Hey HOI!

“HOI, I'm trying to write up a better work log to give to the ranger. I know you cut several blowdowns. How many in White Oak Hollow...and how many closer to the Thompson Creek Trailhead?..
Then you have the Pine blowdown around the point of the EYE..and the Huge Beech/pine in the Bee Branch. Am I correct?”

“As I recall there were two blowdowns in White Oak Hollow that I cut before I figured out I was in the wrong place - one was a forked oak I think (largest cut about 10 inches, 4 cuts) and the other was a 12 inch pine, 2 cuts.

Then on the Thompson about .1 - .2 after the stream crossing I cut 2 oaks that were right together - one about 16 inch and one about 12 inch - one cut for each, used the come-along to move the larger one and just dragged the smaller one off the trail. After that was done I met up with Leatherneck and Rabbitman and hiked into the camp site without further trail work. You remember the work I did Saturday on the Bee Branch blowdown - lots of little stuff in amoungst the big stuff also at that one. Of the bigger cuts I vaguely remember 4 8-10 inch cuts, 2 12-14 inch cuts and 2 20-24 inch cuts. The work Sunday with Tango and BAMA was smaller stuff but it was not pine - it was an oak - maybe 4 cuts total largest about 6 inch - dragged the pieces off the trail and then brushed up the trail some putting it back into its "original" position (at least the position it had before the blowdown became a walkaround. Total time expended not counting hiking was probably about 10 hours.”

“thanks!!”

“HogOnIce,
I have a book called "Walking Sipsey" It has a lot of info on the Sipsey Wilderness Area. It has some stuff on the geography and plants of this area. I was afraid that it was out of print but I found another copy for you. I think you will enjoy reading it. Send me your address to wjeffp2000@aol.com

BAMA”

“Where did you get that book BAMA? I'd like one too.”

“Send me your address and I'll send Ya one. I got it from the trading post in Moulton.”

“no, I don't think it is a butt kicker. I think it is going to be a few hills, a few water crossings and hiking through some open meadows. I've never been there before. It doesn't sound like a buttkicker. Bison has done it before. Geo said it is a good route. Going up Spruce Knob maybe the biggest climb but it doesn't look that steep.

here is the route:

Seneca Creek trail to Huckleberry trail to High Meadows Trail to Lumberjack trail to Huckleberry trail on up to Spruce Knob.”

“For a second I thought the title of this thread was, "Hey HO!" LOL”

“what time meeting where? At the Seneca Creek trailhead or somewhere else?”

“Hey, HOI!”

“lemme get with Bison on this. HOI report to the West Virginia thread. That's where the trip is developing. Bison is planning and I am recruiting. lol”

“Wanna go backpacking in Shenandoah this weekend?”

“thinking of doing something around Old Stoney Man. I may go into work in the morning Saturday and then try and get to Shenandoah by 1pm and hike around 7 miles and find a place to camp and then hike around 10 miles on Sunday. I'll take a look at the map tonight.”

“bump”

“EnS - no can do this weekend - its one of the two Saturdays a month that I can see my son.”

“cool, glad you are getting to see your son..”

“How was Springer on NYE?”

“hey there!!!



Ohhhh..sorry....I thought you said HO.......

LMAO...hahahahahahahahaaha”

“shaking head at div”

“Must be good...”

“Tickles Ewker.....”

“where at =)”

“it was great - the weather was outstanding and a real good group of people including a bunch of hammockers - no-one got drunk but there were refreshments packed in, the spring was running well and the somewhat light weight bag I took kept me warm. Everyone except me hit the sack before midnight - what do you expect they're hikers (grin). The camping area around the shelter is good for fairly large groups - there were probably 40 to 50 people wandering around but it was not at all crowded. Four people were starting thru hikes on the first and we wished them well. I met several people I had read about on trail journals and in registers as well as meeting Lone Wolf and Ed Speer.”

“get a room!”

