Mountain Hopping

       This is a tale... a very real tale, of two young men on the brink of death. It all started back in October 2011 beginning with a hike on the Art Loeb Trail in NC. The trail runs through the Shining Rock Wilderness. The trail starts at a Boy Scout Camp that eerily seemed abandoned at first. After aimlessly wandering around the camp an old man came out of nowhere and advised us on the hike. He warned us about the bears and let us know he would be hunting. At this point I told Ricky we should watch our backs this guy is gonna KILL US!! Nevertheless we parked and hit the trail. The hike was strenuous, but after several hours we reached our goal, Cold Mountain ( one of the most appropriately named mountains I have ever been on). It was freezing!            
     As we set up camp I collected water while Ricky collected fire wood. As the sun set it was time to light the fire... easier said than done. Despite rigorous training from Bear Grills (aka man vs wild) we were not able to get it to light. the sticks we had collected were frozen in the insides even though they seemed dry on the outsides!! We became frantic as the temperatures dropped rapidly.. We burned  anything and everything we could for 2 hours and could not get anything to catch. We then decided to save our energy and go to bed but first we had to hang our food so the bears wouldn't get it. So before we left I threw a pile of frozen leaves on the fire to see if the smoldering would create enough heat. While hanging the food our hands were so cold we could barely move them and we were shaking uncontrollably. When we returned to the camp there was literally a glimmer of home. The smoldering had worked and we soon had a raging fire. It was then and there we reminisced on the equation fire=life!!
      In the morning the hiking continued. Through forest and open grass hills we traveled for miles thankful we had survived the night. We saw more hikers that day and found an amazing place to camp. Only one problem lumped. A little ways into the woods was a food pack that had been ripped open by a bear and empty wrappers were everywhere. Sleep did not come easy that night either...

 

     The following morning we doubled back and made it to the car before nightfall. I then continued to be sick the next 4 month with a cold and sinus infections that prescriptions and Zpaks couldn't cure. It was terrible!! Fortunately I have recovered now, just in time for warm weather and more camping!!   

Back to Adventure

This particular adventure took place last summer and I am just now writing about it. Back in May 2011 my buddy Michael Henry Jr. and I went on a kayak journey down the Congaree River in Columbia, SC. We began at the National Forest HQ and got maps and advice from the two rangers there. They advised us that the water was low and it would take 2 to 5 hrs through the swamp before reaching the main river. That was a wide range, but we figured two strapping, young, gentle men like us could make it in 2... well it took 5! We had some serious paddling to do before night fall but luckily we made it to the river and a sand bar. After setting up camp we eat dinner and fished until it got very late. We caught many catfish and saved some in a man made live well for breakfast. In the morning we were greeted by Bambi who seemed lost and scared, but bravely swam to our sand bar a scurried to shore. We then packed up cleaned up and were down the river again. It was peaceful and beautiful. we traveled nearly 20 miles all together. Toward the end of the trip we passed another sandbar named the Redneck Riviera. It was packed with people hanging out on there john boats and having a good time. They all cheered as we paddled by pretty exhausted from our journey. Finally we pulled out at a boat ramp and our travels were through. We were able to finish a day early and really enjoyed our trip!                      

Be Careful What You Wish For

"God will invade. But I wonder whether people who ask God to interfere openly and directly in our world quite realise what it will be like when He does.

 When that happens, it is the end of the world. When the author walks on to the stage the play is over. God is going to invade, all right: but what is the good of saying you are on His side then, when you see the whole natural universe melting away like a dream and something else - something it never entered your head to conceive - comes crashing in; something so beautiful to some of us and so terrible to others that none of us will have any choice left? 

For this time it will God without disguise; something so overwhelming that it will strike either irresistible love or irresistible horror into every creature. It will be too late then to choose your side. There is no use saying you choose to lie down when it has become impossible to stand up. That will not be the time for choosing; it will be the time when we discover which side we really have chosen, whether we realised it before or not. Now, today, this moment, is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It will not last for ever. We must take it or leave it." 

C.S. Lewis- Mere Christianity

The Creator  of The Chronicles of Narnia... Long time Atheist turned Christian with the help of J.R Tolkien creator of Lord Of the Rings!

Celebrities

"Why do we celebrate Celebrities? Here is my theory. To feel human is to feel inconsequential. So we worship celebrities and we try to look like them. All the great things they have done we try to identify with in order to escape our own inconsequential lives. But it is so dumb. With this stream of perfectly airbrushed, imiplanted, and liposuction stars, you would have to be an absolute powerhouse of self esteem already not to feel totally inferior before them. So we worship them because we feel inconsequential, but doing it makes us feel even worse. we make them stars, but then their fame makes us feel insignificant"  Christina Kelly in King's Cross by Timothy Keller

Shut Up and Lift

Today I saw a guy at the gym and his shirt said "shut up and lift". I want that shirt! It reminded me of an old saying "weightlifting is not a hobby, it is a lifestyle." To many people stand around the weight room taking up 2-3 machines at a time. I just want to walk up to those people ans say hey " shut up and lift". Below are some tips to effective work outs. Some I’m sure you have seen before, but let this be a refresher.

