Walking Journal: Ellington Agricultural Center

 

Details

Date: March 18, 2012
City: Nashville, TN
Route: Rogers Walk (and Edmondson Pike)
Rating: 3 out of 5 (Urban Location)

Our Experience

We didn't have a lot of time, Sunday afternoon, so we decided to walk down to the Ellington Agricultural Center, a short mile and quarter down Edmondson Pike from our apartment. We also wanted to bring May along, as we hadn't had a chance to do that on our biking trip the previous day. Overall, this was a pleasant walk, at least in the park, while Edmonson Pike proved again that Nashville isn't designed for pedestrians.

 

The walk is a pleasant 1.7 mile loop around the edge of the agricultural center, taking us along a creek and then through some of the gardens and buildings before plunging us into a small woodlet. There was no major change in elevation, and it was clear the trail was more for walking than hiking. There were a few people out, including one runner and a couple people walking dogs. Some of the trees were in bloom, which is a sight this northerner is not used to, and found to be very striking.

We might do this again, but only because it's so close, and when we want to get out into nature but don't have a lot of time, this can substitute for some of the better parks in the city.

The creek at Ellington Agricultural Center.

The beginning of Rogers Walk.

One of those hidden picture puzzle. Can you find the bike route in this picture?

 

Our Rating Scale

As we biked around the Stones River Greenway last weekend, we discussed what each of the ratings meant and came to a consensus.

Rating of 5. This is a "bucket list" type of hike or trail. These are the trails that we will be talking about for years for their beauty, unique nature and intangibles that make it one of our favorites.

Rating of 4. This is a great hike, and one we can definitely see doing again.

Rating of 3. The hike was fine, but didn't really blow us away. We likely won't hike it again.

Rating of 2. There are serious issues with the hike, and would recommend our friends not to do this hike.

Rating of 1. On some level, we have to ask ourself, why did we do this hike in the first place?

Biking Journal: Stones River Greenway

 

Details

Date: March 17, 2012
City: Nashville, TN
Route: Heartland Park Trailhead to Priest Dam Trailhead
Rating: 3 out of 5 (Urban Location)

Our Experience

We took our bikes out for the first spin of the year on the Stones River Greenway. There have definitely been some days that were warm enough to bike, we just hadn't had the time yet. All day it threatened rain, and we had a bit of rain land on us, but for the most part we stayed dry. The Stones River Greenway, at least the section we rode on, mixes amazing, hilly trails, cow pastures and scenic with garbage dumps and construction sites. We loved the chance to get out and bike in Nashville, a city we find to be less than bike friendly.

 

This was definitely a varied trip, and we likely won't be back to bike the same stretch of trail again. Some of our favorite parts were the beginning stretch that took us right next to a herd of cows. The next stretch took us up and down hills and then along a river. After crossing the river, that's when things got weird. First we smelled it, and then we saw it, a garbage dump, right across the river. You could see the water change color downstream from the dump, and the smell was terrible. However, soon after, we saw a beaver, right next to the trail, just chewing away. He didn't seem startled by our prescience, but we didn't have our cameras at the ready to take a picture. Finally, we made it to the dam, which unfortunately, didn't seem to provide us with easy access to the top of it to see the lake. After a loop around the parking lot, we headed back, where Jessy nearly ran over a squirrel who didn't seem to comprehend what a bike could do to it.

Priest Dam

Wooden Boardwalk

Map of Stones River Greenway, posted at Priest Dam Trailhead

Cow.

 

 

Hiking Journal: Percy Warner

Details
Date. March 3rd, 2012
City. Nashville, TN
Route. Mossy Ridge Trail
Rating. 4 Stars out of 5

Our Experience
This is one of our favorite parks in Nashville, a short but harrowing drive down one of Nashville's many two lane main arteries and up and down hills. This trail is a loop up and around the hills in Percy Warner Park that is about 4 1/2 miles long and took us about 1 3/4 minutes to complete with us taking lots of breaks to take in the views. With our dog in tow, we enjoyed the late winter heat wave and the lack of foliage which gave some great views of downtown Nashville and the hills of southern Nashville. There's some interesting sites in the park as well, including the Betsy Ross Cabin Ruins that was built by the Boy Scouts and a small waterfall that had partially subsumed the trail. We loved the hike and the fact that our dog was able to join us made it that much better!

Hiking Journal: Linville Gorge

Details

Date: June 4, 2012
City: Pisgah National Forest, Grandfather District
Route: Walking Trail
Rating: 3 out of 5

My Experience

On my return journey from Chapel Hill to Nashville, I knew I wanted to see more of the Pisgah National Forest. The first place I wanted to see was Linville Falls and with it Linville Gorge, as I had heard it was the second largest gorge on the east coast. Ultimately, I enjoyed the brief 2 mile excursion, but it wasn't anything unbelieveable. If I had had more time, I would have hiked down into the gorge, which I think would have been much more impressive, but I was pressed for time and just the easy hike along the western ridge. It gave some good views of the falls, but was pretty crowded.

 

The bridge across Linville River above the falls.

The Upper Falls.

All the dead hemlocks in the forest from a blight.

The rapids that have helped form the Gorge.

Welcome to Get the Gear!

Welcome to Get the Gear, a blog maintained by dynamic duo of Bill and Jessy.  We love the outdoors.  We'll keep a hiking journal on the site, as well as posting some other things dealing with the outdoors that we find interesting.

Why.
We knew we wanted a way that we could tell people about our travels by train around the Western US this summer for our honeymoon.  We also wanted to keep a journal of our hikes. As we talked about it, we figured that a blog would be the best way to do so.  We can share pictures and little details of our hikes, and we can quickly update it from our phones when we have internet access while we are traveling.

The Name. 
In February, my wife and I were able to go to the Portlandia tour here in Nashville.  One sketch they did really resonated with us:


This is only a slight exaggeration. Bill is the type of guy who brings a compass with him on a 2 mile hike, stuffed in his Camelbak between the rain poncho and the Leatherman.  We spent the next day after the show up in Blue Ridge, Georgia repeatedly saying the phrase "Get the Gear" as we hiked around and cracking each other up. We do that a lot.