I spent last week exploring the Great Smoky Mountains before getting caught in the wake of hurricane Helene. Nobody anticipated the scale destruction of Helene would cause. My prayers are with the families down there dealing with the immediate aftermath of the event. Thankfully, my party was able to evacuate the area swiftly, and while we did not have the capacity to offer assistance to others, I believe that we made the best decision in the midst of the fast-moving disaster. We were overly cautious, which kept us out of an emergency situation that would have taken valuable resources away from first responders. I'm doing this write-up to tell the story, as both a cautionary tale and to give great praise to the staff at the park for their handling of the situation.

We arrived at Balsam Mountain campground on September 21st with a reservation until the 27th. Our plan was to hike and explore the park, and while the campsite was wonderfully remote and scenic, it was quite literally on top of a mountain. The road leading up to it was a winding 35mph and was a flat 40 minute drive from Oconaluftee Visitor Center in Cherokee, NC. Our round trip time each day was usually minimum of 2 hours, ending with a night-drive up the winding Blue Ridge Parkway to camp.

Fast forward to 25th; we were taking highway 441 across state lines into Tennessee and had plans to climb Chimney Tops Trail. A last minute decision put us at Alum Cave Bluffs instead; 4.6 miles with 1400 or so feet of elevation gain. It rained for the first half of our hike, making the rocky paths slick, but once we had hiked a mile or so in, we got above the clouds and rain. The views from up top were spectacular, with clouds rolling through the mountains that made the vistas ever-changing. There were some sheer cliffs higher up on trail that turned my stomach while I was tiptoeing on the wet rock, but overall the hike was safe and very well defined. It was a good thing we turned back now.

The rain started up again in roughly the same place as we headed back. It was much heavier now, and was starting to flood some of the trails; I was glad were heading back to the car. We passed a few hikers that were still determined to get up mountain, but the thought of being high up on those cliffs with the worsening rain made me wary of their decision. That said, rain is frequent and very normal in the Smokys, and so while we were all soaked by the time we made it back to the car, I wasn't too concerned about the weather conditions. 

We drove through the rain to Gatlinburg for lunch, and after sitting down, we overheard some disgruntled guests talking about how their ticket to the SkyLift had been refunded. Apparently the weather was too bad to bring them up. My mom ended up asking them about it, and then the waiter chimed in. 

"The roads around here are closing from rock slides and downed trees. I'd be careful on those mountain roads, especially with the hurricane coming in."

This was not the first we had heard of Helene, and while we anticipated some heavy rain, we figured we were far enough inland to be out of the way of danger. Besides, we still had two more days paid at the campsite, and the forecast was looking like the bulk of the storm would hit Friday afternoon. Our plan was to get get up early Friday morning and head north out ahead of it.

Our plan changed when we mapped back to our campground and discovered that the Blue Ridge Parkway near the Oconaluftee Visitor Center had been closed. Instead of leaving Friday, now we planned to do one more night at Balsam Mountain and leave Thursday before things got hairy. However, now our only way back up to camp (where our tents, sleeping pads, and gear were) was to take the southern road 19 through the Cherokee reservation, past Soco Falls to the other end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

It was pouring and the sun was gone, but we had to get to camp. The weather conditions were only going to get worse in the coming days, and it was only a matter of time before more roads got closed. Fear and doubt started to creep in when we finally made it to the other end of Blue Ridge. We had never driven these roads before; they were winding, slick, and illuminated only by the dim lights on houses. We could see sheer mountain faces disappearing into darkness on either sides of the road, and visions of falling rocks tormented my mind. 

I had a lot of thoughts running through my head; what if we get stuck up here? What if our phone service dropped and we were now trapped up on a mountain in a hurricane? It was truly terrifying; I white knuckled the entire way up. Then another road closed sign popped up; 3 miles ahead it said. What now? Was there even a way up to the campsite? We looked at a map and saw that the road was closed at the junction to Balsam Mountain Road, so we weren't sure if we could even get up there.

We called the park dispatch to see if we could get an answer, and after talking for just a minute with the operator, she put us on hold as another emergency call came in.

"I'm sorry, we're very busy right now. There's a lot of accidents out there. Can you please hold?"

We were put on hold at least four more times before a ranger got on the line and explained what was going on. Balsam Mountain campground was closing; there was a mandatory evacuation the following morning at 9am.

"But is the road to the camp open?" I asked.

He said it was, and that we could try to make up there if we wanted. . .but, we had to get our gear out by 9am tomorrow morning; otherwise we would have to wait until after the hurricane. Most of the campers had already evacuated from the campsite that night, and while he had cleared debris from the road an hour ago, he wasn't going back up to the camp tonight and was aware of more fallen trees. There were too many other people in the park that needed help at this point.

