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Back to the start
Camped on ‘Ant Hill’ overlooking ‘Twin Falls Hollow’ Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. More ‘hammock porn.’ After leaving Mores Branch yesterday, I decided not to bushwhack up to the top of the hill and then find my way down to Sunday night’s campsite. Instead, I climbed up the side of the hollow until I was at around the same contour line. Then I bushwhacked around the side of the hill to my destination. I hoped I might see something interesting during my hike. Nope. Just trees and more trees.
So here I am the next day, camped back where I started.
Last night was not without a bit of drama, though. I started getting satellite text messages from Ginger on the InReach, ‘Where are you?’ I grabbed my headlamp phone and rushed up the hill to get some cell phone signal. It turns out that in my rush to get going, I forgot to tell Ginger how long I was going to be staying out, and Ginger had forgotten how to ‘ping’ my location on the InReach. All was quickly resolved, and I was bushwhacking back to my campsite in the pitch dark (no Moon). The only trouble with bushwhacking in the dark is you don’t always see the thorns you are getting into. I was dripping blood at one point. I stopped to deal with that, not wanting any preditors visiting me in the night mistakenly thinking they had an easy meal!
It didn’t take long to find my way back, though I did congratulate myself on thinking of leaving some lights on in camp to make finding my way back easier.
Camped on ‘Ant Hill’ overlooking ‘Twin Falls Hollow’ Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Mores Branch, looking upstream
Mores Branch, looking upstream. It looked a bit too brushy in that direction. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. After lunch, which I heated up on my new titanium wood stove, I lazed around enjoying the sunshine, peace, and quiet. I’d not found any really good places to camp during my explorations, so I decided I might as well cut down the amount of hiking to do the next day, and return back to my previous campsite.
Before I packed up to leave I explored up the creek a little. That direction too was overgrown.
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Deep Pool on Mores Branch
Deep pool on Mores Branch. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. And deep it was. I had to leave my camera, clothes, and other gear behind because I was up to my waist within a couple of steps. I wanted to get to the end of the pool to see how easy the next section of the creek would be to hike. When I got there, the answer was clear. Nigh near impassable until winter arrives and the vegetation dies back. It was very overgrown and I didn’t fancy bushwhacking through the dense brush. I’ve done that before, and it’s not a lot of fun.
I ended up scrambling up the side of the hollow to the east (right of frame) and scouting out for camping spots, going in a big circle to get back and collect my gear.
Overall, it looks like my research paid off and I’d arrived at one of the few clear-ish sections on the creek. It was time to have lunch and then check upstream.
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Mores Branch – Hercules Glades Wilderness
Mores Branch. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. From the map, I could see it was under a mile of bushwhacking to get to Mores Branch. The hollow is steep but there was a point where a ravine ran into the hollow that looked like it would offer a good way down. I had studied the aerial photographs of the area and it looked like this section retained water year-round. What I found confirmed this. There was plenty of fish despite the lack of rain this summer. The water was running but not the highest quality, it needed some good heavy rain to flush out all the silt that was accumulating.
The ravine was filled with jumbled-up rocks and downed trees, and not worth trying as a route down, but I found a relatively low spot nearby and got down to the creek to explore, get water, have lunch, and look for a nearby campsite.
This picture turned out to be one of a fairly decent stereo pair.
Mores Branch. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Waiting for my Zoom meeting to start
Waiting for my meeting to start – This is what happens when you decide to take (a well-earned) impromptu comp day off without thoroughly checking your calendar. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Nice place for a Zoom meeting. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. This is what happens when you decide to take a (well-earned but) impromptu comp day off without thoroughly checking your calendar.
Somehow I forgot a meeting I had at 10:30 a.m. today. I realized my mistake yesterday and sent an email apologizing for my absence. But on the hike to my campsite, I thought of a way of attending that would be fun, if I could find a glade with a good cell signal. I hunted for a suitable spot last night and found one.
This morning I packed up camp and hiked up to where I could enjoy the sunshine and my meeting. I also took advantage of a good signal to put in a video call to the office before my meeting started. Oh, the wonders of modern technology!
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Camped on ‘Ant Hill’ overlooking ‘Twin Falls Hollow’
Camped on ‘Ant Hill’ overlooking ‘Twin Falls Hollow’ Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Yup, it looks pretty much the same as everywhere else in the Ozarks. And very much like the last time I was here, a year ago. This may have contributed to my decision not to sit in camp all day after my morning meeting, I decided to pack up camp and Bushwhack over to Mores Branch, where I reckoned there would be some water and maybe a nice place to camp. Before that, though I had to get to my 10:30 a.m. meeting on the top of ‘Ant Hill.’