“LOL....hey didn't ya see Ewkers pics?????

It was just a friendly tickle :)”

“link to thread with more detail : link scroll down toward the bottom for my post”

“Nice! Sounds like it was fun. I gotta go one year.”

“you should - its an easy hike in from FS-42 so you can bring a lot of goodies - just be careful bringing in fudge brownies - one hiker almost got his trail name changed to Fudge Packer”

“Thanks for sharing HOI!!!!!...sounds like a great time!!!”

“HOI, the last two trips we've been trying to recall a phrase from the Quillen trip.


Polarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Bearrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Hunnnnnnnnntinnnnnnnngggggggg”

“LOL - yep that was the one alright”

“Houndog told me. He emailed to say he couldn't make the Braziel trip and I asked him that and the name of the whiskey he brought Quillen. Yukon Jake.”

“Yukon Jake ??? Yukon Jack perhaps but this is the first I have heard of a whiskey called Yukon Jake although from the ballad it is a possibility :

The Ballad of Yukon Jake
Edward E Paramore, Jr
(with apologies to Robert Service)
Oh, the North Countree is a hard countree
That mothers a bloody brood;
And its icy arms hold hidden charms
For the greedy, the sinful and lewd.
And strong men rust from the gold and the lust
That sears the Northland soul,
But the wickedest born from the Pole to the Horn,
Was the Hermit of Shark-Tooth Shoal.

Now Jacob Kaime was the Hermit's name
In the days of his pious youth,
Ere he cast a smirch on the Baptist Church
By betraying a girl named Ruth.
But now men quake at "Yukon Jake,
The Hermit of Shark-Tooth Shoal",
For that is the name that Jacob Kaime
Is known by from Nome to the Pole.

He was just a boy and the parson's joy
Ere he fell for the gold and the muck,
And had learned to pray, with the hogs and the hay
On a farm near Keokuk.
But a Service tale of illicit kale,
And whisky and women wild,
Drained the morals clean as a soup tureen
From this poor but honest child.
He longed for the bite of a Yukon night
And the Northern Light's weird flicker,
Or a game of stud in the frozen mud,
And the taste of raw red likker.
He wanted to mush along in the slush
With a team of husky hounds,
And to fire his gat at a beaver hat
And knock it out of bounds.

So he left his home for the hell-town Nome,
On Alaska's ice-ribbed shores,
And he learned to curse and to drink (and worse)
Till the rum dripped from his pores
When the boys on a spree were drinking it free
In the Malemute saloon,
And Dan McGrew and his dangerous crew
Shot craps with the piebald coon.

When the Kid on his stool banged away like a fool
At a jag-time melody,
And the barkeep vowed to the hard-boiled crowd
That he'd cremate Sam McGee,
Then Jacob Kaime (who had taken the name
Of Yukon Jake, the Killer)
Would rake the dive with his forty-five
Till the atmosphere grew chiller.
With a sharp command he'd make 'em stand
And deliver their hard-earned dust,
Then drink the bar dry of rum and rye,
As a Klondike bully must.
Without coming to blows he would tweak the nose
Of Dangerous Dan McGrew,
And, becoming bolder, throw over his shoulder
The lady that's known as Lou.

Oh, tough as a steak was Yukon Jake,
Hard-boiled as a picnic egg.
He washed his shirt in the Klondike dirt,
And drank his rum by the keg.
In fear of their lives (or because of their wives)
He was shunned by the best of his pals,
An outcast he from the comraderie
Of all but wild animals.
So he bought him the whole of Shark-Tooth Shoal,
A reef in the Bering Sea,
And he lived by himself on a sea lion's shelf
In lonely iniquity.

But, miles away, in Keokuk, Ia.,
Did a ruined maiden fight
To remove the smirch from the Baptist Church
By bringing the heathen Light;
And the Elders declared that all would be spared
If she carried the holy words
From her Keokuk home to the hell-town Nome
To save those sinful birds.
So, two weeks later, she took a freighter
For the gold-cursed land near the Pole,
But Heaven ain't made for a lass betrayed;
She was wrecked on Shark-Tooth Shoal!

