Since Kristie got a new computer, I’m going to cannibalize her old one. This means that C9 WILL BE DOWN this weekend. This includes ALL MAIL! If you send mail, don’t expect a response for a few days.
I found this online today after reading some information about brain cysts. We all know that drinking untreated or unfiltered water is bad…. but just how bad is it to drink from that crystal clear stream. Well, here’s how bad it can get.
The Hydatid Cyst forms from a tapeworm found in fecal matter of dogs, wolf, moose, and other animals. The problem arises when one of those animals takes a crap upstream from or around a water source. These little buggers burrow into your brain and grow into puss filled sacks with millions of little hard shelled tapeworms.
You can see by the video above how big these sacks grow. In untreated animals, these sacks can grow as big as footballs. The one extracted from the brain of the patient above is about the size of a softball.
I gotta tell you…. seeing this made me seriously question the effectiveness of own filter. Thankfully my filter is adequate enough to properly protect me from this very situation. I’d suggest you make sure yours is as well.
After waiting for months, the Giga Stove finally arrived. Unfortunately it isn’t the Titanium version that we thought we were getting but thats ok for me! I’ve been waiting to test a canister stove for quite a while now and so far I’m quite impressed. This things is SMALL! Weighing in at just under 4 oz, it’s much smaller and lighter than my MSR Whisperlite Internationale. I can’t wait to get into the woods to test this puppy.
Due to the fact that the fire department is a bit low on manpower, I’ve been working as an Engineer in charge of driving the firetruck and making sure my firefighters have water. On Sunday we were responding to a apartment fire. We were supposed to be the third truck to hit the scene, but one of the trucks from downtown was tied up. The second truck from downtown wasn’t positioned to reach the fire with their hose, so that put me in charge of getting the team water.
Following instructions, I pulled the truck around back and deployed the 200ft preconnect. I wasn’t as nervous as I thought I’d be, maybe this was because I wasn’t supposed to be the lead engine. Everything went really smooth and although I’m by no means a vet at this now I do feel much more comfortable.
I apologize for all the problems the past 2 days. Luckily the server upgrade went fairly smooth this time around. I had problems with Wordpress again, but seing as how Gentoo has blocked the package, I didn’t figure it would go easy. I needed to upgrade some problems though to prevent vulnerabilities. Thanks for being patient!
I’ll be working on the server today and possibly tomorrow. As you can see by the post below, every time I do this something happens that goes bad.
lets just hope that this isn’t the case this time. 
After much hemming and hawing over the past few weeks, I’ve decided that it’s time to get rid of Gentoo on my laptop. All along I knew that keeping a system that was completely user configurable up and running would be a pain. I personally didn’t need that level of user control, but at the time it was one of the best distros out there. Don’t take that the wrong way either… it’s still one of the best out there, just not one of the best for me.
One of the things that led to this decision is the problem with keeping the system updated. Portage is a great package management system, and having the ability to run one command to update the system is great. However, I’ve found that it’s almost never that easy. Every time I’ve upgraded my server, something happened to crash it. Either a package failed to install, a configuration file needed to be reconfigured or was simply moved to a different location messing up my other configuration files, a program was buggy for some reason, or it installed the package older than the one I had already configured.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand that I need to make sure that Portage is doing it’s job and not just let it’s business, but having to make sure every little thing was working the way it should just got to be too stressful and time consuming. Because of this my server is in dire need of an update. I’ve been putting it off for months just so I didn’t have to deal with downtime and lost information.
So… that being said, I’ve decided to switch to Ubuntu on my desktop to see how it works and if it’s stable enough for my server environment. So far, I really like what I see! Everything works so nicely on it. I can remove and reinstall my mouse and still have it work, USB Flashdrives work without any problems. The Synaptic package manager seems to keep everything pretty clean.
I want to spend time working with my operating system, not on my operating system, this is why I’ve chosen to switch.
I’d been thinking about designing my own decal for the fire department for some time now. One of the local Realtors in town have graphics on the back of their vehicles describing their company, name, and phone number. I thought I’d like to do the same, only add a bit of flair to it.
