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.

As a reminder, Florida has several species of snakes. Some of them more poisonous than others. The 3.5-4ft fellow in the picture above was stretched across the trail sunning and after a long afternoon of hiking through muck and water, they can be easy to miss. I’m lucky this particular snake was paying attention because I wasn’t. I got about 3 feet away before he coiled and started rattling. After a 15 minute standoff, we decided the safest way around him was to scoop him off the trail. We couldn’t safely walk around him because the scrub brush was thick and crowded both sides of the trail – he was coiled smack dab in the middle which put his potential strike range across the entire trail. I’m not an adrenaline junkie by any stretch but I can tell you, facing off against a pissed venomous snake with only a hiking pole and a palmetto leaf is invigorating to say the least.

Myakka State Park Day 1

Myakka State Park Day 2

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.

Little River Trail

Summary:

This is one of my “workout” tracks I like to do at [Stone Mountain State Park]. You launch straight up right from the trail head and don’t stop until you reach the public pavilion at the summit (refreshments and bathrooms available). Unlike [Kennesaw Mountain], the entire track is over natural granite exposed on the mountain’s western face. Technically, it’s an easy hike with little or no boulder scrambles but it can be taken at any speed with as much or as little pack load as you want so it offers a versatile workout for all levels.

Stone Mountain Summit Trail

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.

Neel’s Gap lives up to its reputation. It’s a welcome rest spot for Northbound hikers starting out – just about the 3-day mark and makes for a nice spot to have all your gear re-evaluated by the staff. We watched as the owner worked with an older gentleman on lightening his gear – he went from a base weight of 32 lbs (4 days food but no water) to roughly 22 lbs in 30 minutes of instruction. Pretty cool if you don’t mind paying for the gear changes.

Amazing how much extra stuff we all pack the first time out – even with my base weight of 22lbs (no food or water) I discovered several things I could do to lighten my base weight.

Anyway, not much to tell about the last half of the day. The hiking poles definitely helped but by the 4th day, it was too late to save my knees. The damage was done. Coming down Cowrock Mountain was too much and I was at the point were it felt like I might do permanent damage if I continued. Without question, Mark grabbed my pack and lumped almost 80lbs down the back side of Cowrock – alternating with Scott when he got too tired.

My brothers rock.

6/4/08 Journal entry:
The Ascent to the top of Blood Mountain wasn’t as bad as I expected. The Slaughter Creek campsite was pretty cool except for all the gnats – still waiting for us this morning even after a decent night of wind gusts.

Top of Blood Mountain was awesome! Amazing 360 degree views from about 4500ft – bare rock face and several large stands of flowering bushes.

Trail has been very quiet this morning – we had the whole top of Blood Mountain to ourselves – apparently a bear scare last night drove off everybody but the college couple we’ve been leap frogging with according to their journal entry at the Blood Mountain Shelter.

The descent off Blood was as bad as I expected. The tendinitis in my knees is getting worse and made each step downward slow and painful. It sucks I’m holding Mark & Scott back like this but they have been 100% supportive the whole hike and stick with me the entire time I hobble down these descents.

11:30 am and we finally hit Neel’s Gap. Equipment is a bit expensive but the staff is really nice and very knowledgable – they’ve seen and experienced just about everything the AT has to offer and the people who try to hike it.

Ran into a couple of other guys having similar troubles with their knees. We all sat around and bs’d about remedies – I ended buying a pair of hiking poles and finally got my pair of flip-flops. Expensive but I’m hoping between the advil and the poles, I can manage my knee pain for the last half of the hike.

Had the best tasting hot-dog and coke ever!

Left Neel’s feeling pretty frisky – hiking poles make a big difference going up hill – should’ve had them from the start.

Finally made the call to end it after literally crawling down the back side of Cowrock Mountain. That descent destroyed what little pain threshold I had left in my knees. Mark & Scott lumped my pack down to Tesnatee Gap in turns and once we had a clear signal I called Mel in for a pick up. I tried convincing the guys to keep on going – I would be happy to pick them up at Dick’s Creek gap on Friday but they didn’t want to do any of the trail without me so we all decided to come off the trail.

