People of Big Creek - Robert Spence

As an introduction of sorts, I'm posting pictures of people we met in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park I  have taken over the years. These are the "characters" in my book, Big Creek - A Closer Look at a National Park, in order of appearance.

I would guess that Spence, as he is called, is the main character in the book, after the Great Smoky Mountains National Park itself. He is definitely a "character". Spence is the maintenance man for the Big Creek campground.  He mows the grass, whacks the weeds, cleans the toilet buildings, repairs the  split-rail fence, cleans the ashes from the campsites, cleans out the horse stalls, blows the forest debris off the sidewalks, washes the sidewalks, checks the water quality, and picks up trash dropped by park visitors. I'm sure I've missed a few things. He keeps Big Creek in tip-top shape.

In addition to his maintenance chores, Spence interacts with part visitors.  They see his uniform and ask him questions about camping, hiking, picnicking, and bears. Many visitors refer to him as a park ranger. They all love him.

Here he is the first day we met him in 2010.  He stopped by the host site to introduce himself and to check us out, no doubt.

Spence always stopped in to refill his store-bought coffee cup when he first arrived in the morning. We bought a folding chair at Walmart for him to sit in when he came by in the afternoon for a cold drink. He said he couldn't sit in it too long; he had to get to work.

He carried his tools and cleaning supplies on a Gator.

He tested the water every day from the faucets in the campgrounds and kept records of such in a small building.

Spence is a grass mowing

ditch digging,

weed whacking

leaf blowing,

pressure washing,

sidewalk sweeping,

man with an attitude.

He told us he had worked on trail crews for a number of years before and they never had ice.  They drank their sodas hot.  For a long time, he would accept a soda without ice. On one particularly hot and humid day, he decided he would take it with plenty of ice.

He had a great sweaty hairdo when he took his cap off.

He would often stop and eat his lunch at the motorhome.

 If I took a picture of him working, he would say, "I TOLD you not to take a picture of me working!" Then, if I took a picture of him taking a break, he would complain, "I TOLD you not to take a picture of me when I'm not working!"

 Spence was just telling us about a woman in the picnic area who had said to him:

"Thank you very much, you disgusting, despicable, ugly, little man for ruining my picnic!"

He was regularly picking up the split-rail fence after park visitors knocked it down to make room to park. He never said bad things about park visitors like I would have.




Here he is picking up the No Parking sign that had been knocked down by a young drunk camper.

A few times, we saw him let down his long hair at the end of the work day.  

Andy composed a song about Spence, you can guess the tune.

Smoky Mountain Maintenance Man

Lyrics by Andy and Dinata Misovec

He’ll be comin’ round the mountain when he comes.

He’ll be comin’ round the mountain when he comes.

He’ll be comin’ round the mountain. He’ll be cussin’ and a shoutin’

He’ll be comin’ round the mountain when he comes.

He will bring his big weed eater when he comes.

He will bring his big weed eater when he comes.

He will bring his big weed eater and the campground will be neater.

He will bring his big weed eater when he comes.

He will clean the campers’ ashes when he comes.

He will clean the campers’ ashes when he comes.

He will clean the campers’ashes and where they wipe their asses.

He will clean the campers’ ashes when he comes.

He’ll be ridin’ on his mower when he comes.

He’ll be ridin’ on his mower when he comes.

He’ll be ridin’ on his mower and the grass is getting’ lower.

He’ll be ridin’ on his mower when he comes.

He will fire up his blower when he comes.

He will fire up his blower when he comes.

He will fire up his blower, but with age he’s get’n slower.

He will fire up his blower when he comes.

He’ll be drive’n on his Gator when he goes.

He’ll be drive’n on his Gator when he goes.

He’ll be drive’n on his Gator sayin’ “see y’uns later”.

He’ll be drive’n on his Gator when he goes.

He’ll be golfing on the golf course when he’s gone.

He’ll be golfing on the golf course when he’s gone.

With his woods he will be smackin’. With his irons he’s weed whackin’.

