A Child's Ghost Story - The Man that Jumped into the Fire

One year we decided to take a late fall camping trip to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  We like camping in the fall.  There are no bugs and it's great to sit around the fire enjoying the cool air and the warmth of the fire.  We decided we wanted to stay at the Elkmont campground so we could explore the area and maybe see a ghost that was still hanging out in one of the old houses.  We always wondered if that area was haunted and we figured we would see what we could find.  We selected a camping spot near the back of the camping area just across Jake's Creek from what used to be called Millionaires Row.  We wanted to be close to the buildings so it would be an easy walk in the dark to and from the buildings we were going to check out.  We got there in the middle of the afternoon, set up our campsite, gathered a ton of firewood, and then went to take a look at some of the houses just as it was starting to get dark. 

We walked up and back down the road looking in the different houses taking pictures as we went.  Kind of looks like there is an orb, to center, in this picture.

My wife took a picture of the inside of this house.  The flash went off and when we looked at the picture it appeared that there was a reflection off of something above the fireplace.  We stuck our flashlight in and saw that there wasn't anything that could reflect light up there.  Just wooden beam.  There also isn't any electricity or light fixtures in the house.  Interesting....what did we get a picture of?

 

After we spent about an hour or so looking at the houses and taking pictures we made our way back to our camp site, built us a nice fire, and settled in for the night. 

That is when it started.  Our young son started staring out into the woods and he got scared.  I kept trying to see what he was looking at, but I could never see anything.  He said that kept seeing a dark shadow that looked like a man and that it was hiding behind the trees.   He also said that it would poke its head around the tree it was hiding behind and look at him.  He could see it's eyes staring at him.  He said that we he would look back at it that it would look back at him and then hide behind the tree again.  He also said that he could see it moving from behind one tree to another.  He said it would kind of float from one tree to the next and that it was getting closer and closer each time it moved.  It sounded like it was trying to sneak up on us.  He then said that when I walked away from the fire to get some things out of the car that it came into our camp site, jumped in the fire, and disappeared into the flames.

Was that what we caught in the picture?  Did it follow us back to our campsite to see what we were doing?  Needless to say, our son didn't sleep very well that night.  He was worried that the man would rise out of the fire and come back to get us.

   

October Camping & Fishing in Citico Creek

Some pictures from my October camping and fishing trip in Citico Creek.

The Creek:  The colors are coming out and the leaves are falling.  The water levels were a bit low, but that made wading easy.

Fish On!  I caught several nice trout like this one in the various pools and runs.

Big Salamander:  This salamander was huge.  He just sat there sunning himself while I took pictures.

The fire and tools  (Stove, Canteen Cup, and Spoon).  Nothing like a good fire and some warm food while sitting next to the fire.

We also collected a couple of bags of trash.  I can't figure out why folks need to go camping and then throw their beer cans, booze bottles, candy wrappers, etc... around their camp site.  I wonder what they do at home.

A Child's Ghost Story - The Lady in Black

When camping the talk around the campfire always seems to turn to ghosts or other scary things.  It is always great to go around the fire and have each person recount a ghost story or talk about something that scared them when they were a child.  It's really fun when the young folks are around and they want to tell their story.  From time to time, you hear kids say that they have seen things and you believe them because of how genuine their story is.  I personally think that kids see the world differently than we do and it is great to hear them talk about what they have seen without asking leading questions or putting ideas in their heads about what it was that they saw.   So far I have head three really good stories from kids about seeing ghosts or things that they didn't quite understand.  Here is one of them.

The first is the story of the Lady in Black.  One evening, we were sitting around the fire next to the creek and some of the folks had brought their kids and there was this wonderful 5 year old little boy that started talking about the lady in dressed in black that had looked through the back door of his house one day.  This kind of startled his parents.  They had never heard him talk about her before.  It also kind of concerned them so they asked him to describe her and what she did.

According to the little boy, when he saw her, it was starting to get dark, but there was still plenty of light and you could still see really well into the back yard.  He said he was in the family room alone watching his videos.  His Mommy was upstairs doing some house work and that his daddy was gone.  He said that a lady in a long black dress came down through the back yard.  He said her face was gray and that she didn't have any eyes.  He also said that she didn't have any feet.  It was like she floated.  He said that she came onto their back porch and came up to the window like she was looking into the house.  He said that she stayed there for a couple of minutes, turned, and then went back up through the backyard and disappeared into the woods.  He said he wasn't scared when he saw her and that he just watched her as she came out of the woods, looked in the house, and went back into the woods.

