Linda's Crazy, Wonderful Outdoor Rec Life

By Linda Potter Rosenkranz

I worked with an outdoor recreation program at a university for over thirty years. Typically, when something goes wrong on an outdoor trip, it turns into a great story!

This is a collection of seventy-three stories that are:

• humorous at times
• contain good location information, as well as

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trilogy Christian Publishing
• Release date: Dec 8, 2022
• ISBN: 9798887380223

Linda Potter Rosenkranz

I was hired for my dream job on August 1, 1989, to create an Outdoor Recreation Program for Vanderbilt University. Over the course of thirty-plus years, thousands of students, graduate students, faculty, staff, and alumni participated in the adventure trips, rented outdoor gear, climbed the rock wall, learned to roll a kayak in the pool, or served on the Outdoor Recreation Staff. Many of these fostered strong friendships that continue to this day.

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank my friend, Melody Hall, who proofread part of this book. I would also like to thank my husband, Mike, who truly helped our program over the years. He greased the bearing buddies in all three trailers, fixed many Coleman stoves and lanterns, designed kayak racks for our canoe shed, fixed other gear as needed, drove a van back from the airport on many trips, and so on. I would also like to thank all the Graduate Assistants and Activity Coordinators who helped me run this large program over the years. Finally, I would like to thank the hundreds of Trip Coordinators who volunteered to lead the adventure trips over the past thirty years.

Introduction

I have written some of these stories in my annual Christmas letter, where I have received positive feedback over the years. I have also told a number of these stories around the campfire or just to the group on trips where campfires were not permitted. I have always wanted to gather the stories to write a book, but I never had the time until 2020 came along. Hopefully, you will find some humor in my stories. Often when something goes wrong in the great outdoors, it can turn into a wonderful story.

This is my collection of stories from the last thirty years of working at a collegiate Outdoor Recreation Program. I hope you get enjoyment from this book.

1

One Persistent Bear!

August 10–14, 1990—Smokies Backpacking

The first-ever backpacking trip to the Smokies with the Outdoor Recreation Program was in August of 1990. We drove one fifteen-passenger van with a rack full of backpacks, food, and group gear. I missed the turnoff for the by-pass of Gatlinburg on that Friday night, and it took us one hour to get through the town due to all the traffic lights and a seemingly endless stream of pedestrians! We camped at the Elkmont Campground, and after breakfast, we divided up the food and group gear for the two hiking groups. Then we drove over to the Abram’s Creek Ranger Station and trailheads. After we unloaded all our packs, we said goodbye to the group of six, led by David M., that were driving to the twenty-mile ranger station to begin their hike. We were using the same trails and campsites but hiking in opposite directions, using three backcountry campsites. We would see them in a couple of days.

My group of six had four women and two men. We started up the Little Bottoms Trail to the Hannah Mountain Trail. It was a beautiful day for a hike. We took a side hike to Abram’s Falls before hiking up and then down to our campsite. We camped at site number fourteen at Flint Gap. We set up our two tents and then went to find the creek for our water source. This was August, and the creek was really small. I was quite surprised! I went back to our campsite to grab a pot with a lid. We had to let the water drip into our lid, which thankfully had one-inch sides, to collect the water. Then we could pour the water into our pot so we could use our water filter to pump our drinking water. We also used this method any time we needed water from this creek. We cooked dinner and had a nice evening hanging out with each other.

The next day, we hiked up 2,590 feet in elevation to our campsite, number thirteen, Sheep Pen Gap. It was the closest campsite to Gregory Bald. We arrived in the afternoon and then set up our tents. Our other group arrived and did the same. Then we secured our food and trash. To do this correctly, we had to find two large trees and run a rope between them. The rope needed to be eight feet off the ground, and our bags of food and trash needed to be in the middle of the rope and least four feet from each tree. This is the recommended procedure for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After we secured everything, we all had some downtime to relax. I went into my tent to change clothes. Shortly after, I heard some commotion. I looked out the window of the tent to witness the following: a black bear came and went to the small tree (around two inches in diameter) that a boy scout and his father had used to hang their trash. The bear simply put his paw on the tree and made the tree bend. With his other paw, he grabbed the trash bag and then lumbered off! A number of us witnessed this theft. We talked to the father, and he introduced him and his son to us. Then he said, Well, at least the bear only got our trash. However, a little while later, the bear came back. Their food was hung similarly on a small branch of another small tree. The bear did the same exact thing! He simply put his paw on the tree and made the tree bend. With his other paw, he grabbed the food bag and then lumbered off! The boy and the father were too afraid of the bear and wise enough not to chase it or try to get their food bag back. All twelve of us witnessed this last food grab by the bear! Some of the women from the other group then complained to me about Rick. He is a Plant Operations worker who likes to tell the same three jokes over and over and over again! I eventually heard Rick tell the three jokes multiple times and was glad he was in the other group!