We had pulled off at Jonathan Creek overlook while speaking with the ranger, and with the news that our stuff might be stuck up there for 3-5 more days, we had to try to get it. It was that, or get a hotel for however long it took for the camp to reopen. Park staff was not taking possession of people items at this point either, so if we opted against the hotel and went home, our only other option was to fly down from Michigan once the hurricane passed in a week. 

So, we started crawling up the road from the overlook; we still had 10 miles to Balsam Mountain campground. Our GPS put us 30 minutes away, which would more than likely turn into an hour with how slowly we were moving. We were no more than a few hundred feet from Jonathan Creek when something white in the road caught everybody's eyes.

"Is that snow?" I said in disbelief.

A resounding yes in the car put as all in agreement it was time to turnaround. The only problem was that the next turnout was more than 3 miles up the road, so we made a horrifying, mountain-side U-Turn in the pitch black night while rain battered the car. One of the scariest turn around I have ever done, but now we were headed down instead of up; thank goodness. Our gear was abandoned, but as we saw tiny balls of hail bouncing off the road, we all were certain that the decision to turn around was undoubtedly the right one. 

In about 20 minutes, we had gotten safely down the mountain and were now headed into Cherokee to stay at the hotel at Harrah’s Casino. I waited in the car while my wife and mom went to the front desk, and it was here that I now felt a change in the atmosphere. As I looked out in the dark night beneath the bright lights of the hotel drive in, the quiet made the gravity of the situation begin to sink in. We just left all our stuff on top of a mountain because a storm shutdown the roads. The first responders for the park are overwhelmed and a crisis is unfolding in the Smoky's.

I was too tired to really digest everything that was going on; things were happening too fast. We had woken up on a mountain that morning, immersed in nature, and now we were in a place almost completely devoid of plant life, surrounded by flashing neon lights and nicely dressed folk. I felt out of place; we had come here to camp. You know, sleep in a tent, make breakfast on a fire, and spend all day hiking. But, we didn't have a whole lot of control over what happened, so instead of fighting it, we just went along with it.

It was about 11:30pm when my wife and mom split a bottle of Blackberry Wine in the hotel room and then we all headed out to the casino. Neither me nor my wife had ever been to one, and so in a daze, we all wandered about in the sea of flashing arcade games and entranced gamblers. It was one of the strangest places I had ever been. Our group of three brought a total of $25, but no one had delusions about the night; we were here by fate to participate in whatever curveball had been thrown at us, not to go win money.

By 1:30am, we had turned that $25 into two coupons: one for $0.34 and another for $0.56. Money well spent to see what the strange inside world of a casino was like. 

We all slept in past 9; no one thought it wise to try and get up early and get back to the top of the mountain while the storm continued to rage outside. We talked a lot about our choice to leave over coffee and just continued to affirm the decision. Even if we had made it to the top, the risk of a tree falling and blocking our road down and trapping us up there wasn't worth it. We had mostly given up hope of getting our stuff back, but figured we would go to the visitor center and see if, by some miracle, a ranger had bought it down.

We added up the value of all the gear; $2,200. More than anyone had expected, not to mention the sentimental stuff. We had left more than a few items from deceased relatives left up there, and so we decided to make another run at it before getting on the road for the 11 hour drive back home. 

We got to the Oconaluftee Visitor Center around 11am. The vibe was tense. A large sign posted in front of the main desk had information posted about the "historic flooding" that would be coming to the Smoky's from hurricane Helene. Park employees wore wide-eyed, stern expressions from what I guessed was a long night of nerve-wracking work, while the parking lot that had been packed with people over the last few days was almost entirely empty.  

We were quickly helped by a man behind the desk who gave our information to a park ranger. After a half hour of anxious waiting, the ranger called and had us meet him at Soco Falls overlook; he was going to escort us up the mountain through 4 or 5 locked gates so that we could retrieve our gear; a dream come true. 

Ashville 13 news caught us at the falls with the ranger and wanted a story. I gave them as quick minute description what happened, but I didn't want to take up the rangers time. Plus, we were all anxious to get our stuff and get on the road before the hurricane hit. 

Our escort back up Balsam Mountain was safe and problem free. We packed all of our soaked tents and sleeping bags into the car and then got on the road. The ranger handled the situation well and acted with a high degree professionalism. We were taken aback by how well the GSMNP staff took care of us and I truly do not have enough good things to say about the folk over there. They helped us safely through a difficult situation and accommodated our needs.