Well… one of the guys at the department decided to go to one of the local sign companies to get a graphic. Unfortunately, I didn’t like the design as well as I thought I would so I figured it was time to get off my butt and design the graphic I’d been thinking about all along.
It ended up a bit different than I initially imagined, but I think it’s totally cool! I probably won’t get the flamed one, but I needed to design one that someone at the station wanted. Now all I have to do is go get it printed out.
Part of the reason that I haven’t been able to blog much this past week has been due to work around the house. My wife and spend most of the day last Saturday trying to get the pool opened up. There were a number of leaves still on the pool cover and a good deal of water.
Being the optimist that I am, I decided that the best way to get the cover off would be to wrap up the leaves and water and just pull it off like a giant ziplock filled with liquid. Big mistake. As it turns out, there was probably 15 gallons of water still stuck on the cover. Since water weight 8.34 lbs without the leaves, this was quite a load. In the end I had to hop in the pool and boost the water out from beneath. Next year I’ll be sure to drain the cover first to make sure everything runs a bit more smooth.
After I got the cover off I found that part of the pool liner had slipped down. This definitely had to be repaired prior to me filling it back up with water. I had to remove every top plate and reinstall the liner and liner wedge.
I also had to replace the pump this year. As the setup was 7 years old, and the pump had sat outside every winter, the bushings and bearings finally went out on the motor. The repair shop wanted $80 to replace these, but they couldn’t’ guarantee that they would break the impeller when the went to remove it from the motor. This simply wasn’t a risk I was willing to take for a possible fix. I ended up getting a new pump and motor combo from the local pool supply shop, I figure I’ll just store the entire unit in the shed in the winter as opposed to leaving it out in the elements.
After vacuuming and brushing the liner, letting the Polaris 65 run overnight, and vacuuming again the pool finally looks nice and clean. I just hope it stays that way as we’re supposed to have thunderstorms the next few days.
The night was long and colder than expected at East Collins Campground. I faired rather well in my 15F Big Agnes bag, but dad didn’t do so hot. He was using my 37 F Montbell Super Stretch Down Hugger and said that every time he rolled over the bag sucked in cold air and made him shiver. I have yet to use this bag, so I can’t say I’ve experienced this but it would seem to make sense. If you increase the interior volume of the bag air must come from somewhere to fill that volume.
Around 4 am I finally woke up for a few minutes. This is highly unusual for me as I’m usually up at least a couple times during the night. I was finally starting to feel better, but still needed that extra few hours of sleep to feel fully rested.
As the sun was breaking through the clouds, I could hear Coy and Dad already up talking and preparing breakfast. I knew there was no way that I would be able to eat anything still, so I decided to lay in the tent for a bit longer before braving the cold. It wasn’t freezing or anything but if I remember correctly, the temps did drop down into the 40’s F.
I found out exactly how well the Big Agnes Dual Core pad worked too. As I was packing everything up, I had to sit on the ground and purge the air out of the mattress. Within 2 minutes my legs were already hurting from the hard ground. I don’t know if I’ll ever go back to thin pads. 
It was shortly after 8 when we all got packed and started out again. I did end up eating a fruit cup, though most definitely not one of those crappy mandarin orange cups! We knew it was going to be a long hard trek back to the vehicles even though we were on the plateau trail and didn’t have to cross the valley. The going started off rather well. I was able to make the lead pace and get out in front of the others by a few hundred yards to begin with.
About 2 hours into the day, we had already covered nearly 4 miles when we met up with a Boy Scout Troop from Huntsville, AL. They were preparing for a section hike on the AT and figured that the trail they were taking through Savage Gulf would be comparable in difficulty. I decided it was wise to keep my mouth shut about the ease of travel their trail had taken versus the degree of difficulty we’d experienced yesterday.