Took Mel about 3 hours to get to the parking lot at Tesnatee Gap but she was fricking awesome working through all the back roads to get us – we were deep in N. Georgia no-where.

Funny side story:
As we were sitting in the dark (new moon the whole week) watching the fire flies buzz around on the side of Highway 368 – this huge diesel F250/350 pickup rumbles down the road and pulls over right in front of us. Head lights right in our faces, we couldn’t see much of anything.

Out hopped two of the largest Georgia good’ole boys you could ever meet – cut off shirts, denim shorts and surprise … both had open beers in hand. At this point I figured we were in for a drunken scuffle or something worse … nope – the first thing out of the driver’s mouth was “you fella’s want a beer?” As if it was rehersed, the passenger produced 3 ice cold Bud Light beers from beneath his left arm and proceeded to pass them out to us. A quick tap of the cans, some questions about our ride status and they were back in the truck driving off for parts unknown. All with open beers in hand no less.

We spent the next 20 minutes drinking ice-cold Bud Light and laughing about the whole encounter while we waited on Mel. Perfect ending to the hike imo!

Slaughter Creek – Tesnatee Gap

Summary:

The run out of Gooch Gap towards Woody Gap was nice. Rolling trail with some neat rock formations on the left side and vertical drops off the right. Woody Gap has bathroom facilities and a trash drop and looks to be a popular stopping point for cyclists and day hikers coming up from Suches.

The Big Cedar Mountain ascent was almost as bad as Sassafras Mt. from Monday. Tight, almost vertical stepping switch backs with little wind or relief from the heat and humidity. We spent a bit in the morning enjoying the cool wind and scenic views from the top. Coming up Big Cedar southbound is definitely the easier route over our northbound ascent. Water sources were starting to stretch out the further we headed out of the 3 Forks saddle area. We made sure to top off our hydration bladders at each decent water source.

The last half of the day was spent making the long climb up towards Blood Mountain. We wanted to get as much of the ascent out of the way as possible so we could get to Neel’s Gap as early as possible Wednesday morning. I think we were all looking forward to a hot-dog and coke from the outfitter’s store so the motivation to knock out as much mileage as we could was definitely there.

We met some pretty cool people at the Slaughter Creek camp site (and of course – the troop of girls finally arrived late in the evening – they were pushing on to Blood Mountain shelter). One local hiker who was training for a Colorado Trail hike, showed us his “secret” – a small pipe driven into the Slaughter Creek spring head that let us drink fresh spring water right from the “source” – no filtering needed!

I thought for sure we were going to get some rain but it never materialized. Plenty of late night wind gusts though – helped keep the flies and gnats down to a bearable level.

6/3/08 Journal entry:
Another ass-kicking day for this old man. I’m continually impressed with Mark & Scott’s athleticism and my resolve to take another step – both knees have tendinitis (or whatever) making each downhill step painful.

Good news is my conditioning has improved a bit – each day brings a quicker recovery and less rest after each major climb. Drinking enough water is the issue now – even 100oz per 4 hours isn’t really enough -> I sweat constantly for 9-10 hours a day now.

Tonight we’re camping on a nice rise at Slaughter Creek -> a local showed us his “secret” pipe plumbed right into the base of the spring – water is as fresh as bottled water off the shelf and doesn’t need filtering.

It sounds and feels like rain but we haven’t seen any positive signs yet – maybe tonight in the AM.

Tomorrow we start the real punishment – a 40 min ascent to the top of Blood Mnt. and 1.5 hours of pain-shattering descent into Neel’s Gap.

I might have to come off the trail if the advil doesn’t keep my knees from exploding. I really, really, really don’t want to tap out at this point but the last half of this trip is not going to be easy on my knees.