As the saying goes, we "weren't out of the woods yet." By 11:50am Thursday the 26th, we drove through pouring rain from Cherokee to Maggie Valley and then to I40. It rained the entire drive. Roads had already starting flooding out in Tennessee and my wife was keeping an eye on the worsening storm conditions in the news. Our mission was simple; outrun the hurricane. It was getting worse with ever hour, and I had no idea how far north we had to go to get safe, so we just kept on driving. 

By the end of the day, we had all been in the car for well over 12 hours, starting at Harrah's Casino and ending in Cincinnati, OH. Media coverage of the devastation the following day was haunting; so many of the areas now in crisis were places we had been in no less than a day earlier. We had quite literally gotten out in just the nick of time.

Once again, my thoughts and prayers go out to all the people affected by Helene.  

I participated in 12 PDGA sanctioned disc golf events this past season with good bit of up's and downs, but ultimately finished strong playing two A Tiers where I averaged above my rating. This was my first time competing in the Discraft Michigan Amateur State Championships and the 42nd Discraft Great Lakes Open. I'm excited to play in them next season and hope to make it a yearly tradition. 

Now onto the writing portion of things. . .in short, I've been doing a ton of work on queries and editing. I am currently on my 3rd pass through the entire 80k words of Jeff's Long Weekend and am certain this is my FINAL edit cycle. Not going through the self-publishing process has been admittedly a bit dejecting, as the book has now been "done" for nearly 4 months but is still not in paperback format. This perhaps the hardest part of self-publishing; I've invested hundreds of hours into this book and still have nothing to show for it. It is quite unsatisfying because it feels incomplete, and so I've been having some trouble moving onto other writing works. That said, this final pass through of the story is making me fall back in love with it and get that much more excited about getting the book into readers hands.

Aside from the liminal novel, I do have a polished piece of work that I have re-written nearly a dozen times now that is purely fantasy and atmosphere. It is one of those works where 20k words is cut down to only 2500. It just be like that sometimes, though, and I'm in love with the work, despite it being nowhere close to novel length. This, along with the sequel to Jeff's Long Weekend, are the two books I am currently working on writing. I plan to make a ton of progress on them over the winter.

Finally, there is something that has been on my mind for the last few months and after lot's of consideration, I believe it is the right choice. . .The Patterns of Existence: Definitive Edition.

Okay, I have no idea if it's actually going to be called that, but it will be a full revision and republication of the work. The two books will be combined into a single book of roughly 115-120k words. The stories in them were always meant to go together, and now with much more writing and editing experience under my belt, I'd love the opportunity to re-polish everything and give the stories another chance. I plan to pursue traditional publishing for the work, but have every intention of doing the republication, even if a publishing house won't take it. 

Four massive projects; Jeff's Long Weekend, it's sequel, Atmospheric fantasy, and the Definitive Edition of my memoir. A lot to chew and certainly not the extent of my writing ambitions, these are all things my readers can look forward too. Of course, magazine work and other side projects will inevitably come up, but these are the dreams I will be pursuing in the coming months!

The last three months have been extremely busy, but the fruits of the work were well worth the time. Jeff's Long Weekend, the liminal book I have been working on for the last ~2 years now is finally complete at ~80k words. I am in the process of making final edits, but plot and structure wise, the book is finished. I am officially moving into the publishing process, which is an undertaking in and of itself, but I am very hopeful for the prospects of the work. I'm already working on a plotline for the sequel, along with more ideas for liminal horror. Once I have confirmed a publishing date, I will be sure to write another blog post.

As for the half-awkward picture of me on the left, I had the very fortunate opportunity to cover the 2024 PDGA Champion's Cup Major in Morton, IL. My work at the event included some conversations with players, which should see publication in this years summer issue of Disc Golfer Magazine. There is potentially another article on top of this in the upcoming issue regarding Amateur Worlds, so be sure to grab a copy of the magazine. Otherwise, stay tuned on here for an update to the publications page and a link to the digital version once some time has passed since the hard-copy issue.

With disc golf season now in full swing, I will be competing at tournaments over the summer and (hopefully) taking down some victories to share on here. Summer also means growing season and crops, which as I have mentioned in prior blog posts, it is a goal of mine to eventually offer botanical products through both this site and my other store fronts. 

"But Christian, this is an author site. Why are you trying to sell me plants?"

To put it bluntly; I seek to expand my avenues to connect with people. The beauty of writing is that it can be used as a tool for all sorts of topics, and with agricultural being a fundamental part of my life, I figure it's a way to give me more to write about. Disc golf, liminal horror, and the metaphysical are certainly subjects I've taken a liking to, but as the saying goes: Why limit yourself?

