That’s why we’re creating a new section of the blog dedicated to great camp recipes… because a long day of hiking deserves a great reward.

Baked Cinnamon Apples

Apples wrapped & ready for the coals.

These Baked Cinnamon Apples are the perfect treat on a cool night after a long day on the trails. By chopping up the butter and blending it with the brown sugar, the flavors glaze both the inside and outside of the apple, making every bite like a mini-apple pie.

Ingredients

• Apple
• 1 Tablespoon Brown sugar
• 1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 Teaspoon Butter
• Chopped pecans (optional)
• Raisins (optional)
• Aluminum foil

1. Core an apple and place it on a square of aluminum foil.
2. Mix together brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut up butter into small pieces and toss into the brown sugar mixture.
3. Fill cored apple brown sugar mixture, pecans, raisins.
4. Wrap foil around it and bake for 15 – 20 minutes on hot coals.

Tender cinnamon apple ready for camp side enjoyment

Trails at Ellington Ag Center

Another sunny winter afternoon, another day on the trails.  This week we stayed very close to home and hit up the Rogers Walk at Ellington Agricultural Center in south Nashville. For a short trail, it offers surprising variety and a relative escape from the city that surrounds it.

1. Scenery: 2.5
2. Difficulty: 2.0
3. Distance: 1.9 miles
4. Convenience: 5.0
5. Dog Friendliness: 5.0
6. Bonus Funtimes: 3.0

Sevenmile Creek

Scenery (2.5 out of 5.0): The Rogers Walk at Ellington Ag Center provides a little of everything – history, woodlands, streams, open fields and paved roads – all in 1.9 miles.  The trail is well shaded and aside from a brief excursion over a parking lot after you pass by the restored 19th century cabins, it’s mostly a refreshing walk in the woods.

Once down the hill, Sevenmile Creek appears, providing a nice scenic bonus to the trail.  An open field with overhead power lines appears about 2/3 of the way through before re-entering the wooded area that lasts for the majority of the remaining loop.

Difficulty (1.5 out of 5.0): People of all ages and fitness levels were on this trail.  There are a few minor climbs, but the terrain is steady and the paths are well-worn and well-kept.

Woodlands at Ellington Ag Center

Distance: 1.9 miles

Convenience (5.0 out of 5.0):  This trail is in the Crieve Hall area of south Nashville. We recommend parking at the top of the hill in the large parking lot near the horse barns (it is an ag center) and the historic cabins.

Dog Friendliness (5.0 out of 5.0): With easy terrain and creekside access at multiple spots on this 1.9 mile loop, the dogs stayed plenty refreshed and had ample opportunity to cool down when they needed to.

Bonus Funtimes (4.0 out of 5.0): Ellington Agriculture Center is home to a host of museums, ag, archeology and wildlife resources and an Iris Garden cared for by volunteers. The Agriculture Museum hosts family friend events throughout the year.  Just across Sevenmile Creek, there’s another greenway and soccer and baseball fields maintained by the city of Nashville.

History & Hiking: Log Cabins at the TN Agriculture Museum

Bells Bend Park

We headed out to Bells Bend Park on an unseasonably warm January day (which seems like almost every day this winter) to give our legs a good stretch and knock another trail off our 60 within 60 list.  This turned out to be less of a hike and more of a walk through the fields, but did make for a decent outing.

1. Scenery: 2.0
2. Difficulty: 1.0
3. Distance: 2.5
4. Convenience: 5.0
5. Dog Friendliness: 5.0
6. Bonus Funtimes: 2.0

Wide open spaces at Bells Bend.

Scenery (2.0 out of 5.0): Bells Bend Park was originally slated to become a landfill, but the city eventually deemed it unfit to house all the city’s trash.  As that history alludes to, the park is fairly wide open and mostly flat.

This hike was more reminiscent of a walk on a Kansas farm than a hike in the Tennessee foothills.  The trails are well-kept, mowed swaths the break up the rolling prairie-type grasses.  There are some scenic spots as the trail parallels the Cumberland River.

Difficulty (1.0 out of 5.0): This was an immensely easy trail… and would’ve been even more of a breeze if we had paid attention to the trail map as we set out from the Poplar Hollow trailhead.  There are a lot of spur trails and none of them are marked, so we wound up WAY off the loop early on, but easily managed to get back on track.

Satisfied with Bells Bend.

Distance: 2.5 miles

Convenience (5.0 out of 5.0): This trail is an easy 20 minute drive from downtown Nashville, a few miles off of Ashland City Highway in the western Davidson County.

Dog Friendliness (5.0 out of 5.0): The dogs didn’t break much of a sweat on this trail.  There’s a creek at the trailhead so they could drink up before and after hitting the trail.  This is a very dog friendly trail in the Nashville area.

Bonus Funtimes (2.0 out of 5.0): This is a very family-friendly with easy trails and plenty of room for the kids to safely roam. There’s also an Outdoor Center that looks likely to have plenty of activities during open hours.  Also, ornithologist will greatly enjoy this trail for the abundant bird life the flits and flies about the area.