He’ll be cussin’ on the golf course when he’s gone.

People of Big Creek - Ranger Tim Rand

As an introduction of sorts, I'm posting pictures of people we met in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park I  have taken over the years. These are the "characters" in my book, Big Creek - A Closer Look at a National Park, in order of appearance.

Here is Ranger Tim the first day we met him.  He was our point of contact with the park.  That day, he spent about half the day with us, showing us around and going over the rules and our responsibilities.  I still remember that he said our top responsibility was to have fun and our second job was to make sure all the park visitors had fun and stayed safe. 

He was at least six foot four.  That smile was always on his face. Here he is a few weeks later.

When he went up the trail for a rescue, Tim took off his bullet-proof vest and donned a rescue backpack.

One day, on his day off, Tim dropped in so we could meet his family. Little Becky was still half asleep when they took her out of her car seat, so she was not ready to smile for the strange lady with a camera. Like her Daddy, she smiled most of the time too.  

Here is Ranger Tim with Becky at a lunch picnic at the ranger station in Cosby.

Here is my favorite picture of Ranger Tim (and Ranger Heath). We were having a cookout on our last night in Big Creek to introduce my daughter Jennifer and her husband George to Ranger Tim and his wife Kendra. We had also invited camper friends Steve and Ginger from Cincinnati. After dinner, we built a campfire and made S'mores. It was just about dark when Ranger Heath came in with his ranger truck lights flashing to crash the party. Those two large law enforcement rangers transformed into a couple of eight-year-olds around the campfire with marshmallows. The rest of us are laughing to this day.

Ranger Tim left the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and moved on to the Delaware Watergap. Later, he moved again to Acadia National Park, which, I believe was his career goal. Aside from career goals, the move would put them closer to family.

People Seen in Big Creek - Ranger Dennis Milligan

As an introduction of sorts, I'm posting pictures of Great Smoky Mountains National Park employees I  have taken over the years. These are the "characters" in my book, Big Creek - A Closer Look at a National Park, in order of appearance.

Park Ranger Dennis Milligan was there to greet us when we first arrived in the park in July of 2010. He led us to our  camp host site in Big Creek.

I thought he looked so young but, that is probably because I am getting so old.

One day, Dennis came to Big Creek on his day off to run up the Big Creek trail.  We dog sat his two dogs Kelly and Cody. They waited patiently for Dennis to return.

Dennis responded to a broken-leg incident at the Midnight Hole.  Then, the boy in the background had fallen off the trail and rolled down the mountain.  Dennis had heard him calling for help and told him to follow the creek down to the picnic area.

Ranger Dennis transferred to Joshua Tree National Park to be closer to his girlfriend. Now I am determined to visit Joshua Tree to see him again.

People Seen in Big Creek - Ranger Dennis Milligan

As an introduction of sorts, I'm posting pictures of Great Smoky Mountains National Park employees I  have taken over the years. These are the "characters" in my book, Big Creek - A Closer Look at a National Park, in order of appearance.

Park Ranger Dennis Milligan was there to greet us when we first arrived in the park in July of 2010. He led us to our  camp host site in Big Creek.

I thought he looked so young but, that is probably because I am getting so old.

One day, Dennis came to Big Creek on his day off to run up the Big Creek trail.  We dog sat his two dogs Kelly and Cody. They waited patiently for Dennis to return.

Dennis responded to a broken-leg incident at the Midnight Hole.  Then, the boy in the background had fallen off the trail and rolled down the mountain.  Dennis had heard him calling for help and told him to follow the creek down to the picnic area.

Ranger Dennis transferred to Joshua Tree National Park to be closer to his girlfriend. Now I am determined to visit Joshua Tree to see him again.

June 29, 2015 - Leaving Big Creek

We drove out of Big Creek, but an inspection crew was inspecting the bridge over Big Creek, down near the power plant on the Pigeon River. We had taken Sao down to the river and then took the car back up to offload some equipment in the ranger station. We were stuck for a while so I walked around and took some pictures while we waited.








