalachian Trail: Celebrating America's Hiking Trail.  In fact, it was named a National Outdoor Book Award winner in 2013.  Ironically, that was the very first book that I reviewed for Rizzoli and to date it's one of my favorites.  So I was thrilled when they asked me to also review The Appalachian Trail: Hiking the People's Path

This is a hardcover 7" x 5" edition and contains 224 pages with 170 beautiful color photographs.  Photographer/author Bart Smith was the first person to walk all eleven scenic trails of America and his photographs have been published in numerous books and magazines.  His photographs paint a picture better than some words.

The beauty of this "mini edition" is that is it exclusively photographs.  It allows the viewer to sit and experience the trail and every page is a delight.  Footpaths beckon you to follow as they twist and turn into the distance....

The Appalachian Trail spans 2200 miles and crosses 14 states.  Along the way you will experience thousands of species of plants and animals.  Follow the path which is marked by small white painted blazes.  Shelters are scattered along the trail where you can camp for the evening.  The trail crosses many roads that lead to towns along the way where you can stop, resupply, and indulge in ice cream or grab a much needed shower.   A thru-hike of the entire trail generally takes from 5 to 7 months.  But have no fear, you can access the trail from numerous locations and enjoy shorter hikes that will let you experience the trail.   Tailor trips that will only take you a day, a weekend, or a few weeks.

Marvel at streams burning gold with the setting sun or rushing madly over boulders, lakes laying placid in the dusk and waterfalls frozen in time....

Also included is a list of the plates and where each photo was taken along the trail.  I was happy to see that they did this.  As I was going through the book I often wondered where a picture was taken.  This will be really helpful for anyone who is planning a trip, especially if they want to focus on a particular section.  Go ahead, plan a day trip, a weekend hike or months on the trail.  Get out and explore "The People's Path".  The Appalachian Trail is there for you to enjoy. 

                                            (all images by Bart Smith)

Officially published with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy, this jewel of a book will become available in February 2017.

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(I was given an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are my own.  Book Cover image is the property of the publisher and cannot be reproduced without consent.) 

Delaney's Surplus Art Park

When we were up in Wisconsin to go hiking and geocaching at  Devil's Lake State Park,  the rain sort of ruined our plans.  So after a late Plan B lunch and a break in the weather, we drove over to do a geocache called Dr. Evermore & Lady Eleanor.  This geocache has almost 200 favorite points, so we knew we had to stop and grab it.

Hidden behind Delaney's Surplus store and salvage yard, you walk around to the rear of the building and enter another world.  Everywhere you look are objects covered with rust, and sculptures created out of every imaginable item.  Come along and take a peek at this magical world.....

 I loved the old phone booth in the background....

Carnival rides, old cars, trucks, tractors, tools, tables, trains, tires, even things that I had no idea what they even were could be found here....

This unique art park has some of the coolest sculptures I've ever seen.  Robots, animals, and insects are created out of rusty old tools, tire spokes and rims, musical instruments, sheets of metal and thing-a-ma-bobs....

Wouldn't this be a great place for a night cache or a haunted night tour??

Cute little insects made out of old propellers....

An ostrich??

Aren't these great?  I would love to see the artist creating these things....

There were hundreds of assorted musical instruments that were used to create different things.  It was mind boggling.  Tubas, saxophone's and bugles in particular.  The bugles were my favorite and there were dozens of them.  I should have bought one to take home.

Stairway to heaven????

Huge guitar made out of musical instruments....

I see an eagle.  What do you see?

Old Tommy Bartlett's tour bus that is being used as an office.  We stopped in and said hello to the woman who owns the place.  She knows about the geocache hidden here and wished us luck in finding it....

Louie said he remembered seeing this art park on an episode of Antique Archeology.  I bet those junkers had a high time going through here looking for things....

So I guess one man's junk truly is another man's treasure and beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.  Oh yeah, we found the geocache too and I gave this cache another well deserved favorites point.  We'd have never found this place if we didn't go geocaching which is just another fine example of the cool things you'll come across if you take up this hobby.

The art park is located behind Delaney's Surplus in Freedom, Wisconsin.  It's free to anyone but is located in a fenced area on private property behind the store.  From the cache page the hours of access are:

Open 9AM to 5PM, Mon, Thur, Fri, & Sat...Sunday Noon to 5PM CLOSED Tuesday and Wednesday.

Anyone can visit the park, so you don't have to be a geocacher to do so.  And while you're there, check out the store.