Please write, email or call both of your Senators.  Here’s a link if you need it:  http://www.senate.gov/.  Here’s a copy of the email we just sent them… Feel free to repurpose it for your senators.

—————

Senators Corker and Alexander,

As your constituent I am asking you to amend MAP-21 to include dedicated funding for RTP.

I was immensely disheartened to learn of the threat to cut funding to the Recreational Trails Program. As a Tennessean you understand the impact of supporting natural resources in the community. You’ve seen the changes that occurred in a town like Chattanooga when its natural resources were supported, you should especially understand this. And now the Senate is threatening to eliminate this useful program.

These are trails people throughout the state use every weekend. If you haven’t been on one in a while, I suggest you check them out – if you need help finding one, here’s our blog that has reviews for trails throughout Tennessee: http://markingmyterritory.wordpress.com

As your constituent I am asking you to amend MAP-21 to include dedicated funding for RTP.

- For the last two decades, RTP has received a portion of the gas taxes paid by users of off-highway motorized vehicles to fund trail building, maintenance and other trail-related projects. More than 13,000 projects have been funded across the country for all kinds of trail uses. THIS IS A VERY SUCCESSFUL PROGRAM.

- At its current level of annual funding – $85 million – RTP receives less than 42% of the Federal Highway Administration’s conservative estimate of the federal gas taxes paid by America’s nonhighway recreationists. The Senate bill would reduce that percentage to zero and represents a substantial new tax on motorized recreation enthusiasts. THIS IS COMPLETELY UNACCEPTABLE.

- The return of gas taxes to trail users through the RTP is in keeping with the user-pay, user-benefit philosophy of the Highway Trust Fund. Ending dedicated funding for RTP takes these gas taxes away from the people who pay them. ENDING DEDICATED FUNDING FOR RTP IS BAD PUBLIC POLICY AND JUST PLAIN WRONG.

- Here is an article from the Orlando Sentinel from a couple months ago that shows that Bike trails pumped $42M into Central Florida economy. Why would you not want to invest into Recreational trails? http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-10-17/news/os-trails-economic-impact-20111017_1_bike-trails-west-orange-trail-trail-users PROGRAMS LIKE RTP MAKE A MAJOR IMPACT ON LOCAL ECONOMIES AND SUPPORT JOB CREATION.

The RTP is the foundation of state trail programs. If the RTP loses its dedicated funding, organized trail planning and development will simply vanish in many areas of the country, as will the jobs they create.

Sen. Alexander and Sen. Corker, PLEASE AMEND MAP-21 TO INCLUDE DEDICATED FUNDING FOR RTP.

Sincerely,
Amy & Nate (Ezra and Coltrane, too)

Nashville, TN

MMT Guest Post @ Appalachia & Beyond

Our friends over at Appalachia and Beyond recently welcomed a new member of to their family, Miss Dinah Marie!  As it goes with newborns, they haven’t been able to get out on the trail much in recent weeks, so we were lucky enough to write up a guest post for their blog, Appalachia and Beyond.

This post goes beyond trail reviews and really looks at factors that should be taken into account to ensure outings with your dogs are positive for both you — and your four-legged companion.

Avoiding these problems can be easy with some due diligence.  Do some quick research about the area you’ll be hiking in (make sure dogs are allowed – many state parks and nature preserves ban dogs), make sure your pup is in shape for what’s ahead, throw a water bowl and extra water in your pack then hit the trail.

Check out the entire post at Appalachia and Beyond.

Sunshine on the Volunteer Day Loop.

Perhaps the best thing 60 Hikes within 60 Miles has taught us is how many great hiking trails are in metro Nashville – providing nice alternatives to the popular greenways.

1. Volunteer Day Loop at Long Hunter SP – “Perhaps the biggest surprise on this hike was discovering all the great options this area has to offer. “
2. Mossy Ridge Trail at Percy Warner – “Percy Warner did not disappoint.  The Mossy Ridge Trail is easily the most difficult trail that we’ve done within the Nashville city limits.”
3. Barfield Wilderness in Murfreesboro – “This trail treated us to very scenic fall foliage along with plenty of riverviews along the path and views crevasses of all shapes and sizes.”

2011′s Best Short Trails

Water tunnel at the Narrows.

Sometimes you just want to get out for a quick walk in the woods.  These are our favorite metro Nashville trails 5 miles or shorter.

1. Barfield Wilderness in Murfreesboro – “… is where we got a pretty good workout climbing up and hopping across the rock outcroppings.”
2. Narrows of the Harpeth – “With river views, a bluff overlook onto surrounding farmland, this hike provides a little bit of everything when it comes to scenery.”
3. Volunteer Day Loop at Long Hunter SP - “This trail had a few small climbs, but nothing that made either of us break a sweat.”