Soon, the bear came up the trail again. I told my group not to get close to the bear. Then this family from Florida tried to get a photo of their daughter with the bear. I again told my group that this was a bad idea. Rick from the other group wanted his picture by the bear. I told him no and began with single claps to try to get the bear to leave. Surprisingly, the bear turned around and went back down the trail. However, a little while later, he came up again. This time he was unfazed by the clapping. We had to resort to a spoon and a pot which finally made enough noise that got the bear to leave!

Eventually, it was time to cook our dinner. Some people went to get water, and David and I got down the food and trash. We cooked our dinner of macaroni and cheese. We ate all of it and our dessert. Then we brushed our teeth so we could also hang our toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, and other personal items, along with the food and trash. Afterward, David and I decided to put all our packs around one big tree and tie them together, hoping that if the bear came back while we were sleeping that they had a better chance of survival, being attached to each other. We then got a nice campfire going, and we all hung out and had multiple conversations. Every now and then, we heard an animal rustling in the tall grass. Thinking it was the bear, we would shine our flashlights at it. I was not sure if we were disappointed or relieved, but it was just a deer. This happened multiple times that night!

The next morning, we woke up and discovered that everything was just where we left it. All the packs were fine, and so were the items we hung. So, we all had our oatmeal breakfast, did the dishes, and then started taking down the tents and re-dividing the group gear. We offered some of our oatmeal packets to the Boy Scout and his father, but they refused them. They were hiking out that day. Not us. Last night was the middle night of our trip. I got the van key from David, and eventually, we parted ways. My group had to go up another couple hundred feet of elevation to Gregory Bald. Unfortunately, there was a heavy fog on the bald when we arrived. It was still beautiful, but we could not see any of the views. It had tall grass, and we saw a few deer. We took a nice long break on top. After, we began a day of mostly descending. We camped at number ninety-two, Upper Flats, 2,430 feet lower than the bald. We set up camp and eventually got our water from a nearby good-sized creek and began to cook dinner. After dinner, we looked and looked for two decent-sized trees close enough to work for hanging our food. We could not find any. The best we could do was a big tree with a nice branch about fifteen or so feet high. Unfortunately, the end of the branch was not very far from the trunk. Since it was our best bet, we slung our rope up over the branch and eventually lifted our big red bag up, filled with our remaining food, trash, and personal care items. We had another campfire and hung out for a while. Before retiring to our tents, we lined all our packs next to each other but did not tie them together.

The next morning, I was the first one up. I went to get my personal stash of toilet paper out of my pack, but my pack was missing! Oh, no! How could this be? Everyone else still had their pack in the line. I went up and down the trail, looking for my pack. Thankfully, we had group TP and a trowel, so I took care of those needs. After a while, Dave came out of his tent. Since he had a sense of humor, I asked Dave if he had taken my pack. He denied moving it. When I told him my backpack was missing, he said, Oh, yeah, when I woke up to go use the woods last night, I think I scared a bear from the tree with our food in it! He and I got the red bag down, and sure enough, it had some claw marks on it! I got the stove lit and began boiling the water while I waited for the others to get out of their tent. Unfortunately, nobody knew anything about my backpack. We all looked for my pack after breakfast, with no luck. Finally, I decided to try the only place we had not checked yet…straight back. I got on my hands and knees and announced, Now, if I was the bear, I might have grabbed the pack and just pulled it back this way. I then began crawling under the low-hanging tree branches. After around fifty feet of crawling, I saw something. I crawled to the object, and sure enough, it was my backpack! I grabbed it and dragged it back with me to our campsite. Once I was able to stand up again, I inspected the pack. Unfortunately, the bear had taken a chunk out of my left shoulder strap! It was now just one inch wide near the top, where it normally wraps around my shoulder. Ouch! Not so comfortable. The bear also ripped apart my bottom side pocket, where I always keep my GORP (Good Old Raisins and Peanuts), aka trail mix. Of course, there was no GORP in the pocket, as it was in our red food bag. The pocket must’ve smelled like GORP to the bear! My hip belt also had a chunk out of it. At least there was nothing missing from the inside of my pack! I later realized that everyone else rented a backpack from the Outdoor Recreation Program, and those packs were new this year! My backpack had lots of salty sweat on it from multiple backpack trips.

