Friday, June 25, 2010

Day 5

Rhoades Farm field wake up with the dog pack stampededing with 20 or so horses.





Bruno, Junebug, Kodiak, Dingo, Harper, and Bomber all tugging on the same stick at the same time.
Oh yeah, it's my birthday. Gonna paddle like it's my birthday.
Took a morning plunge in the river via the jumping tree.






Packed.
Left farm via muddy harbor. Almost lost a shoe to the mud.

Back in the boat with ol' John.





Great morning of paddling.











Stopped at a rock for lunch. Flipped boat while trying to stop!
Ate lunch. Jumped in river to cool off. Sunglasses not secure. Sunglasses now river debris :(

Ol' John took over the rudder after lunch.





Birthday boy kicked back in the front and took a nap.

Getting closer to the city now.






Stopped at another farm to camp. Pizza and beer for dinner. The group sang "Happy Birthday".






Happy it was.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Day 4 Recap

Woke up cold in hammock tent next to babbling stream. Last one up. Packed and waited for folks. Cleaned boat. Recycling run with Haywood, I mean Hartwell. Whatever your name is. Took a trash dive.
Drive back to river. Hot hot hot!! Short paddle. Good swim. Tighty whitey tree jump. No women.
Made it to the muddiest harbor at the most beautiful horse farm, Back Rhoades Ranch.

Here's Mr. & Mrs. Rhoades


Big country. Big clouds.



Tree swing rigging. Tree swing really didn't swing. Better to jump off tree.


Rain threat. Why did I set tent up in middle of field? Didn't rain. That's why.



Lots of doggy play.


Stars, smores and snores. Really amazing. Sleepy-time at fire circle.



The journey continues...

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Notes from Day 3

French Broad Paddle trip. Day 3 recap.
Solo paddled a canoe with Bruno. Independence. No appologies. Slack floating. River clean up with Riverkeeper.



Canoe became trash barge. Found TweetyBird hangin in tree. She/he then became a back support. Mastered art of laying down and paddling. So much trash.



Picked up a CO2 tank from the fallen tree dam. Had to lift boat over same tree because it blocked the whole river.





Arrived at "campsite". But some peeps didn't like it. After pros and cons it was decided to go to nearby Davidson campground. Felt like the umbelical chord was cut. I wanted to stay close to river. Feeling the connection grow.





Stayed up talking to country Chris. Too loud. Common respect. Moved to the chattering stream. Nice sharing the spiritual journey. Back to river for day 4. Short day expected.

Monday, June 21, 2010

Day 2




We had way too much fun the first night. Some new buddies staying at the campsite from AVL, who weren't part of the trip gave me my first taste of strawberry appalachain moonshine....whew!!



I woke up to Bruno scratching himself and trying to poke through the tent screen. I let him out so he could sprint laps around the other tents at the campsite with 3 other very energetic dogs. I guess they acted as the camp roosters.


The campsite was on the river next to a field and farmhouse.


The morning mist was deluxe, as was the coffee and breakfast fare. We packed up and got on the river by 10.



Above, you have our fearless Riverkeeper, Hartwell Carson starting the day of right by finding a rope-swing tied to a tree above maybe 3-4 feet if water.



Here's Bruno enjoying the ride with my shipmate, John from Fletcher.


Stopping for lunch.


Check out Hartwell's fancy new boat. I guess he crashed his old one.


We passed by slot of mountain ranches and farmlands.



We saw several groups of cows in the river. Obviously, it feels refreshing for the cows, but the damage they do to the riverbanks is a contributor to the number one pollutant to the French Broad, sediment.


We saw a lot of areas where the banks of the river were extemely eroded due to humans using the land all the way up until the shore. Ideally there should be a 100 foot buffer of vegetation to limit erosion.


I learned a lot on the trip today about the challenges facing our water supply.



It is a real treat to live on the river.



Here's the group chillin' at our camp, Hap Simpson Park on the riverside in Brevard.


We went into Brevard for dinner at Square Root.

More updates to come.

I'm your huckleberry






Saturday, June 19, 2010

Day 1

We started our journey down the mighty French Broad at the confluence of the North and West Forks at the appropriatly named Headwaters Outfitters. It was an easy day starting with Sweetwater Beer and burgers and hotdogs at Headwaters. We then paddled ten canoes and kayaks about 8 miles of beautiful mountain countryside to our destination, Hannah Ford outpost. We were greeted with a wide variety of snacks and Sweetwater beer. Living the dream.


More to come. Twenty miles tomorrow followed by a Save the French Broad party at Square Root in Brevard. Come out and join us!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Save the French Broad

Today marks the start of an epic 122 mile journey down the French Broad River to raise awareness of water quality threats affecting the river and those who call it home.



You can support me in this journey by visiting my canoe-a-thon website:

http://www.firstgiving.com/barnold

Make a pledge for each mile I paddle, or make a flat donation.
I'll be posting updates as the journey continues. Stay tuned, and thanks for the support.

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Beauty Spot Videos

Bruno is quite the fetcher.  Not the best retriever, but a great fetcher, and really good at catching the frisbee on the run.  So camping on a "bald", as mountains are called when the top is a meadow instead of covered with trees, made for a great fetching experience.


Part II


 An ode to Beauty Spot with reference to the nearby Roan Mountain.

Monday, June 7, 2010

Current Works

Here are some things I spent time on this past weekend. I worked on these two projects Saturday morning before going out to give some mad "trail magic" at Beauty Spot, TN to my friend Tannis, who's been hiking the Appalachain Trail this spring. It was an incredible weekend.  Up next, the final week of the 2009-2010 school year!!!


Recycling is Reusing: Mixed media collage. I started this as an example for an Earth Day project I taught at school.



A work in progress. Inspired by the Gulf of Mexico catastrophe.


Close up.



:P

Spring 2010

Here is a slideshow of images taken over the last several weeks of my life.
Enjoy!!

My photo
Always a student. Always a teacher. Live. Love. Laugh.

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