Titanium Chef 3 Report Thread

“Since I am probably the first one back, I'm claiming the first TC3 after-action report.
Friday night we camped at Barb's outdoor store, but we got there much later than usual due to my having to work 3 hours late at work. Quite a few people were already asleep, so we sat around the fire with a few TTers for about 45 minutes before calling it a night. I had never put the rainfly on my brother's tent, but luckily I figured it out, since we had some decent showers right after we hit the sack.
Saturday morning we got up pretty early for the trip up the mountain.
It was a good trip, and despite what the uninformed (i.e. Radagast, lol) may tell you, we did some backpacking, some people hiking in 8-12 miles, depending on which trail they took. I did less than others, being lazy and only hiking a mile, maybe 1.5 miles to get to the Martin's Fork camping area. Me, my wife, and 9 other hardy souls opted for the shuttle ride to the Hensley Settlement and hiked in from there. I have an excuse--I was carrying approximately 50 pounds between my junk and my wife's. And I don't know how to properly pack that much weight, causing...discomfort, to say the least. So sue me, lol.
The hike in was interesting right off the bat, as we hiked through an old mountain settlement. The settlement was in a fairly large field, which was neat since it was approx. 3500' on top of a mountain (I think that's the elevation Chili36 said. Anyway, several preserved cabins, barns, smokehouses and corrals. A neat old schoolhouse next to the Hensley family graveyard. Some of the buildings were unlocked so you could look inside them.

There are apparently volunteers that live in one of the cabins. It was wierd to walk around a fence and see smoke coming out of the chimney of one of those old houses. Then Karo said he saw a woman walk around the corner of the house, so naturally while he went to investigate I quickened my pace, waiting for the TC3 Witch Project music to start. It turned out to be the above mentioned volunteer. After we got through the settlement, we were in a typical "long green tunnel" type of trail. There were one or two places where we could see out across the mountains. It was mostly downhill, which as it turns out, means the return trip was mostly uphill. The things you learn.

The camping area was in a little clearing off whatever trail we were on (I'm a stickler for details, as you can tell). There was a cabin with a few bunks in it, but no one stayed in it. We set up our tents around the perimeter of the site, with a small creek about 50 yards down a trail from us. Most of the day we lounged around the two tables while people who hiked the whole distance trickled in. We ended up with about 31 people, if my count is correct. Tilt, in a rare moment of privacy, admitted to me that he was a closet conservative who had started a "draft Pat Robertson" website. Okay, I made that part up.
The competition was good, with about 17 or so entries. I won't go into the details of that, but leave it to the actual competitors. Let me just say the judges appeared to be having more fun than anyone. The guy that runs Inertia Trail foods was a really nice "personage."

The competition wrapped up, Matt the webmaster announced the winners and the serious drinking began. I had a headache from Dr. Pepper withdrawals, and for some reason I felt like I was about to fall asleep standing up, so Alison and I crashed early. During the night, several people heard a supernatural beast of some sort crashing about, but I was out of it, so I slept the sleep of the innocent.

Come morning, I awoke feeling more of a hangover than anyone who actually drank Sat. night. I was down for the count for some reason, but I finally got going around 0730. We packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed back to the shuttle stop around 0830. Going uphill was not a good way to start the morning, but since my wings were tucked under my pack, I couldn't fly. Everyone made it through the haunted settlement, despite a heavy fog, and we "enjoyed" a bouncy ride down the side of the mountain courtesy of our shuttle driver. After unloading the van and loading our car, I said a quick goodbye to the Chilis and headed for civilization. Got back a couple of hours ago.

Had a good time, met some good people, and look forward to getting out with TTer's again.

Thanks to everyone who had a hand in putting this shindig together, and special thanks to Barb(CGhiker) for opening the store and its yard to us, making us feel welcome, and countless other little miracles that we outsiders couldn't have accomplished. Let's do it again next year.


