Everything goes RIGHT on a TT hike - Sav age Gulf

“I arrived at the Collins West trailhead before 8 on Friday morning and was at the campsite within about 10 minutes. Tilt and Milemonster were hanging out around the fire. A deep rumbling was heard from a nearby tent, it could only be SuperTroll. MM and I talked about a reroute in case there weren’t many folks at the Savage Station. Our concern was that with all the folks coming in on Friday night and only a few of us at Savage Station that we might not have enough for the shuttle out on Sunday.

SuperTroll decided to stay at camp and become the keeper of the fire. Tilt, MM, and I hit the trail and at the trailhead ran into Wounded Knee and his friend Eric. The two of them went to camp to set up and were to meet us with the main group at Stone Door. When we arrived at Savage Station we were greeted by gojo, sarabelle, gizmo, and walkindude. While registering the person on duty confirmed that the they knew all about us by asking, “Are you with that big group that gonna meet at Stone Door at 9?” Why yes ma’am I am. We chatted a little, but she said they occasionally and everything was ok. The 5 of us arrived at Stone Door in about 45 minutes. Father Goose, bitpusher, longlosthiker, and walkabout1 were all there to greet us.

Stone Door was fantastic. I was amazed at how much anxiety I had at the overlook with the 2 dogs around. Gojo was in complete control, but as some of you may remember I had a lab that fell off a waterfall at Sipsey about 2 years ago. The anxiety was the strangest feeling. Once away from the overhang and no ill effects. The view and then the plunge through Stone Door was impressive. At the bottom Wounded Knee was already wounded. His bad knee was fine, but he’s evidently been favoring the bad knee and overcompensating with the good knee. This is normal, but now his bad knee is good and his good knee is bad. The group started to spread out at this point. I hiked with MileMonster and Walkindude. The various sinks, waterfalls, and cascades along the way were really impressive.

To be continued”

“Right on!”

“Dogs can screw up a trip in more ways that they can help.”

“Glad to hear it went well. Awaiting the full report...

OK, what did the ranger say>>> "We chatted a little, but she said they occasionally and everything was ok."”

“The ranger didn't say anything. I did goof that line up didn't I. That was supposed to say that they occaisionally get large groups. There was no explaining about the group or anything like that. As expected, much ado about nothing.”

“We arrived at the falls below the campsite pretty early in the afternoon. We rounded a bend to enter the canyon and saw lots of ice. The trail actually crossed about a 6’ section of ice. The falls was booming. WD pointed out 2 more falls below the main one. It felt like dust in the canyon because of a lower light level and it was 5-10* colder than the surrounding area. I was wishing that my camera along.

We arrived at camp to find MDSHiker and Ewker. StoveStomper and divinity showed up later in the early evening. Folks from the dayhike started showing up and by dusk we had a full blown party. Mother Goose brought in a HUGE crockpot of chili. She had Mexican cornbread, cheese, onions, and hot sauce for the chili. Her chocolate truffles made many laps around the campfire. MM has the master list, so I’ll defer to him, but I believe we wound up with around 20 at the campfire that night. The ranger showed up to check permits and have a beer. We tried to get him to have some chili, but he declined. I left the fire about the time that the Gooses decided to head back to the van. SuperTroll had already left to checkout the trailhead and see if the late arrivals were possibly around. The Makers Mark was mostly gone at this point. They left and about this time Moses, cottonsocks, stikmon, and Khatru showed up. I think they were about 3 sheets to the wind by the time they got to camp. The main thing I recall in cottonsocks barking orders to Moses. This was to become a common theme for the trip. About maybe 30 minutes the Goose’s come back and can’t find their van that is at the trailhead ¼ mile away. The last thing I remember before drifting off the sleep is hearing Mother Goose shouting, “Where the F is my van.””

“The next morning they stagger back to camp. FB goes up to cottonsocks and introduces himself. You should have seen the look on his face when she replied that they had met the previous night. Camp broke and Tilt, bitpusher, walkabout1, Wounded Knee, his buddy Eric and SuperTroll left to head home. Koolaid showed up and did the sprint hike around the rim with MM and WD. I hiked with MDS and OPIE. We made the long 4 mile hike to Saw Mill and arrived by 1. Trekkingirl and her friend Eric had just arrived and had camp setup. The morning hike had some sprinkles and that’s about it. We did hike in rain gear, but it wasn’t zipped up and no one used a hood. Pretty good hiking weather. The fire got started by 2 and everyone starts cooking their second lunches. I grilled sausage dogs and added horseradish mustard and sourkraut. Too bad there weren’t any cold ones. The fire scene this time had around 18 folks. We hung out around the fire from 2 til maybe 11. Classic firetime moments that I recall are:

