The Path (now 99% poison ivy free!) Today we took a much anticipated day off excavation to do a little sight seeing and visit neighbors with Anna and the kids. Foster Falls held lovely views and some very cold swimming under a 60 foot waterfall. The hike down was steep, but with the abundance of O2, surprisingly easy both ways. We met some vacationing climbers from MI down for the holiday weekend who were very friendly and gave some good indication what the climbing was like in the park. To my surprise, access is free. Dan, Isaac and I enjoyed the water on this unseasonably hot afternoon, however, in the low-slung river valley, the air temperature was fully 10 degrees or more cooler than at the rim. Yesterday, Dan and Isaac went to the Cove (Coppinger Cove is just down the mountain from us) to a swimming hole frequented by locals for a weekly bath in the summer. They enjoyed rope swings into the river and meeting some new friends Isaac's age. I stayed behind to attempt some more excavation and moved some rocks. When Dan returned, we started a major stump-removal that will take us a bit more time to finish tomorrow. We are waiting for parts to finish up the water collection on the shed, which should arrive the day the rain returns. Sugar helped me at the hardware store, rendering the most competent customer service I've had from a lumber yard in all my life. If you are ever building in SE TN, I can't recommend Collins Materials enough. The staff are friendly and knowledgeable and actually got up off the chair to walk around the store with me finding parts I needed and offering creative suggestions. Around here, when you tell people you are going to do something "unconventional" with a building material, I find they just smile and helpfully suggest how to make your idea work instead of telling me what can't be done or wondering why anyone would want to do anything so dumb. They seem pretty used to people coming up with creative solutions. Sugar turned to another customer who wanted in on the action and said, "He's gonna rig it." The customer laughed and said, "Riggin' it, that's the way to do it, you know." It seems they generally share my suspicion of pre-fabbed solutions to unusual problems. I got the same response from Advanced Auto when I bought battery cable. As soon as I said I wanted it for an off-grid system, the lady helping me instantly understood and made a great suggestion about a source (not even her store) for other salvage parts. I hate to go on in this Utopian vein, but I see a lot of hope ahead, in spite of the nearly impossible tasks of excavation awaiting our return to work. As I was telling my dad on the phone recently, it really is other people that make this place so great in spite of its challenges.
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LanceLance doesn't like to publish his writing, as he reserves the right to change his mind. =P Archives
April 2013
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