As we pushed on, we made relatively good time, but it was easily apparent that I had begun to drag along again. When we stopped near the scouts Coy was a good 30 minutes behind us, but that didn’t last long. As we were about a mile away from our last rest session, Coy pushed on past me and dad. I simply didn’t have the energy to keep going. I had pushed myself so hard the day before and made myself so queasy that I was simply ready to get my butt home.
Within the last 1.5 miles is a beautiful waterfall that we decided to stop at for a rest. I had been there on my last trip to the Gulf, but I knew dad wanted pictures. Throughout the whole day he had stuck rather close and didn’t get a chance to go on any of the side trails to get pictures from the cliff edge. I felt bad, so I decided that this would be a good time to let him get a good deal of pictures; that and the fact that I was simply exhausted. We dropped pack on top of a flat rock overlooking the waterfall and went down tot he waters edge. it wasn’t long before I left him there to go back to the rock and rest on my pack for a while.
The last 1.5 miles was definitely the easiest, and I almost cried when I saw the vehicles.
I forgot to mention in the first day’s post that Dad lost his brand new OR Sombrero within the first 5 minutes of the trip. He thought he’d be slick and attach it to his pack with a slipknot so he could put it on if he needed without having to de-pack. Next time I’ll bet he uses a carabiner and just asks for help. 
Anyway, he stopped in at the ranger station and was able to retrieve it. Someone had been nice enough to pin it to the pegboard outside the ranger station the night before. This was definitely a blessing. The usual trail rule is if you find it, it’s yours. Most of this logic has to do with weight; if I pack out the extra weight, I get to keep the gear. It’s often been a thought of mine to throw my hiking partners off cliffs for their gear, but then I realize that I wouldn’t be able to use said gear in jail anyway; not to mention my fear of Bubba.
We packed up and headed home… our first stop McDonalds!
After leaving Horsepound falls, we traveled up the Collins Gulf trail towards Collins West on our way to our final destination of Collins East Campground. About an hour up the trail we all decided to stop for a bit of a rest at which point I grabbed one of the fruit cups that we’d purchased before the trip. Note to self: Don’t ever get the Wal-Mart brand Mandarin Oranges. It wasn’t very good, and I knew as soon as I tasted it that I would likely be sick.
Anyway… we pushed on toward the campground but the trail kept getting more and more difficult. There were a few more waterfalls and some beautiful scenery, but I was looking toward the prize; the campground, my tent, and a bit of rest. As we hit the trail head junction between Collins West and Collins East I saw a sign stating that we only had 1.4 miles to go.
It was the toughest 1.4 miles I have ever walked!
Let me give you a bit of a map reading lesson. If you look at the area right beneath Sutter Falls on the map above you’ll see a few topographic lines with plenty of white space in between. However, if you look right above the Collins West parking lot you’ll see dark topographic lines without any white spaces in between. Now, typical topographic maps are based off 20 ft. elevation changes. This means that between every black line on the map, there is a 20 ft change in elevation.
If you’ll notice… the lines between Collins West and Collins East are so close you can’t even see red trail lines much less any white areas depicting elevation change. Needless to say this was exceptionally rocky and steep terrain; terrain I certainly wasn’t expecting.
By the time I stumbled into camp I was feeling quite a bit nauseous. I wanted to get in bed as soon as I could so I setup my tent, unrolled my sleeping bag, and tried to lay there few minutes to let my stomach settle down. After getting back up to finish inflating my air mattress I felt that old familiar feeling in my throat. Remember those Mandarin Oranges; I barely got into the woods prior to having them upchuck onto the forest floor.
Once again, dinner was slim, as I couldn’t hardly keep anything down, and I was simply ready to go home.
Stay tuned for Day 3’s trail information.
Before continuing with the trail report, let me give you a bit of background on Day 2. When we were still in Nashville at Cumberland Transit, I talked to one of the salespeople about our trip plans. See, initially our trip was to stop at Saw Mill campground around noon on the second day and relax. However, he mentioned the coming rain, and a number of beautiful waterfalls along an alternative trail that would be rocking with the weeks weather. After looking at the map, it appeared that the trail he suggested would only add 10 miles to the total trip, but this would be split over 2 days, so an additional 5 miles didn’t look like that much… We were wrong on so many levels.
