Hiking Matt

I was curious on the status of Robert Redford’s, “A Walk in the Woods” movie, based upon the popular book by Bill Bryson. Last year, they were looking at a 2009 release date, which was one reason why I wanted to hike this year.  However, having just checked IMDB, it appears that it will not be released until 2011.. so, a couple more years for you Redford fans out there.

check it out yourself.  http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1178665/

mattbob

I enjoy getting emails about new hiking videos being released and this particular one i’ve been anticipating for some time.

Last year at Trail Days (2007) in Damascus, VA, I spoke to Mark Flagler of FlaglerFilms about his “Appalachian Impressions” movie. He had remembered me from the previous Trail Days (2006) and so I was curious about whether he was off to produce the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT). Mark said that he was actually better off filming the Continental Divide Trail because there was actually a demand for it. Good point.

Mark continued on informing me that he was going to be heading back out to the CDT to do more filming and hopefully have something towards the end of the year, which, I checked periodically, nada. He also said that he was probably going to do the voice over (VO) work, which would have been cool but, silly me, couldn’t help but recommend Sam Elliott.  He’s got that very rustic, slow, country-style voice.  To my surprise and delight, upon viewing the movie preview, Mark was able to have the famous Peter Thomas narrate this newest project, sweet!

According to the FlaglerFilm‘s site, he will be screening this latest edition in what I (and probably many others) hope will be the second in a total of three films, eventually making up what could be a Triple Crown box set.

Check out this latest preview: Walking the Great Divide

mattbob Appalachian Impressions, backpacking, CDT, Continential Divide Trail, film screening, FlaglerFilms, Hiking, Mark Flagler, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, Peter Thomas, trail, Trail Days, Walking the Great Divide

Hey fellow tree-lovers.. great news from the Sandusky Register website. It appears that there is a 89 foot tall Chestnut tree thriving in a 465-acre Sheldon Marsh preserve.

Article as follows…

Rare chestnut tree survives at Sheldon

By TOM JACKSON | Monday March 24 2008, 12:42pm

HURON TWP.

Erie County harbors a rare treasure: A full-sized American Chestnut tree that somehow survived an epidemic that wiped out untold numbers of other chestnut trees.

The tree stands 89 feet tall and measures 64 inches around the trunk. Its crown spreads 41 feet. It’s a shocking anomaly at a time when most surviving chestnut trees are dwarfs sprouting from the roots of trees killed by the chestnut blight.

It’s the largest known chestnut in Ohio, said Andy Ware, assistant chief of the Division of Forestry in the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

“To our knowledge, we don’t have any that come close to this size,” said Gary Obermiller, a regional manager for the Division of Natural Areas and Preserves in the ODNR.

Jittery about preserving the very rare tree and worried about the eagle’s nest located in it, state officials won’t reveal the tree’s exact location in the 465-acre Sheldon Marsh preserve.

In fact, the existence of the tree has been kept quiet for years by state officials.

“We found the tree probably seven years ago,” Obermiller said. “We didn’t spread the word about the tree a whole lot.”

Sean Logan, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, revealed the tree’s existence during Wednesday’s meeting of the Ohio Lake Erie Commission in Oak Harbor. Logan bragged about the tree’s size and said he was going to visit it later that day.

After the meeting, reporters began phoning ODNR for more details. Spokeswoman Cristie Wilt set up interviews with ODNR officials after asking the scribes to promise they won’t give away the tree’s specific spot.

Obermiller, however, says his boss didn’t breach state arboreal secrecy when he mentioned the tree at a public meeting.

After the Strickland administration took over, the new chief of Natural Areas and Preserves, Steve Maurer, decided the public ought to be told about the tree, Obermiller said.

“He realized this was a very special tree,” Obermiller said.

Maurer has contacted the American Chestnut Foundation to see if the group wants samples of the tree to determine if it is resistant to the chestnut blight, Obermiller.

Erie County’s chestnut tree produces fruit, but the seeds aren’t viable because there isn’t another tree to pollinate it, Obermiller said.

American Chestnuts were once found all over Ohio and all over much of the U.S., Ware said.

“They are often referred to as the redwood of the east because of their tremendous size,” he said.

Old chestnuts

* American chestnut trees once made up about 25 percent of the eastern North American forests.

* They grew up to 100 feet tall and lived up to 600 years.

* Chestnut wood was valued because of its straight, light-weight, rot-resistant qualities.

* In 1904, a non-native species of fungus was first identified. It probably arrived on imported Asian chestnut trees as much as 10 years earlier. The American chestnut trees in the New York Zoological Park began dying.

* By 1910, the trees across Pennsylvania were dying, and the blight was moving south at a rate of 50 miles a year.

* By 1912, all the American chestnut trees in New York City were dead.

* By 1913, the blight entered North Carolina.

* By 1950, the American chestnut had ceased to exist as an ecological factor in the eastern Appalachian forest.

–Source: The American Chestnut Foundation

mattbob American Chestnut Foundation, chestnut, chestnut tree

I actually had a great day today, fantastic really.  I’ll talk it about it in a later post.  However, I was doing a bit of research and while I’m not interested in discussing the details, I ran across this.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techinnovations/2003-07-31-gen-mod-trees_x.htm

Actually, I ran across that company’s website. .I just wish not to have it linked to me, go Google it and freak out.

I’m going to do a bit more research to see what is out there.. more to follow.

Why does man, with all his flaws still think he can do what mother nature has been doing for millions of years in only a decade?  WHY??

mattbob

So, It’s been awhile since we’ve chatted. Yeah, life can be a bit overwhelming at times as well as a constant test of fortitude. With all that life throws at one during the course of any given day, hardly a one passes that I don’t think about the Appalachian Trail. As this year starts to come to an end, friends, co-workers, family constantly inquire about my plans for this coming summer. Of course, by this time I’ve been able to work out a ‘song and dance’ that everyone is keen to understand. It goes something along the lines of, “well, I’m not certain about all the different things that could change in the next couple months, but I’ve set everything up so that when March comes around, I should be able to leave sometime around the 15th-23rd. If I am able to leave earlier in March, that theoretically means that I will be able to get back sooner, the later I start, the later I’ll get off the trail. But as of right now, I plan on hiking the Appalachian Trail.” By the time I’m through with a rambling of this sort, peoples’ heads are shaking in acknowledgement. I’m not really certain if it’s a ‘whew, glad that’s done and over with’ or a ‘hey, that makes sense, he’s not setting himself up again for a tortorious summer of constant disappointment’ or if it’s a ‘yeah, he’ll get on the trail next year my ass.. my beer is low, need another.’ I never seem to be able to read people that well when it comes to trail talk. I believe it’s a; you get it, or you don’t. Black or white.

Anyway, I was trolling around on the ‘internets‘ when I ran across this site for the CDT. It’s called ‘The Walkumentary‘ and it’s about the CDT Thru-hike of “Disco” and “P.O.D.” (being the main characters) with large supporting roles with he ever hilarious German, ‘Speedo’ and the extremely healthy eating ‘Skittles.’ I downloaded the five hi-quality chapters off their site (very nice, btw) and watched them back-to-back. I felt as though I was wasn’t living life. Everytime I watch a video like these, especially if they are made from different people, I realize that I am still not doing what it is in this world that I want to do. How pathetic. I’ve become a slave to myself! On the flipside, it would seem that my fire has been re-lit and that getting out on the AT will remedy this feeling.

mattbob

After weighing everything in my pack, I finally had the time to add them to my gearlist, check them out. I’ll be adding prices and reviews as I can remember to do them.

 Matt

TrailJournals Link: http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=163193

mattbob