The Hiking Writer

I ended up playing two matches this evening on 8-ball pool league night. My first match was a make-up from last week (I had some stomach bug that wore me out).

In the first match, I was EN FUEGO!

First game, he breaks, I run 3 balls, he runs 5 balls, I run 4 and the 8. It took less that 5 minutes. Total control, I saw every angle, and made a tough thin cut on the 8 that never got close to scratching.  1-0 Me.

2nd game, same story, made 2 solids on the break, ran 4 more and then he ran 6 balls and missed an easy shot, leaving me a straight in shot to clean up the table and leaving a very easy down table 8. 2-0 Me

3rd game, break and run 3 stripes and leave him with a tough shot. He lucks out a couple of nice ones and proceeds to run down to one ball left but he scratches. With ball in hand, I have a very open table, run the last 4 balls and the 8 to win the match 3-0. Feeling good.

On a different table, I played my second match. This new table ran like crazy and I became a scratch machine. Even when I was in control, or thought I was, I wasn't. First game, I scratch on the 8 on a cut that I hit easy and smooth, the cue ball just kept rolling.

In the second game, I got down to my last ball and cut it in, but the cue rolls nice and slow, but never stopping off of one of my opponents balls and right in the corner. He proceeds to take the ball in hand and run out.

In the final game, it was more of the same, I get ball in hand with 4 solids left, and he has one stripe. I run down to the last ball and hit a nice smooth stroke only to watch the cue bank off the rail and roll in the side. With ball in hand, he runs out, almost scratching but hanging on the lip. I felt snake bit.

Such is league night. I've not seen vacuum pockets like that in a while.

The first half of the ugliest game I've watched so far this year finds my Louisville Cardinals lucky to be tied 30-30 with UConn.

We've suddenly become three chuckers again, and the big men other than Padgett are playing scared inside against UConn's 7 footers.

TWill has missed about 10 jumpshots, and is suddenly NOT looking for the pass. Very strange half, I hope they work out the kinks, it would be a huge road win.

Just a tough loss on the road. We had a shot to win and the best we could do was a Palacios 3???

Bleah. Edgar Sosa has regressed completely, we seem to be out of control and have zero leadership when he's in.

Well, there is plenty of season left.

I was reading an article about enjoying Yosemite National Park in the winter away from the crowds. The narrator had just fallen in the snow thanks to his 9 year old son, and it brought to mind this quote from  a park ranger:

In the Summer, when people fall down, they swear. In Winter, when people fall down, they laugh.

That's some profound stuff right there.

Never in much doubt, my Cards have a tendency to relax with a big lead rather than squash the inferior oponent with a 40 point beat down. I'll take the 20 point victory on the road though.

Go Cards.

(Derrick Caracter is pro material like I am pro material. He better learn a foreign language if he thinks he can play in the pros.)

Going to see if this will work, the slideshow is from MySpace. You can mouseover for a description and clicking an image will redirect you to a smaller version than normal on MySpace. To see the image at MySpace, you have to be logged in. (The large versions will still be in the blog.com album).

Check out the album Smoky Mountains. Enjoy.

I'll have more this week.

The drive to Knoxville Tennessee couldn't have been much easier. At a little under 4 hours, we enjoyed the fog banks and very little traffic on an early Saturday morning. Once you pass Knoxville, you are ready to run the gauntlet of Sevierville, Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg before arriving at the park.

I was struck dumb when I got to Sevierville, and it got worse as we drove through Pigeon Forge and on into Gatlingburg. I wasn't prepared for the sensory overload. Sevierville is essentially an endless outlet mall, thankfully, I only had to drive through it once. Pigeon Forge is a collection of hotels interspersed with a variety of restaurants and state fair-like attractions, Dollywood not included. Not my cup of tea as a destination, but since it is convenient to the park and very reasonable in the off-season ($24.95 a night!) this was where we had room. In addtition, our hotel was directly accross the street from the Wilderness Wildlife Week convention. More on the convention in a moment.

What can one say about Gatlinburg? My initial reaction was one of distaste. After 4 days of driving through and around it and eating at several locations in the city, I can say it isn't really all that bad. It's pedestrian friendly, and scattered throughout are lovely rivers and streams. I would imagine that staying in a cbin or chalet in the hills over Gatlinburg would beat the snot out of staying in the city, but again, that would be a personal preference. The city's saving grace of course is, once you leave it heading East, you're almost immediately in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

First of all, it's big. I mean, REALLY big. And not just tall. I've been to the Appalachian mountains in the Eastern parts of Kentucky, so I know what mountains look like. The Appalachian Trail goes pretty much right through the center of the park's 800 square miles. The length of the AT in the park is 70 miles. That's a walk from Louisville to Lexington. I'm going to try and make that trek soon (the Smoky Mountains AT that is).

In the 4 short days I was there, I visited and hiked several areas in the park. On Saturday, we drove to Newfound Gap and got to walk a little bit of the AT and enjoy the views. Sunday, we hiked the Little River trail in the Elkmont section of the park (some great looking trout water here) to the Cucumber Gap trail (about 5 miles). It was warm enough to wear shorts, but near the end of the hike, it started to sleet ice pellets. Once we came down in elevation a little, the precipitation disappeared. On Monday, we hiked with approximately 30 other folks on a guided Wilderness Wildlife Week hike to the Crosby section of the park and the Lower Mt. Camerer trail (7 miles). This hike was especialy nice since the sky was clear, but the ground had a light frosting of snow and ice. The Sutton Ridge Overlook (about halfway along the Lower Mt. Camerer trail) provided some great views of snow covered hollows and peaks at the higher elevations. Monday night, we drove up Newfound Gap road for a Wilderness Wildlife Week Owl Prowl, where you hike in the dark to see if your guide can call in some native owls. That was very cold and very cool, even though on this night, we didn't spot any owls. Tuesday, we checked out of our hotel and took a nice long drive past Laurel Falls, the Townsend exit to one of the most popular places in the park, Cades Cove. There were deer and wild turkey aplenty.

Even in Winter, the Smokies are still green with plentiful rhododendrons and water is abundant almost everywhere you turn. Cascades and falls appear out of nowhere along roadways and every conversion seems to have at least a stream trickling down the mountainside. One of the benfits of Winter hiking is that there are very few peopl in the park. The 11 mile loop drive of Cades Cove is bumper to bumper in the Spring, Summer and Fall but you can set your own pace in the Winter. And you'll find yourself almost completely alone on any trail you choose.

It's a very spiritual place. If the Smokies don't make you feel a little spiritual, check your pulse.

I almost forgot: the Wilderness Wildlife Week convention. It is completely free to participate in and it is brilliant. The city of Pigeon Forge sponsors the event and provides transportation to and from about 10 different hikes each day varying from easy to strenuous. While hikes go on in the park during the day, the convention center fills the day with information sessions on topics ranging from photography, to fishing, to Appalachian folk music and history. As long a you don't mind a little cold weather, this has to be one of the greatest local events from around the country.

Check out more about the Wilderness Wildlife Week Here

Playing very well and up 12 with about 8 or so minutes to go against BEast rival Marquette.

Update: 6:07 to play, up 17, Marquette guard Dominic James just re-injured his wrist and Marquette goes to the line.

Update: 3:47 to play, up 17 and still with the ball. Looking good.

Side note: I'm still gathering my thoughts about the Smoky Mountains trip. Stay tuned.

Update:  A big win for the Ville. 71-51. Yowza.

Heading South tomorrow for 4 days in the Smokies.

Look for pictures late next week.

It is Wilderness Wildlife Week in Pigeon Forge Tennessee. Should be a lot of fun.