A little over a month ago I received a phone call from Blue Ridge outdoor Magazine asking if I knew of any good places to go hiking away from crowds. I told them I did and I would love to take them.
So a few weeks after that two of their staff, a friend of mine, and I went out into the Park for an intense three day two night hike. This month's issue of BRO has the article and a little piece I wrote. Check it out in your local outfitter or go online to their featured article.
This last picture is to remind you that high water season is here. while you are in areas with creek crossing, please use extreme caution since the waters can be very dangerous.
Kings Mt. & Cowpens Battlefields
0 Comments Published by Jerry Span on Saturday, March 08, 2008 at 7:54 PM.
The last two NPS sites we visited were Kings Mt. and Cowpens National Battlefields. They both were educational and great to experience. I'd love to write more, but I'm on dial up and Sarah is trying to go to sleep over my overbearing thumps on the keyboard.
Maybe I'll add more later to this post.
I would have loved to have stayed at Congaree NP longer, but there just wasn't that much time. 
With an hour and a half we took in the amazing interactive museum and then went on a quick hike on the boardwalk trail.
With an hour and a half we took in the amazing interactive museum and then went on a quick hike on the boardwalk trail. I look forward to coming back and seeing each of the 20 champion trees within the Park. I will try to visit the area by canoe in one of the flooding periods that happens 10 times a year.
I encourage all to visit your nearest National Park!
While vacationing in Savannah we stopped at an amazing National Monument called Fort Pulaski, name after Casimir Pulaski, who also has a holiday named after him in Chicago, which just so happens to be an AMAZING song by Sufjan Stevens because of an event that happened to Stevens on that day.
The Fort is quite an amazing piece of architecture!
A battle at the fort in 1862 marked a turning point in military history. It was the defeat of the Fort in 1862 that was significant because of the first time use of rifle cannons.
Another unique aspect of the Fort is it is considered part of the Underground Railroad because of Union Major General David Hunter's order to free slaves throughout Florida, Georgia and South Carolina.
While here I met two great volunteers for the Monument, they were Pat and Tom. Pat recommended a book for me to get and Tom lead the tour of the Fort. They are working on a publication on Father Peter Whaley who served at this Fort as well as another National Historic Ste we went to a while back called Andersonville.
We also went on a ghost tour of the Sorrel Weed House in the downtown area. It was an interesting experience. However, I am unable to share any photos because my camera strangely didn't work in the house.
After visiting the Carl Sandburg Home we headed south to Ninety Six NHS. Ninety Six has been the site of two Cherokee War battles, and two American Revolution battles. One of the many significance of this site is that the first American casualty of the Revolution in the South.
After going into the visitor center and watching a brief film on the area. We headed outside for a mile walk around the battlefield. It was very interesting to see the trenches that were dug. There are few better examples of the 18th century siegecraft then here at Ninety Six.
Not knowing much about the American Revolution this was a great place to peak my interest and learn about our great history with my family.Today my family and I took off from Fontana Dam and headed towards the general direction of Savannah. We took a few stops along the way... One of my hobbies is the National Park Services' many establishments. We stopped first at Flat Rock, NC. Here we saw the home of author, biographer, poet, folk singer, and overall genius of Carl Sandburg.
The Carl Sandburg Home takes you into an intimate glance of the author and his wife's living quarters. Roughly a year after Sandburg passed away his wife sold the farm to the Department of Interior, to their surprise when the Park Service entered the building, all of the Sandburg's belongings (with exception of clothes) were left.
Everything was left in place. From the 10,000 plus books along bookshelves in every room, to the tissue box on the coffee table of the greeting room.
Carl wasn't the only gifted individual in the family.
His wife raised goats that were world renowned. Through detailed journal and breading she produced a goat that produced over 9 quarts a day. The girls went and enjoyed the farm while I watched a few films on Carl.
This was a great spot to visit and helped break the monotony of driving for hours.
Today was quite the hike. From the Cheoah Dam the group head along Slickrock Creek Trail.
About a mile in FHC member Gary had a "water shoe" that jumped out of his pack, how on earth this happened I have no idea. I guess they were good water shoes because they were headed down a very steep slop to the Little Tennessee River. WE all watched as the shoe tumbled down the cliff saying are good byes. Just before reaching the last drop before the river a small tree caught the escaping shoe. I headed down to get the little sucker.
You can kind of make me out holding the prodigal shoe above my head.
After taking break just before are first water crossing we strategically stared at the creek waiting for it to tell us how to get across without getting wet. Eventually shoes were switched out or taken off.
Byron and Rodger stood by the shore waiting to see who would fall in. Although no one did while Janene came close. The exciting part was when she threw her shoes to Byron to stay dry she misjudged the length of the throw causing the shoes to land in the water. It was a very entertaining hike!
What a great day we had for a hike!
After sharing stories on the boat of how we met our significant other, we docked on the North Shore of Fontana Lake. The group of 15 hikers made way to campsite/old spring where I told the story of how E.H Oliver and Zina Farley met and fell in love on a warm Sunday evening. AT the Calhoun house the group split. Some headed to Proctor cemetery and the remaining went about two miles up Hazel Creek.
On the way back from "up Hazel Creek" Lisa ran into another fellow hiker (see image on left) and hollered "hello," or maybe something more like, "ahhh." It was a great hike and we al enjoyed each others company.
Next week is an amazing hike to Slickrock Wilderness. For more info email hike@fontanavillage.com. Or go to BRO's website and read the description I wrote for their "Best Trail" contest.
This week we should launch our FHC website!
This weeks hike was quite the exploration, although not as much as expected. We took a short .5-mile ride from the General Store/Outfitter to the Lookout Rock trailhead in the back of the Village. The first mile of hike is a kicker, but after you reach the ridge the climbing isn’t so bad. We took a quick little trip to Lookout Rock. A few of us got on the large rock for a photo op of the Smokies. It was bright so all the guys are squinting, but somehow Tina manages to keep the lids open, with a slight consequence of burnt retinas (just joking.) We also had a new group of people, which I like to call the “Frankies,” since they are from Franklin, NC.
After the L. Rock stop we headed East along the ridge to some even better views of the dam and Park.
I thought we were going to be doing some serious bush whacking since no one hikes this trail. Luckily it wasn’t that bad since it’s winter and the briars have not resurrected. The trail was inexistent for only a short time. This trail, the Old A.T. has great potential and will probably be FHC’s first project.
Don’t forget this Saturday, February 16 we have our Couples Hike to Hazel Creek.