1. An ember flew from the fire that landed in divinity’s lap. She yells, “Fire in the hole!”
2. Folks can’t decide whether to count Gizmo as a poster. Gojo explains that Gizmo reads writing, but don’t write readin’.
3. stikmon told his infamous canoe story. It is now a classic and is much better to hear in person.
4. cottonsocks told a story about chili cutting off a pair of her panties at an Ozarks trip because they were cotton. I’ll have to remember that tactic. Talk about doing an end around for the desired result. I don’t think my wife will fall for it though
5. There are lots more stories that others will have to tell.

Not much to tell about today. It started raining after midnight. I hiked out alone and was at the truck by 10:15. It mainly just drizzled off and on and never really rained.. At the top of Stone Door I found walkabout1 waiting on the group. We hiked back to the Ranger station together and mainly talked about the Sipsey trip.

A great time was had by all. I’d like to thank everyone for coming. I believe the official headcount was 24 for the total trip. Now on to Sipsey in March!”

“Sounds like good times had by all.Good trip report.


8)”

“1. Tilt's a pretty cool guy. I'd hike a trail/hoist a beer with him anytime.

2. Ditto stikmon.

3. After consuming massive amounts of alcohol, one should be prepared to stay in camp rather than trying to find one's way back to one's vehicle in the dark.

4. TTers are the coolest folks on Earth (actually, I already knew this but it was reinforced this weekend). I have yet to meet a TTer that I did not like.

5. Divinity and cottonsocks are a couple of gen-u-wine DOLLS.
Hubba-hubba...

...more to follow...”

“Ditto what dayhiker said...we all had a GREAT time.

I hiked solo out of the gulf on Sunday morning. I woke up around 6am with a little rain falling. I packed up and got dressed under the tarp...then crawled out, put the tarp in the pack and away I went. I hiked the rim trail back to the Collins trailhead. There was a lot of water running in all the streambeds and crossing the "boulder field" (as Walkingdude calls it) was a little tricky in the rain. I'm thinking it was around 7.5 miles? and an excellent hike.

I appreciate everyone that made the trip to Savage Gulf. I know that some people drove a long way to get there. I'm glad that everyone made it safely and had a good time.

Thanks for the cigar Moses !”

“Good report and glad to hear the trip turned out well for everyone!”

“Did you guys not go to Hobbs cabin? I thought that was the plan. Anyone sure how far it is to the cabin from the parking area (I assume it is at the ranger station??)

It has been a long time.:-(”

“Good reports. Sounds like a great trip.”

“Wish that I coulda made it. Glad everyone had a good time.”

“Sorry I didn't get to make it. Did you ever find the van FG? Five of us went to LBL and I will give a trip reoprt in the next couple of days. I really wanted to meet Stikmon as he lives in Kennett, MO. That is where I'm from and Cheryl Crow. I am, and remain the Dodder.”

“Most Awesome trip!!!!
Thanks to Mother Nature for holding back the rain till the last night. It was a blast to see TT friends and meet new ones! There was lots of laughs around the fire! I was feeling a cold comming on Thursday after work but through the course of the weekend I felt better.
Sunday morning Mile Monster headed out about 7:30 from Sawmill Camp. Most people were still not even out of their tents yet. We made it to Stone Door Parking area in about an hour and a half. We met Walkabout on the trail near the Ranger Station.
We hooked up with Ewker, Cotton Socks, Moses, Stikmon, Stove Stomper, Divinity, & Opie and feasted at the Pizza Hut in Monteagle then convoyed to Bink's Outfitters in Murfreesboro.

TTers ROCK!!!!!”

“What a GREAT trip...omg the hike out was soooo awesome!!!!!......
I NEED a shower.....

more to come later!!!

Hugs”

“I only had one night with you guys but it was definately worth the going.Great campfire laughs.The rain held off wonderfully.And the temps were great.Awesome hikes in and out with Erich.Great to meet new TT'ers and see old friends.On to OCALA.. woohoo!!!”

“you guys forgot about us all holding hands and singing kumbaya around the campfire saturday night...we forgot you already left ST.
Stikmon and gojo showed us the joys of a 3 dog night.

Thanks for all the sick and twisted jokes for me to retell 3 or 4 times each night at the next 10 years of TT trips *groan from the crowd*

Parental Advisory...the word F--- is used over 3000 times in this movie.”

