As one year winds down, and a new one is on the horizon, many outdoor companies use this time to unveil their latest products and upgrades to a customer base that is chomping at the bit for Mother Nature to flip the switch back to spring.
    For the past seven years, Sheri and Randy Propster have been traversing the country as a part of Backpacker magazine’s “Get Out More Tour.” While in college, they went on a hiking trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia that would spark a shared passion for the outdoors that culminated with their marriage and a 4,200 mile thru-hike of the American Discovery Trail for their honeymoon.
    Now, they share their love of the outdoors with the public by touring the country for Backpacker to encourage
people to spend more time in the outdoors. This November, the Propsters came to the Germantown Avenue location of Outdoors Inc. as a part of their tour. Here are some highlights of the latest gear they were presenting. 

Hellinox Trekking Poles: Passport Series

    “I call trekking poles an instant upgrade. One of my favorite studies was done by a research scientist who determined that four points of contact changes the distribution of weight so much so that on a level surface you take 11 pounds, or more off of the pressure on your lower legs every step you take, and on an incline or decline you’re removing up to 24 pounds, or more. So if I gave you 11 ounces to take away 11 pounds; that’s a backpacking no-brainer.”
   – Randy Propster

    Helinox is a relative newcomer to the trekking pole market, but its parent company DAC is well-known for making surprisingly sturdy tent poles out of ultra-lightweight
alloys. Earlier this year, they decided to apply their custom alloys to trekking poles, and the result was Helinox. 
    They offer three series of poles, the Causeway, the Ridgeline and the Passport. The latter is a favorite among ultralight backpackers, because each pole collapses down, in a similar fashion to a tent pole, to a mere 13.8 inches, weighs 5.5 ounces and is shockingly durable.

Sawyer Squeeze Filter 

   “The internal workings of this filter were designed in the medical field for kidney dialysis. They utilized the .1 micron hollow fiber core to clean blood, but
recreationally, it cleans water just as effectively. Anything passing through
this side can’t get through if it is bigger than .1 micron, so it will eliminate
bacteria, protozoa, cryptosporidium, Giardia or anything that we would need to
be worried about from our water supply.”
   –Randy Propster

   This small filtration device is not the first of its kind, but with its 3 ounce pack weight and its interchangeable system of hoses and bags, it is one of the most convenient. It comes with three attachable bags of varying size that can be filled up from the source and filtered through the device into your container of choice.
   The system works so efficiently that kayakers or canoeists are able to use the device to drink directly from the source without even stopping. Unlike most systems, the filter does not require replacing and comes with a million gallon guarantee. 

PowerTraveler SolarMonkey Adventurer

   “One of the questions that we have gotten the most over the years is: ‘How do we keep our electronics charged?’ When this is fully charged we can let our iPhone drain down to zero percent, and just by the internal battery we can charge it fully twice.”
   –Sheri Propster

   More and more people are using their smartphones as GPS tracking devices, compasses, maps and for a myriad of other uses. However, these apps burn through battery life at an alarming rate. The PowerMonkey is a light weight, but extremely rugged, weatherproof solar charger that only weighs 9.4 ounces. 
    It comes with a carabineer that clips onto the back of one’s pack in order to charge the internal battery
while they are on the trail. The device also allows users to simultaneously charge their smartphones while the device charges the internal battery, thus allowing users to keep a full charge upon arriving at camp. 
 


     

   The 125 mile Harpeth River snakes its way through six counties in Middle Tennessee before it reaches its confluence with the Cumberland River on its way to the Mississippi. Parts of its 870-square-mile watershed comprise the Harpeth River State Park, which is known for its archeological sites and historic landmarks, in addition to its reputation as a popular canoe and kayak destination. 
   Geographically speaking, the Narrows of Harpeth is the most visually stunning and well-known section. The term “Narrows” refers to a point in the river where it circles back to within less than 200 feet of itself as its loops along a narrow wall of limestone.
   This unusual natural feature inspired 19thcentury businessman Montgomery Bell to build an iron forge, blasting a 290 foot long tunnel, that was 8 feet high and 15 feet wide though the limestone ridge, thus diverting the water for power. Known at the time as the first full-scale water diversion tunnel, the Montgomery Bell Tunnel was considered a revolutionary engineering masterpiece. Because of the world-class steel that was produced at the Pattinson Forge, Bell earned the almost ominous moniker: The Iron Master of Harpeth.