Aside from these things, I also wanted share a tiny bit of a teaser from the Meteor archives. Pure, medieval fantasy; a swamp tower off the coast. Dark wizards and kings; no, these are not just fun words. A while back, I started book in this realm, and while it got brushed to wayside a bit while I worked on Jeff's Long Weekend, I have every intention of completing it. 

As with many of my past undertakings, the blog went cold for a bit while I was working on some different writings, but I'm happy to touch back here and share an update. January was an exciting month with to work with Disc Golfer magazine, as they made their 2024 winter issue available online, and gave me the opportunity to write an article for the Spring issue. The article is done at the time of writing this, and those magazines should get into circulation in late March. As with all of my articles, I will be sure to share a link to it on here once it's available.

Psychedelic Scene also published one of my articles a few weeks back on the Stoned Ape Theory, which suggests that human development could have been impacted by hallucinogens. It's definitely worth a read if you haven't heard of the theory or want a new angle on it, and if you're interested in more stuff in that realm, checkout another piece of mine they published on The Psychedelic Properties of Marijuana. It's been a ton of fun writing for this magazine, and though I often get wrapped up in other works and my book, coming back to write about the broad subject of psychedelics always flexes my creativity. I'll never run out things to write about on that topic, so you can count on steady supply of trippy articles from me.

I also have a few other small updates before I get to the book. I am currently waiting on a response from Backwoods Home Magazine on a multi-part article discussing an independently contracted home build. In short, my wife and I served as the general contractors for our home build, and in the piece I talk about what that process was like. It's written partially as a guide for anybody interested in building a home themselves, and what it takes to go from an empty plot of dirt to the home of your dreams. Backwoods decided to pass on my woodcutting article, which lays out the process of harvesting firewood, all the way from felling a tree to loading into the fireplace. I'm currently searching for a magazine to take the work, and will update the blog when I've done so. If you have a publication you'd like to see it in, feel free to reach out here.

Disc golf, psychedelics, bush-craft, and construction; I know, a colorful, seemingly unrelated set of topics. Even more unrelated is liminal horror, but casting a broad net keeps me interested in the writing. At the time of writing, my book is currently at 50,000 words, which feels like a huge milestone for the work. It will absolutely be a part of a series, and though I'm not decided on a final word count yet, I am beginning the process of finding a publisher. That will hopefully narrow in my word count, and keep us on track for a summer 2024 publish date. I've still got a lot of work to do on the book, but it is starting to feel very real, and I'm so excited to get it the hands of a curious audience. 

In the meantime, keep an eye on the blog for some of those upcoming publications and any other good reads. I'm hoping to get some more gigs with magazines, but in the event that I don't, the book will get done sooner and I'll publish more personal works on here.

Cheers!

December is shaping up to be a busy month for writing. The 2024 winter issue of Disc Golfer Magazine is set to release later this month with an interview piece I wrote for them on a young disc golf champion. Additionally, I've been working closely with the owner of Psychedelic Scene on three new articles, which should see publication throughout December and January. Backwoods home has also given the green light to some of my pitches on homesteading, including Hand Tools and Firewood Harvesting, Independently Contracted Homebuilding -Step by Step, and A Brief History and Guide for Crosscut Saws. These won't see publication until Summer of 2024, but I'm hoping to line up another article with Disc Golfer magazine for their Spring issue.

Aside from the freelance side of things, I am most excited to officially announce my new book in this post: Jeff's Long Weekend. The story follows Jeff, an HVAC employee who gets lost in the back rooms. From wandering endless liminal spaces to getting chased by abominations, this story will keep the pages turning. The genre is horror, as I do my best to capture the unnerving nature of liminal environments by putting myself in Jeff's place. The eeriness of the novel will sometimes keep me up at night, so if you're curious about getting lost in strange, un-settling spaces, this one is right up your alley.

I've still got a lot of work to do on the book, so the publish date is still TBD, but It's planned to release in mid 2024. This will be the first book that I will pursue traditional publishing route on, so I'm very excited to offer it to a larger audience. As with most of my books, I find it incredibly tempting to post samples of the work early, as keeping something like this locked up for so long is trying, but holding off makes the final publication that much more exciting.

On that note (and to wrap up this lengthy self-sharing post), I've decided to incorporate short-story posts on here. Stories that are fun and impromptu; a quick read. Maybe even a rant, or a thought stream on why lawns are dumb. You know, little stuff that get's some ideas going. Perhaps that's just blogging; a brief moment of dialogue with people who care to listen. I love it; can't believe I didn't do it sooner.

So yes, this post is the formal declaration of christianmeteor.com becoming a blog, for better or worse. A place to create and share what I love to do with no rules or guidelines. Ah yes, a blog.