Needless to say, the four-point-two-mile hike out that day was not so comfortable for me. At least it was mostly downhill, as we lost 1,180 feet of elevation. We made it back to the van and loaded it up. I totally enjoyed the drive to the other group. The road, US 129, is very curvy, going up and then mostly down the mountains to the lake level. It was another beautiful, sunny day! We picked up the other group and packed the rack. Then we headed back to Nashville. It was a great first trip to the Smokies! The bear gave me a good excuse to shop for a new backpack!

Normally that would be the end of the story, however, on this trip, I was driving on I-40 going west, and I kept passing and then getting passed by a semi hauling a load of speedboats, all wrapped individually in plastic. I was just a few miles east of the Crab Orchard exit, in the section where the two directions of the interstate are separated by trees or a grassy field. I was in the right lane with everyone sleeping. I rounded the blind curve to the right, and suddenly, I noticed that all the traffic was stopped! There was a dump truck ahead of me with tiny little brake lights, totally stopped. I hit the brakes, and everyone woke up. In my rear-view mirror, all I saw were boats! The semi-pulling the boats was in the process of jack-knifing, trying also to stop. I continued to brake and move toward the shoulder. By some miracle, I was able to stop the van without hitting the dump truck. The semi was able to straighten his trailer out, and the lane of traffic was able to scoot up a little for him to stop without hitting anyone. I exhaled a big sigh of relief and then said a quick prayer to God to thank Him for allowing us to safely stop! Thankfully nobody hit us either. We found out from the trucker that there were not one but two wrecks ahead of us. We ended up spending two and a half to three hours at a standstill. David got out his Frisbee (that doubled as his plate), and we had some fun. It was quite a memorable stop. Whenever I drive west on that stretch of I-40, I always remember where it happened. I also recall the long line of people waiting to use the woods, just past the rock wall!

2

My Favorite

Back of the Group Person

1992 Spring Break—Grand Canyon Backpacking

The first-ever Grand Canyon trip for the Outdoor Recreation Program happened during spring break of 1992. We drove one fifteen-passenger van with a rack full of backpacks and food and gear. We had a group of thirteen people, three trip coordinators (Dave M., Reidy, and Linda), and ten participants. There were a total of nine women and four men, a mix of undergraduates and graduate students. It was incredible! I had been to the canyon before, but to hike and live inside it for seven days was something else! I just couldn’t get over how big and beautiful it was and how moody it seemed (from the variety of weather). We hiked about thirty-seven miles, starting on the South Rim’s Bright Angel Trail, going to the bottom, camping at the Bright Angel Campground, and then back up the South Kaibab Trail to the Tonto Trail. At least, that was the plan.

On day two, after stopping multiple times for a rest and to take care of blisters, we all managed to hike right by the Tonto Trail junction. We continued to hike up the trail for at least thirty minutes or so. Just when I realized that we may have missed our turn, a caravan of mules and people were coming down the S. Kaibab trail. We all stepped off the trail to let them pass. I was in the back of the group with Lauren, a college senior who liked to hike slowly but was the most positive person I have ever had in the back of a group of backpackers. Lauren and I saw a woman who seemed like a senior citizen to us, at least sixty or seventy years old. This woman told us, Oh, my, you young ladies certainly have big backpacks! One of us replied, but we are impressed that you are hiking in the Grand Canyon at your age! She replied, Oh, honey, that mule is carrying all my belongings! After the group had passed us, Lauren and I looked at each other, and I said, I want to be able to hike the Grand Canyon when I am her age!