The Big Agnes sleeping bag and Dual Core air pad worked awesome. We were sleeping on bunks inside the cabin and I wasn’t able to feel the wood at all that night! My stomach was still feeling a bit woozy though. I wasn’t able to eat much the night before and it looked like this was going to be the case today as well as I was only able to choke down half of my breakfast; definitely not enough to keep my energy level up throughout the day. After filtering water again and cleaning up the inside of the cabin, we pushed on toward Collins East campsite.
Travel the first few hours went nice and smooth. The terrain was rocky and uneven, but traversing it wasn’t much of a problem since it was mostly downhill. We stopped in a dry riverbed for a bit of a snack. Since Savage gulf is on a plateau with numerous caves underneath, the water that is so vast at waterfalls and rivers on the top of the plateau drains into underground rivers long before be bottom of the canyon. It’s weird to be sitting in the middle of a wide riverbed cluttered with boulders weighing multiple tons and not see a river rushing by.
Shortly after noon we reached Saw Mill campground and our original destination we stopped at Schwoon Springs to fill up our water supplies again. Schwoon springs rare in that it originates from deep within the sides of the rock cliffs and breaks through the side before plunging back underground. The water is nice and cool due to it’s underground travel, and the area around feels like a chill box. We took our time here and enjoyed not having our packs on our backs and the cool air that we were blessed with.
About two hours after leaving the springs we stumbled upon Hoursepound Falls. This was easily the largest waterfall we would see this trip with millions of gallons of water flowing over the falls every minute. It was here that Coy almost took a dip into the rushing stream. He was taking pictures of the falls and dropped his camera right into the water. Luckily he was kneeling right beside a tree and the roots created a little pool where his camera hit. This kept it from being swept downstream by the rushing water, and kept Coy from having to dive in to save his camera. Horsepound falls was the last bit of peace and rest we would see until we hit camp, a grueling 4 hours later.
Stay tuned for Day 2: Part 2
After getting a late start Thursday morning, dad and I made our way south toward Nashville to hit a few stores before heading out into the woods. Dad needed a few more items, especially rain gear, due to the weather forecasted for the weekend.
Our first stop was a store called Cumberland Transit, located on the west side of Nashville. They have a large assortment of outdoor gear including shoes, clothing, hiking and backpacking, climbing, and even mountain biking gear. They are also real good about having a clearance rack located in the back of the store. From the clearance rack dad was able to find a great deal on a Patagonia Shirt, and was able to pick up an OR Nimbus Sombrero, and a pair of Marmot PreCip full zip pants.
After leaving CT, we headed over to Blue Ridge Mountain Sports. I’ve always had great service here and they have always given us wonderful advice. Once again they were right on the money with my suggestions. While dad had a Helly Hanson, he really needed some sort of Gore-Tex fabric that sheds water while allowing the fabric to breathe. After trying on a few models, he walked out with one of the new Mountain Hardware Typhoon jackets. Such a nice jacket indeed!
We finally got out of the stores and headed down to the Savage Gulf ranger station where we met Coy. He had been waiting for a while and was definitely ready to hit the trail. We threw on our packs and hit the trail shortly after 3pm on our way to Hobbs Cabin. We stopped after an hour or so for a snack, but finally made it to the cabin around 6 pm.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling well at all so after a small dinner I decided to hit the sack for a long nights rest. I woke up around midnight, finally feeling better, and slept nicely the rest of the night.
More on the 2007 Savage Gulf trip to come. Additional pictures can be found here:
http://www.corridor9.net/gallery/v/Camping/SavageGulf2007/
I finally got all the thumbnails built for the trip this past weekend. If you’d like to look at them they are located at the link below.
I will have a trip report up tonight or tomorrow morning with more information. Stay tuned, it’s been tough trying to catch up on things when I got home, but I haven’t forgotten.