1. Swallow your pride/ego- Do weight that is effective not weight that makes you look strong. Most people have terrible form because they are doing 10-20 lbs too heavy. Yes they are finishing reps, but they are not isolating the target muscle and if you don't isolate, muscle wont grow.    
2. Only allow 1-1.30min between sets- Do not pace yourself!! that’s not why you are lifting. The first set should warm up your muscle and the second and third set should whip your butt. You will notice a serious weight drop with little rest, but that is what your muscles need.
3. Don’t work out with the opposite sex!- This is a huge distraction. It will make it twice as hard to swallow your ego and so effect weight and reps. You will spend a lot of time talking with them wasting valuable time.   
4. Be careful with headphones- music is good it get you pumped and headphones say "don’t bother me I’m working out", however you may be more inclined to scroll through music or play on your iPod instead of focusing on your lift.
5. Stretch after working out- stretching breaks down muscle similar to lifting. stretching before can take away strength you need for the lift. warm up your muscles instead
6. Take Jack3d- this supplement will not help you build mass, but IT WILL help you focus and cut down the need for rest! drink lots of water!!!!!
7. Try Niacin- this supplement will expand you blood vessels and allow other nutrients and blood to flow faster. take 250mg or less the first several times drink lots of water!!!!!
8. Workout legs on their own day- legs should be the most exhausting workout you shouldn’t be able to do anything else
9. Decline bench- this may be the most effective chest exercise. Incline bench puts a lot of stress on your shoulders.
10. Isolate back- don’t use your arms! Back Only!

A significant amount of my information is from bodybuilding.com  and life experience. good luck, go hard!!

http://www.gnc.com/search/index.jsp?kwCatId=&kw=jack3d&origkw=jack3d&sr=1&camp=PPC:553235621&002=2269848&004=1913861954&005=20062287794&006=6859421714&007=Search&008=

http://videos.bodybuilding.com/watch/72562/Dorian-Yates-Blood--Guts-Trainer-Chest--Biceps

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbinfo.php?page=TrainingTips

I Can Smell the Adventure!!!

Yeaaah buddy, just got this bad boy this morning! So this is the pre-blog to my next ADVENTURE!!! Stay tuned...

SN-- I didn't buy this I traded some electronic devices for it)

MOUNTAIN MAN

THE OVERVIEW

On Sunday morning March 6th I embarked on a 4 day journey. Some were jealous, others called me crazy, but I was tired of thinking about it and hearing others say they wanted to do it. I planned, I packed, and I did it! - 4 days 3 nights, 26 miles round trip, from Hogpen Gap to Blue Mountain. I planned on 5 days but the rain hit! 

Sunday I parked at the trail head at 10am and hiked 4.4 to low gap shelter in 2 hours!! it was so early I just eat lunch and left. There was a few people there going to spend the night, including "Cimarron", who turns out is the oldest man on the trail. He's 80+ and in books and documentaries and stuff.

So I hike 3 more miles and went off the trail and set up camp for the night. It was the perfect spot off the trail and by a small stream.

Monday I didn't hike. I spent all day reading and collecting firewood. It had rained early Sunday before I got there, so a lot of sticks were still wet and it took a while. I read the whole book of Matthew (in the Bible) to refresh myself on how Christ lived and all the great teachings he had for us.  

Tuesday  I hiked 4 or so more miles to Blue Mountain there was nobody at the shelter and a decent view so I stayed a while I also got cell phone reception there, but felt guilty about it!! Then I turned around because only wimps sleep in shelters. I hiked .5miles back to a campsite and set up there for the night!

Tuesday night!!!     When I was eating dinner it drizzled for a second, then nothing for like an hour. I spent some time setting up my extra tarp angled over my tent just in case. When it got dark I climbed in my sleeping bag and the wind was literally roaring through the mountain and trees blasting my tarp but my tent was fine. it sounded like an airplane flying right over my head. When it calmed down I  fell asleep and woke up at 11pm to pouring rain, which continued the remainder of the trip. Laying there I decided my best option was to cut the trip a day short and head to the truck in the morning !! 

Wednesday- I woke up and tried to pack up the best I could, everything got soaked!! I had all my rain gear on, but it was hopeless. I hiked from 10am to 430pm which with a 40lb pack and 1000 extra pounds of water soaking you is difficult to say the least. while still hours away I was imagining people telling me I was only 10  minutes away. I also ran into a fella that had been hiking since 4am!   I trudged through and made it to my truck and headed to Burger King where I got 2 triple stacker's and a extra large DP!! I smelled terrible all the way home so i stuffed some napkins up my nose so I would have to smell myself!!  

extra- I had way to much stuff and my pack was real heavy. I saw lots of people (men=women). not much wildlife ( birds and squirrels).