“I was waiting fot Dayhiker to start this thread. I couldn't remember what he wanted it to be called so I waited.

Sorry I had to bail on Saturday. The legs were not working very well. Big time out of shape.

No one mentioned that my cousin, walkabout2 and my self took a wrong turn and got seperated from the group. It took a lot longer for me to get down stone door, very cool though!

By the time we realized we turned the wrong direction, it was too late. Thank god we had a short FLAT route back to the ranger station.

Mark and I had a great time! He is currently trying to log in to join the insantity. Once I get the stiffness out of the left knee and the rest of the body back in shape, I will be a happy camper!

See you all soon!”

“stretches head left, then right,and settles in to an evening of writing and story telling...but first, I need a shower...so...

HOLD THAT THOUGHT...be back in a little bit.”

“It was another great TT trip. I have been working to get my pics up but webshots is not cooperating.

It was great to see a lot of old friends and some new ones.

Wounded Knee sorry you had to head back so early. Hope that knee gets better soon.

As mentioned above if I heard the "f" word once I heard it 5000 times and 4000 of those times it came out of cottonsocks mouth. F me, F you. If I had been told F me one more time I might have taken her up on it, Then I remembered how big Chili is....lol


Congrats to cottonsocks for making it. She made it finally. I won't comment on how it took us to go four miles but lets just say a turtle could go faster.

Dayhiker, thanks for putting this trip together.”

“Hey folks. I got back home a little while ago. I had a great time. Good to see everyone. I'm off to bed now. I'll post more tomorrow.

MM.”

“The knee will be good for the Oscala Trip. CAnnot wait for that one. I should be able to even keep up woth you guys on that one.

My kind of hike, all flat!”

“I kant sPell”

“Been waiting to tell my story of this trip...here goes.

Thursday afternoon, Father Goose picks me up and my place and we take leisurely 3 hour drive up to the Stone Door Ranger station. We stop in a couple of little stores looking for bacon and oil, and this slows us down a little. We finally get there, and start to unpack.

Father Goose has brought his van, which is loaded to the gills with every type of car camping gear imaginable.

That's right, car camping gear.

We pick out a campsite and start to sherpa stuff back and forth. On one of the trips, Father Goose comes back with walkabout1, and we greet a new TT'er. We start collecting wood for a campfire, but because this is a regularly used campsite, there's a lot of little stuff, and a lot of big stuff, but not much in between. Never fear, roars Father Goose, once we get it going, it won't matter. So we collect a large pile of firewood, a good bit of which is hardwood logs greater than 4" in diameter.

After doing this, it begins to get cold, so I change into warmer clothes, since I know this is going to be the coldest night we experience this trip. I strip off my regular clothes and change into my polypro long johns, my fleece pullover, my new snowsport pants (insulated and water resistant) and my new down jacket, topping the ensemble off with my orange fleece watch cap. I would never experience cold again that evening.

Night falls as we build the fire, which is going to be part of our method of cooking dinner this evening. After its going good, we start to set up the equipment which we have brought in for the evening. This included the following:

A large aluminum folding table for cooking and prepping the food.

A smaller folding lattice-top table for eating.

Two folding camp chairs with arms.

A cooler containing lots of yummy food.

A box that contains utensils, plates, bowls, and cups.

A Coleman liquid fuel lantern.

and, the piéce de resistance...

A portable, camping gas grill.

Father Goose wrapped our potatoes in aluminum foil and set them close to the fire to roast. As this would take some time, we spent it talking with walkabout1 and learning more about him.

After about a half and hour, we decide it's time to get started on the steaks. Father Goose fires up the gas grill and then directs me to grill the steaks. The lantern has been fired up for quite some time, and is casting a bright light all about the campsite. Normally I'd be worried about others being disturbed by the light, but the only other campers in the park this evening are two guys who are pretty far away.

I grill the steaks and Father Goose prepares the salads. I have two bowls of salad with Bacon Ranch dressing before the steaks are done. Father Goose pulls the taters out of the fire, and pronounces them done. We move the lantern over to the dining table, dress our potatoes with butter and sour cream (in my case at least) and dig in.

The potatoes are done perfectly. One hour next to the roaring fire has baked but not burnt them, and they are delicious. The steaks are also done to near perfection, and delicious. Unfortunately, since the Ranger hasn't come by yet, we cannot partake of any of the Cabernet Sauvignon which I brought, but water washes down the meal just as well.

After eating we relax next to the campfire in our chairs, and I enjoy a small Montecristo which I had brought for the occaision.

