Up In A Plane To Fight For a River

The Pigeon River could be a beautiful river if it was not smelly, unhealthy, and full of a chemical soup from the Evergreen Packaging Canton Mill. Its not called the "Dirty Bird" by boaters because it is clean. Above the Canton Mill the Pigeon is pristine as it runs down from the Parkway. I live about 2 miles from the Pigeon River and I cannot take advantage of its beauty because the water is simply toxic, did I mention how badly it smells? Nor can the thousands of other people that come to Western North Carolina to take advantage of its beautiful rivers.

Clean Water for North Carolina along with seven other groups are determined to fight the incredulous wastewater permit issued earlier this year. You can read more details about this issue at www.cwfnc.org. Basically the new permit allows the Mill to pollute more and not do anything to clean up the river. Thank you NC Department of Natural Resources for completing forgetting about your mission to protect and preserve NC rivers and resources.

On Tuesday, October 12th, 2010, I was invited to take pictures of the Pigeon River and paper mill by Hope Taylor the Executive Director of Clean Water for North Carolina. Thank to Southwings (www.SouthWings.org) for providing the flight. I feel lucky that we have Hope Taylor, Katie Hicks, and the staff at Clean Water for North Carolina on our side to fight to keep the Pigeon healthy.

The Pigeon River (below the mill) at ground level:

The giant mill versus the Pigeon River:


The plane:



More Pictures:

Bootlegger Enduro

Photo Highlights from the 2010 Bootlegger Enduro

Cataloochee

Cataloochee Creek in the Smoky Mountain National Park is one of my favorite creeks. The trails along this creek are also some of my favorite local trails to hike in the Park. Below are some pictures from my last adventure there.

Gnarled tree roots

Cataloochee Creek

Moss Forest

Stairs on trail over Cataloochee Creek

View of Smokies from my back deck

Textures

I love photographing contrast different textures, colors, and lights. Below are a few pictures from this weekend from a friend's house on the river, I admit they are with a point and shoot Nikon camera and not my DSLR.

Winter Hike

Last Sunday, I missed the Sumter Enduro due to snow and ice. I decided to hike up to the top of Chambers Mountain (elevation 4495 feet), which has a beautiful 360 degree view of Haywood County and beyond. There is no trail up there from the way I hiked up, so it ended up being a fun snowy adventure.

View of Chambers from way below (around 3000ft)


Looking at Hemphill Bald and the Smokies




Wierd fungus on a dying tree

Broxton Bridge Enduro 2010

Broxton Bridge Plantation is a great spot for an enduro, this year it rained all night and made for gruesome trail conditions. A special thanks to Doug Cochran and all the guys who built the trail and helped put the race on. If it wasn't for a search party, my car keys would have been still buried in dirt somewhere after the gas stop. Thanks to everyone who made my day. I shot with Rob Beacham from Passion 4 Dirt who shoots the NC Hare Scramble series as well. He is a great photog, so check out his pics too! E-mail me with any questions or special photo requests. Thanks for your support.

Indoor Motorcross at the Ag Center

Victory Sports puts on an indoor MX series a couple of times a year. Despite the cold temperature, 2-stroke gas filled air, and terrible lighting conditions, I had a blast watching kids fly around the track on their bikes. Below are a few pictures, I could not get my strobes close enough to properly light the track, but it sure was fun to watch.