Christina Dulude

I went backpacking last weekend with my hiking group (and got to test out my new ultralight backpack and tarp tent for the first time!) We hiked up Mt. Mitchell, which is the highest peak east of the Mississippi. That makes the innocuous-looking Mitchell taller than Maine’s Katahdin. And taller than Mt. Washington, home of the “world’s worst weather.”

We drove up Friday night and car-camped at the Black Mountain Campground. Got up early the next morning and backpacked 4.6 miles from the campground to Commissary Ridge. We set up camp at Camp Alice, along with a surprisingly well-behaved Boy Scout troop and some downstairs campsite neighbors. After setting up our tents and emptying big packs, we dayhiked the remaining two miles to Mt Mitchell’s summit.

It’s a little surreal schlepping miles uphill in the wilderness, only to pop out on top at the edge of a parking lot — which adjoins a concession stand and fully-functional bathrooms. Mt. Mitchell’s summit was also inhabited by an inordinate number of motorcyclists that afternoon.

We couldn’t go to the very top unfortunately, because the observation tower is being rebuilt. The new version looks a bit like Clingman’s Dome in Tennessee; it’ll be interesting to see when it’s finished. This was actually my second time on Mt. Mitchell — the hiking group did the Mt. Mitchell ascent trail last year as a dayhike — back when the observation tower was still open.

After taking a little break, we hiked a mile over to Mt. Craig, a peak beyond Mitchell. After that, it was all the way back to the (Camp Alice) campsite for dinner.

The next day, three of us explored a nice flat trail, formerly an old railroad bed, that I think was the Buncombe Horse trail. We weren’t entirely sure of this; there were some discrepancies on the map. But here is where I found one of the neatest campsites I’ve ever seen. Barely big enough for two tents, it had a fire circle built up into a cairn formation to block the wind, and inside was tiny kindling already arranged in a teepee shape, ready to start a campfire.

But the best part about this campsite was the view — it was on the side of a steep hill, so it was very exposed, and gave us a 180-degree view of the valley below, framed with yellow flowers. While I certainly wouldn’t want to be out there during a lightning storm, I bet the sunsets from that sport are amazing.

More photos here.

From Wired:

Life Hacking [...] is the practice of using clever little tips and tricks to make your life easier, more efficient or more productive.

Really? That sounds kind of familiar. Hasn’t it been around for a while?

Yes, previously it was known as Hints From Heloise.

Beloit College published their Class of 2011 Mindset List, which describes some of the general experiences and world views of today’s 18-year-olds as they start their (traditionally-aged) first year of college.

Some of the highlights:

What Berlin Wall?

They have grown up with bottled water.

Stadiums, rock tours and sporting events have always had corporate names.

Women’s studies majors have always been offered on campus.

Being a latchkey kid has never been a big deal.

They learned about JFK from Oliver Stone and Malcolm X from Spike Lee.

The space program has never really caught their attention except in disasters.

They will encounter roughly equal numbers of female and male professors in the classroom. (But as someone at Inside Higher Ed commented, “Yeah, and a disproportionate number of the former will be adjuncts.”)

The World Wide Web has been an online tool since they were born.

Food packaging has always included nutritional labeling.

I had submitted a presentation proposal a couple months ago for this year’s HighEdWebDev conference in October, and I just found out recently that my proposal was accepted. I’ll be presenting on pdPortfolio, which is a project I’ve been working on for a while. pdPortfolio is essentially a system for managing and reporting on staff members’ professional development (training, conferences and other learning and leadership opportunities).

Here’s my abstract:

The Division of Student Affairs at Duke University is piloting a new system for tracking staff members’ professional development. The goals of the system are twofold but integrated: to streamline the registration process for in-house workshops, and to serve as a tool through which staff members (and their managers) can track their professional involvement and ongoing training. pdPortfolio was born out of these needs for a searchable database of in-house training opportunities, and a web-based registration system to accompany them. It’s a one-stop shop for users to browse workshop offerings, sign up, and track their ongoing professional development. The program also streamlines reporting for managers, who can view a snapshot of their staff’s participation at a glance. This presentation will give a brief demonstration of the pdPortfolio system, as well as the technologies and processes that went into its creation.

I’m excited about this. Before I started this project, we had researched existing products or solutions that might already be in place at Duke or other schools, but there didn’t seem to be a system with the specific functionality we were looking for. So I’ll be interested in hearing feedback from folks at other universities at the conference.

I did a little dayhike yesterday in Stone Mountain State Park, which is a little over two hours from Durham. This was actually my first time there, although I’ve been to just about every other NC state park with decent hiking. Stone Mountain was neat because the basic loop trail traversed a few different types of terrain, from lush Rhododendron forests to expansive rocky domes.

One thing that was a little disconcerting, however, was the friendliness of the deer. I saw no fewer than twelve, and all on the side of the road leading into the park.

When I saw the first couple, I assumed they were disoriented and would leap into the traffic as deer are wont to do. However, I soon realized that they seemed rather content just to hang out by the side of the road, and actually ventured out from the woods when cars would pass. The park was heavily populated (with humans) and has a fairly extensive picnic area and non-primitive campground. And judging from the way people stopped and gawked at every deer, I’m guessing those deer are probably well-fed.

More photos here.