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LesterC
09-20-2015, 13:35
Everyone who hikes the NC/Tenn area, particularly the Smokies, should read Horace Kephart's book, Our Southern Highlanders, written about a hundred years ago by a Yale educated librarian, and chief librarian of St. Louis library. He left family and profession, moved to Bryson City area and lived the remainder of his life in the area. Fascinating book on the mountains, the people and the animals, several decades before logging and the AT. Mount Kephart and a shelter are named for him. I think it is still published by University of Tennessee press. Should be required reading for a shelter permit


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Rain Man
09-20-2015, 13:40
Agreed. Really fascinating book and history.

rocketsocks
09-20-2015, 13:46
free on Kindle.


http://www.amazon.com/Our-Southern-Highlanders-Horace-Kephart-ebook/dp/B004TPFI5O/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1442771082&sr=1-2&refinements=p_27%3AHorace+Kephart%2Cp_n_feature_br owse-bin%3A618073011

Rocket Jones
09-20-2015, 14:44
+1 Especially if you enjoy history.

Another Kevin
09-20-2015, 14:47
Free for online reading: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/31709/31709-h/31709-h.htm

cneill13
09-20-2015, 17:12
The bear hunt section of "Our Southern Highlanders" is one of my favorite readings of all-time.

Be sure to also download for free Kephart's "Book of Camping and Woodcraft.

MuddyWaters
09-20-2015, 18:50
Yep, valuable historical insight into the way of life of the people that lived there, before they were evicted.

HooKooDooKu
09-20-2015, 22:48
Wow, gets 4.5 stars on Amazon (downloaded).

Just Bill
09-21-2015, 09:05
The bear hunt section of "Our Southern Highlanders" is one of my favorite readings of all-time.

Be sure to also download for free Kephart's "Book of Camping and Woodcraft.

If anything, "Camping and Woodcraft" should be required reading.
Highlanders is a very good book, but you can learn more from Camping and Woodcraft than dozens of modern "how-to" books.

"The Complete Walker" by Colin Fletcher holds the same status as well.
Though Fletcher wrote several books that your heart may require you to read.

Toss in "Trail Life" by Ray Jardine and those three books alone would teach you nearly everything you need.

Another Kevin
09-21-2015, 09:13
I'd also add Nessmuk's Cruise of the Sairy Gamp. Nessmuk was really the father of ultralight backpacking. Touring the Adirondacks with a 10.5-lb canoe and a 15-lb backpack - with 1880's equipment. Skurka's packrafting has nothing on Nessmuk!

http://robroy.dyndns.info/books/gws/N.HTM

Mr. Bumpy
09-21-2015, 10:59
I don't recon that this here book will not never be on my to 10 all time favorites.

Just Bill
09-21-2015, 11:50
I'd also add Nessmuk's Cruise of the Sairy Gamp. Nessmuk was really the father of ultralight backpacking. Touring the Adirondacks with a 10.5-lb canoe and a 15-lb backpack - with 1880's equipment. Skurka's packrafting has nothing on Nessmuk!

http://robroy.dyndns.info/books/gws/N.HTM

Yar, and it's taken more than 100 years to (barely) match that boat. http://www.hornbeckboats.com/boats_bjc_10.php
Beats the snot out of a pool floatie in my opinion. :)

Haven't had the chance to... but the only place to "try before you buy" is in person in your neck of the woods Kev.
I'm not much for making trip lists... but grabbing one of these canoes and paddling that 750 mile route up there is one of the few I dream of.
http://www.northernforestcanoetrail.org/

Another Kevin
09-21-2015, 19:25
Yar, and it's taken more than 100 years to (barely) match that boat. http://www.hornbeckboats.com/boats_bjc_10.php
Beats the snot out of a pool floatie in my opinion. :)

Haven't had the chance to... but the only place to "try before you buy" is in person in your neck of the woods Kev.
I'm not much for making trip lists... but grabbing one of these canoes and paddling that 750 mile route up there is one of the few I dream of.
http://www.northernforestcanoetrail.org/

Hornbeck boats are the stuff of legend here. But even if I were in shape - and I'm not - the BJC10 isn't enough for me + paddling gear. Just as neither you, nor I, nor William West Durant, could have paddled the Sairy Gamp. G.W.Sears was a little guy, and his boat was just big enough for him. (Rushton built Durant a considerably larger but still astonishingly lightweight canoe, the Wee Lassie, that apparently served him well.)

Hornbeck is out of my price range, but your Northern Forest idea sounds like a dream trip. (There are a couple of hellish carries on it, and whether this old man could manage them is questionable, but it still sounds like a dream trip.)

gobblerthumper
09-21-2015, 19:27
Almost finished with it; good book

Just Bill
09-22-2015, 15:31
Hornbeck is out of my price range, but your Northern Forest idea sounds like a dream trip. (There are a couple of hellish carries on it, and whether this old man could manage them is questionable, but it still sounds like a dream trip.)

Sadly, my little Old Town Pack now goes for $1100 http://www.oldtowncanoe.com/canoes/recreational/pack/
... so the $2000 Hornbecks don't carry quite the sticker shock in my mind they once did, though my reaction was the same initially.
(Though I think the 15' is more my size as you note; the 10' is more of a neat trick than a practical choice)
Not to mention how much more pleasant those portages would be regardless of age or fitness.