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Sundown at Hercules Glades, looking southeast
Sundown at Hercules Glades, looking southeast – this was my final glimpse beyond the trees on the edge of the glade. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Hiking in today, I realized that I could attend my meeting the next morning if I could get a good cell signal. There is a good cell signal on the western edge of the wilderness. I reckoned if I climbed up to the top of “Ant Hill’ and dropped down into one of the glades on the western side I stood a good chance of being able to join my meeting via Zoom and also enjoy my time in the wilderness.
I was right. I called Ginger and had pretty much full signal strength.
Cell phone test over, I headed back. Instead of heading due east over the top of the hill and hence down to my campsite, I thought I’d explore a little first. There was no chance of seeing the sunset. The trees surround thing the glade were too high. I decided to head north through the woods on top of the hill and then return via the glade to the east. The glades form a series of concentric circles around the tops of the hills, which are typically crowned with a wooded area.
If it’s not a distant Cell Phone Tower, then it’s the Fire Tower at the Tower Trailhead, which (I think) is also a cell phone tower. And that’s what I did. I only found two points where I could peek out over the trees and see the surrounding countryside. The view above, and the one below. There was probably a good cell phone signal here too, as I could see what I think is the cell tower four miles away at the southeast corner of the wilderness.
Evening at Hercules Glades, looking east – this was my first glimpse beyond the trees on the edge of the glade. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Three days backpacking in Hercules Glades Wilderness, October 2021
Sundown at Hercules Glades, looking east – this was my final glimpse beyond the trees on the edge of the glade. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I took a couple of days off work so I could fit in a three-day, backpacking trip starting on Sunday. My main plan was to sit around and watch the trees, and maybe try and explore a little bit of Mores Branch.
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Gary and the Pole Hollow Cairn
Gary and the Pole Hollow Cairn – Time for the obligatory selfie at the cairn. I prefer this black and white version. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I got here from the trailhead in record time — 17 minutes. Maybe the time spent on the treadmill in our ‘home gym’ is paying off. I wish it would pay off with a weight reduction too.
At least this time I have my hat. I left it on the backseat of the car when we went on our recent Devil’s Backbone trip. The observant might notice that my glasses are different. I left the house wearing my work (2′-3′ working distance) glasses. I didn’t notice until I got into the dark under the leaf canopy. In the dim light I wondered why everything was out of focus. I was nodding my head up and down trying to work out why my varifocals were no longer working. When I took them off to examine them I realized my error.
Gary and the Pole Hollow Cairn – Time for the obligatory selfie at the cairn. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I won’t bore you with how difficult it is to get the darned very illusive cairn into this shot. You’ll just have to believe me. It is. It would be much easier with a phone than it is with a camera with no forward-facing selfie display.
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Charging the Garmin
Charging the Garmin – We all know what this means… Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. We all know what this means1 … When I’m out in the wilderness only two people can contact me via my InReach Mini. Ginger and the Bishop’s Executive Assistant, Emily. Everyone else can wait until I’m back in cell phone range. I guess we need to re-think that for when Ginger comes backpacking with me.
I’m working in Kansas City tomorrow (Saturday), but I think I’ll call in some comp time plus a half-day I was supposed to take a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t, and head off Sunday for a couple of nights in Hercules Glades. It’s going to rain heavily tomorrow and maybe Sunday too. The temps should be reasonable, but the trails are still too overgrown for my liking, so I’m just going to go and sit in the woods for a couple of days.
Footnote
1This is my Garmin InReach Mini satellite communicator. Ginger can use it to contact me and find out where I am, anywhere on the planet. I can use it to send text messages and call for help if I’m unable to self-rescue following an accident or medical emergency.
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Hall Gear Closet – taped and first skim coat applied
Hall Gear Closet – taped and first skim coat applied. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Ginger, “Most people just buy furniture, they don’t build things in.” Gary, “It must be the Frank Lloyd Wright in me.”
I put up the sheetrock a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday I taped up all the joints and put on the first skim coat of plaster. I do this sort of project once every few years so my skills aren’t exactly honed. Hopefully when I’m finished you won’t be able to see the join, and it will look like it has always been a part of the house.
Hall Gear Closet – taped and first skim coat applied. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Monitored
Monitored. Today I had a stress echocardiogram and was fitted with a wireless Holter monitor. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. My heart has been acting up the past couple of months, with some occasional AFIB and palpitations.
I’ve invested in a new watch with a built-in FDA-approved heart monitor and ECG recording. I also have a new cardiologist who is much more in line with my way of thinking. This is, let’s check what’s going on and treat what we find, rather than my previous cardiologist’s approach of applying a rule of thumb and medicating just in case.
Today I had a stress echocardiogram and was fitted with a wireless Holter monitor, to see if we can catch my heart doing things it shouldn’t be doing. With the time I’ve been putting in on the treadmill recently, the stress test was okay. Of course, my heart worked flawlessly during the session. That’s both good and bad!