Our group then took a break and eventually began hiking down the S. Kaibab, to our right turn onto the Tonto Trail. We stopped to have a late lunch at the big flat area near the intersection. Then we continued hiking east on the Tonto Trail, down and up the three arms of Cremation Canyon. We spent most of the trip at the Tonto level, about 1500 feet up from the Colorado River. For most of the side canyons, the Tonto Trail goes all the way in and all the way out of the side canyon, maintaining the 1500-foot level. Not Cremation Canyon. It has two significant downs and ups and then a more gradual one. If anyone is afraid of heights (and why they come on this trip, I will never know!), they will not like Cremation Canyon. It is very steep, with lots of loose rocks. The trail is marked by cairns (a small stack of rocks to mark the trail), but it is hard to follow at times since there are so many rocks. Shortly after making it out of the three side canyons, it began to rain. It was a light rain, but we had to break out our rain suits and ponchos and cover our packs. We also ran out of daylight, so we decided to camp just off the trail amongst the mesquite plants. Dave and Reidy had a hard time getting the stove lit, and then we decided to just eat some lunch food for dinner instead. We at least got some nutrition in us before we all went to sleep. Everyone was very tired. The next day we got up, cooked breakfast, took down the tents, packed our backpacks, and hit the trail again. We hiked for a while and then stopped at Lone Tree, our original destination for last night, to filter water and fill all our empty bottles.

Afterward, we kept hiking toward Grapevine Canyon. Before entering this side canyon, we were able to see the Colorado River! What a spectacular view! After this stop, we ended up separating into two groups, a fast group, and a slower group. I brought up the rear with Lauren. She was very appreciative to be in the Grand Canyon, in this beautiful place that God had created for us to enjoy! The hike into Grapevine Canyon is long, around three miles in and then three miles out. As we hiked along, I could see Grapevine Creek shining in the sun below. Instead of the trail crossing once at the end of the canyon, there were two arms. Unfortunately, the fast group arrived in the first arm, and they had the water filters. They found a nasty puddle of water with green slime and began pumping. This is what I saw when I finally arrived. I could not believe it! I exclaimed,

Stop pumping! Didn’t you see Grapevine Creek shining in the sun as we hiked? No! they replied. I then realized that people who hike fast…just hike fast. They do not notice their surroundings as they hike! We set up our camp and then walked on the trail with all our empty water bottles, pots, and pumps. After about twenty minutes, we arrived at the other arm of the canyon, and we could all see the clear running creek scooting across the big sheets of rock. We ended up staying two nights at Grapevine, so we spent much of the next day in the other arm of the canyon. There was no pool to swim in, but we could get wet in the creek. There were also small pools and sculpted rocks. It was a most excellent place to spend a sunny day of rest!

The good thing about this trip itinerary was that we had already hiked the longest day. The next two days would be about half as many miles as the day before. We camped at Cottonwood Creek, another nice campsite with a clear creek running through it. After that, we hiked the trail with short mileage but significant elevation change, up to Horseshoe Mesa. After arriving at our group campsite, we set up camp and then circled up for our lunch. It was our cracker lunch. (As you will recall, we ate a lunch for dinner!) So, this is how it went: a student had a pack of saltines or Ritz crackers, Okay, everybody takes three crackers and passes it around! We did this multiple times. I think we actually had enough crackers, but this was certainly a memorable lunch!

After lunch, a small party of our group loaded a backpack with empty water bottles and the water filters and went on a challenging hike to Miner’s Spring, off the east side of the mesa. It was a long hike down and an even harder hike up, but we eventually found the spring and were able to filter the water. The stars were incredible that night! Unfortunately, we woke up (way too early) to watch the sun rise. It was a long cold wait, but it was worth the wait as we had an incredible sunrise! Lots of good photos were taken! After, we walked back to our site, had breakfast, broke camp, and began hiking up and out of the canyon. On Saturday, March 7, we hiked up (2,500 feet and three miles) and out on the Grandview Trail from Horseshoe Mesa. On top of the canyon, there was snow and a 50˚ F daytime temperature. Down below, however, we had anywhere from fifties to seventies for daytime temps and anywhere from the thirties to fifties for nighttime lows. In fact, the bottom of the Grand Canyon is desert-like. We only got lightly rained on for parts of three days, and we even got to see a full rainbow on one day!

