Friday – Saturday 4/2/10
Trip: 16.0 miles (plus another 3 mile road hike back to car)
Elevation: 128ft (max) 42ft (min) ~210ft (total accent)
Time: ~8 hours total hiking
Temperature: 85 F
Wind: Light breeze
Conditions: Clear, no precipitation, low humidity
Pack Weight: ~24lbs (overnight load)

Summary:

Myakka State Park is pretty typical for a South Florida lake/wetland. Full of wild life, flooded during the rainy season and miles of densely packed palmetto scrub brush with the occasional island of mossy oak or scrub pine. Oh and it gets hot. Really hot. And muggy if the humidity is up. Did I mention mosquitoes? But if you’re lucky and you time your trip right, hiking in South Florida can be rather pleasant. Myakka is close to the Gulf so in the spring when the sun starts to set, a nice breeze kicks up keeping most of the evening bugs at bay and provides some relief from the afternoon heat. The only real issue is dodging around days or weeks when the spring rains have flooded the low lands, basically putting everything under 2-3 inches of standing water. We managed to get everything but dry trail so I can’t complain too much about the trip.
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Sunday 7/19/09
Trip: 6.36 miles
Elevation: 3003ft (max) 1975ft (min) ~1194ft (total accent)
Time: 3h 15m
Temperature: 75 F
Wind: Light breeze
Conditions: Clear, no precipitation, low humidity
Pack Weight: ~31lbs (Madeline in her carry pack)

Summary:

The Little River Trail is just one of about 40 or so easy, single day hiking trails located in the northern section of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Mel and I were in Pigeon Forge, Tenn. for a friend’s wedding and decided on spending our final afternoon hiking. A quick conversation with a Ranger at the north entrance welcome center and we were off for Elkmont and the Little River Trail. The Little River Trail is well groomed and graded (more like a narrow gravel road) and follows the Little River for several miles. Roughly 2.4 miles up the trail is the Cucumber Gap trail head. This trail takes a more aggressive climb back towards the Elkmont camping area via the back side of Burnt Mountain but makes for a great ~5 mile loop. Perfect hiking weather and great views of the Little River made for a nice day hike with the family.

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Saturday 9/20/08
Trip: 5.2 miles
Elevation: 3400ft (max) 2890ft (min) ~800ft (total accent)
Time: 3h 15m
Temperature: 80 F
Wind: Light breeze
Conditions: Clear, no precipitation, low humidity
Pack Weight: ~30lbs (overnight lodge hike)
Pics
Summary:

After our stay at The Len Foote Hike Inn Friday night, we decided as a group to avoid a backtrack and take the Hike Inn Trail another quarter mile north. It dead-ends into the Appalachian Approach Trail. You have two options at this point – hike north another 3-4 miles to the top of Springer Mountain (and the official start of the Appalachian Trail) or hike south back down the hill towards Amacalola Falls and the parking lot.

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Friday 9/19/08
Trip: ~5 miles
Elevation: 3050ft (max) 2990ft (min) ~750ft (total accent)
Time: 3h 20m
Temperature: 80 F
Wind: Light breeze
Conditions: Clear skies, no precipitation, low humidity
Pack Weight: ~30lbs (overnight lodge hike)

Summary:

The Len Foote Hike Inn is only accessible via a 5 mile hike up Springer Mountain. After checking in with the Amicalola Ranger station, you park at the top of the falls and pick up the trail head on the opposite side of the parking lot. 200 yards or so off the start, the trail splits – taking the right fork leads up the Inn, the left fork will eventually spit you out on top of Springer Mountain (which is also the official start of the Appalachian Trail).

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I came across [The Pulse] while browsing [the Backpacker Magazine web site]. It’s a good read and I highly recommend it for people who spend time outdoors on a regular basis.

Steve Howe is their Rocky Mountain Editor and has a life-time of experience with alpine climbing and hiking. He reports and comments on Search and Rescue (SAR) efforts that occur each year across the full spectrum of out-door recreation. It gives you a hard look at what can happen (this is life or death) when you step into the wild unprepared or under-geared for the environment you’re in. It also sends a sobering message that no matter how skilled or prepared you are for a specific activity, Mother Nature can turn your adventure upside down and sideways in an instant.

His number one lesson? Be smart, be prepared, and don’t let your ego make the decisions for you.

Sound advice.

Wednesday 6/4/08
Trip: 10.1 miles
Elevation: 4485ft (max) 3175ft (min) 2051ft (total accent)
Time: 6h 16m (moving) 4h 46m (stopped)
Moving Avg: 1.6 mph
Temperature: 80 F
Wind: Light breeze
Conditions: Clear, no precipitation
Pack Weight: ~33lbs (2L water, 4 days food)

Summary:

Blood Mountain was definitely one of the coolest parts of the whole hike. The entire peak is nothing but bare rock, fantastic views of the N. Georgia country side and large stands of flowering trees. I’m glad we were headed Northbound though, coming up from the other side would’ve been absolutely brutal. Almost 1.5 miles of nut-kicker ascent across bare rock-face and carved out step-ups. It was bad enough headed downhill. There’s a bypass trail (Freeman Trail) that links Slaughter Creek to the other side of Blood Mountain without having to cross over the hardest parts of the top though.

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