The monitor is only for 24 hours, so I doubt we’ll catch anything, which is why I bought the watch to monitor 24×7 and capture things in the middle of the night when my heart has sometimes hit a very unhealthy 200+BPM.
Postscript
There were some minor palpitations but nothing extreme, so it’s a matter of keeping on with my current medications and monitoring any changes. Well, that’s why I spent the cash on my new watch.
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One-night stay in the Devil’s Backbone Wilderness
Testing my new ‘The Journey’ tarp. I don’t know why I’ve not used both my trekking poles in porch mode before. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Ginger and I went on a quick one-nighter to get some time in the woods, check out some new gear, and for Ginger to spend another night in our new Zpacks Duplex tent.
New gear being tried out:
Ginger
- Zpacks carbon fiber hiking poles. Now Ginger has no excuse to steal my hiking poles!
Gary
- Winter tarp
- Titanium wood stove
- Hiking skirt (yes skirt, not kilt. No pleats or apron in this).
It’s been very dry the past couple of months, so water was a concern going in. I had four plans.
- Carry in enough water for the entire trip. No. I wasn’t going to do that.
- Hike to McGarr Spring and pick up water there and camp somewhere on the ridge to the east of the spring.
- No water at the spring? Checkout the stock pond on the ridge to the east. It looked healthy when I passed through last year.
- Stock pond no good? Bail out, go back to the trailhead and drive the two hours home.
The entire hike would only be five-six miles. Summer temperatures and the bugs are hanging on here in Missouri. So, we didn’t fancy anything more arduous than that.
The hike in was easy except for the heat and spider webs, which were impossible to spot until you stumbled into them. And once down in the hollow, the trail was very overgrown.
Ginger didn’t fully tighten the mud-baskets on her new trekking poles and discovered she’d lost one on the hike.
We hit one unexpected problem. Everything was so overgrown the spring was very difficult to find. I finally heard the faint sound of trickling water, located the spring, and we stopped for lunch. After lunch, we planned to fill up with enough water to see us through the rest of the trip.
I broke the dirty water pouch, potentially halving our water supply. Oops.
A tree had fallen onto where the spring emerged. It took a while for me to clear a path to it. We had two one-liter clean water pouches, one two-liter clean water pouch, and one two-liter dirty water pouch. I proceeded to filter water into the clean-water pouches, and in the process, I broke the dirty water pouch, potentially nearly halving our water supply. Oops.
We stopped and thought. We re-purposed the two-liter clean water bag for dirty water so we could filter it. I reckoned I could carry the split bag with most of the water in it and proceeded to make a carrying handle out of some of the spare line that I carry for just such emergencies. Before I tried that, we decided to see if a bit of the ol’ duct tape could affect a good enough repair. Much to our surprise, it did. It wasn’t 100% waterproof, but it was good enough to store the water pouch upright in the mesh pocket of my pack. Disaster averted, we climbed up onto the ridge and played hunt the campsite until we found a suitable spot.
Once settled in, Ginger managed to get in among a nest of Seed ticks. Duct tape to the rescue again! We then spent the next 24 hours in the woods talking, resting, and sleeping. Bugs and heat aside, we had a great time.
The hike out was easy but hot and slow. Ginger found her missing mud basket on the trail, so that was good. I mentally crossed ‘Mud baskets’ off of my gear replacement list.
Testing my new ‘The Journey’ tarp. I don’t know why I’ve not used both my treking poles in porch mode before. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Testing my new ‘The Journey’ tarp. All snug with the doors closed. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.On the drive home, Ginger wanted a “nice, cold, diet Mountain Dew.” So we stopped at the Gas Station in Gainsville. Apparently, the residents of Gainsville don’t hold with diet Dew, and the best I could find was a diet Coke. And that was dangerously close to its best by date. But it was cold, and it hit the spot.
Oh, and no pictures of us. We were too hot, sweaty, and covered in spider webs. I wanted to take a new version of our February 2011 Devil’s Backbone picture below, but Ginger made it quite clear that it wouldn’t happen!
Lessons & Thoughts
- Take spare water pouches. They weigh nothing.
- Update my gravity filtering arrangements so they don’t put so much stress on the bags — basically just sort out a tube to join the clean water bag to the filter so I’m not struggling to unscrew everything, which was what split the dirty water bag.
- My winter tarp is great, I can’t wait until we get some colder and wetter weather to give it a really good test.
- Titanium wood stove. We decided it was far too dry to give it a try right now. It only weighs four ounces so carrying it wasn’t a strain. I bought the lighter wood stove to balance out the increased weight of my winter tarp.
- Hiking skirt. It’s made of a very lightweight ripstop, water repellent coated material. It’s a fraction of the weight of my hiking kilts, and has six large pockets which are much better (accessible and larger) than the pockets on my kilts. The pockets swallow my Beretta, my leather journal, and my phone. And that’s just the pockets on one side. So overall it seems to be a lot more practical than my hiking kilts. It’s also got a snap on the hem which joins the hem between your legs turning the skirt into a very baggy pair of shorts. I’m setting backpacking fashion trends again!
