Great Smoky Mountain Railroad

On Monday, I flew with two other M&M engineers to Atlanta in order to inspect the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. The railroad is a standard gage, tourist railroad with some occasional freight traffic. The majority of the structures are in excess of 50 years old with some of the steel trusses being over 100. We drove 3 hours to Dillsboro, North Carolina and began inspecting on Tuesday morning. The first river crossing we looked at was a plate girder (roughly 9' tall) that crossed the Tuckasegee River.


The span leads into the 900' Cowee Tunnel, which is not in the greatest shape.

The scenery around the railroad was spectacular. Although the majority of the trees had lost their leaves, the hillsides were still very beautiful.

The weather was pretty cool, in the mid-30s, but there was no precipitation or wind. The region was much cleaner than I expected and I didn't notice any Deliverance-type behavior.

We inspected numerous timber trestles, which involves tapping the timber with a rod to listen for hollow sounds. Timber typically rots from the inside, so inspectors cannot readily detect defects in the wood. Our next big bridge was a steel truss crossing the Tuckasegee in Bryson City. We climbed to the top of the truss to inspect the top chords and to check for pin deterioration. We were lucky that a train happened to be crossing while we on top of the structure and were able to detect some pin wear.

The longest structure on the line is the Ela Trestle, which has over 32 bents. Inspecting all of the timber made my arm pretty sore from tapping, but it was worth it.

After a long day of inspection, we drove back to the railroad yard. In their yard, they had the remnants from the movie set from "The Fugitive," including two destroyed Illinois Department of Corrections buses and two wrecked locomotives.

My boss and I did our best to impersonate Harrison Ford.

On Wednesday we were all in for a treat. Many of the structures on this section of the line were more easily accessible by the railroad, rather than by vehicle, so we had our own locomotive and caboose to chauffeur us around. Having the locomotive with us allowed us to load test each structure to monitor the deflection of certain components. This was very valuable for our assessment.

The first two hours involved riding the train to our destination. It was pretty rough. :)

Here is a video of a load test of tipping bent that we were concerned with. The locomotive really strained the timber. You could hear the structure groaning and crunching under the engines tremendous weight. The first run I was under the structure and got totally freaked out after I heard all the racket eminating from the structure. The next time we ran away from the structure to get the train engineer nervous. The video does not do the deflection justice

After some more inspections and load test, we drove the train into Andrews and grabbed some lunch.

It seemed funny to me to drive a locomotive into town to grab a pizza buffet.

On the way back, we caught a few more timber trestles, including a very tall one crossing a small gully.
We got to ride on the front deck of the train on the return trip, which was one of the coolest things I have ever done. I tried to not act like I was on vacation, but it certainly was fun.

How about this seat?!?!

On Thursday, we finished off the rest of the structures. This time we rode in a hirail along the railroad.

The first structure of the day was the VERY tall Fontana trestle. The rail is roughly 100' off the water. The location was very picturesque that early in the morning and with some remaining autumn colors.

Climbing the truss was quite an exhilarating experience, especially when I watched my hammer slip from my holster and slowly fall into the water.

The small shadow at the top of the truss would be me walking along the top chord.

Here is a first person video of walking on top of the truss roughly 150' above the water. Yehaw!


Since I couldn't possibly articulate this amazing experience, I'll let pictures (too many, I know!) do the talking.

http://picasaweb.google.com/N.Marshall.80/GreatSmokyMountainRailroad#

Winter in the Rocky Mountains

On Friday morning, I awoke to a winter wonderland. We only got 1 or so inches, but it did make the area look neat. It melted away by afternoon.

On Saturday, I drove up to Estes Park to do some Christmas shopping and do some hiking. I was expecting some snow to still remain, but it was actually quite a bit more than I was expecting.

I hiked up the Glacier Gorge trail system to Black Lake. It was a bit windy and in the low 40's, but I never got too cold. It was very cool to see areas I had seen numerous times in the summer, but this time it was frozen and snow covered.

My first destination was Alberta Falls. The falls had a shell of ice covering the falling water. It was very interesting to see. Most of the river was snow covered, however, snow covered the ice so you could not see down through it. The falling water, as seen in the video, can be seen through the ice.

Snow covered 90% of the trail, but the trail was compacted enough for the hike to not be too strenuous.
The next attraction was Mills Lake, which provided outstanding views of Longs Peak, Keyboard of the Winds, Pagoda Mtn, and Chief's Head Peak.


As I walked around the lake, I could hear occasional cracking of the ice. Along the shoreline, the ice crumpled up like frozen waves.

I was planning on stopping just at Mills Lake, but I was feeling pretty good and continued on to Black Lake. As I neared it, I noticed snow being illuminated by the sun blowing over the Continental Divide. It was pretty magical.

The wind was blowing at Black Lake and the sun's warmth had disappeared over the peaks. I grabbed some pics, drank some water, and headed down quickly. I felt pretty tough for being out in these conditions, until.....

....I noticed a black speck moving up a frozen waterfall. Yeah, that is an ice climber...and yes...he or she is insane. The wind would have to be absolutely howling up there with wind blowing snow on their faces. Ummm, no thanks.

Longs Peak was well illuminated along with Keyboard of the Winds (the pointy spires to the right.)

Since "Salutations" wasn't going to happen......yeah, I have skills.

Sunday I went hiking out in Evergreen. No pics from that trip though. :)
Monday, I'm off to North Carolina for railroad inspection on the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad. Yehaw!

Deer Creek Canyon

After an eventful Saturday of riding around Lake Chatfield on my road bike, I decided to return to the area on Sunday to do some mountain biking. I was excited to finally not be mountain biking after an epic trek the day before.

