Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail (North) - Late Spring Hike - 05/25/2013

Hike: Cherokee Ridge Alpine Trail North, Chimney Rock Trail, Kowliga Bay Loop Trail, Saturday, May 25, 2013, 10:10-12:45CDT
Distance: 5.0 miles  Rating: 5.0/5.0
Difficulty: Easy to Moderate  (Some uphills, heat building)
Conditions: Mostly clear, blue sky.  Temps going into the mid to upper 80s.  Light breeze was nice.  Humidity was not bad.  Trails were dry and in good shape - a couple of blow-downs.
Thoughts/Observations:
The large amount of boat traffic on Lake Martin was a tip-off that this is a holiday weekend.  Saw one small sailboat amongst the flotilla.  Something about sailboats resonates inside my spirit.  Perhaps I should have been born during the "age of sail".  I would love to be able to "sail-away"  to some hidden cove or mysterious island.

Only one other person on the trail.  Otherwise, I shared the trails with numerous lizards, passarines, dragonflies, damselflies, and frogs. 

Thoughts on Psalms 139. 
O Lord, You have searched me and known me. 2 You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. 3 You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. 4 For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. 5 You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. 6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.
Psalms 139:1-6 (NKJV)

Gear List:

• Emergency/Survival Kit Lite
• 1 Canteen of water
• New OKC SP8 Machete/Kit
• dSLR
• EsKaBar

Quote of the Day -- Friendship

In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.

-- Schweitzer - Albert 

Autauge Creek Canoe Trail

http://www.autaugacreek.org/

I really enjoyed kayaking Autauga Creek a few years back.  The creek can be more challenging than you might imagine.  It is a "different world" while you are floating down the creek.  Many sights, sounds, and adventures that are missed by those hurrying through the city on cars await the paddler!

H5N1 Engineered with H1N1 -- Highly Pathogenic & Deadly

I must agree that this is highly irresponsible; even criminal.  The human-mind is a scary thing...

http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/05/03/chinese-scientists-slammed-for-creating-mutant-influenza-virus-in-laboratory/?intcmp=HPBucket?test=latestnews

Published May 03, 2013



FoxNews.com


Chinese scientists are being criticized for their “appalling irresponsibility” after they intentionally developed a new mutant influenza strain in a veterinary laboratory, the Independent reported.



Experts have warned that the new virus strains could potentially escape the lab, which could cause a global pandemic and lead to the deaths of millions.



The viral mixing experiment was led by Professor Hualan Chen, director of China’s National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory at Harbin Veterinary Research Institute. Chen and her colleagues mixed parts of the H5N1 bird flu virus with a 2009 strain of the H1N1 virus.



The H5N1 virus is not easily transmitted from person to person, but infections of this strain are highly lethal. The H1N1 strain used is very easily transmitted, making the combination of the two strains extremely dangerous.



According to the researchers, the study was meant to imitate how flu hybrids are created in nature, comparable to when pigs are infected with two different virus strains.



“The studies demonstrated that H5N1 viruses have the potential to acquire mammalian transmissibility by re-assortment with the human influenza viruses,” Professor Chen said in an e-mail.



“This tells us that high attention should be paid to monitor the emergence of such mammalian-transmissible virus in nature to prevent a possible pandemic caused by H5N1 virus,” she said.



Chen and her colleagues were able to create 127 different virus hybrids, five of which were airborne transmittable between guinea pigs in the lab.



Many experts have quickly slammed the research, including Lord Robert May, the Baron May of Oxford and former chief scientific advisor to the British government. Lord May said the study did nothing to further scientists’ understanding of flu pandemics.



“They claim they are doing this to help develop vaccines and such like. In fact the real reason is that they are driven by blind ambition with no common sense whatsoever,” Lord May told The Independent. “The record of containment in labs like this is not reassuring. They are taking it upon themselves to create human-to-human transmission of very dangerous viruses. It’s appallingly irresponsible.”

Quote of the Day -- Food for Thought

"No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in its preservation."

- General Douglas MacArthur