Haiku Tuesday: Burn Ban

Ah, those were the days!

I want to build a fire, but most of southeast and northwest Arkansas is under what has been a lengthy burn ban. Mostly, I haven't built a fire in a while and just feel like practicing! I've also been wanting to learn to start a fire with a bow drill. I've been able to start one with flint and steel for some time, but I'd like to add the bow drill to my repertoire.

I think I'm going to make some marshmallows since I can't roast any.  But for now, here's my sad haiku.

No marshmallows are
Toasted and no wieners roasted
Til the rain returns

I'm in need of some camping soon!  After Thanksgiving, but before Christmas, hopefully.  I'm thinking of checking out Leroy Percy State Park in Mississippi to kayak or going bike riding, maybe backpacking at Cane Creek State Park in Arkansas. I could do either as a day trip, and with the burn ban, I may. Just a day out, taking a break will be nice.

I'm excited that I live closer to my family for Thanksgiving this year. We're celebrating on Wednesday because my sister works on Thursday.

I'm also working on a weaving tutorial series of posts. The first one should be up before the end of the month, with the second not far behind. I'm going to start with very basic instructions and weaving newspaper. 

Haiku Tuesday: Cypress Knees

I have a fondness for cypress trees. They aren't my all time favorite tree, but they are definitely in the top 5. For me, they are part of home. They are the tree equivalent of Emeril Lagasse's "kicking it up a notch," taking "just a lake" and making it an adventure. They feel prehistoric and can give character

to any body of water, especially when they have their buddy, Spanish moss, hanging out in the limbs.

Friendship Garden's Tea House

When I visited Phoenix, I went to a bonsai exhibit at the Japanese Friendship Garden. The exhibit was great, and I really enjoyed my trip to the garden.
A few of the bonsai on display were different kinds of cypress trees. I asked one of the gentlemen if the bonsai version ever grew knees. He didn't know what I was talking about. We finally understood one another, and he said he'd never seen one with knees other than in pictures.  I had never really thought about it and had taken for granted that cypress trees were the same everywhere. When I thought it more, I realized I had seen some growing around Fayetteville that didn't have knees.

When I got home, I researched it. Growing up, I had always thought cypress knees were to help the tree get air. I never questioned that and never really thought about it. When I researched it, I found that a study was conducted measuring the air exchange in air only around the knees. It was minimal. No evidence has been found that the knees help support the tree, as in the case of mango trees. The general conclusion is that cypress trees are a mystery. I'm sure there are many more studies, and I intend to read through some more.

Yesterday, Boudreaux and I walked down to the lake to catch the last bit of sunset. There's a neat spot behind the campground across the road from my house where you can walk to the edge of the water. I like to walk down there when there aren't any campers (or mosquitoes!). I took a couple of pictures and started thinking about today's haiku on the walk back to the house.

Knees that can never
bend but stretch from below for
mystery alone

Why do you think cypress trees have knees?

Haiku Tuesday!

I have always liked haiku. The challenge of expressing a whole emotion or idea in such a short and constrained manner just appeals to me.
A couple of years ago, I even tried writing a haiku every day for 30 days. I did keep it up for a couple of weeks. I even illustrated most of them. Then it snowed, and I got distracted by playing outside.

I've decided to start writing them again. I won't have a goal as lofty as one day, but I think one a week is realistic. Some of them, okay, most of them, will probably not be very good, but I like to challenge myself and solve puzzles. To me, a haiku is a creative word puzzle. This will help me stretch my brain. Plus, it will be fun.

Why Tuesday? Because it has a "u" in it and sounded better than "haiku Thursday".  So without
further ado:

Rains refuse to come
While trees remain clothed in green

Forgotten by Fall

Our weather has been uncharacteristically warm, with very dry conditions. The only leaves on the ground are there from lack of water. There are very few fall colors and the lake is very low. 

Feel like trying your hand at a haiku? Try it out and share the results in the comments!

Highpointers and Hills

For several years, I lived very close to Arkansas's highest point. I hiked to the top of at least once, nearly every week.  At the top was a  well cared for and rather large sign announcing the elevation and a mailbox containing a logbook.  The logbook would fill every couple of months,  and I was often granted the pleasure if being the one to exchange it for a new one.  I enjoyed reading some of the entries while it was temporarily in my keeping, and that is where I learned about highpointers for the very first time.

You'll have to visit to see what's at the top!

Denali

Highpointers are people who have made it their aspiration, their hobby, their passion to reach the summit of the highest point in every state.  (There is also a group that aims for the highest point in every county,  but that's for another time.) For those of you who may be a little rusty on your geography,  that includes the 14,440' Mount Elbert in Colorado, the 14,494' Mount Whitney in California, and the famous 20,320' Denali in Alaska.  Just  to throw out there for fun, Arkansas's Mount Magazine, is 2,753' tall, meaning it would take just over 7 Mount Magazines stacked up to reach the height of Denali!

At first,  I  simply thought "huh. Well that's cool,"  and moved on. Then as I saw more logbook entries,  read their stories, visited the websites like highpointers.org and summitpost.org, and conversed with highpointers, the idea began sinking into my brain.  I don't remember when I decided it. I don't know if there was a specific moment that it became a goal. But I decided to start visiting highpoints.
My goal is to visit at least 40 of the 50. Denali,  Whitney, and a few others are technical climbs, requiring specific skills,  physical conditioning, and practice.  I would like to climb a mountain like that some day,  but I feel like it's naive for me to believe I could climb a monster like Denali.  It would take time,  finances, and dedication that, at this point,  I'm not sure I'd ever be willing to invest in such a pursuit.  But  stand on top of the shorter 40?  I have no doubt I can accomplish that.