Oh yeah, I may be banned when Matt gets home for suggesting the only reason he wouldn't take his hat off was a receding hair line.”

“sounds like an awesome time... maybe one day the amateur (me) will be joining yas!”

“TC3 rocked! I met 21 TTer's! Got lost in the tiny town of Cumberland Gap, and ate a ton of great food! Pictures and trip report coming soon.”

“Currahee and I just made it back to Nashville after a couple of stops for much needed caffiene. We are both so worn out! It was a great time, the hike was challenging (my thighs are screaming)with some great sights especially the White Rocks and the Sand Cave (both really cool), the food delicious and the company unforgetable. I didn't hear any wild beasts during the nght but I did hear a symphony of snores and Currahee, Dub, and Smokywitch cackling into the night. Currahee and I were going to stay an extra night and hike out the long way, but when we got up this morning, it looked like a day of cold rain (it turned out to be beatiful) so we decided to hike down with everyone else and head back home. We had a fantastic time. It was great to meet all of the people I hadn't met before. Thanks to CGHiker and Chili36 for bringing it all together. Great job! We are really looking forward to next year!!!”

“I thought you guys were staying another night! Didn't know you changed your mind. Sorry if we kept you up :-) Someone had to finish off the beer last night.

And a BIG thanks to BARB, Chili, and Towndawg!!!”

“I'm back but I am too tired to post right now! Had a lot of fun. Who in the HeII was stickmanwalking??

Totally must have missed him...”

“I'm back!!!!....had a GREAT time.......awesome food ...and the BEST company ever......”

“i hope youre all too fat to fit into your hiking shorts now ; )

she'll be waddlin down the mountain when she comes........”

“We were going to stay another night but changed our mind at the last minute - literally - this morning. It wasn't you guys partying the night before - unless the hangover Currahee had this morning had something to do with it... Hmmm we may be on to something. BTW, I'll be posting some of the recipes later by request of Prosecuter.”

“Great reports, gang. I'm looking forward to more of them.
By the way, Stick Man Walking, the summons is in the mail regarding your improper packing job!”

“Well were do I start.... Since my wife's surgery went ok and she really wanted me to go, Divinity and I made it to Cumberland Gap about 7:30 eastern. Had a great meal and got to meet lots of new trail talk bp-ers. Since this was my first trip with anyone from trail talk I want to say I was most impressed with everyone. After meeting a few of the latecomers and retiring to Zoe's, I attempted to put up my tent. Well wouldn't you know the only thing I forgot to bring was one of my tent poles. Since my tent would not stand up with out it, and it was beginning to drizzle rain, Barb let me stay in her demo tent out in front of the store. Within a few minutes of laying down it started to rain so I just drifted off to sleep. Next morning we grabbed breakfast and caught the shuttle on a rough but interesting trip up to Hensley. After unloading and hiknig thru the settlement we heading down to Martin's Fork campsite. I had my new hammock and tarp (thanks Binks) and proceded to set up camp. Stickman Walking's wife looked cold so I started a fire. People started to trickle in all day and a group of horse riders even visited us. We finally started the contest and it got kind of hectic as Nowslimmer lost his pot and it all spilled. What rotten luck! As we got the entrees ready the judges came by to taste them. I thought they were really impresses with my trout, but I had to scoop out a shaker full of salt from my vagetable potatos. Then we watched as they all the entrees were judged then shared with the group. I got full real quick just trying out all the dishes. Everything was just wonderful! There were some very special and unique dishes (and Drinks too Dub!) And on top of that I won 3rd place and got a tree frog pack! (which my wife has already claimed for herself) So after much revelrey (sp?) we all crashed and I got to try out my hammock which I thoroughly enjoyed. Don't know what that loud noise was in the middle of the night but it got my attention. Whatever it was, it didn't like jiffy pop, LOL. So after a quick breakfast we packed up and went on our way to catch the shuttle out. Trekker John told us a very interesting story on the trip down. I sure hope he can see for the next few days! After we said our goodbyes a few of us went to pick up our prizes and finish off the delicious BBQ that was left over form Fri. night. Nowslimmer and trekker John are some great guys and I look forward to hiking with them real soon. Good to meet all the chili's and I hope Stickman Walking gets to feeling better. I have the pics downloading now, will have them up asap. I had a wonderful time and would like to thank Barb and all the people of Zoe's and the people of Cumberland Gap for all their hospitality. This would be the best place for titanium chef to have an annual event. Also thanks to Matt, who I finally got to meet, for putting on this board and starting this forum, you sure are sneaky! Happy Hikin' Karo”