   Today, the tunnel is the only remnant of Bell’s forge, and is now the site of a roughly 2-mile out-and-back that actually consists of three separate trails converging on a single trailhead. To the right is a scenic wooded trail that runs congruent with the northeastern section of the narrows, and even offers a small, albeit out of the way cave for those willing to climb a short, but very steep limestone encrusted hill. 
   The other two trails are both to the left, although, at differing elevations.  The descendent trail leads to the remains of the Montgomery Bell Tunnel, while the ascendant is a steep climb to the top of the limestone ridge that offers a striking panoramic of the Harpeth River Valley, which was the etymological inspiration to the 1968 hit song “Harper Valley PTA,” written by Tom T. Hall. 
    In addition to the Narrows, the Harpeth River State Park is comprised of nine other unconnected access points
along the river. While most are simply access ramps for canoeist and kayakers, there are additional trails located at the Hidden Lakes, Newsom’s Mill and Mound Bottom sections. The latter is a Native American archeological site that was inhabited as early as 800 AD, during the Mississippian period. The prehistoric site, which is a complex burial mounds and living quarters, is only accessible by a ranger-led tour.

   If you ever wondered what Memphis looked like 10,000 years ago, just take a trip to Overton Park. Sprawled out across 126 acres, the appropriately named Old Forest stands apart from its urban setting like a portal into the past. 
   Prior to 1901, what is now Overton Park was known as Lea’s Woods—a vast expanse of old growth forest that remained relatively unchanged since the end of the last Ice Age. When park
planner George Kessler designed Overton Park he sat aside 172 acres of pristine woodland to be designated as the Old Forest. 
   Since then, the park and the surrounding city have changed greatly, but the forest remains the same.
   That is unless you know where to look.
  “The forest is always changing,” Roy Barnes said, as he stops to show a group of day hikers an example of pit-and-mound topography.
   Barnes is the president of Citizens to Preserve Overton Park, which is the modern day incarnation of a group that garnered national attention in the early 1970s by halting former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Jim Volpe’s plan to run Interstate 40 through the middle of the park. The Supreme Court case, Citizens to Preserve Overton Park v. Volpe, was landmark case for the conservation of public lands.

 These days the group still protects the park, but now they are more concerned with invasive plant species such as English ivy, or the dreaded kudzu, than Supreme Court rulings. Today, Barnes is leading one of CPOP’s bimonthly nature walks around the Old Forest Trail.
   While the trails are always open to the public, on the second Saturday and the last Sunday of every month a representative from CPOP leads a 1.5 mile nature walk through the Old Forest to explore the rich biodiversity that inhabits the state natural area.
   In 2009 the City of Memphis hired Dr. Thomas Heineke to catalogue the flora inside the old growth forest. What he found was nothing short of amazing.
   “Very few virgin forests exist in the Mid-South region and certainly none within a city the size of Memphis,” Heineke said in his report. “Many of the trees reach heights well over 100 feet and measure four to five feet or larger in diameter at breast height. A large number of these trees are likely greater than 200 years of age.”
   In his report Heineke catalogued over 70 different species of trees, including 11 species of oak, 332 species of flowering plants from 85 families, two of which, goldenseal and oceanblue phacelia, are on the Tennessee Natural Heritage Program Rare Plant List and an astounding eight different species of wild grape vines, some of which are as old as the trees they cling to.

   “Overton Park Forest is a unique resource which cannot be replaced,” Heineke said. “It is invaluable to the city and to the region as an outstanding example of old growth forest. Because it is within an urban setting, it is even more exceptional. Everything possible should be done to assure that it is protected in perpetuity. This forest is indeed extraordinary and unequaled.”