Golden leaves on Honey Creek

Fresh air and exercise are just a by-product of the main reason most people get outdoors:  to take in nature’s beauty.  These trails provided our best scenic escapes for their beauty and diversity over the last year.

1. Honey Creek Loop - “…provides some of the most diverse scenery that can be packed into 5.6 miles. The trail starts out innocuous enough… but as it descends, Tennessee’s geological roots play a prominent role in the landscape.”
2. Stone Door -  ”…the changing fall colors provided an extra incentive for taking a few hours to check out the bluffs, overlooks, shaded rock & boulder fields, waterfall on this creekside hike.”
3. Millennium Trail at Edgar Evins – “Heavily shaded by typical Tennessee oak and maple trees… the steep climbs and descents are broken up by intermittent glimpses of Center Hill Lake.”

2011′s Most Surprising Trails

Surprisingly fun times at Barfield Wilderness

Heading out we usually have a pretty good idea of what we’ll encounter, but every once in a while the trails give us unexpected twists.  These are the trails that provided a variety of  noteworthy surprises.

1. Barfield Wilderness Loop (scenery) - ”…one of the most surprisingly fun and scenic trails we’ve done. We headed down with the goal of getting some fresh air, but wound up enjoying a surprisingly scenic, fun and (at times) challenging hike.”
2. Millennium Trail (difficulty) – “When the author of the guidebook noted that this trail is ‘challenging’ twice in the first three sentences, he wasn’t joking.”
3. Glen Falls (scenery & dog friendliness) – “Glen Falls provides a nice escape into nature and is just a few minutes from long-established neighborhoods at the edge of Chattanooga.”

These trails get our top ratings for dog friendliness for the ample access to water, ability for the dogs to easily navigate the terrain and overall enjoyment for the humans charged with wrangling the dogs along the trail.

1. Montgomery Bell Southwest Loop & Northeast Loop – “Plenty of water sources make this an easy trail to keep the pups from overheating.”
2. Volunteer Day Loop Trail at Long Hunter State Park – “The ease of trails made it an ideal area for Ezra to try to drag us along.”
3. Perimeter Trail at Bowie Park – “As a dog that would rather lounge outside in 20 degree weather than swelter in 75 degree ‘heat,’ Ezra took plenty of time to soak himself in the creeks for a few cool downs.”

Coltrane & Ezra take in the view

2011′s Most Challenging Trails

Rocky Stone Door path

What makes a trail challenging?  It’s not just the mileage, but the varying nature of the terrain. Whether scurrying over boulders or fighting through exhausting climbs, these trails all gave us a run for our money (and sore calves, quads, hamstrings…)

1. Honey Creek at Big South Fork – “Everything we read about this trail noted the difficulty.  And the people who made those advisories were not joking around…”
2. Millennium Trail at Edgar Evins – “We each managed at least one fall, several trips, a few rolled ankles and two exhausted sets of legs by the time we returned to the trail head.”
3. Stone Door at South Cumberland State Rec Area – “If it weren’t for the decent and ascent to and from the creek, these trails would be pretty easy… however, the decent and ascent can pretty brutal in spots.”

The MMT Crew

It took a little while longer to get here than expected (house renovations are a real impediment to getting outdoors!), but as we post our 50th blog (this is it!), we’ve got a new community to thank for a very warm welcome.  Many thanks to our fellow outdoor bloggers who’ve been a great inspiration to Marking My Territory (MMT).  A big thank you to…

• Appalachia and Beyond
• Cloud Hiking
• Metro to Mountain
• Diary of a Day Hiker
• Meanderthals
• Hiking Nature
• Blue Roads to Hiking
• Life Outside My Door

We’re looking forward to broadening our posting topics and revamping the layout to improve usability in 2012 and expanding our network of fellow outdoorsy folks.

Thanks to everyone for your support this year and as we go forward!

- Amy, Nate, Coltrane & Ezra

Sniffing out the trail

Much like our second outing to Montgomery Bell State Park, this weekend’s trip to Beaman Park involved retracing our steps from March of 2010.  This time we tacked on the Henry Hollow Loop to Ridgetop Trail, giving us a little more time outdoors on a beautiful December day.

1. Scenery: 2.5
2. Difficulty: 2.0
3. Distance: 5.5 miles
4. Convenience: 3.5
5. Dog Friendliness: 3.5
6. Bonus Funtimes: 2.0

Leaders of the pack

By adding on the Henry Hollow Loop, we were treated to a few more scenic spots along as the trail follows along a creekside for the beginning portion of the hike.  For a full review, check out our post from March 2010 on the Ridgetop Trail at Beaman Park.

The one drawback on this day’s hike was the other dog owners that we encountered while on the trail. There were several dogs that were off leash and got away from their owners, causing a couple minor skirmishes between unfamiliar hounds.  This lack of consideration from the owners was a bit of a downer and frustrating, but from what we’ve heard from other friends who regularly hike at Beaman, it’s not usually too much of an issue.

Creekside on Henry Hollow Loop