“Totally must have missed him..."
doppelganger
08:27:12 PM
10/12/03

And I totally must have missed you? Is that your halloween handle or something? Don't remember a doppelganger??

Anyone have any pictures up yet? Mine are film so it will be about a week before they make it to the net.”

“I was the skinny guy with the blonde wife. We got to Zoe's late Friday night, about 10 minutes before you left to go find Walmart and the police followed you back.”

“Oh, DoppleGanger is Gemini? K. As for StickmanWalking....everyone, he is a walking stick...for real...the dude is so skinny he could hula hoops with a cheerio. :-)”

“Yes, I wear skis in the shower to keep from going down the drain.”

“mmmmmmm..... a DrPepper and a shower..........and my wonderful bed soon........some of the best parts of backpacking”

“Stickman.....are you feeling better???”

“LOL @ stickman!

Yeah, I hit the shower first thing when I got home.”

“I'm back to 100% as of about 1 hour after we got back on the road. I made Alison drive while I hooked a caffeine I.V. to my vein and napped all the way home.”

“We showed up to Zoe's and saw Chili and Tilt out front talking to Barb, and gemini...seeing Tilt out there was neat..didn't expect to see him on this trip. Then smokeygirl drove up, and met with John, from Enertia Meals...This guy is top notch..he provided us with tips on his meals, and gave him some feedback. Hope to see him around, and be on the look out for something new from them!!

Met up with Cur, and KK..and plopped our tent in the "Pit" along with nowslimmer, KK/Cur, Tilt, match, cool hand luke, and rip. We all browsed Zoe's Mtn Sports and toured the small town till it was time to eat. We had a guitar/harmonica player taking request and playing original tunes..he was pretty good..specially the Doors sing Margaritaville one!. The BBQ dinner hit the spot also. After that..it started to drizzle a little and word was there was to be no fire (no wood). Most of us crashed. Seems a few stayed up and prayed for wood..and *poof* it appeared.

The next morning Cur, KK, miss opie and myself did breakfast at Webbs, and hit the Civic Park trailhead and headed for White Rocks. The view from this point is AWESOME...we sat on this exposed rock outcropping and had lunch and snapped a ton of pics..that i hope my POS camera didn't eat. We then headed to Sand Cave...at the trail connector to this we dropped pack and headed down..this location is a HUGE stream carved cave..maybe 3-4 stories high...and filled with the finest, cleanest deep fill of sand ...looked like a contained desert dune stuck in VA.
We then humped back up to our packs...THIS WAS A ROUGH UPHILL...i hear matt the webmaster did this with his pack on...all i can say he's more of a man than me!!

We then burned along the ridge passing tilt, and found Towndogg, smokeygirl, and gemini heading up to the Settlement for a look around...and here we thought they were gonna help push us into camp!! Popping into the clearing around Martins Fork...i thought i lost my way and stumbled into a BSA jamboree..tents of all sizes, shapes, colors..tarps, and pple all over..and all in the middle of nowhere...and all friends...better than any beer commercial!!!

Finnally bumped into Stickman Walking, DUB (good guy..so now you guys gotta lay off him) and the rest of the list is Karo, divinity, Prosecutor, backpacking princess, trekker john, mrs. chili and matt the webmaster. (hope i got everyone) Chili's and gemini's kids were gems..they had a blast..made us see tons of stuff we take for granted and were lots of fun.

