Well, my evening bus ride never happened because I misread the schedule. I thought a bus would come by Black Dome after 8 p.m., but I mistakenly confused the weekend evening schedule with the weekday schedule.

So my wife had to come pick me up, which didn’t make her happy.

But it wasn’t a complete failure. Tomorrow, I will write about why I’m not giving up on public transportation, and why buses are good for mountain sports and adventure.

Well, I made it to work alive and ahead of schedule.

The Route 1 bus from Haywood Road was so packed that several riders and I had to stand. I asked someone if the bus was always this crowded. Not even close, he said. The free fare was working.

I arrived at the downtown transfer center with a half-hour to kill, so I asked an attendant if there was another bus to take. Sure enough, the Route 4 bus was departing just then, so I hopped on board. It dropped me off about one block from Black Dome.

Riding the bus disrupted my normal routine a little bit, but the tradeoff came in a nice morning walk, and the chance to read at the bus stop and during the ride. Now I’m at work early, before the onslaught on the day, so I can get some inventory work done.

I’ll let you know if anything out of the ordinary happens on my bus ride home.

Asheville Transit began free service today as part of a 90-day promotional campaign, so I’m going to ride the bus to and from Black Dome today.

What does public transportation have to do with the Great Outdoors?

Everything, I say. I’ll go into the reasons why in later posts.

For now, the Asheville city council and transit services deserve credit for this great idea. I’m also glad they added new evening service. Until July 3, when the new routes came, I could ride a bus from my West Asheville home to downtown on a Friday night, but couldn’t get back home without calling a taxi. Now, buses depart as late as 9:30 p.m. Not as late as the big city, but it’s something.

The new Web site address, AshevilleTransit.com, also makes much more sense than the clunky old city address. Unfortunately, Google and the other search engines still only offer the old address. I was also a little disappointed that the bus schedules weren’t printer friendly.

Oh well, you can’t have everything.

Check back after 10 a.m. to find out how my morning bus commute went.

The Southern Appalachian Biodiversity Project and Wild South will host a public meeting to address concerns about a logging project in the Pisgah National Forest near Brevard.

Read the brief here.

With guest blogger Matt Gentling

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Matt Gentling and I were discussing yesterday the daily visits from customers who want to know where to escape the crowds. The shop joke is, “Can you tell me where I can find a spot with great views, some waterfalls, and no people, that’s only a few minutes from the parking lot?”

We always help folks out, of course. But the idea reminded Matt of a rather heady scientific notion, the Uncertainty Principle. If you know Matt, you’ve been privy to his vast repository of geographic, scientific and musical trivia. The conversation went like this:

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The Citizen-Times printed today an article on the Chattooga River. Greg Bluestein, of the Associated Press in Georgia, wrote the story. Whitewater boaters and trout anglers probably already know about the ongoing controversy, but it’s an interesting read for everyone.

Boaters and anglers aren’t the only ones who will enjoy the Chattooga. A series of hiking trails follow the river as it tumbles through the Nantahala, Sumter and Chattahoochee national forests. The route begins by the headwaters near Whiteside Mountain and heads down to Pigpen Falls, passing some cliffs, waterfalls and equally scenic streams along the way.

For more information check out these resources:

Trails Illustrated map #785, Nantahala and Cullasaja Gorges

SCTrails.Net

ChattoogaRiver.Org

AmericanWhitewater.Org

Chattooga River Wild and Scenic River