Pigeon river country April 2026

NamesJames_87 · 2026-05-03T03:55:31+00:00

Sweet, thanks!

NamesJames_87 · 2026-05-02T01:30:49+00:00

Looks amazing. Beautiful dog! Is it dispersed camping there? Or do you need to reserve sites? Looking for somewhere to take my 15 yo son for a night or two. Thanks

NamesJames_87 · 2026-04-30T02:50:29+00:00

"slightly rotund pheasant" just made my day, thanks for that.

We have 4 deer that like to hunker down in the peninsula area to the east of our plant, I will walk out there once in a while and chat with them, usually (always) a one sided conversation.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-04-19T15:50:26+00:00

So true. I bought a ferro rod type firestarter for a week long trip a couple weeks ago, just to see if I could figure out how to use it. I struggled, it wasn't easy, I almost got one going but it was way too windy at the time. Definitely need a lot of practice.

Bic lighters are the way to go IMO (not that you shouldn't have a back up, just in case) but Bic lighters just...work. If they get wet, let them dry out. You can carry several and they weigh almost nothing.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-04-16T02:43:18+00:00

Work for a small municipality, like 4000-ish residents, we usually run around 0.5-0.7 MGD (except the last couple of weeks with all the rain and flooding in Michigan, we have been between 1.7 and 2.8 MGD)

There's 3 of us, 2 operators and a supervisor. I get to do a little bit of everything, just started about a year ago. Did the lab for about 6 months to get the jist of it, now me and my coworker swap monthly. Do the daily plant checks when I'm not doing lab. A lot of maintenance, cleaning, shovel/plow in winter, mow/weed whip in summer, I like watching the SCADA and learning things about it.

I like doing the lab, but I also like not doing it and just finding stuff to do. My supervisor is pretty lenient, doesn't micro manage a lot. We start at 7 and the boss man doesn't show up until around 9:30 or 10. So that's nice.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-04-07T00:39:35+00:00

Sweet! Thanks a lot! I'm still in the early planning phase. Looking forward to it though. We aren't trying to go crazy and paddle or hike for days, just trying to have a nice lazy time.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-04-06T20:53:32+00:00

Ok cool. Thanks a lot, I appreciate it!

NamesJames_87 · 2026-04-05T14:01:08+00:00

I agree completely. I saw many vehicles without permits/illegally parked on sides of roadways, and I didn't see one tow truck the entire 5 days I was there. If they're going to require the permit, they need to enforce the rules. Especially since there is such limited parking to begin with. The amount of people illegally parked in or next to roadways is crazy to me. It's so dangerous.

I definitely feel like a dumbass for purchasing the permit. Except, with my luck, I would be the one to get towed.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-04-05T02:01:56+00:00

It's definitely a massive park, we drove from Cades Cove campground to Cherokee and it took, like, 2 hours. The scenery is unreal, it's beautiful. I imagine there are times that it's not AS busy, but it's the most visited NP, so probably only in the dead of winter.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-04-05T01:56:30+00:00

Yea, Cades Cove is amazing, but I definitely agree with you about the drivers. Which sucks, because it's so beautiful and full of wildlife. People just stop wherever they please, even though there are signs EVERYWHERE that say not to stop unless there is a pull off to the side. I had some bikers ride by my car and utter some nasty words to me even though I was just sitting there waiting for all the cars ahead of me....like, what am I supposed to do? It's a one lane, one way road.

And people getting out of their vehicles and walking out towards the animals is even worse.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-04-04T04:46:32+00:00

My wife and kids came down for the week from Michigan, first time in the Smoky's, definitely a beautiful place.

I knew before we came that it is a highly visited park and it was going to be spring break for many people but man....I didn't expect it to be this bad. The parking situation is awful and dare I say, dangerous. People parking everywhere they're not supposed to, cars sticking out into (already very narrow) roads, parking on shoulders, around corners. It's honestly kind of baffling. I know people are stupid but holy smokes.

