Monthly Archives: April 2016

10 April 2016

Amalie Arena

By icefogger

2016 Frozen Four
Tampa, Florida

Amalie Arena
Amalie Arena: The Frozen Four

In Tampa for the Frozen Four. The second time this city has hosted the Division 1 Hockey Championship game in four years. Tampa has quickly become a hockey town, and once again we have received an enthusiastic reception.

QU vs BC FF
Quinnipiac and Boston College line up for the National Anthem

Thursday held the two semi final games. The east faced off with the Quinnipiac Bobcats facing the Boston College Eagles. Quinnipiac started quickly, taking a 2-0 lead into the first intermission on goals by Kevin McKernan and Andrew Taverne.
Alex Tuch put BC on the board, but the Bobcats responded right away on a goal by Landon Smith to keep a two goal lead.
Ryan Fitzgerald of the Eagles scored in the third to make things very interesting. I was pulling for Quinnipiac, but admit I wanted BC to score on that power play.
In a great game one, Quinnipiac held on to the 3-2 win.

Attendance was 17,816.

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NoDak vs DU
North Dakota and Denver in warmups

In the second semifinal, old foes Denver and North Dakota would go to battle. The first period was tight, and scoreless. In the second, Drake Caggiula would open things up for the Fighting Hawks, with two goals. Denver would rally to start the third and tie things up at two, but the Hawks would come back with two more goals, including an empty-netter.

The Fighting Hawks would win 4-2, with Caggiula getting a goal and an assist.

Attendance was 18,037.

Two great semifinal games.

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Hawks vs Bobcats
Hawks and Bobcats during warmups

The Championship game was held on Saturday, with Quinnipiac facing the Fighting Hawks. The Hawks would score first, with a goal by Shane Gersich.
Quinnipiac would go on a power play, but would have a costly error allowing Brock Boeser to come in on goal alone. Bobcat goaltender Michael Garteig came out of his crease to play the puck away from Boeser, but ended up hitting the forward from Minnesota in the thigh. With Garteig completely out of position, and the net empty, Boeser easily put the puck in the net for a two goal lead. QU would be chasing their tails out on the ice for much of what remained in the period; they were in complete disarray after falling behind 2-0. Luckily, the Hawks helped them out by taking two penalties. With the two man advantage, QU score to make it 2-1.
The second period was scoreless, but Drake Caggiula would take over the third period with two goals in the first four minutes. The Hawks added one more in the 5-1 killing, and their 8th National Championship.

Caggiula had the two goals and Boeser had a 4 point night.

Attendance was 19,358, good for the third highest in Frozen Four history, although most of us fans do not count that year held in a football stadium.

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10 April 2016

The loss of Country’s Outlaw

By icefogger

Upon arriving in Tampa, I was saddened by the news that Merle Haggard had passed away. RIP.

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9 April 2016

Hillsborough River

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Hillsborough River
Hillsborough River “Rapids”

Just northeast of Tampa is one of the oldest parks in Florida: Hillsborough River State Park. I stopped in to check the place out and camp for one night. It is an absolutely beautiful park. I hiked the Nature Trail the day I arrived, which follows the Hillsborough River for much of the way. They claim the rapids is a Class II, but that may be an exaggeration. It looked like ripples to me, but there was a bit of splashing going on. Still, the hike along the river bank is thick with both flora and fauna.

CCC suspension bridge
A suspension bridge built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936

The next morning I ventured across the river and hiked the longer Florida Trail. An equally beautiful trail, but thick, thick, thick vegetation. I saw quite a few deer in the morning, and alligators were said to be present, but I saw no sign of one. A wonderful hike, regardless. I’m glad I had hit the trail early, by the last mile, I was getting pretty warm, as the temperature and humidity rose.

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8 April 2016

Manatee Springs

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Manatee

I have now officially swam with green turtles in Hawaii and now a manatee in Florida.
I stopped, and camped at Manatee Springs, a first magnitude springs, that flows into the Suwannee River. The manatees use the warmer of the natural springs for calving and shelter in the winter.

Suwannee River

Canoe and kayak rentals are available to explore the short run of the springs as well as the Suwannee River.

Manatee Springs is a beautiful park, and the hike on the Nature Coast Trail is well worth the effort. The Springs were quite busy on Sunday, when I arrived, but very quiet on Monday. I met no one while hiking the trail, although I did run into a pack of piglets. The mini pigs had climbed under a fence between the park trail and some private land. Unintentionally, I herded the piglets down the trail a ways, which had the sow all round up in bacon. Eventually, the trail feared off, and the little herd of pigs high tailed it back to the sow. It’s amazing how loud a dozen scrambling piglets can be.

Manatee Springs vultures

As usual, there was plenty of wildlife to keep it interesting. In the evening, my campsite was absolutely full of deer, and of course, the ever present black vultures hung around by day. There was one water moccasin sighting. I don’t know my snakes, but a local identified it as a water moccasin. Eerily graceful, as it moved across the water and onto a partially submerged log to sun.

IMG_1109

A very interesting park. I would guess that the manatee viewing would increase during the winter months. I think April is just getting past the peak viewing times, as the slow moving mammals need to be in the warmer waters of the spring much less.