All hands were tossed in the Sea and lost --
All but the maiden Ruth,
Who swam to the edge of the sea lion's ledge
Where abode the love of her youth.
He was hunting a seal for his evening meal
(He handled a mean harpoon)
When he saw at his feet not something to eat,
But a girl in a frozen swoon
Whom he dragged to his lair by her dripping hair,
And he rubbed her knees with gin.
To his great surprise, she opened her eyes
And revealed his Original Sin!

His eight-months beard grew stiff and weird,
And it felt like a chestnut burr,
And he swore by his gizzard and the Arctic blizzard
That he'd do right by her.
But the cold sweat froze on the end of her nose
Till it gleamed like a Tecla pearl,
While her bright hair fell like a flame from hell
Down the back of the grateful girl.
But a hopeless rake was Yukon Jake,
The Hermit of Shark-Tooth Shoal!
And the dizzy maid he rebetrayed
And wrecked her immortal soul!

Then he rowed her ashore, with a broken oar,
And he sold her to Dan McGrew
For a husky dog and some hot eggnog,
As rascals are wont to do.
Now ruthless Ruth is a maid uncouth
With scarlet cheeks and lips,
And she sings rough songs to the drunken throngs
That come from the sealing ships.
For a rouge-stained kiss from this infamous miss
They will give a seal's sleek fur,
Or perhaps a sable, if they are able;
It's much the same to her.

Oh, the North Countree is a rough countree,
That mothers a bloody brood;
And its icy arms hold hidden charms
For the greedy, the sinful and lewd.
And strong men rust, from the gold and the lust
That sears the Northland soul,
But the wickedest born from the Pole to the Horn
Was the Hermit of Shark-Tooth Shoal!”

“Polar bear huntin'? What was it? Down in the 40s or something? LOL!”

“It must be Jack, though he wrote Jake.

Nigal, someone got toasted and was slurring their words while telling a story. Polar Bear Hunting got turned into about 25 syllables.”

“That ain't bad English. It's good liqure!”

“thanks for the link to the plant data base.

quick question though. I have tried putting common and scientific names in and neither work. I was hoping to do some looking for flowers by their common names.

any suggestions”

“well the plant database is a bit weak on the common names so you may want to google the common name and see if google can find the botanical name

another approach is to go for the scientfic name of the genus and then just go through the list of species - ex enter trillium as a sci name and it displays distributions for all the trilliums - check the ones that are in the area of interest”

“Of course as soon as I got home I started to make one. I altered the design. I'd like your thoughts. I bent the wire so it rests inside the tea candle tin and left the bottom on the water bottle. By putting about a tablespoon of dirt in the bottom, it adds stability and wind proofness. you do have to top load the lit lantern, but this can be facilitated by ovating the top when you do so.”

“You have mail at your hotmail address.”

“reply sent”

“Got it.”

“Hey HOI, how many hours to drive from Charlottesville to Sipsey Wilderness?”

“OOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is CD going to come see me at the Sipsey??? ;-)”

“Well, I dunno. Are you going?”

“Darn Tootin'! ;-)”

“Then I guess so! Sounds like a fun trip. I REALLY need to get out into the woods. I am going nuts.”

“Total Est. Time: 11 hours, 15 minutes Total Est. Distance: 697.78 miles
Mapquest Driving Directions
last edited: 2/09/06 9:31:35 AM”

“Hey CD & HOI.
If you guys want to fly in to B'ham.
I'll make a point of getting you to and from the Trailheads and Airport.
I have to go right thru B'ham on my way.

That's a heck of a long way to drive, but HOI has done it several times.”

“What? Hmmmm...I will have to rethink this one. That would be a 13 hour drive for me. How much do I want to hang out with a bunch of wackos?”