• Journal: four days by the lake, Piney Creek Wilderness, July 2023

    Just sitting and watching — That’s pretty much how I spent four days. The cup of tea was optional. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Four days by Table Rock Lake at Piney Creek Wilderness, July 2023. It’s time I took a short break, watched the lake for a while, did some navel-gazing, and maybe some journaling.

    For details of my trip

    Journal & Photos
    Photos

  • Trip over

    Photograph of Gary Allman at the Pineview Trailhead, Piney Creek Wilderness, Missouri, USA. July 2023.
    Trip over — Three nights and four days by the lake. I left a day early as I didn’t fancy hiking out in the 90°F+ temps forecast for Monday. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Bonus picture!

    Gary + the Pineview fire tower — Rubbish picture, but I’m keeping it because I managed to fit all of the tower in! Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Just sitting and watching

    Just sitting and watching — That’s pretty much how I spent four days. The cup of tea was optional. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Noodles for lunch

    Noodles for lunch. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Campfire

    Photograph of Gary Allman sitting at a campfire, Piney Creek Wilderness, Missouri, USA. July 2023.
    Campfire — It is very rare for me to have a campfire nowadays. But I’d collected the wood, so I might as well use it and keep the fire ring clean. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Sunset at Piney Creek Wilderness

    Sunset at Piney Creek Wilderness. My neighbors are fishing the small bluff opposite their camp. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Camped near Table Rock Lake at Piney Creek Wilderness

    Camped near Table Rock Lake at Piney Creek Wilderness. The forecast was for two to three days of rain, so I carried in a second tarp to have a dry area to sit and prepare meals. It sprinkled once for about half an hour. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Camped near Table Rock Lake at Piney Creek Wilderness. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Table Rock Lake at Piney Creek Wilderness

    Table Rock Lake at Piney Creek Wilderness — I never tire of this view or taking pictures of it. Look closely; you can see that I had neighbors on this visit. Two fishermen camped at the entrance to Piney Creek. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • On the lake trail at Piney Creek Wilderness

    On the lake trail at Piney Creek Wilderness. It doesn’t look it, but that’s a 60-80 ft. climb. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Ready for the trail

    Ready for the trail. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    judging by the reflection in my sunglasses, a better title might be: “Car, dunny (a.k.a. vault toilet), arm and camera.” I’m planning on spending four nights and five days at my favorite camping spot by Table Rock Lake. It’s going to be wet with rain forecast on three of the days.

    In case you wondered, a recent diagnosis of macular degeneration in my left eye means I’ve been advised to wear shades when I’m out in bright sunlight.

  • R&R by the lake

    Five-day weather forecast from windy.com

    It’s time I took a short break, watched the lake for a while, did some navel-gazing, and maybe some journaling. The trouble is the weather has been beastly hot. It may be my imagination, but it certainly seems to be my experience that exercise combined with high temps triggers my AFIB. So, thoughts of taking a few days by the lake have been put on the back burner.

    Looking ahead, though, if I didn’t mind some rain, the temperatures from Thursday through Monday looked good for a four-night, five-day visit to the lake.

    I hummed and hawed a lot. Did I really fancy several days in what looked to be very humid conditions? The forecast seemed to be changing radically by the hour — for good and bad — In the end, I decided to try it. I could always bail out if I needed to. I packed a second tarp so I could set up a dry area to sit and prepare meals. I sorted out five days of meals and packed a dry change of clothes — I’ve hiked down to the lake in a thunderstorm before, and it took days to dry my clothes out.

    Thursday, I was on the road by eleven and at the trailhead shortly after noon.

  • We have plans

    We have plans … It’s been a great nine years with the diocese (how did that happen?), but now it is time to move on to new ventures.

    You can read the full announcement on the diocesan website (web archive).

    A lot of what I did was behind-the-scenes management, development, communications, and editorial work. I posted to social media under a pseudonym and published articles under the byline ‘Staff.’

    You can view my attributed online articles — mainly photo essays — and editorials here (web Archive).

  • Cats need glasses

    Cats need glasses — and Morty agrees (sort of). Anything for a fluffy lap to sit on. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Cats need glasses — and Morty agrees (sort of). Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Ginger & Morty

    Cat love — Morty has a particularly strong headbutt. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    We popped down to Thornfield for a few days in the ‘cottage’ at Ginger’s parents’ place. We spent lots of time on the deck. Morty was very pleased to see us.

  • Journal: Three days hiking the Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness, May 2023

    Lunch in the shade by Paddy Creek. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

     I plan on spending three days on a slow hike of the 16-mile loop of the Big Piney Trail in Paddy Creek Wilderness. Unlike previous trips, it is forecast to rain on the first day, not the last.

    For details of my trip

    Journal & Photos
    Photos

  • New Parking Lot for the Big Piney Trail at Roby Lake

    New Parking Lot for the Big Piney Trail at Roby Lake. Big surprise, our car is the only one parked here. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    New Parking Lot for the Big Piney Trail at Roby Lake. Big surprise, our car is the only one parked here. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Hike over, back at the new registration point

    New Trailhead and new registration point. There’s a new parking lot, and they’ve moved the trailhead so it is on the parking lot. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Trip over 18 miles hiked and 1500 ft of elevation climbed.

    In case you’ve forgotten, I hurt my foot on Day One. It was a large wood splinter in the sole of my foot. I couldn’t get at it, so I just had to put up with the pain. By the time Ginger got to it, a scalpel was required to cut into my foot to get out the debris. There was a lot of pus. Some antibiotic salve did a great job in getting it to heal.

    I managed to sort out my pack problems on Day Two, and now it fits better than ever. The shoulder straps just needed to be set unsymmetrically.

  • Black Snake by the Big Piney Trail

    Black Snake by the Big Piney Trail — It got fed up with the attention it was getting from me and slithered off. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • A quarter mile of sticky muddy mess

    A quarter mile of sticky muddy mess. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    This is back near the point where the North Loop and South Loop join together.

    I love the equine trail users, they keep many trails open that would otherwise disappear through lack of use, but in some places, like here they also play havoc with the trail by tearing it up. This was not easy to hike along.

  • Another drop-off

    Another drop-off. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
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