Since Crazy Mike hates car camping, I know he would have been miserable.

Finally, after waiting until about 10:30, we bring out the Maker's Mark and pass it around the fire as we tell lies. After going through a pint and a half of Maker's Mark, we retire to our tents at about midnight.


More to come...”

“Dayhiker, I'm glad the trip went well. I had a feeling everything would be fine and that the pre-hike gitters were nothing but that. I'm looking forward to Sipsey, it's gonna be a blast!

And did the Ranger really have a beer with you guys?

Father Goose, I know exactly what you mean. I've yet to meet a TTer I didn't like...in fact they keep getting better on each trip. I love it!”

“LMAO!!! bit, this was BACKPACKING, wasn't it??? LOL. Sounds like the Sierra Club hike I went on, except they go a bit more lightweight. ;-)”

“How many people showed up?”

“24 all together.
Mile Monster made a list out.”

“Whoever asked about Hobbs Cabin, no we never intended to go to Hobbs Cabin.

I left out that when I showed up at Savage Station and met FG and bit they were actually dragging coolers back to the van. My initial reaction was, WTF??? this is gonna be an interesting trip.”

“Did you do head counts to make sure you weren't losing anybody?”

“Glad everyone had a good trip and got home safely.”

“I had a hard time getting to sleep Thursday night as there was some sort of dog or coyote concert going on. I guess I should have put my ear plugs in, but I didn't feel like fishing them out.

At around 4:30AM, I awake to sound of Father Goose saying, "What the #&%!$? How the hell did I do that?" I'm tempted to pipe up and ask what he's talking about, but I go back to sleep.

The next morning dawns cold and clear. We get out of our tents to start the day. Father Goose makes a couple of trips back to his van, each one accompanied with a hearty "Dammit I forgot the (insert various piece of gear or food here)!" On one of the trips, walkabout1 wanders over to the campsite that held the two young men who were the only other campers at the Stone Door, and he sat down and talked with them for a while. They had cowboy-camped under the stars Thursday night. No doubt the smell of our steaks cooking was torture to them, poor bastards...

Eventually, we have a gas burner frying scambled eggs mixed with salmon and bacon. As we eat it, Father Goose says, "Well I woke up last night about 4:30, feeling cold on my back. I thought I had slipped off my pad, and I reached under myself to try and find it. When I did, I felt the mesh material that's supposed to be over me, under me. I inverted my hammock somehow!"

Ah, we all said. No doubt it was the Maker's Mark that made you do it!

After finishing up breakfast, it's time to pick up the mountain of gear and tote it back to the van. I have already packed up my gear and gotten ready to hike, so I put on my pack, pick up some things, and carry them back to the van. After just a few trips we have all the gear back to the van and we're loading it up when several scruffy-looking fellows come over to us and say, "Are you two bitpusher and Father Goose?"

We faced them across the parking lot. The wind whistled through the trees, and a stray newspaper blew across the asphalt between us. WE eyed each other nervously as we considered our reply.

"Yes, and who the hell wants to know?" we ask.

Turns out it was just dayhiker, MileMonster, and a few other TT'ers I hadn't met before. We exchange greetings, and get to loading gear back into the van.

It turns out the plan is for Father Goose's wife, Mother Goose, to come pick up the van and bring it around to Collins West that afternoon, so Father Goose offers to slack everyone. I quickly take him up on his offer and prepare a daypack for the journey.

About this time, gojo, sarabelle, and Gizmeaux show up after being delayed slightly in their trip over from Collins West. After more rounds of greetings, we gather at the Stone Door Ranger station and prepare to hike.


More to come...”

“"That's right, car camping gear."
bitpusher
10:27:44 PM
01/18/04

I told y'all Mother G is the Queen of Car Camping, lol. Why rough it uneccessarily??? Those steaks were a hell of a lot better than freeze-dried gorp, weren't they, hmmmmmm? Besides, most of that stuff was bonafide backpacking gear; 3 tents, 3 sleeping bags, 2 ThermARests,2 packs, various jackets and shirts.
Dayhiker, we only had 1 cooler, lol.
Oh yeah, one other thing. I don't know what the rest of you stiffs had to eat when y'all got back to your cars, but I got a Guinness, hot soup and (special) hot chocolate...prepared for me while I changed clothes, neener-neener-neener!”

“Thanks for the reports. Glad ya all had a wonderful time.yo bears!”

“24? Holy crap!”

“It was fantabulos!! I made it! OMG I hurt today! Oh well it was nice to meet new friends and nice to see old ones. Ewker and Stikmon I'm sorry it me so long! Love you guys.”

