Pain, Rain and Maine.

No Pain, No Rain, No Maine.
–Appalachian Trail saying. 

 
Talking with those AT thru hikers that pass through this region in early spring, there are days they wake up to knee-deep snow or weeks when the rain just won't stop. Still the hardy and determined (and possibly insane) trudge on, though the weather will thin their ranks. I appreciate what they do and admire them, but I like my comfy bed and hot shower too much to ever do what they do. Six months is a long time to sleep out of doors. And 2,180 miles is a lot of miles to walk. I often ask them why they're out there. It seems you can put the thru-hikers into two camps: those who say they do it for the bucket-list-worthy, physical challenge of the trek and those who've come to clear their minds and get back in touch with nature. For both groups the pain and rain on the way to Maine is an essential part of this challenging and cleansing experience.

Above: The Appalachian Trail as it crosses the summit of Unaka Mountain in eastern Tennessee. 

snow day

Cross country skiing is great if you live in a small country.
--Steven Wright (b.1955) comedian.

Cross country skiers enjoy the snow at Sycamore Shoals State Park in Elizabethton. The man in the bottom photo joked as he went by that he was training his dog to be a husky.

adventure

When you're safe at home you wish you were having an adventure; when you're having an adventure you wish you were safe at home.  
--Thornton Wilder (1897-1975) American writer.

A photo from last fall of my friend Peter taking photos of a misty morn on Round Bald. That day our adventure involved an early morning hike out to Grassy Ridge.

why we climb

Somewhere between the bottom of the climb and the summit is the answer to the mystery why we climb.
--Greg Child (b.1957) Australian-born rock climber, mountaineer, author and filmmaker.

I continue to comb through my autumn excursions for photos to share. These are from a rainy trip to Grayson Highlands State Park in Southwest Virginia in October. The clouds and rain got worse the longer I hiked, so by time I made it to the wild ponies, whatever good light I had was gone.

Seems I always pick extreme days to visit Grayson. I've been there when it's pouring rain, freezing cold and blazing hot. But whatever the weather, I'm always in awe of this place. With so many trails to hike, jagged peaks to climb and magnificent vistas to enjoy, there's beauty and wonder in every direction.  It's one of the most memorable places found along the 2,180 mile Appalachian Trail. While it's off the beaten path for most of us, it's well worth the journey.

Admission to the park is now $4 on weekdays, $5 on weekends, per vehicle. Such a deal. I still have a lot to explore at the park. Click here to visit the website, which includes driving directions and a detailed trail map. The Friends of Grayson Highlands webpage includes current weather information and a webcam. Another helpful resource is the Sherpa Guide.

Click here to see my previous Grayson photos and posts.

exploring

What is the difference between exploring and being lost?
--Dan Eldon 

I explored an area of the Blue Hole I had never ventured into before. The creek there is often too high to make exploring upstream possible or too low to make it worth while. Yesterday it was just right. I was able to rock hop back and forth across the creek and find many cascades. The area is also populated with enormous boulders.  A very beautiful place.

courage

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. 
~C.S. Lewis    

A mountain biker making a jump while going down the trail during yesterday's collegiate cycling meet at ETSU in Johnson City.

priorities

Three-fourths of the Earth's surface is water, and one-fourth is land. It is quite clear that the good Lord intended us to spend triple the amount of time fishing as taking care of the lawn. 
--Chuck Clark  

Above: Christian, my friend's son, fishing at Warriors' Path State Park in Kingsport, TN.

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.

Our Game

Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game. 
--Jacques Barzun (1907-2012) French-born, American Historian

Over the last few years I've been hanging out a lot at the baseball field -- partly because many of my students are on the team, partly for the sake of my love of sports photography, but there's a sentimental reason drawing me to the ball field -- my rekindled love for the game. They say the game is too slow, too methodical, too cerebral. The game moves at its own pace. There's a subtlety to it. It requires patience. And yet the game can turn with the crack of the bat. There aren't coin tosses, clocks counting down or cheerleaders. Here the defense controls the ball and on offense each batter stands alone. It's a game of individual achievement, and yet even the best player must depend on the other eight men who take the field. Music, clothes, hair styles, technology, labor strikes, recessions, even world wars come and go. Baseball remains. As Walt Whitman said, "It's our game -- the American game."

