Randy Puckett's Outdoor Adventure Life
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How did I get to become this Naturalist, writer, photographer, and more?
I love being outdoors in Natural areas. I do not build campfires very often when camping and on solo trips I love to sit and watch it get dark. After the sun goes down being away from civilization, the night sky is often filled with many stars.
Hearing Owls calling to each other or the yipping and howls of coyotes is better than listening to music. My mind becomes more clear to me as I feel I am where I really belong.
I first got into photography back in 1988 with a SLR Pentax camera and several different lens. I mainly took scenic photos but loved using a macro-lens to take closeups of wild flowers. I upgraded to a Canon Digital camera with an attached lens with zoom qualities in the late 1990's.
Below is Randy in December 2004 along Lake Michigan on day-trips on snowshoes when needed with my current Photography Guru John Diephouse, who lives in Lansing MI. We met in the late 1980's when he lived in Tennessee and we hiked and backpacked together quite often. Photo by John.
I got away from photography at different times except for using a smart phone on and off. During the summer of 2022 a good old friend got me hooked again and I now upgraded to a DSLR Canon Digital camera and primary use a 75-300mm lens especially for birds, butterflies, bees, flowers and some scenic. For many closeups of flowers and leaves I often use my iPhone camera.
Below is a sketch from the Look Rock area on the Foothills Parkway that winds up Chilhowee Mountain looking towards East Miller's Cove and the crest of the Smokies. I do not claim to be a great sketch artist as this one shows. I did choose to include it for a reason. You do not have to be great at drawing to make your own Nature Journal (NJ). Do it for the process of seeing nature more closely and even in intimate ways as a method to getaway from chaos of your normal life.
I was going through some personal struggles and going to my beloved Smokies was the way to deal with personal tough times. Sometimes slowing down and getting colored pencils and a sketchbook out will lesson stress as I focus to take the wonder of mountain views and convert them onto the paper.
I know that a good photograph might look more realistic, but this sketch has my emotions and feelings in it.
I will always tell others to draw and sketch for themselves. To also write for yourself. If you are happy with the product (s) then that is the most important self loving thing you can do.
Notes: That is a building (maybe barn) in the lower left corner with the orange field around it. If I remember this view I think that the highest peak is Meigs mountain.
A winter day hike in GSMNP during January 2022 along the West Prong trail. This photo was at Campsite #18. On a solo overnight Backpack trip back in the 1990's, I had a yearling bear walk through this campsite about 15 feet away from where I was loading my pack.
Many of my times of nature explorations in the Smokies the unexpected would happen. I feel that the bear's visit was an omen for me to camp smart but to enjoy these trips. Always practice recommended food storage safety in bear country and what to do if you see a bear.
The bear did just go up the ridge without looking at me. I always practice how I would "whup" a bear if I needed to in backcountry. In a serious situation for bear safety slowly back away and if needed look bigger than the bear and yell and even blow a whistle to get it to leave you alone.
The Nature Journal (NJ) below is a good example of the formatting and use of images as prompts for my creative writing and free verse poetry. Many other examples are included in this
Closer to Nature.....
Digital Nature Journals Blog.
Read and enjoy my love of being out in our natural world!
This is another way I go softly into Nature and reflect on my life. This was during Covid days in the summer of 2020. I love flat water lake paddling in one of my kayaks. We are blessed to have so many beautiful scenic reservoirs (man made lakes) here near where I live in East Tennessee.
As you read and look at these pictures imagine you are in a kayak just softly paddling a boat and moving slowly and letting your eyes and mind taking in all the beauty of this wonderful natural area.
Left click for better view
My Kayak beached on a gravel bar on Citico Creek just above where this stream empties into the upper end of Tellico Reservoir below Chilhowee Dam.
Land of Waterfalls
I also often travel to Western North Carolina to the Asheville area along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Over the last couple of years in trips to this area, I discovered the Dupont Forest State Park south of Asheville.
It is known as the land of waterfalls and just sitting below one of them listening to the power of the rushing water puts me into another mental zone of good mojo's!
Retirement Living Quarters October 2021
"Oddy" is my 2014 Honda Odyssey van which I often sleep in on shorter trips. I started with a removable wood frame platform with memory foam on top for comfy sleeping inside "Oddy". Even now on trips of 1-2 nights I sleep inside the van.
The above picture is me set up at Mt. Pisgah Campground near Asheville NC along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I bought this Kelty Tailgate Awning to give me a shade and rain protection over and outside one of the side doors on the van.