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Hall Gear Closet – Framing
Hall Gear Closet – Framing. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved New project. We have two-and-a-half closets in the house full of backpacking gear (and some overflow in the shed too). Doing something about it is long overdue. I decided to use the space that used to be occupied by the piano and convert it into a gear closet. Today I started framing the new built-in closet. The plan is to mirror the design of the bookcase opposite.
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Make and mend weekend
Running repairs – The electric hair trimmer started playing up, and I decided to forego Amazon and attempt to fix it. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved This would have been a great weekend to get away into the woods. The temperatures are in the low eighties, and the rain has cleared out for a while.
Unfortunately, I’ve not been feeling tip-top. Instead of backpacking, I decided to do some chores at home and see how things went.
The first chore was to cut the grass, trim some edges and tidy up with the leaf blower. I hit my first maintenance task with the leaf blower, It had a gas leak. I’ve been going through several cycles of it leaking and me patching it up. This time I opted to strip off the carb and effect a better repair. We’ll see how that goes.
The second was repairing our aging but excellent hair trimmer. I’d already diagnosed the problem as an internal break in the lead. Of course, when it came to soldering the connectors back on, I discovered that I’d given my meager supply of solder to Alek. A trip to the hardware store was necessary before I could finish the job.
Finally (besides doing the washing), I sealed the seams on my new winter tarp. Last year I spent 15 – 20 hours hunkered down in the rain, and earlier this year, forecasts of weekends of rain kept me off the trails, so I’ve invested in a more storm-proof tarp complete with doors. Not only will the doors keep the rain from misting in, but they will also keep more heat in when I’m camping out in freezing (and below) conditions.
Of course, the extra material, bits of string, and stakes the new tarp needs mean it weighs more than my fair-weather tarp. I found a solution to that. I switched out my stainless steel wood stove for an inexpensive titanium one. The result is almost zero weight gain.
I’ve also been trying to get hold of a lighter-weight handgun for backpacking. With all the COVID lockdown madness, first ammo, and now it seems handguns (well the one I want to buy anyway) are out of stock. To coin a phrase, “Take my money.”
Seam sealing my new tarp – it’s time to start thinking about fall and winter camping. I’m prepping my new winter tarp. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved Mid-summer seems to be an odd time to purchase gear and prep for winter, but I’ve learned the hard way it’s better to be ready early than need the gear and not have it.
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Diocesan Staff, August 2021
Diocesan Staff. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Through the veil
Through the veil – looking across the lake, the mist was lifting. It’s taken me a few days to see the potential in this picture. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. It’s taken me a while to see the potential in this picture. I like this alternate treatment of the image.
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Afternoon off
Gary: “I’ve worked nine of the last ten days. I’m taking the afternoon off.”
Garbage Disposal Unit: “Today is a good day to spring a leak.”
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Dodge Challenger a surprise weekend rental
Dodge Challenger. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Due to Enterprise renting out all their standard stock of vehicles, I was given the choice of a Challenger, a Mustang, and an Audi for my rental this weekend.
The Audi was immediately discounted because it’s designed for millennials — which is almost as bad, but not quite, as a vehicle designed for boomers; I’m looking at you Nissan Armada — I’ve never been able to get my phone’s Bluetooth to work in a VWA vehicle. I suspect that’s because they only sync to a millennial’s iPhone.
My brother Ian (right) trying to seal the deal. May 2010. Central Dodge, Springfield Missouri. Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman, all rights reserved I took the Challenger over the Mustang as my brother has a thing about the Dodge muscle cars, so it was a great opportunity to wind him up (if England losing to Italy on penalties wasn’t good enough already). It was also liveried in a color I like. An ex-pat friend I met at the church I was visiting called it ‘purple.’ It’s burgundy, Robert, if you don’t mind. Oh, and I couldn’t find a USB connection on this vehicle either. It was probably hidden inside the armrest.
Below is a selection of pictures intended to whet my brother’s appetite. The fuel cap is a great improvement over the earlier models. I remember having to look up on the Internet how to open a Charger or Challenger’s fuel cap. The release was a tiny button low-down and to the rear of the driver’s door.
I was surprised to spot a button labeled ‘Sport’ on the console of this vehicle. I resisted any temptation to press it. When I checked the car back in the guys at Enterprise asked if I tried it. I told them not, and their reply was, ‘Chicken!’
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Back on the road
Back on the road. Copyright © 2021 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. My first Sunday church visit in eighteen months or more. Today I’m in Joplin discussing church marketing. That’s two church visits this week, and I have one scheduled for next week too. Things are getting busy as we play catch-up after the COVID lock-down.