This is the lower bridge over Big Creek, right at the power plant.




This picture is looking up the creek from that bridge.



This is looking at the downstream side of the bridge at the power plant.



And, this is the power plant at the confluence of Big Creek and the Pigeon River.



Here, Sao awaits the car in the kayak and raft launching area along the Pigeon River.

June 28, 2015 - Preparing to Leave Big Creek

I could not figure out what the emergency rescue was that was going on this morning. There was an extraordinary amount of talk on the radio for that hour.

We ate half of the cantaloupe that Boss Larry brought us yesterday. It was cantaloupe perfection. Andy raved about how it tasted like cantaloupe to him. He was thrilled and talked about it the rest of the morning. I guess taste buds do gradually recover from radiation. Thanks again Larry.

The morning campground walk went well. People were looking for sites and the campground was full before we left. I don’t think dispatch heard me when I gave the morning vacancy report.

We did a lot of talking with campers, but I was anxious to get back to the motorhome to prepare for leaving tomorrow. Andy packed up all the exterior things, except the folding chairs. I did laundry all day, including all the park shirts and fleece jackets.

We ate our meal earlier than normal and then I started making a batch of pecan praline cookies. I’ve made this same stupid mistake before, but was in a hurry and did it again. I toasted my pecans in the oven, but did not let them cool before adding them to the cookie dough. The hot pecans melted the butter and made the dough too soft. I suppose I could have put the dough in the fridge to firm up, but was in a big hurry. The cookies were flat and crispy. They were also delicious.

Spence and Linda arrived with a trailer carrying a Gator from Cosby. I hope that means they will take Spence’s Gator back to Cosby with them to get a new muffler. They used it to clean the ashes from the fire rings in the campground. With Spence spending so much time in Cosby this week, the fire rings were quite full. He is supposed to clean them out when the campsites are empty, however, the sites are only empty for a short time before new campers come in. They enjoyed some cookies before they left.

I packed up my camp host office and put everything into the car to take to the ranger station. Then I packed all my nature books (birds, trees, mushrooms, wildflowers) and park books (waterfalls, day hike, trails) back into the cabinet.

Rangers Heath and Will were supposed to come here to pick up money envelopes, but Will got diverted to the ongoing crisis. Heath came alone and told us the rescue on the radio all day was a girl, who is a classmate of his oldest son. Yesterday, she decided to climb up (I think Alum Cave) bluffs and, at some point, could not go up or down. She spent the night stuck up there. They got her off with a helicopter today. We had a nice campfire going even though it took us forever to get it started with the damp wood. Andy made a fire starter with some cotton balls and petroleum jelly wrapped in a paper towel.

We had heard Heath on the radio before he arrived. Some hikers had called the park to report that a horse, without a rider, had followed them off the trail. Dispatch called Heath to respond. Horse and rider were eventually reunited and then Heath called into say he was transporting some hikers to the Big Creek parking lot. We knew we would see him soon.

Andy and Heath went to the campground to get the money envelopes out of the iron ranger while I tended the campfire. Then we had coffee and cookies around the fire.

June 27, 2015 - Busy Day in Big Creek

There was a power failure some time during the night.

I don’t know what it is, but this stuff falls off the trees. Those are tiny white flowers.

There was an enormous cooler sitting on the picnic table bench in Site 1 this morning. They had wrapped tie-down straps around it, I suppose to keep the bears out. I shook the corner of the tent to ask if anyone was home, the way I saw Ranger Tim do it, as politely as possible. No one was home. I wrote up a courtesy notice and then went to get the cart; there was no way the two of us were going to carry that monstrosity.

 The dog was loose in Site 6. Andy spoke to the dog and the woman came around the tarp to grab him by the collar. I told the woman that she needs to keep the dog on a leash. She said she had to let go of him to pack something and I countered that if she had the dog on a leash, she would not have to hold him by the collar. The second woman said they know the rules. I rephrased it and said the rules are that you need to keep your dog on a leash. I must have repeated that two or three more times before I walked on shaking my head.