Another explorations in "Oddy" at USFS Beartree CG near Damascus Virginia. I added the larger tent and a super comfy cot with foam pad on top for trips of over 2-3 days. Those past days (and weeks) of many backpacking adventures sleeping on an inflatable air pad on the ground and in a tiny tent just are not as much fun as they used to be as I have aged some over the years.
Another mode of transportation is my gravel bicycle, which is folded down on the rack on the back of Oddy. Just a short 10 mile drive from Beartree CG and I can be on the Virginia Creeper rail-trail that is both beautiful and a great place to ride a bicycle and even take a run or walk. Damascus is the midway town for the Virginia Creeper.
A sketch of one of my mental memories of a trestle (bridge) on the Virginia Creeper.
A Campsite at the Beartree Campground in the Beartree Lake Recreation Area in George Washington and Jefferson National Forest.
This area is a favorite getaway for a few nights out with plenty of outdoor activities I love. Great hiking trails and gravel biking on the Creeper are so close by.
Gravel Cycling Petal Pushing
Not with a motor but Leg Power
Two of the long Trestles on the Va Creeper
Long ago in 2010, Randy mountain biking near Crested Butte Colorado.
Plush Camping In My Cuz Eddie
My last adventure in this camper was the fall of 2020 and it has come time to retire and maybe sell this old friend very cheaply to someone who will love and care for Cuz Eddie.
Many a night and adventures all over the Southeast were spent in this luxury accommodation which was a huge upgrade for me from all my backpacking and trail crew nights in the mountains in small tents.
Back in the year 2000 I had this Chevrolet truck that I bought before Cuz Eddie came along. Combining these two resulted in many two weeks long adventures into the western US.
Colorado was my favorite place to visit but also Utah and Northern New Mexico have some beautiful mountain country.
A favorite campground along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Asheville North Carolina is Mount Pisgah CG. You can see Randy is relaxing in the shade with feet propped up after a day hike sipping some good wine back in 2011.
Getting Closer to Nature on Foot
Starting back in 1987, my favorite mode of transportation for many many years, to get into nature was with a pack on my back. Several backpacking and truck camping trips were usually a summer journey to Colorado mostly, but a couple trips to the Wind River Range in Wyoming with good friends and even my daughter Heather and now son-in-law Robby.
We would usually pack in a couple days into a wilderness area and set up a base camp for several days and day hike to explore these Colorado and Wyoming scenic areas.
Photos below from a special place to Randy in SW Colorado:
Year Round Day Hikes in the Smokies
Day hikes in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), which is less then 25 miles from my home in Maryville Tennessee has been and still is my favorite way to get into Nature to be nourished and enjoy this local beautiful area. Below is a view from Andrews Bald and then a rainbow from small stream along Turkeypen Ridge trail.
Sometimes during the cooler seasons of the year the views from trails of the higher elevations of GSMNP looking out over the ridges that stretch out into the distance and below become mystical to see and even feel inside.
In 1996 I became a volunteer Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) maintainer working with the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club based out of Knoxville TN. We were responsible for over 100 miles of the AT from Nantahala River in North Carolina to Beechnut Gap, Tennessee near Interstate 40 just North of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I am working on a separate long Journal about all these days and years up to 2014.
I even worked for the ATC starting up and running the SWEAT Backcountry Trail Crew as Crew leader in the Smokies the summers of 2004 and 2006. When I can some photos of the many trips with good friends and many of these adventures I will write about these special times in Nature and giving back for others to be able to hike the AT. An elbow injury in 2008 made me cut back on my trail work, but I still assisted with the SWEAT crew helping train the crew leaders and going along on several of the work sessions for 2-4 nights out up to 2014.
I also backpacked often in other trails in the Smokies as well and many many day hikes. Both my daughters, Andrea and Heather, along with several of their friends during their high school days went on several back packing trips.
When I started teaching in 2005 I added new hiking buddies from teacher friends. Several times we backpacked in the Smokies, Mt Rogers Virginia, and trails in the Cherokee National Forest south and north of the Smokies.
A trip in Spring 2017 with some good friends to Grayson Highlands-Mount Rogers area in SW Virginia. "Where the wild ponies roam"
Look for future posts and additions to the Randy Outdoor Adventure life section of this Blog.
Below I added a few older pictures of some adventures with out explaining them with captions.
Just guess what and when and where and why I was doing these adventures.
Later on, I do plan on adding captions and even narratives for these and other Randy outdoor adventure explorations images from my great times in natural areas as I was getting
Closer to Nature.......
PAGE UNDER CONSTRUCTION AS I AM ALWAYS CHANGING AND UPDATING IN THIS NEW ERA OF MY BLESSED BY NATURE LIFE!
Great memories......
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