I've obviously been to Arkansas's highpoint, and I accidentally visited Missouri's a few years ago. However, my first intentional trip to visit to a highpoint was just a couple weeks ago. A friend and I visited Driskill Mountain, or Driskill Hill depending on who you ask, in Louisiana. I walked to the 535' summit on a trail that was about half a mile long.  At the top was a panel with some history, a logbook, and a couple of benches.

The area was heavily wooded, but there was still a little bit of a view. The highpoint and trails are on private land, but the landowners graciously keep up the trails and allow people to hike on them.  If you decide to visit, there are lots of criss crossing paths, so be sure to pay attention to the trail blazes.

On the trip, we camped at Lake Claiborne State Park in Louisiana. The park was nearly empty, and I enjoyed staying there. Our site was right on the water and had plenty of trees for hammock. My friend slept in a tent, but there was no designated tent pad. Instead he pitched it on the asphalt for RVs. I loaned him a self inflating sleeping pad. I also took advantage of this opportunity to cooking frozen biscuits in my homemade steam baker. I've made them from mix but frozen was new. They had a slightly different texture on the outside but turned out well.

DIY Backpack Steam Baker

Steam Baker!

I made a backpack-able steam oven! Check it out.

Ok, so I didn't make the WHOLE thing. I turned my MSR stow away pot and my MSR pocket rocket into a BNO Steam Baker. (What?! It seemed like it needed initials, so I gave it mine.)

I saw a somewhat expensive backpacking steam oven set up for sale online. Once I got to thinking about it, I decided I could probably convert my regular pot into one fairly easily. With some brainstorming help from Ranger D. and Ranger P., and a short supply run, I was able to make cornbread.

Mmmm! Buttermilk cornbread.

All that I had to actually purchase were some silicone baking cups and the cornbread mix. I wanted to use the same type of mix I'd pack if I were camping, which meant a "Just Add Water" type.

It took me less than an hour to make it. That's counting the time it took to decide which kind of bolt and which drill bit I wanted to use.
  
 My guy is probably going to want one for his overnight kayaking. If I make his, I'll take pictures and post a how to. If I don't, I'll stage pictures and post a how to anyway. :)

See, no golden brown, but it was still tasty!

 So the pros:

• I can bake while backpacking, Cool!
• It weighs 3.1 oz. 
• It was way cheap to make. 
• It was way easy to make. 

The Cons:

• Stuff you bake in it will not brown. 
• It weighs 3.1 oz (but baking...!)
• It gave the cornbread a different texture. Not a bad one, just a little bit different.
• After I spent the time thinking and working on it, I found a silicone thing for $10 that does the same thing... 
• You're going to use a bit of fuel to bake something. The cornbread took about 15 minutes at around 1/2 power. But if you're going on a trip where you don't mind the extra 3 oz, you are probably going on a trip where that little extra fuel is okay to use.

Here's a picture if you want to work it out yourself, before I do the how to.

Or you can drop the $10 plus shipping and order the silicone one from PackIt Gourmet. They also have a kit that includes the silicone cups, a whisk, and a pot scraper for $20. My silicone cups were just under $4 for 8 of them.


Can't wait to take it on the trail next week!

Travel & Trails

Mom and I went on a trip together. We didn't do the things we planned, but we had a great time.

We picked Ha Ha Tonka State Park because we wanted to see the "castle" ruins. The story of the ruins is pretty cool, though a little bit sad. There is a .4 mile mostly paved trail that goes out to it. You can't go into it or climb on it, but it's neat to walk around and peak through the windows. I wonder if the area would've became a park if the house hadn't burned.

Apparently, Ha Ha Tonka is also home to the 12th largest spring in Missouri. They sprang that on us (haha..see what I did there&  there?) when we stopped in the visitor center. I'm a sucker for visitor centers and I really wanted a Ha Ha Tonka State Park shirt. They only had one shirt that said Ha Ha Tonka, and it didn't come in my size. Apparently Missouri is doing "The Year of the Trail," including a neat challenge issued by the governor to travel 100 miles of trail. That's awesome, cause that's my goal for the year, too! So I bought a hiking medallion for it. I also bought a Ha Ha Tonka medallion.


We planned a backpacking trip on Turkey Penn Hollow trail. We loaded up our packs and headed off on the supposedly 6.5 mile trail. We hadn't been hiking long when it started storming. Around mile 5.5, when we discovered the backpacking camp was after that marker, we decided to go on and hike out. We thought it was only 6.5 miles. Turns out, the mileage doesn't start at the parking lot. The Turkey Penn Hollow trail starts & ends partially down another trail, making the mileage for it a little over 7.5 miles.

Mom says it still counts as backpacking because we did the whole thing with our packs on. :)

Not staying on the trail for the night gave us an extra day on our trip. We went to the George Washington Carver Monument National Park.

Hiking Challenge

Random odd thing

I enjoy hiking, and I love seeing new places. I like the little random odd things as much as the big cool things. Lately, I've done most of my hiking all in one spot, and while at work.

I decided to challenge myself, to help myself branch out a little.

Before the end of the year, I'm going to cover 100 non-work miles of trail, by running or hiking, with at least half them not in Mount Magazine State Park.

I already went to Pedestal Rocks & King's Bluff. They were 2 loop trails that totaled around  4.3 miles.

Big cool thing

All the trails I've done since then have been while I was on the clock. The last few days, I've planned on on going on one of our trails after work. It's been raining and Boudreaux didn't want to get wet.

Mom and I are going to do some hiking soon. Amily has quite a few big hikes planned for us this summer. Sharing the trails will make the challenge even more fun!