We finished walking around the campground and I checked my tally. I told Andy we had four vacancies.  That reminded him to turn on the radio to be ready for the morning vacancy report.  (He had it turned off to conserve the battery; the charger was not working well.) The instant he turned it on, dispatch called “Abrams Creek” and then “Big Creek”.  I responded and she announced completion of the morning vacancy report.  We made it in the nick of time.

I think the reason I have not seen any touch-me-nots, or jewelweed this year is that something had been eating the tops of the plants.  Maybe deer.

Even though it was a dark, wet morning, the leaves over the bridge were bright.

I took pictures downstream and up.

Big Creek

Big Creek

 I spotted this orange fungus along the trail to the horse camp.

I went off the trail for a closer look.

Orange Fungus

 I made a blueberry cobbler for Heath today, to make up for the peach cobbler he missed on Monday and Tuesday. Boss Larry arrived while the cobbler was in the oven, but left before I took it out. He was waiting for Heath to arrive so they could take the money out of the iron ranger, but Heath called to say he would be at least an hour and a half. We took a lot of pictures of each other. I took 15 pictures of Spence, Linda, and Larry. I loved them all because they were clowning around and smiling.

Spence, Linda, and Larry

 Spence and Linda came to clean the toilet buildings and waited for cobbler. Spence said he does not like blueberries, but was having seconds just to keep it from Ranger Heath. And, he asked me to make sure I told Heath that.

Clyde and Debbie, the Cosby hosts are going to replace us here for July.  They stopped by to check out Big Creek and we gave them what we considered good advice.  They may take it or leave it.

Ranger Heath did arrive later in the evening. I served him cobbler and gave him the rest to take home.

Ranger Heath Soehn

 We were still talking when he got a call from dispatch about hikers who had not come off the trail when expected. The caller was at the ranger station. Heath left to talk to them.

We saw Heath’s truck in the parking lot with a group of people as we walked to the campground. There was another missing hiker on the Big Creek trail. We went on to the campground.

An empty money envelope was hanging on the Site 7 clip. Andy went to Site 7 to figure out what they were doing. I was doing the evening head count at the registration board. A couple came up looking for a campsite and I directed them to Site 5. When I joined Andy in Site 7, I noticed the woman in Site 6 putting a rope on her dog. The man in Site 7 had a lot of questions. This was the first camping trip for his two boys. We said “good evening” to the folks in Site 6, but they just glared at us as we walked by. Another couple came up looking for a site as we passed Site 10. We decided to put them in Site 6 in the horse campground. They walked with us to the registration board and were filling out a pay envelope. The couple from Site 5 offered to share their site with the latest couple. They declined, thinking the horse camp sounded better. Then a man came up with two small boys looking for a site. We all decided that the man with the two small boys would fit better at the horse camp and the couple would camp with the couple in Site 5. My head was spinning and I hoped no one else came in looking for a place to camp.

Ranger Heath was still in the parking lot when we walked through. All the missing hikers had come off the trail. I said he is a hero and he struck a Dudley Doright pose. Heath says that if he takes long enough getting ready to go rescue someone, they walk off the trail before he starts out. Everyone was getting in their cars when a thin black man with very poor English walked off the trail. He said his friend was hurt up Big Creek trail. He broke his toe and the bone was sticking out. Ranger Heath moved his truck to the trail head and we walked back to Sao. We could hear Heath on the radio with dispatch. At first, the injury was worse than he expected and he wanted to get permission to use Spence’s Gator to bring the man down the trail. Then he decided that the man could walk well enough. He asked dispatch to get the phone number and address for a hospital ready for him to relay to the party when they got off the trail.

On the radio

Several rangers were looking for and finding a white jeep. Dispatch said that the tags were registered to a different kind of car and were listed as “no longer on vehicle”. Andy noted that they must be stolen tags.

There was a lot going on in the park, but I was too busy to listen to the radio most of the day.