Good views from Gooch Gap to Woody Gap. Trail was pretty mellow with some awesome scenic views and neat camp sites. The climb from Woody up to Slaughter was rough though. Military academy is off but we’re still playing leap frog with the girls and the college couple.

Tons of gnats and flies here at Slaughter Creek – Mark is a tick magnet btw, so far I haven’t had any on me. Scott’s cooking is kick-ass and so far all my gear is working out great – still need some flip-flops from Neel’s Gap if I stay on the trail.

Good news is my pack gets lighter every time I eat! Bad news is, tomorrow is going to be a pain-train.

Gooch Gap – Slaughter Creek

Summary:
First full day with decent mileage. Georgia is famous for it’s constant series of PUDS (pointless ups & downs) – today was just a taste. At this point, it’s evident I need more cardio conditioning but it’s easily managed with interval rest. It’s also quickly apparent you spend pretty much the entire day sweating – which means you spend the entire day drinking water until you’re ready to puke – and then you drink some more. Dehydration is a serious issue at this point if you aren’t careful.

We “camel up” at every water source and Mark & Scott are on me the whole day to keep drinking – its normal to kill a 3L hydration pack before lunch if you’re drinking enough. I’m glad these guys are with me – they drive me when I feel like slowing down or stopping, and they keep me drinking (did I mention you drink alot of water in 80 degree weather hiking up and down GA mountains?). Not much on the scenic views – we’re still climbing up out of the 3 Forks saddle.

Other than Scott having the ground hit him in his hammock, the first night on the trail was uneventful. We keep hearing about all the bears in the area but so far, haven’t seen much of any wildlife beyond the occasional squrriel or song bird. So far, my gear has held up nicely although I need to buy a pair of flip-flops at Neel’s Gap – I forgot my pair from home and I need some camp shoes to give my dogs a break while we set up camp.

6/2/08 Journal entry:
I pretty much got smoked. I think we were all tired at the end but it was an eye-opener for what the rest of the week is going to be like.

Woke at 6am to get on the trail early – hiked for about an hour and then stopped at Long Falls for breakfast and a look at one of the better water fall sites on the GA trail.

Rest of the morning we chased voices from a girl scout troop or something – ate lunch at Horse Gap and prepared to tackle our biggest ascent to date – Sassafrass Mountain. Finally caught our mysterious voices on our way up – 10 or so teenage girls taking a long rest half way up. On the back side we ran into a military academy out for some sort of day hike. 4 seperate squads of teenagers – combined with the girl scouts we had about 30 people spread out along the trail today.

Mark was hoping it was Rangers – we’ve seen traces of them all over the place here in Horse Gap – he even recognized “Cemetary Field” from his days in Ranger School at Camp Merill but no luck.

Rest of the afternoon was a constant leap-frog with the Girl Scouts and the Academy kids. Last 2 miles was brutal -> I have a sore tendon in my right shin – I hope it’s not chronic …

Called Mel tonight to give her an update – it was good talking to her.

Tomorrow is another early start but taking it slow -> we want to set ourselves up for the big Blood Mountain ascent on Weds. Let’s hope my leg holds it together.

3 Forks – Gooch Gap

Summary:
Our first day was a relatively short hike. Mel dropped us off at the FSR 42 parking lot on the back side of Springer Mountain, we got our gear on, said our good-byes and started our ascent to the top of Springer (and the AT Southern Terminus). Having missed all the rain earlier that day, the trail was slightly muddy but in good shape. Water apparently wasn’t going to be a problem. Doubling back, we headed downhill for the rest of the afternoon towards 3 Forks.

Today’s goal was a getting settled into our daily routine on our way to 3 Forks while figuring out what kind of pace we could maintain with the heavier pack loads (this was our first multi-day, strenious hike over several days).

I weighed in at 218.5 lbs (boxers only) so we’ll see what happens to my body after 4-5 days of heavy punishment.

6/1/08 Journal entry:
Man what a great start to our hike. Got to the trail head @ 5:45pm but missed a rain storm that passed through earlier. Temps were perfect and the trail to 3 Forks wide and level.