The trail was much tougher, physically and technically, than I was expecting. I had to walk my bike up and down several sections because it was just too steep.

Once on top of the plateau, I was able to see Lake Chatfield, the Hogback, and downtown Denver. The temperature was around 50 degrees which was a little cool, but not bad.

Since I finally had fresh legs to bike, I enjoyed three hours of cruising on the wooded trail.

As I was zipping down the hill, I had to abruptly slow down to avoid some deer chillin' in the trail. These deer were not very skiddish and let me pass on my bike rather close.

The little ones were very cute to watch. They kept worriedly staring back at me while their mother just kept feeding. Relax, little buddy. I brought my own jerkey.

As I was descending, I experienced my first hardcore bike wreck. I think I was going too slow and grabbed too much front brake. The result was me toppling over the handlebars and onto the ground. The bike continued its momentum and landed on top of me. I disgustedly pushed the bike off of me and avoided eye contact with the rider pedaling uphill. No problems other than some bruises and scratches, which means I should be going faster since I am clearly invincible. :)

Mt. Massive

On Saturday, I got my new camera (waterproof, shockproof, and most important sand/dust proof) I decided to cross another 14er off my list and take on Mt. Massive. Massive is the second highest mountain in Colorado. It also has the largest area above 14,000 feet than any other peak in the lower 48. It is located just west of Leadville, CO.



After 10 miles of slowly driving down a very rough, dirt road (always fun!), I reached the trailhead. The hike began with 4 miles of hiking through dense snow-covered forest. Thankfully, I brought my Yaktraxs with me. (I would endorse these things for free. They are awesome!)

After emerging from the woods, I was able to see Mt. Elbert back to the south.

The weather was really very nice. I was expecting to be freezing, but it wasn't cold until I reached the wind flowing through the saddle on Massive. The hike was not technical at all, but 7.5 hours hiking 13.5 miles with 4500 feet of elevation gain sure doesn't make this an easy hike.

The view off to the east was amazing. It was interesting to see the town of Leadville from 14,000 feet.
I was amazed at the view looking from the saddle. I had no idea there would be so much snow. Mt. Massive was a clear dividing line between climates. (Just compare this picture with the one above)

Snow was falling in the distance. The storm didn't look particularly large, plus it looked as if it was tailing to the south, so I continued to the top of Mt. Massive.

The scenery was indescribable. I sat in wonder for 10 minutes.

After having a religious experience, I was approached by another hiker with his dog. If the other hiker would have been an attractive woman, I would have thought I had died and gone to heaven. "Mountains, woman, dog." Now that is a trifecta. haha

I wasn't 100% sure which peak was the true summit of Mt. Massive so I hit them all. I was above 14,000 feet for probably 30 minutes, so I was feeling a little goofy. This mountain was pretty big.
Mt. Elbert, the highest point in Colorado from Mt. Massive.

Elbert from a little lower.

Mt. Massive Status: Conquered

More proof of my B.A. status:

http://picasaweb.google.com/N.Marshall.80/8MtMassive#

Quick Catch-up

I haven't written anything for awhile, but have still been busy enjoying Colorado. I have been using my camera phone to document my adventures, so the pics aren't the greatest.

Went up to Estes Park 2 weeks ago and hiked within the Wild Basin. I didn't see anything too wild, but did hike up to Lions Lake to see some cool scenery. It was quite the trek, but rewarding nevertheless.

After the hike, I drove over to Moraine Park to see all of the elk running around. They are always fun to listen to and watch. Hundreds are roaming around the meadow.

That Sunday, I drove out to the South Platte River to do some mountain biking, although my legs were pretty worn out after Saturday's hike. Fun trail.

There were alot of burnt areas, which allowed riders to see Mt. Evans in the distance.

During the week, I rode from my place over to Green Mtn for a quick afterwork ride before it got to dark. I was surprised to see a full size bull elk less than a quarter mile from my apartment. And I thought seeing prairie dogs that close to my place was cool!

After enjoying my hike in Wild Basin the week before, I decided to return to it the next week. The weather was much different however. It was much cooler and very, very windy. I am pretty stubborn when I get a place in mind to go to, so I decided to hike despite the less than stellar conditions. My first destination was Sandbeach Lake, which sits just south of Mt. Meeker in Rocky Mountain National Park. The area was very scenic, but the wind was absolutely howling across the lake. I took cover behind a large rock to eat some lunch.

After bushwacking across a wooded hillside, I climbed to the top of Mt. Orton, which sits in the center of Wild Basin. It provided spectacular views of the Continental Divide and the southeast side of Long's Peak. When I reached the top of the peak, my hat blew off my head and instantly flew 50 yards away. I retrieved it, but had trouble standing up due to the wind. It was approaching hurricane force.

You know it is cold when the wind speed exceeds the temperature by a factor of 2. Brrr!

Pagoda Mtn, Long's Peak, Mt. Meeker

Well, my goal was to climb Chief's Head Peak, the 3rd highest in RMNP, but the wind was pretty miserable. Plus, I knew the view from it would be incredible and I didn't want to capture it with just a camera phone, so I headed back down. I grabbed some dinner in Estes Park (Village Pizza!) and went to visit the elk in Moraine Park again.

On Sunday, I rode my bike out by Deer Creek just outside of Denver. I picked an easier trail since I took such a long hike the day before. The scenery was neat, but I was most amazed by the number of deer I saw. I bet I saw more than 25 deer and not all at once either, but in groups of 4-5. They were everywhere!

I know I spend alot of time in the mountains, which probably seems boring to read, but I am still loving it.