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5 April 2016

Temple Steps

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Temple Steps

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4 April 2016

By icefogger

IMG_1050

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4 April 2016

Of Bears & Buzzards

By icefogger

Ochlockonee River
A very high Ochlockonee River

I camped in the Apalachicola National Forest along the Ochlockonee River. Driving in, I had seen a small black bear that couldn’t decide if he wanted to cross the road or not.

I hadn’t planned on staying in one of the official campsites, but thought I’d drive into one to check it out. I was surprised to find a camp host, although there were no other campers. The hosts were a local couple, he was 75 and she was 59; they had met 6 years ago and had been spending much of their time camping and fishing Florida’s panhandle together.
It turns out that their camper had no electricity, and of course, I was put to work. After a quick rewire of a circuit breaker and the elimination of a section of bare wire, they had power again.
And I had a campsite.

A beautiful night, if a bit muggy for this Alaskan. I had been invited down to share a campfire with the hosts, and we enjoyed a nice conversation around the fire comparing life in Florida and Alaska. It was going to be just one night of camping in the forest, since some severe weather was heading in and three inches of rain was called for. As it was, the hosts told me I had just missed the same in southern Georgia.

Black vulture
One of many black vultures

Black vultures have been everywhere. A string of them were dining on a roadkill carcass when I came along. They had no intention at all of moving for the Nissan, and I really didn’t want to hit any with it either. I’ve had to wind my way through herds of moose, bison and caribou, but this was the first time I’ve had to do it for buzzards.
I spotted another black bear, this one quite large. Right after that, I came around a sharp corner and startled a vulture. The vulturus, Latin for “tearer”, almost flew right through the open passenger window. It’s wingspan was wider than the window, and it rose just enough that I could catch the sight of its wing through the glass t-top. What an event that would have been. Grabbing a buzzard head with one hand, opening the driver’s window with the other, and steering with my knees.
Next time, I need to remember the Go-Pro.

Ochlockonee River 2

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3 April 2016

Kolomoki Mounds

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Temple Mound
Temple Mound

I stopped to camp at Kolomoki Mounds State Historic Park, where an ancient community once thrived. The height of it’s development was between 350-750 AD, and it’s population may have been the largest north of what is now Mexico.

Kolomoki stands near a tributary of the Chatahoochee River, and contains eight still visible mounds that were used for ceremonies and burials.

Looking up at Temple Mound
Walking around Temple Mound

Mound A, which is also known as “Temple Mound” is the largest. It stands 56′ tall, and measured 325′ by 200′ at its base. It is believed that the mound was built by hauling basket loads of dirt and clay. It would have taken over two million basket-loads of earth to build the mound.

The view from atop Temple MoundLooking out over The Plaza from Temple Mound

There have been several excavations of the mounds of Kolomoki. The Smithsonian Institution, conducted excavations between 1894 and 1897, and the best known were done by archaeologist William Sears from 1948 until 1953.

Another view from Temple Mound
Another view from atop Temple Mound

Mound D
Mound D

Mound D stands 20 feet high and lies out in what was “The Plaza”. This was a burial mound, and archaeologists have found the remains of 77 burials. With each burial, the mound would grow in size.

One of the ceremonial mounds
One of the ceremonial mounds

Mercier Family Mound
Mound G

Mound G, or the Mercier Family Mound, is not a part of the park. The Mercier family owned a plantation that contained this land, and their family graveyard is atop this small mound. It has never been excavated, and it is not know if it was a mound from Kolomoki or just a rise in the Earth.

Museum in Mound E
Mound E

The visitor center and its museum was built in the space that was excavated from Mound E. This was also a burial mound, which was the resting place for four people. Radiocarbon dating places this mound around 170 BC.

Burials in Mound E

A small theater overlooks the excavated work under the roof of the museum. A visit to the museum is worth the $5 fee. In 1974, the museum was broken into, and all of it’s artifacts were stolen. Over the years, many have been recovered mostly from Florida, but some 70 pieces remain lost, and are thought to be in the hands of private collectors.

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3 April 2016

James “Sloppy” Floyd State Park

By icefogger

Camping in Georgia

Camping in Georgia was open for business, and it was much appreciated. A nice, little, park northwest of Atlanta, and the drive down US Hwy 27 was beautiful once again.

The camp host was a Hockey Mom from Ontario, so we hit it off right away.

Leaves!
OMG! The trees have leaves down here!

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2 April 2016

Svea 123

By icefogger

I’ve been finally able to do a little camping this past week, and that comes with an added perk. I had carried an old Svea 123 camping stove for years in my backpack, and I had that taken from me several years back. I finally broke down and replaced it, and I’ve been able to break it in a little bit of late.

The 123 has been around for decades, and at one time was the most popular alpine stove out there. Newer models, particularly the butane stoves, have taken away from it’s popularity, but in my humble opinion, it’s still the best white gas backpacking stove out there. It’s bullet-proof design, leaves little to go wrong when you are out in the middle of no-where and relying on a stove.

Svea 123

It’s simple design means that there is no pump to prime, so you have to prime the stove before using. In this day of instant gratification, that’s enough to keep some people looking elsewhere for means to heat up their food.
I usually use fire paste to prime. There is a little dimple on the top of the stove base that I place some fire paste into, and then light. The heat of that, pressurizes the stove tank. One can also use a little white gas placed in that dimple.

Priming a Svea 123

The roar of the little Svea in action is once again back at my campsite.

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