According to the little boy's parents, the back door in question is a sliding glass door without a screen and the curtain is kept tied away from the glass so they can see into the backyard. The backyard is fenced and backs up to a small, but thickly, wooded area.  They stated that the "Lady in Black" would of had come through some thick woods, over a lot of downed trees, and jump or climb a 4 foot fence to get into and out of the yard.  It would be hard to imagine that someone would do that in a long black dress just to look into a house.  They also say that he still talks about the Lady in Black and that he always describes her the same and tells the same story of her looking in the window.  He also says that he hasn't seen her again.

Next is the "Man that Jumped into the Fire".

Weird Things I have Seen when Hiking and Fishing

I have seen some weird things while I have been hiking, fishing, etc...   I am going to start posting pictures of things as I find them.

I have stumbled upon a couple of folks "getting it on" on a rock in the middle of a river.  That was not a pretty sight.  I have walked up on people answering the call of nature.  Remember, you shouldn't poop on the trail.  I have found fishing equipment and gear such as flies, tackle boxes, and fishing rod parts.  I have found tools such as screw drivers and pliers.  I have found camping equipment including tents.  I have also found shoes, boots, clothing, flip flops (I always wonder if someone is out there walking around with one shoe or flip flop), crayons, etc... and lots and lots of just trash.

I have found moonshine.  Yes, I left it where is was.  No, I won't tell you where it was.

 

 I have found nasty uncleaned camping sites.  Folks don't seem to realize, or care, that someone gets to clean that up.

This camp site has all kinds of clothing, pants, etc... and other trash just left behind.  I am not too sure I want to know why you are going to leave your pants at a camp site.  Also, the whole area was covered in broken crayons.

 

Here is a tent that I found.  On the same trip I found another one in the middle of the river, but I didn't take a pic.

Swimmer made dam.  Ruined a good fishing spot by destroying the flow.

Trash, Trash, Trash, etc...

Camping at Gregory Bald/Campsite 13

A few years ago I went on an overnight camping trip by myself to campsite 13 near Gregory Bald in the the GSMNP.  I remember that it was fall and a bit chilly outside, but not too cold.  I parked near the Twentymile Ranger Station.  My plan was to hike a loop starting with Wolf Ridge Trail past campsite 95 up to Parsons Bald then to Gregory Bald trail to Campsite 13 where I was going to overnight.  From Campsite 13 I was going to complete the loop by hiking Gregory Bald trail east to Long Hungry Ridge Trail and take that trail down the mountain to Twentymile trail.  I was going to take Twentymile trail back to the Twentymile Ranger station.   

Th first part of my hike went well, but about half way up I started noticing where the area on both sides of the trail were dug up.  My fist thought was that there is a hog in the area.  As I moved up the trail the areas rooted up by the hog looked more and more fresh.  I figured that I was getting closer and closer to it.  There were lots of hog tracks in the mud and every now and then I would stop to take a look at things.  It was interesting to see how much those things could tear up and it seemed to be following the trail all the way up the mountain.  About 2/3 of the way up the trail I also started smelling something that smelled like a dirty wet dog.  I was thinking that those hogs smell bad.  Soon after I stated smelling that awful smell I saw bear tracks in the newly rooted up soil.  I was thinking that this could be an interesting trip.

I was almost up to Parsons Bald, seeing hog sign and bear prints the whole way, when I rounded a small corner on a heavly wooded section of the trail and there was the hog standing sideways across the trail (facing due North).  I was about 25 yards away from it and it was huge.  I would guess it weighed 200 to 300 hundred pounds.  It was back, dirty, had some large tusks, and was looking at me.  I froze in my tracks.  I didn't want it to charge me.  I slowly took a couple of steps back and started to reach for my camera.  On about my second step it let about a squeal and ran off the trail to the North.  I was relieved that it had run off to say the least.  I stayed in place for about five minutes and listed to ensure it didn't come back.

After I decided it wasn't coming back I continued on down the trail.  Since the hog had run off the sides of the trail were no longer rooted up, but I kept smelling the dirty wet dog smell.  I finally got to campsite 13.  I hadn't seen a sole on my hike nor was there anyone else at the campsite.  I started to set up camp.  I unpacked my gear, set up my tent, gathered some wood, built a fire because it was getting dark.  As soon as I started cooking I started hearing some movement in the bush and some grunts.  I hadn't seen the bear, but it seems it had found me.          