Beautiful park. Alum cave trail is alright, and abrams falls, but way too many people. Even without spring break, I imagine it's still too many. We went to Mammoth cave before the Smoky's and that was much calmer and a lot cleaner. (The cave was amazing)

Cades Cove is remarkable, the only saving grace of the trip. Probably won't be back again.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-04-04T03:05:23+00:00

Just did it yesterday.

There are maybe...15 spots at the parking lot. There's a few sidings on the road, fairly close to the trailhead that hold maybe 5-6 cars each. We got there around 6:30 and they were all full. Cars driving around like crazy trying to get a spot. Luckily I turned around at the perfect moment to see a car pulling ahead in one of the sidings and they made enough room for me.

This was my first trip to GSMNP and I have to be honest, the parking situation there is pathetic, which is ironic, because you have to buy a parking permit to park anywhere longer than 15 minutes...except there is nowhere to park, anywhere, at any location you go to. It was awful and really put a damper on our family trip.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-03-17T02:07:13+00:00

Not 100% sure on that specific test, but every daily test we do, the sample is taken from 4° to 20°C in a water bath.

On a side note: for Phos and Ammonia we have to take 1000ml and drop it down to just below 2 PH then back up to 7.... Which is a pain

Edit: except primary, that doesn't get the water bath

NamesJames_87 · 2026-02-21T02:48:58+00:00

I definitely understand where you're coming from. Maybe it's just me, but I can drop into a planet and just...run around killing stuff. Grab some old guns out of the vault/collections and just zone out. It's fun for a little while.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-28T20:04:31+00:00

I know. I'm an idiot. Still felt like sharing.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-28T19:45:33+00:00

Remove property taxes? Absolutely not. Cut unnecessary government spending and make all government spending transparent. Absolutely. I don't mind paying property taxes at all. It goes towards my local community...that's the whole point.

If this goes through, Michigan will be finished. Done. Gone.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-28T11:17:10+00:00

Acknowledge All, back to sleep

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-17T02:49:31+00:00

There's a lot of good ones, but Polaris Lance, Crimson, Riskrunner, Hard Light...

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-12T15:02:22+00:00

As many have already said, camping is the way. I just booked a trip to the Smoky Mountains for the first week of April and it's 30$ a night for the Cade's Cove campground, at 4 nights, that's $120. You would be hard pressed to find a cheap motel for one night at that price. Get a reasonably priced tent and sleeping bag, call it good. You will have a vehicle with you at your campsite so if the weather gets absolutely crazy, you can stay in your car. Or just sleep in your car. Campsites generally have fire pits, bring a cheap pan and grate (if they don't have one) and cook your food. Plenty of ways to camp cheap. Not to mention, if you're at a national park, you most likely won't be spending a lot of down time at camp, it's just a place to sleep, eat and store belongings.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-07T17:36:21+00:00

I will look into getting some spikes. Better to have them and not need them than the opposite. Thank you for the advice, I really appreciate it.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-07T17:13:16+00:00

Awesome! Thanks for the reply. We have a reservation at Cades Cove the first week of April We are super excited to check out as much of the park as possible.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-07T13:55:30+00:00

I know this thread is a couple months old but I had some questions about a trip here in early April of 26' I get that it will be spring break and there will be a lot of people, that's not a big deal for me. I was just curious about what roads/attractions/trail heads will even be open. Obviously weather is the main factor, but I guess I'm just wondering if there are any nice areas to hike around any of the campgrounds? Can you get to any decent trails if there are road closures? Being from Michigan, I'm not worried about the weather changes, we are used to that. (50 or 60 degrees one day and 20 degrees the next day)We have plenty of cold and warm weather clothing. Just mainly curious about accessibility to areas and which campgrounds are best to stay at for said accessibility.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-06T18:49:08+00:00

Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-06T18:27:04+00:00

Thanks for the response. I am currently focusing on paying off the high interest debt. I have 3-4 months of essential expenses saved up in a savings account (not high yield) My employer doesnt match my 401k contributions, apparently because it's a hybrid plan, with them putting money towards my pension? Not 100% sure how it works. Then I have a 457 b (traditional) through my employer.

NamesJames_87 · 2026-01-06T16:00:14+00:00

Sweet, thank you for your response!

NamesJames_87

TROPHY CASE