We were blessed by having a safe trip and a good group of people to be with. We all got to know each other quite well through our twenty-nine to thirty-hour (one-way) van ride to the canyon! The trip was so successful that we are running a double trip next spring break!

3

Very Hot and Very Tired!

May 1–5, 1992—Smokies Backpacking

For the end of the semester trip, we advertised a five-day trip to the Smokies. To my delight, it was a full trip of twelve people. The backcountry permit size for the Smokies is eight people, so we needed to split up into two groups. We did this at the pre-trip meeting. My idea was to describe the two itineraries and then emphasize that we needed six people to be in the harder group and three people to join the easier group. To my surprise, everyone wanted to be in the harder group! (I forget sometimes that I am working with a bunch of overachiever students!) So now I had to convince three people to join my group. Two people volunteered. Then I decided that the one person who was not present at the meeting could fill the other spot. His name was Nazi, and he was a graduate student from Syria.

Sandeep, Steve S., and I shopped for the groceries at 9 a.m. on Friday, May 1. Then we met at 2 p.m. to organize and repackage the food for backpacking. At 4 p.m., everyone came, and we loaded the rack on the fifteen-passenger van and departed. We stopped for dinner along the way and eventually arrived at the Cosby campground in the dark and set up our camp. Then we had a campfire and got to know each other better.

The next morning, we boiled water for our oatmeal and took down our tents, and packed our backpacks. We were all going to hike together for the first day since we all were going to stay at backcountry site number thirty-seven, Walnut Bottoms, and then split up on the following day. For backpacking, everyone carries their own personal clothing, but they also carry some of the group food and some of the group gear. The tents get split up by how many people are sleeping in them. Other group gear includes stoves, pots, pans, utensils, fuel bottles, water filters, toilet paper, trowels, a tarp, cords, etc. Most people on our trips rent the personal gear from the Outdoor Recreation Program, but some people already have some of the gear. We all had external frame backpacks, so the sleeping bag rode on the outside on the bottom. Nazi wrapped his sleeping bag in an open-cell pad that looked like an egg carton. It was definitely unique looking. We got the campsites cleaned up, and then we moved the van to the trailhead parking lot. We began the hike up to Low Gap, the lowest point along the Appalachian Trail (AT) in the park. The total mileage for the day was five point four miles, but the elevation changes to get to the gap were 2,000 feet in two point nine miles. The trail starts with a gentle incline as it goes through the lush, mossy area near Cosby Campground and the Cosby Creek. Everyone was excited to get going on this warmer than usual day in May. Eventually, the group started to spread out as the incline increased. Sandeep was near the lead, Steve, our new trip coordinator in training, was staying in the middle, and I was bringing up the rear. Much to my surprise, as we were hiking up and taking breaks, I noticed that a lot of the people from the harder group were at the back of the group with me. Not Nazi. I didn’t see him until the top.

It is a really warm day for the Smokies. The temperature hit 80˚ F! I stressed to my group at the back that it was okay to stop and take lots of breaks. I also reminded them to drink their water. We were going to camp next to Big Creek that night so we could replenish our water bottles at our campsite. After a morning of a tough hike, I finally arrived on top at Low Gap. The rest of the group was all there, eating lunch or just hanging out. I took off my pack and sat down near Sandeep to see how things went with him and to get his perspective. I began to eat my bagel sandwich. Then, Nazi came over and said, Linda, do you know what happened to me? I replied, No, Nazi, what happened? Nazi began, Well, I was very hot and very tired! I thought to myself, Yes, it is hot, and it was a tough trail! Nazi continued, I was very hot and very tired. Yes, so what happened? I asked. Nazi said, I was very hot and very tired, so I stopped and drank some water. That’s a good thing, I replied, trying to eat my sandwich. I was very hot and very tired! I think he must have said this phrase at least ten times before he got to the point. Eventually, he said, So, I got almost to the top, and he pointed down the trail. I replied, Yes, and? "I was very hot and very tired, and I reached for my