holston rainbow

The true harvest of my life is intangible - a little star dust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched. 

--Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American Writer and Philosopher.  

Above: Rainbow over South Holston Lake

forward looking

Never look back unless you are planning to go that way. 
—Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American author and philosopher.

Above: Steele Creek Park, Bristol, TN

Osceola Island

Went for a walk around Osceola Island yesterday evening and took some photos with the new iPhone 6. It's amazing how far cell phone camera technology has come in the last 10 years. I think my first flip phone had a whopping 1.3 mega pixels - and the images weren't anything you'd ever print or do much of anything with. Today there are colleges offering iPhone photography courses.

Osceola Island is a terrific place to have a picnic and then explore. It's located a mile below South Holston Dam outside of Bristol, TN. A footbridge leads visitors to a 1.8 mile long gravel trail around the island (map here). On both sides of the island are the unique weir dams you see in the photos. Designed to aerate the river below, the waterfalls only flow when the dam is generating electricity. You can find out when they are generating by clicking here.

Here is a PDF map of the nearby area.

Because the dam generates electricity by pulling water from the bottom of South Holston Reservoir, the water in the river below the dam (called the tailwaters) is very cold. In fact, even on a hot summer day, the water temperature will only be in the mid-50s at midday. Perfect conditions for trout fishing.

knowledge

Some people drink from the fountain of knowledge, others just gargle. 
--Dr. Robert Anthony, Self-help author.

Above: Detail of the Weir Dam found south of Bristol, TN.

bogged down

There is nothing more tragic than to find an individual bogged down in the length of life, devoid of breadth.
--Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968) American Minister and Civil-Rights Leader.

south holston fishing

Good things come to those who bait. 
--Author Unknown 

Above: Early-morning Fishermen on the South Holston River, near Bristol, TN


The South Holston and Watauga Rivers of northeast Tennessee are said to offer some of the best trout fishing east of the Mississippi.  For maps of access sites on the South Holston River, click here; and for the Watauga River, click here.

fear factor

The worst of all fears is the fear of living.
--Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919) 26th US President

trust.

Trust is not just the foundation of leadership, it's the speed at which leadership operates. --John Maxwell (b.1947) Christian author, speaker, and pastor. 

The footbridge leading to Osceola Island on the South Holston River near Bristol, TN.

confidence

Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.
--Victor Hugo (1802-1885) French author 

Above: A Great Blue Heron standing on one leg (the other one's tucked up in there somewhere!) on a frail branch, surveying the scene at Steele Creek Park in Bristol, TN.  These birds don't really sing, they have what is described as a "harsh croak" -- you can listen to it here.

name them one by one

When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.
--Willie Nelson (b.1933) American country singer-songwriter

slow growing

Be not afraid of growing slowly, be afraid only of standing still.
– Chinese Proverb 

Steele Creek Park in Bristol, TN.

fast and furious

There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
--Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) American novelist

Snuck into the Bristol Motor Speedway the other day when I was in Bristol - it's really an amazing sight to see in person. It's hard to really show the size and scale of the facility with its (relatively) tiny half mile, 40-foot-wide track completely surrounded by 160,000 seats. With 43 cars starting each race, Bristol is known for its intensity, its congestion and its yellow flags -- being likened to "flying fighter jets in a gymnasium". If you're in the area, it's worth the time to stop by and get a legitimate tour of "The World's Fastest Half-Mile" (still only five bucks) which includes a tour of the owner's suite, a lap around the track and a ride down the nearby dragway nicknamed 'Thunder Valley'. Tickets are still available for the August Race Weekend (August 18-21) - visit the BMS website if you're interested. Previous posts and photos here.

the beginning of love

The beginning of love is to let those we love be perfectly themselves, and not to twist them to fit our own image. Otherwise we love only the reflection of ourselves we find in them.
--Thomas Merton (1915-1968) Author and Monk

Deep green hues reflect off the waters of the fascinating Weir Dam located on the South Holston River outside of Bristol, TN. More photos, information and directions here.

forever young

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.
--Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-born American Physicist

These narrow tracks are for a unique miniature locomotive which gives kids a looped tour of Steele Creek Park in Bristol. The train was a fixture from 1964 until 2001 when the train and the tracks fell into disrepair -- both were restored in 2008, and kids can once again ride the Steele Creek Express. Video here.

gone fishin'

If people concentrated on the really important things in life, there'd be a shortage of fishing poles.
--Doug Larson (b. 1926) Newspaper columnist

Of course, there'd be a shortage of hiking sticks as well.

Sullivan County, TN has been blessed with some amazing parks. Check 'em out!
Steele Creek Park, Bristol
Osceola Island & Weir Dam, Bristol
Bays Mountain Park, Kingsport
Warrior's Path State Park, Kingsport

alive

The mind, in proportion as it is cut off from free communication with nature, with revelation, with God, with itself, loses its life, just as the body droops when debarred from the air and the cheering light from heaven.
--William Channing (1780-1842) preacher

take time

Even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn.
--Elizabeth Lawrence

I was happy today to see that autumn's big show isn't quite yet finished. There are still a few tenacious trees that refuse to let go of fall. This is a view of the lake and Nature Center at Steele Creek Park in Bristol, TN. Directions and park maps here. More photos here.

Bristol Motor Speedway

Bristol Motor Speedway at 6 a.m. on race day awaiting the Sharpie 500 and 160,000 fans. Even with that many seats, it remains one of the top ten hottest tickets in sports.

The spring race, we have a 99-percent renewal rate on tickets, ... For this race, it's 99.6 percent, which proves that 0.4 percent of the people don't renew their tickets to Bristol. We figure those are the ones that died.
--Jeff Byrd (1949-2010) President and General Manager, Speedway Motorsports, Inc.

High Church Fishing

If fishing is a religion, fly fishing is high church.
--Tom Brokaw (b.1940) Journalist and Author

Above: Fly fishing at the Weir Dam on the Holston River near Bristol, TN. The Weir Dam is a great place to visit, even if you aren't into high church or low church fishing. There's a beautiful mile-long walking path around Osceloa Island. In the photo above there's little water moving through the dam. But when the TVA is generating electricity at the South Holston Dam a mile upstream, the weir dam really puts on a spectacular show. Click here to see a video and read more about this area. Before you go, I definitely recommend checking out the TVA website, which lists the schedule for releases from the South Holston Dam each day.

Directions: From the intersection of routes 394 and 421 south of Bristol, continue 2.9 miles south on 421 (toward Shady Valley). Turn right at Shelley's Chicken House onto Emmett Road/Holston View Dam Road. Continue for 1.6 miles to the recreation area on your left. (Continue on from this point 2 miles to the top of the South Holston Dam).

[Sorry for the sporadic posts this week -- my internet connection has been giving me fits. I hope things will get cleared up next week!]

The Great Escape

It is almost impossible to remember how tragic a place the world is when one is playing golf.
--Robert Lynd

Above: Steele Creek Golf Course, Bristol, TN