Then the cookoff started and pple found flat spots and aroma's started wafting from every direction.

From the OPIE camp came 3 entries. Mine were Noodle and veggie stir-fry using ramen noodle bricks, soy sauce, freeze dried "JUST VEGGIES", foil pouch chicken, dried mushrooms, sesame seeds, and some secret seasonings. My second entry was Egg Drop soup..made by using the chicken flavor packets from the ramen noodles i used earlier, some left over veggies, and dropping 2 raw eggs into the soup while it's boiling.

Miss Opie entered her Turkey Tetrazinni(sp) Made with Knorr dried creme of chicken, dried veggies, dried mushrooms, dried milk, foil pouch turkey, and egg noodles.

(cont)”

“I'm sorry we missed all of y'all.
Next time.”

“I wanted to comment on the food, but I didn't want to steal anyone's thunder. Since you went ahead and posted about yours, I can now say that you do stuff with Ramen noodles that I never thought possible. Made it look and taste appealing. Good job. My wife talked about it tonight after we got home.

Oh, and thanks Chili for letting me borrow a spoon. I guess now that I've forgotten an essential piece of gear on a trip, my cherry has been busted.”

“The judging commenced as pple finished their meals, and went very efficent, and everyone was allowed to sample..looked like circling vultures!!! Everyones meals were great..and HPM's freezedried foil meal would have been ok too!
We then all sat around talked about tons of different stuff, almost got Towndog to confess to being Jello Fog, and sat around a decent fire. Brews were chilled in the nearby creek, and the UT/UGA was listened too on 2 small radio's and the BEATING was relayed to the various UT fans and thouroughly RUBBED IN!!!

Oh..around the fire after most left, Smokeygirl claimed title to the belching championship with a southpaw ripper to cause guylines to tighten and tyvek to curl. I had fun...and i may join the TT snorers league..as Miss opie said i snored for the first time ever last night...I was BEAT TIRED!.

The next day the Fearsome 4 (cur, KK, MO, and Me) headed back out the Ewing trail and flew down to the trailhead.

Awesome times, much thanks to all that provided there time, and resources..The trees were turning, so the area was awash in a technicolor whirlwind. The area's ridges, mtns, and gaps are gorgeous. The temp was just right..could have been a tad cooler, but it was nice none-the-less. Bravo to all involved..glad you all got to see me *grin* and hope to see you guys on the trail soon!!

Tilt..check in soon...we don't wanna have to send Angie after you again!”

“You people suck. Wish I could've been there!”

“man oh man, if i'd known my best buddy tilt was gonna be there, i'd have driven cross the country to get there too....


seriously, i would.....


sounds liek a killah, can we do it in arkansas next year? how bout richland creek campground?


arky, start settin it up...”

“I can't say I heard you snoring, but I did hear someone, and since your tent was right next to mine...”

“this is Miss Opie now.. i just want to say I had a wonderful time.. i'm too tired to post anything else. i'm already looking forward to next year!”

“Did I snore? I know I won first prize in "last to get up both days." The first day after everyone and I mean everyone had packed their tents and backpacks...I was still asleep...luckily someone asked Barb if that tent was hers or if someone was sleeping. I'm thankful for the stranger who woke me up!”

“lolz”

“I woke up a few times to a serenade of snoring from all sides......”

“chili snores like godzilla with sinus infection....”

“All the snoring kept the animals away.”

“Sounds like a great time, again! Wish I could've been there too.”

“Photos, please !”

“Mammoth caves was the place to be. That was the real party :D!!!!

Glad you all had fun.

-Free24-”

“You all eat it !




Well you did...”