“It "was" an awesome sat. morn, the birds were singing the sun was shining....S---,F----,I'm tired, I forgot this, that F---, this is how the trip continued. Well, we did FINALLY hit the trail.. we made it about 200ft. then cottonsocks dropped pack to use the bathroom, 200ft. later stopped to drink water, 200ft. later to smoke... ---you guys follow what I'm saying?

Any way we were not the very last to show at Saw Mill... just second to last. Don't get me wrong it was an awesome time, just next time I'll bring a cattle prod.”

“The general rule for group hikes is, "I'm hittin' the trail. See ya all at camp.". If you spend all weekend waiting for others you'll get nowhere.”

“Nigal,

It never seemed to be that many at one time. We had people there Friday night who left Sat morning. Others showed up Sat at the next campsite who weren't there Friday night. Plus there were 2 trails to get to campsite.

As close as I live to this area it was my first time there. It was beautiful, lots of waterfalls, good views, suspension bridges, tall cliffs and slick rocks (busted my a$$ once and from what I hear quite a few did).

I will be going back down there again. I only scratched the surface of that area.”

“Okay, I had a good nap and now its morning. I'd like to ditto all the positive vibes. This trip was big fun for all. The campsites and trails were great. I was very impressed with the scenery Savage Gulf had to offer. For those that haven't been there, definitely check it out sometime.

We had 3 at Collins West Thurs and it sounds like 3 at Atone Door Thursday night.

There were 20 Friday night, I think. 23 if you count Sarabell, Gizmo, and Khatru (sp?), which we do. Saturday we had 17, 20 counting the four legged TTers. In all 24 showed up, 27 counting dogs.


For thos that want to update your "who have I met", here's the roll call:

Bitpusher
Cottonsocks
Dayhiker
Divinity
Erich
Ewker
FatherGoose
Gizmo
Gojo
Khatru
Koolaid
Longlostiker
MDS Hiker
MileMonster
Moses
MotherGoose
Opie
Sarabell
Stikmon
StoveStomper
Supertroll
Tilt
Trekkngirl
Walkabout1
Walkabout2
Walkindude
WoundedKnee

See the management if your name does not appear on the list. If your name is on the list and you don't want it to be, tough. You were there as far as we're concerned. Friday night I think Father Goose had twenty-minute conversation with a tree he kept calling Crazy Mike.

I'd like to thank the rangers at The Gulf. That place seems to be very well managed and watched without holding everyone's hand. Thanks for your work.

Again, it was great meeting the folks new to me, seeing folks I had met before, and getting to know everyone better. I had a good time putting in some miles with WalkinDude - someone else that gets up and out of camp early and doesn't dawdle much on the trail.

Finally, thanks to dayhiker for getting us all out. It was a good weekend you put together.

Dat's about it for now...”

“That's true Euker. I personally start feeling overwhelmed if there are more than five people on a trip. That's why I generally avoid the TT trips that are arranged on the board.

Large gatherings can be fun but feel like I got to meet everyone but didn’t get to “know” anyone. I end up feeling bad no matter what because on one hand I feel bad for not getting to know someone better or I feel bad because I didn’t get to spend enough time with the ones I do know. I had that feeling at the MM Christmas party. I’m a very close and personable person but when there‘s a large group I just kind of bounce around from person to person the whole time.”

“Nigal, It was good to meet you at the MM's Christmas party but we really didn't get a chance to talk that much. Maybe we can together one weekend in Ky somewhere.”

“I had the same feeling Nigal. You wind up talking with whoever you're sitting with around the fire and not necessarily with everyone. I'm starting to learn that I need 1 or 2 of these type trips a year and 4 or 5 of the smaller, faster variety. Both have their place and are enjoyable in different ways.”

“"Nigal, It was good to meet you at the MM's Christmas party but we really didn't get a chance to talk that much. Maybe we can together one weekend in Ky somewhere."

Yeah, I felt horrible after that weekend because there was all this build up to your coming up and then I didn’t get to spend any real time talking with you. I have really fallen in love with the RRG area and it takes me the same amount of time to get there as it does to some of my stomping grounds in southern Ohio. We definitely should plan a small get together.”

“Oh, Thanks for the trip Dayhiker!”

“Does anyone have any pictures to share?”

“Mine are still in my camera, and unfortunately, there aren't very many. It will probably be a couple of weeks before I get around to getting them developed.”

“Ewker has his posted. I didn't take a camera since it was supposed to rain.

Go to webshots and search for ewker on the people instead of picutres.”