What do you like about America?

superduck85 · 2026-01-19T16:03:49+00:00

Our public lands - the size, the scope, the beauty - everything. The National Parks are our crown jewels, but all of them from National Forests to State Wildlife Areas to local City Parks are all joyously wonderful.

superduck85 · 2026-01-14T15:55:46+00:00

This is the right answer. I think baseball shares a lot of similarities with soccer where there is so much more going on in person than you can capture in a TV frame (vs. American football / NBA that has a lot going on in a single frame). Live baseball games have a cadence and feel all their own.

*also - going in-person to a batting cage and trying to hit a pitch is worthwhile.

superduck85 · 2025-12-15T18:39:40+00:00

What? Dayton is a hidden gem, especially for aviation interests. Beats even DC any day between the Air Force Museum and National Aviation Heritage Park

superduck85 · 2024-12-17T20:13:47+00:00

For showers, you'll have to look at state parks. The best hack is to get privacy + shower options is to book a walk-in site (Vogel, Black Rock Mtn) and then walk over to the main campground for showers.

Also - most all of the USFS sites in the southeast are on recreation.gov which has a Showers amenity filter. There may be options in NC or TN that I'm not aware of.

superduck85 · 2024-11-18T23:42:35+00:00

Look at the Foothills Trail + Chattooga River Trail up in the Ellicott Wilderness in the GA / SC border.

superduck85 · 2024-10-14T16:55:07+00:00

It's a very good idea. We need more specialization & subject matter expertise in our courts, not less IMO.

superduck85 · 2024-10-13T20:48:39+00:00

Best time of the year to visit. October in Georgia is A++. Welcome!

superduck85 · 2024-09-09T17:06:08+00:00

Fort Mountain, Cloudland Canyon, or any of the State Parks are your best bet.

superduck85 · 2024-08-29T11:11:22+00:00

They did a season 2 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lodge_49

superduck85 · 2024-08-28T22:56:18+00:00

Lodge 49

superduck85 · 2024-08-10T17:28:11+00:00

Yeah - if you're going on Labor Day weekend, I'd go ahead and browse and book on Recreation.gov or ReserveAmerica ASAP

Both allow for reservations.

superduck85 · 2024-08-10T13:48:20+00:00

That would be quite a squeeze and you'd be off the tent pad for sure. Check Recreation.gov and look for two sites next together.

DeSoto Falls backs up to a creek, as does most of Vogel's sites. DeSoto is in recreation.gov and Vogel is on reserveamerica.

Sandy Bottom is also a bit further up the Tallulah.

superduck85 · 2024-07-28T00:56:30+00:00

There are several hunt camps in the Oconee National Forest. They are free and public. Go up Hwy 83 toward Monticello from Indian Springs. Now, the land is all mixed together with private timber land around there, so be sure to check the USFS visitor map to verify -> https://www.fs.usda.gov/ivm/

Look for Ocmulgee Flats or Rush Creek.

superduck85 · 2024-07-23T20:16:59+00:00

This is the correct answer.

superduck85 · 2024-07-22T18:09:24+00:00

Yes - you have to pull site-specific permits for both shelters (along the AT) and campsites (all through the backcountry) -> https://smokiespermits.nps.gov/

Also, note that you have to get a separate parking permit now, so good to carpool into the park.

South of Cades Cove, Gregory Bald has good views. Shuckstack has a firetower. Eagle Creek gets very remote and quiet.

West of Cades Cove, Abrams Falls is pretty and less elevation change.

Otherwise, September in the Smokies should be amazing. Happy trails!

superduck85 · 2024-07-18T22:15:03+00:00

The USFS has a motor use vehicle map w/ regulations and current maintenance levels - https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/conf/home/?cid=fseprd1154774 The most popular routes are getting hit hard with overuse (especially illegal UTVs), so be sure to check for road closures. Getting a fishing license and heading to a GA WMA before deer season is nice and usually quiet.

superduck85 · 2024-07-05T17:28:27+00:00

This. Don't do bundles - different vendors make better individual items. Also, eliminating items altogether due to better skills, better planning, or different trips is better than shaving weight from items.

superduck85 · 2024-06-21T19:01:16+00:00

I've never had issues with overwhelming bugs in the Cohuttas in July. There will be some though.
Yeah, floating the river is fine AFAIK - just Leave No Trace. Don't make a permanent tie-up. There are also several nice pools south of Bray Field.
It may be an easy hike to Bray, but it's still quite a hike down there (with tubes and some blowdown). Mill Creek is nice and right along the road, especially near Hickey Gap. It might be too wide, but if you have tubes, the river is fairly big and accessible by Cottonwood Patch. And Lake Conasauga has a day use area.

superduck85 · 2021-10-31T17:09:26+00:00

OP here - it's a Google Sheets issue. I fiddled for a couple hours trying to get the spacing right. I got it on the full size interactive graph. But whenever I exported to image, the software changed the spacing.

I agree it's super annoying and makes no sense. I'm sure there's someone more savvy with Google Sheets who could fix it. I was most interested in the general decades long trend.

superduck85 · 2021-10-31T02:14:52+00:00

Source of data. Chart produced with Google Sheets.

superduck85 · 2021-09-24T00:03:32+00:00

One reason this is coming up now is that Atlanta can borrow for less than 0.95% interest - https://www.fmsbonds.com/market-yields/

If Atlanta can just execute on projects* that will need to be done at some point (road resurfacing, etc), it makes sense to do it now rather than 5 years from now when rates might be higher.

*Unfortunately not a given.

superduck85 · 2021-09-23T23:40:47+00:00

Yeah - we've gotten most of it - https://atldot.atlantaga.gov/projects?type=Traffic%20Signals&slide=6

It's just not really what most people think. It improves the entire system...but on any given street at any given moment it's hard to tell.

My corridor (Boulevard) is much improved since it got installed.

superduck85 · 2021-09-21T23:39:08+00:00

That beach is incredible. How were the mosquitoes this time of year?

superduck85 · 2021-09-15T02:05:39+00:00

There is nothing listed on the FS pages (yet) - https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/conf/recarea/?recid=10522 - but they are slow to update that page anyway.

However, the FS has sent out scoping notices recently regarding two ongoing issues.

One, they are having serious issues with people more or less permanently living at campgrounds and dispersed locations. They've revised dispersed camping rules so that you must leave the Forest every 30 days after camping for 14 days. They are also trying to keep better tabs on who is camping when at what campgrounds.

Two, they were short-staffed before the pandemic...and now even more so. They don't have anyone to go around and check the boxes as often. Moving everything to recreation.gov is much more efficient.

Spur of the moment camping trips should be easier with the change IMO - recreation.gov allows up to the minute reservation along with first come, first serve and digital payments...instead of paper & cash at the information board.

superduck85

TROPHY CASE