“Just a quick note to say everyone was great and I enjoyed meeting all of you. The food was wonderful!! Steve (my other half) just loved being a judge said everyone's food was great. He really wants that job again next year. :)
Hey Tilt did you get down from the mountain? :)
Later
Barbara”

“We met at Barb's store yadda yadda yadda... got up in the morning yadda yadda yadda... Met lots of people yadda yadda yadda... Something big ran thru camp at night yadda yadda yadda... woke up with a hangover yadda yadda yadda...

Will someone Puh-lease post the cookoff results!!!! We're dying over here waiting for the results!!!!”

“Eeeeeeee-hehehhheheeeeeheee!! Hey, little kiddies, want some candy?

...I had a freakin' blast! I recounted everything to Azimuth last night. I made my Harvest Curry for my Ma and Pa last night to celebrate their 37th anniversary, but I was so dang tired that I wasn't a very entertaining host. Towndawg and I stopped by my good ole friend's house in Jacksboro to take showers before we drove home.
When I was hiking back past Sand Cave and White Rocks, I got a little misty-eyed thinking about how such good folks get together like this and enjoy the simple and finer things in life.”

“What game, Opie? I don't remember no game? It was just a bad dream...”

“What a contest!

Let's see results:

Kabin Kamper won it all with shrimp and ginger couscous.

Prosecutor second with taquitoes(?)...some sort of semi mexican dish, in any event.

Third was Karo with trout cooked over an open fire.

Fourth went to prosecutor for peach cobbler (I think)

Fifth to tilt for grilled ham and cheese on rye (it was awesome).

I cannot believe how the level of competition increased, any of the entries this year could have been in the top three last year. I cooked shrimp in a butter basil sauce over angel hair pasta and didn't even come close. It was awesome and we ate really well Sat night.

CGHiker needs a big round of applause for making this thing come off so well. Exceptional planning and the day we spent in town on Friday was great.

This was my kids first backpacking trip and I took them to the visitor center for a dose of education and we explored the are by vehicle and by foot. They were excited when we hike the pinnacle overlook trail and the could lay on the trail with half of their body in Virginia and half in Kentucky. Picture to prove it will follow. Saturday morning involved getting all the gear together with MrsChili and Wetfoot (my 13 y/o) packing as much gear as they could. By the time I loaded all the girls gear and the 5 man tent in and on my pack, I had 70 pounds. So it was a shuttle up for us. Going in was a mile and a half or two miles with an easy walk and downhill approach to camp. The kids quickly adapted to backcountry life (but the girls weren't crazy about Enertia meals) with the kids spending time around camp looking for bugs, spiders and salamanders (the girls found a small green snake instead and that curbed them for about 15 minutes).

The competition was great and the kids sampled everything. Until now they always told me nobody could cook as good as me, but after sampling EVERYONES meal, they confessed that they now though I had to step up my game a little bit. Traitors.....;-).

However it was true! I came back with several good ideas and a lot of experience on the does and don'ts of hiking with kids. My son (wetfoot,,,,,he promptly stepped right in the creek), is going to make a first rate backpacker,,,he has that easy gait on the trail and not one complaint at any time,,,even when he worked up a hotspot from the boots (an old pair of mine that he was not used to).

The hike uphill was not too long, but it was quite a pull with my 70 # pack. Wetfoot and I blew by MrsChili and the girls about a third of the way up and were cruising toward the top. Oh, did I mention that we had to carry a duffle bag in addition to our packs?

Anyway, it was an awesome trip and special thanks to all the hiker who shared peanut butter, jelly, tuna and goodies with the kids. They made friends for life.

Trekker John wins the award for completely winning over the girls. I am not sure how he did it, but all the way home, they kept saying "trekker john is nice, he is my friend".

Super time was had by all. Can't wait until the next outing with the kids and MrsChili (who made her maiden voyage with no problems, btw).”

“"I woke up a few times to a serenade of snoring from all sides......"
divinity

I can agree to this... all night long.

By the way I still feel sick from all the wonderful food!!! It was great meeting all you TT's!! Hope to see you all again soon!!!”