I heard movement throughout the evening, so I stayed close to my fire and kept it built up.   After it had been dark for a few hours the bear actually came into the cleared camping area.  It stayed just on the edge of the light where could make out it's shape and see it's eyes.  From what I could see, it was a pretty big bear.  I started making a lot of noise and trying to make myself look bigger.  I was banging my cooking gear together and standing on a large rock.  The bear just looked at me and sort of wondered around in the camping area while I made of fool of myself looking like one of those clapping monkey toys banging pots together.  I even tried throwing some rocks at it, but it still just wondered around looking at me. 

With the bear just hanging out I figured I had a decision to make.  I could either sit up next to the fire all night and hope to not get eaten by a bear or I could risk walking down to my car at night and maybe get eaten by a bear.  I decided to make the trek down the mountain since I wasn't going to sleep anyway.  I gathered my gear up, broke my tent down, and tossed everything into the tent, picked it up like a sack and threw it over my shoulder.  I moved from camp site 13 to Parson's Bald where I packed my gear.  I was tempted to just camp there, but I didn't want to camp outside of a recognized camping area so I started my hike down the mountain.     

It took me a few hours to get to back to the parking area.  I took a few falls, I stubbed my toes, etc...  I think I even lost a toe nail, but I made it and didn't get eaten by that bear.  It was a pretty good trip.  It's not every day that you get to see a wild hog and a bear in the same trip.

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Fishing in Citio Creek, TN

I fished Citico Creek in October of 2011.  This is a section of the main Citico stream along the road that I fished that day.  I had great success fishing these chutes.  Most of them are pretty deep and they seem to hold some pretty nice fish.  There was one large Trout that I hooked a couple of times, but I just couldn't land him.  He would hit the fly, spit it out, then go back to his holding place.  He started ignoring my fly after he hit it the second time.
 

From there I drove on up the road and parked in the camping area at the end of Citico Road.  From there I hiked in and started fishing just past where the North Fork and the South Fork come together to form Citico Creek and fished my way up the stream to around the first big stream crossing.  I didn't go past there.  The water was high, it was cold, and I didn't want to get wet.  Below is a video of a typical section of stream.

The stream is mostly pocket water with lots of plunge pools.  There are also a lot of huge boulders, overhanging branches, logs, stumps, leaves, etc... to fish around.  I got hung up more than once, but I could usually get to it and retrieve my flies.  Most of the time the stream is about 10 - 12ft wide, but at some points it becomes very narrow flowing through chutes between boulders or against the walls of the valley.  The rocks were also pretty slick where ever they were wet. 

This is a video of a rainbow that I pick up out of a pool.  It is pretty typical of the Trout that I caught that day.  He was holding at the far end of the pool where it tails out into the stream and he smashed my fly when he hit it and then ran to the deep part of the pool.  It took me a few minutes to land him.  I had to be careful to not break my tippet.  He was one of the better fighting fish that I caught that day.

Overall, the fishing wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either.  I think it was because the water was a little high due to some rain the day before.  There was some color in the water at times, an I guess there was plenty of food being washed through the stream.  I did catch enough fish, all rainbows, to want to go back to the South Fork of the Citico again.  I used mostly top water flies, but I did have some success with nymphs at times.

 I camped that night on the North Fork.  What happened that night is a story for another day.

The next day I moved back down to the camp site at the end of Citico Creek and met up with some friends.  We set up a camp there and gathered a lot of firewood.  They put up their huge tent and blew up their air mattresses.  After that, we did a little fishing around the camping area, without much success, and afterwards I did a little cooking in the Dutch Oven.  I made a nice beef stew that fed the three of us very well that night.

The hole for the Dutch Oven

 

Beef Stew in the Dutch Oven

We spent the evening sitting around the camp fire, talking, and enjoying nature.  I slept next to the fire on my sleeping mat, in my sleeping bag, and used my tarp as a ground cloth and bivy to provide an additional layer of insulation.  It was fantastic.  Even though it was pretty cold, I would say it was in the teens, I was toasty warm in my bag.
 
The next morning we got up, made breakfast, packed our gear, and moved on down the mountain to home.