Recently I took some shots of one of our seniors, Cory Hilton (Johnson City, TN) -- it was the day before graduation. Toward the end of our shoot, we sat in the dugout and I asked him about baseball: what it meant to him, what his fondest memories were. He said he couldn't remember a time in his life when he didn't play baseball. He had played his last game that week. The conference tournament didn't go our way and as he walked off the field for the last time, he looked up, and there was his dad in the stands right above the dugout, standing and clapping. He said he lost it right then. And as he was telling me about it, I nearly did too. Such a poignant moment speaks volumes of their relationship. Am I wrong to think that that moment and that image of his father clapping will be the central image he returns to again and again in his life when the chips are down?  That he'll play that scene over in his mind when he has kids of his own who play ball? There's something about baseball. It bridges the generations.

that man is a success

The mark of a successful man is one that has spent an entire day on the bank of a river without feeling guilty about it.
--Author Unknown 

A scene from along the Erwin Linear Trail...

courage

I have always considered tennis as a combat in an arena between two gladiators who have their rackets and their courage as their weapons.
--Yannick Noah (b.1960) former professional tennis player 

A shot of Milligan College junior Matt Clark at the net. Matt's a business major from Kingsport, TN and a graduate of Dobyns-Bennett High School. Poor Matt has me for two classes this semester.  I've always found tennis to be one of the more difficult sports to photograph. You wouldn't think it, but getting the player, the racket and the ball in the frame is a challenge given the speed of the game. When shooting, it does no good to wait till you see the ball in the frame, by then it's too late to press the shutter -- and the shot will be missed. So it's better to watch the player and when the racket goes back, start shooting.  It's times like this I'm very thankful for digital -- can't image how much film I'd have wasted yesterday. By the end of the meet my timing was better and  I was getting much more efficient getting decent shoots, but still there were lots and lots of shots to edit and delete.

Details: Nikon D90 with 70-300mm VR lens at 140mm, f/4.8, 1/1250 sec., ISO 500

on self-reliance

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.
~Author Unknown  

Fishing in the shadow of South Holston Dam outside of Bristol, TN

enthusiasm

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
--Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) American Essayist, Poet and Philosopher 

Freshman Kyle Grisby (Charlotte, NC) is definitely one who plays with enthusiasm - here he is driving to the basket during Milligan's recent win over Montreat College. 

Remembering Ron Santo

The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man's determination.
--Tommy Lasorda (b.1927) Former Major League baseball pitcher and manager

I was saddened to hear of the death of Ron Santo, who played third base for the Chicago Cubs from 1960-74.  After what many regard as a Hall of Fame career with the Cubs (including nine All Star Games), he eventually moved on to broadcasting, calling the Cubs games with the same enthusiasm on radio as he showed on the field. Throughout his life and career, Santo struggled with diabetes, a condition he somehow managed to keep hidden from his teammates for most of his playing career. Later in life he would lose both legs to the disease.  Throughout his ordeal, he never lost his passion for life or his love of baseball--his positive attitude, courage and determination inspired others with diabetes or other difficult conditions to never give up and to smile at life regardless of its struggles and sorrows. He was a hero to many both in and out of baseball -- and an inspiration to all of us whose lives he touched.

The above photo of me was taken by my dad at Wrigley Field in 1978.

Ron's son, Jeff, wrote and produced an inspiring video documentary of his dad entitled "This Old Cub" -- the trailer is below. Other web tributes to Santo are linked here and here.

excellence

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit. 
--Aristotle (384-322 BC) Greek philosopher

Milligan College junior Cordero Seymour (Matthew Town, Bahamas) takes it to the hoop in the Buffaloes home opener again Cincinnati Christian University.

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.

fine simplicity

Fishing is much more than fish. It is the great occasion when we may return to the fine simplicity of our forefathers.
--Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) 31st US President

Michael Kaal fly fishing on the Watauga River near Elizabethton, TN.

The Coach

Some favorite quotes from Coach John Wooden (1910-2010), the Hall of Fame UCLA basketball coach, revered by many as the greatest basketball coach ever -- who passed away yesterday at age 99. (Article here, inspiring speech by Coach Wooden here).

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

"Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability."

“It's the little details that are vital. Little things make big things happen.”

“Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”

“The worst thing about new books is that they keep us from reading the old ones.”

“What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.”

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do."

"Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."

“Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there.”

“If you're not making mistakes, then you're not doing anything. I'm positive that a doer makes mistakes.”

"Learn as if you were to live forever; live as if you were to die tomorrow."

"Talent is God given. Be humble. 
Fame is man-given. Be grateful. 
Conceit is self-given. Be careful."

Walk or Ride?

Now shall I walk
or shall I ride?
"Ride," Pleasure said:
"Walk," Joy replied.
-W.H. Davies (1871-1940) Welsh poet-

The trail to Rough Ridge. I photographed this same scene back in October of 2008. A ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway provides magnificent views and an unforgettable experience. Its 469 miles through North Carolina and Virginia attract 18 million visitors each year. But I'm very thankful that it's much more than just a scenic parkway -- that its designers planned over 200 overlooks for visitors to stop and experience. And that there are also hundreds of trails to be explored and enJOYed.

Click here, here and here for lists and descriptions of the various hiking trails found along the Parkway.

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