“Personally, I always carry earplugs, so I won't wake myself up...”

“LOL”

“TC-3 - Yaw ... aaa ...Whoooo ... !!!

I won! I won! That is, I won a prize. But not for the food! I went over to ask the judges a question. It took so long to get an answer that some wood burnt down and permitted my cooking pot to fall. The entire meal poured down onto the ground. The prize was primative cooking. I cooked on the coals of a campfire.

The prize was a GSI Hard Anodized Boiler - 1.25 qt. A triple function Cup/Bowl/Lid can hold another 16 oz. When placed upright on top of the pot, it forms a double boiler for cooking or for keeping food warm while another item is cooking.

Thanks to all those who helped me on this trip, especially Karo and all the people who organized and supported the event. Smokygirl is both sweet and spicy! I was happy to see that the judges recoginzed at least part of that.

BTW tango, I believe I was the only one on the mountain top sleeping under just a tarp.”

“(Loud applause) Hooray for Barb and Cumberland Gap for their warm hospitality! Friday night was so much fun. I felt like the weekend was a week long for some reason! Cumberland Gap and the area was beautiful and a perfect place to gather, explore, and cook our butts off!

KabinKiller, congrats on your winning dish! I didn't get to taste that one- foo!! I loved the shrimp and couscous ("looks great, but tastes bad prize)- even though I couldn't gobble up the couscous - it was still good!”

“Congrats to the winners and it sounds like y'all had a great time!

Looking forward to pictures!”

“StickmanWalking - Your trip report was great. Thanks, and I'm glad that you recovered quickly.”

“I think that Backpacking princess was the official record keeper of the event and she is going to post all of the entries and the official results. They are taking a few extra days in the Smokies I think so won't be posting for a while. Prosecuter asked me to post my and his recipes which I will do on another thread. So, everyone else who had an entry can add their recipes as well.
These are the awards I remeber:
* Farthest traveled - Opie
* Most Primative cooking method - NowSlimmer - Oxtail soup that unfortunately ended upside down in the fire.
* Spiciest dish - Smokygirl - chicken curry with homemade noodles and biscuit
* Most visually appealing but not necessarilly the tastiest - yours truly - Asian BBQ shrimp
* Top five (I'm not sure of the exact order, except first)
* My Asian BBQ shrimp (#1)
* Prosecuter's chicken taquitos
* Karo's cajun trout
* Prosecuter's peach cobbler
*Tilt's grilled ham and cheese on rye

I hope I got all of those right. I'm sure you guys will let me know if I didn't.
I have to say, I am really glad I didn't have to be a judge. All of the food was fantastic. Opie's egg drop soup was delicious. Chili's Spicy Basil pasta was one of my favorite. The cheesy skillet potatoes with FRENCH butter from Cool Hand Luke was Currahee's favorite. The Pad Thai and Chicken Curry from Match and Rip were yummy, too. Unfortunnately, Opies stir fry was gone before I could muscle my way to the front of the pack with my spoon, but it must have been really good because John the Inertia guy wants to make a new meal from it. I didn't get to taste Miss Opie's Turkey tetrazini but I bet it was just as delicious as everyone elses.
For next year, may I suggest a new category - ugliest dish - that way Currahee would have won something for his yummy but pretty ugly Tuna Pasta Surprise.
Thanks again to Match, Rip, and Luke for hauling up the water and the beer and for taking down the trash - way to go guys!!
BTW, Currahee cordially invites Radagast to kiss his sweaty hairy stinky (I added this) a**. We wave the cramping muscles and scrapes to prove we did hike both up and down that mountain. As our diverse group had ages ranging from 10 to 70+ and included the recently post op and small children not to mention our precious cargo of cold libations, the shuttle was a great way to make sure everyone could participate. Thanks to Barbara and Chili for setting those up.”

“How many folks made the trip? Anybody got a list of who was there?”