It was a quiet
day for us even though there were plenty of day visitors streaming in and
hiking up to the Midnight Hole. We saw a parade of eight cars driving up Big
Creek road in the morning. Later, we noticed a lot of Louisiana license plates
in the parking lot. They must have all been together. It was a beautiful day
and I was moved to take a picture as soon as we left Sao.
Spence was
mowing the lawn in the parking lot.
The group that
has been here for nearly two weeks in the group site left about noon. Another
Camp Carolina group of 16 arrived in the early evening. It was pouring rain and
we watched them running to the swimming hole under the bridge.
The crust on the
blueberry cobbler had turned to mush overnight. I stirred it up, put in a third
of a cup of self-rising flour, and baked it for 30 minutes. It was delicious
and not soupy. It didn’t look like cobbler any more though.
Boss Larry
dropped by with updated reservation reports just as I was mixing up the
blueberry stuff. He said he had posted my pictures of the raccoon on his
Facebook page and his friends liked them. He started to leave, but I convinced
him to stay just a few minutes longer with some of that blueberry stuff. He also
gave me some more Smokies Guides newspapers to hand out.
The cell phone I
found at the campground kiosk yesterday belonged to the camper in Site 3. He
was thrilled to get it back. It is a 10-year-old Blackberry-type phone that he
is hoping to keep alive indefinitely. Why?
He does not have to pay for a data plan. I wish I had known that data
plan thing before I traded in my old phone years ago. I still remember how
shocked I was when I couldn’t plug the new phone into the computer to get on
line. Moreover, it was unlimited minutes after 2100.
The camper in
Site 1 told Andy the big motorhome in the parking lot left about 1930. Another
camper said it was interesting to watch them maneuver to get it out of there.
Spence arrived
at the RV with Randy and Lynn Graves, who are the October hosts. We chatted and
swapped camp host stories for a while. They requested a performance of Smoky Mountain Maintenance Man and we
gave a rousing rendition with the addition of the new last verse.
We had passing
dark clouds all day, but the daily deluge did not start until after 1700. I was
working on my log and asked Andy if anything happened today. He did not come up
with much. Then I saw the young men running back to the group site. One of them
fell and hurt his leg. I saw him go down and think he stumbled in the little
drainage ditch across our road. Andy went out to investigate. I stayed inside.
The poor fellow had a nasty gash on his knee. The trip leaders were prepared
with first aid materials, but they borrowed some tweezers to dig some gravel
out of the wound. I didn’t look. Then they packed up all their gear and all of
them left to take the boy to the hospital to get stitches.
There was a pond
in the parking lot after the heavy rain.
We were talking
with the couple in Site 8 when I looked up and took this picture of the wet
trees and the mist above us. That’s the Smoky Mountain smoke mixed with a bit
of campfire smoke.
The couple in
Site 1 did not have any twine to tie up their tarp, so Andy took the man to Sao
to give him some of ours. He was so grateful.
The family from
Michigan in Site 4 took our advice and went to the Mellow Mushroom for pizza
today. When I saw them in the evening, they were raving about it and thanking
me for the recommendation. Even the little kids were excited about it.
I finished
walking around to the campsites and then met Andy in the picnic area. The water
level was up a little in Big Creek, but not dramatically. Two Hispanic boys
were in the swimming hole bouncing a soccer ball from one head to the other. The
mother was standing on shore watching them.
On the radio
A woman called dispatch from the Rainbow Falls
trailhead to report that her 16-year-old nephew had fallen on the trail and
broken his collarbone and perhaps some toes. She had come down the trail ahead
of the rest of the party to make the phone call. Ranger 412 went to meet her at
the trailhead. At 1604 dispatch reported that the 185-pound nephew was about a
mile up and hopping down the trail on one foot with the aid of two uncles. After
they had been calling around trying to form a litter team, Ranger 412 got to
the trailhead, but found no aunt or nephew. Dispatch called the cell phone
number and the aunt said he had made it down the trail and they were taking him
back to their cabin. They would take him to the hospital later, if necessary. They
could have called to let the park know. Several rangers stayed overtime
to be part of the litter team.
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