Bradley Fork backpack trip questions

[GrouseMan77]

Pineman19 beat me to it. You must keep some pretty good files.

[pineman19]

Naw, just "Too Much Time on my Hands" as Styz would sing

[mayday]

The engine part is from the F-15 which was involved in a mid-air collision over the Smokies. The crash site is actually near Pecks Corner shelter. Read Mayday! Mayday! and see photos and the story. What a nice Christmas gift it would be!!!

Jeff Wadley
Author, "Mayday! Mayday!"

[sammcdonald]

mayday! mayday! available at all park bookstores and from www.smokiesinformation.org

shameless plug for the park and gsma

[sammcdonald]

another point of interest up bradley fork is a single grave. it's about 3 miles up bradley fork...cross the bridge that takes the trail to the right side of bradley....about 6 foot bank on right....almost immediately after crossing over find the very small path up the bank....follow about 100 yards into the woods to the grave of a child...

[Jim Casada]

Sam--I was really intrigued byyour mention of this grave site. Is the name of the child buried there given? Do you know any more details. It does not appear to be listed in The Cemeteries of Swain County, which is a very comprehensive but by no means complete reference work. Do you have any more history on the site. The presence of the path suggests Park nowledge and/or maintenance of the site, since there are paths to the dozen or more cemeteries in that general area--Luftee, Mingus Creek, Smokemont, etc. I assume you know about the slave cemetery near the Mingus Creek Mill?
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com

[sammcdonald]

jim, it is listed as tom huskey-child....nothing on the stone.....i have been to all the other sites you mention....
grave is at utm nad 27 289122 3942070

[Jim Casada]

Sam--Thanks, and I'll look for it the next time I'm in the area. Pardon my ignorance, but I don't have a clue of what all the numbes and letters at the end of your post mean. At first glance I thought they might be GPS coordinates, but that doesn't appear to be the case. Yet I'm sure they provide some type of "it is located here" information. Kindly enlighten a hopelessly inept soul when it comes to technology.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com

[sammcdonald]

they are gps coordinates.....use utm setting, nad 27 choice, and input those numbers...i use a garmin cheapie hand held that i'v had for 6 years...

[Jim Casada]

Sam--Thanks, and as I have made abundantly manifest, I don't use a GPS. I also don't own (and don't want) one of those infernal inventions of the devil known as a cell phone. I don't need one of those technological umbilical cords.
I reckon one of the days I'll wish I had one or the other, but I haven't been lost yet (although as Daniel Boone once said, I have been "temporarily misplaced) and that won't happen in the mountains. Downhill will always, with enough time and bushwhacking, get you to a trail and eventually civilization. I'll pass the coordinates on to my brother who, as an engineer, understands and uses all that stuff to splendid effect.
Truth be told, I reckon I was born about a century too late, and if I never watched another TV program it wouldn't ruin my life. On the other hand, take books away from me and I would be a desperate man.
Thanks for the information and explanation.
Jim Casada
www.jimcasadaoutdoors.com
P. S. Lest any skeptics say, "why you've got a website so you must be slightly in touch with the modern world," I don't know doodly-squat about it the web presence. I just write my monthly newsletter (subscriptions are free, a deal you can't beat, although some might question whether the product is worth any more than the cost), prepare the book lists, fill the books orders, answer the queries, and cobble together the other material. What I can't handle driectly by e-mail I send to my webmaster in Missoula, Montana. She does the rest, and since she's a keen hunter and outdoors person, I'm completely comfortable with her work.