Camping right now next to Frick Creek – wide, fast running water – will be easier to top off tomorrow morning. We have the camp site all to our selves, even found a nice spectre line with a carabiner still attached – Scott thinks he can get it unstuck from the tree it was apparently used as a bear-bag for.

Scott is working with his new hammock (Henneesee Ultra-light), it’s pretty cool but requires some work to get set up and adjusted properly. He’ll be pro by Friday.

Meet some nice people at Stover Creek Shelter but only stayed long enough to cook – we moved on a mile down the trail to camp at Frick Creek without all the crowds. 3 college buddies headed to Virgina, a College couple on break till August trying to go as far as they can in 3 months, and 1 slightly crazy lady telling stories about a black bear that stole all her summer sausages while she was setting up in the shelter. College couple confirmed a black bear and cub sighting on their way up the approach trail so who knows …

New moon tonight so it’s pitch black outside and moths the size of small bats constantly buzzing around our head lamps. Awoke around 11pm to Scott yelling in a slight panic – apparently one side of his hammock tie-off was to a dead tree (didn’t look like it at dusk) – it broke off cleanly dumping Scott about 3 feet onto his butt! Luckily, no injuries just some shock and the fear he was getting attacked by a bear lol ….

Springer Mountain – 3 Forks

Summary:
This was a solo hike through part of the [Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park]. The weather was perfect – clear skies, no rain, 71 degrees F the whole day with a light breeze. It was surprisingly harder than I was expecting due to some of the technical sections and the vertical takeoff right at the start. The West trail starting at the Visitors Center is basically 700ft straight up via a switch-back trail that’s heavily traveled by visitors coming down from the bus ride up to the peak. From there, it’s all downhill through boulder fields and some technical rocky switch-backs. At the base of Kennesaw Mountain it eventually levels out and you start walking through some really nice open meadows and canopy forest. The trail at this point is well groomed walking/running trail. I hiked counter-clockwise from the Vistor’s Center along the West Trail down to Highway 120 and then back via the East Trail. No pictures this time unfortunately (the views from the crest are amazing) because my wife has both cameras in Sarasota.

Confederate cannon emplacements and troop trenches litter the entire park so there’s plenty of historical history to contemplate while you hike:

Kennesaw Mountain Battlefield is a 2,923 acre National Battlefield that preserves a Civil War battleground of the Atlanta Campaign. The battle was fought here from June 19, 1864 until July 2, 1864. Sherman’s army consisted of 100,000 men, 254 guns and 35,000 horses. Johnston’s army had 63,000 men and 187 guns. Over 67,000 soldiers were killed, wounded and captured during the Campaign.

Kennesaw Trail
Kennesaw Mountain National Park

Summary:
Mark, Cecilia, Miya and I set out to hike the entire 8.8 miles of the Gahuti Trail. This was my first long distance hike at pack weight. We parked at the Big Rock Nature Trail (BRNT) trail head and picked up the Gahuti trail on the backside. Since Campsite 3 was just .25 miles south of the BRNT, we decided to head North and hike the trail clockwise, ending with a camp out on site 3 after we finished the entire trail.

This is moderately difficult trail. From Campsite 3 north to The Old Fort Wall is a steady climb up a narrow, rocky and sometimes angled trail (make sure you bring mid-line boots or ankle braces if you have joint trouble). From The Old Fort Wall to Campsite 1 is a non stop series of PUDs (pointless ups and downs) as you traverse a series of small saddles and ridge lines. Once you hit the Old Fort Road and cross over back onto the trail, it levels out and you hike ~1.5 miles on a graded service road as you head towards Camp site 2. The leg from Campsite 2 to Campsite 3 isn’t as difficult as the west/ east face but it has a few sections that add to the challenge of the last 2 miles.

If you want waterfalls, the section from Campsite 3 to the Big Rock Nature Trail loop is your best bet. Campsite 3 and 4 offer the best views.

Gahuti Trail
Ft. Mountain State Park