Continue reading »]]> 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.

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

Continue reading »]]> 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.

Little River Trail

Continue reading »]]> Saturday 2/14/09
Trip: 4.24 miles
Elevation: 1020ft (max) 820ft (min) ~388ft (total accent)
Time: 2h 15m
Temperature: 75 F
Wind: Light breeze
Conditions: Clear, no precipitation, low humidity
Pack Weight: ~10lbs (day pack load)

Summary:

Sweetwater Creek is a small park about 20 minutes west on I-20 from downtown Atlanta. It’s tucked away in the middle of a residential area and has two decent size lakes and a wide, quick flowing creek/river. The largest trail loop runs along the edge of the creek for about 40% of the total distance. Well groomed and clearly marked, there’s a good mix of small rock scrambles creek side and then a short elevation climb up out of the creek basin. Definately a great strech-the-legs-after-a-long-winter type of hike.

Sweetwater Creek Trail

Continue reading »]]> 1868

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).

This was our first official hike using our new Kelty FC 1.0 Child Carrier. Madeline did great – she had so much stuff to watch on the trail she never got bored. Mel decided she wanted the Kelty so I carried the rest of our stuff up in my Gregory Z55. With temps in the high 70′s and almost zero humidity, the actual hike itself was very pleasant. It took about 3.5 hours for our group to make it to the inn (leisurely pace) and has several planned rest spots. The scenic views aren’t as obvious as certain parts of the AT further north but the N. Georgia forest in late summer is still magnificant.

The Inn is split into 4 levels and offers small but comfortable bunk-beds, a bath house, dining/kitchen room, and a common game/social room. Dinner/breakfast is served family style (very hearty) and everything you do or experience there is based on conservation techniques. The staff reminds you to keep all your electronic gadgets hidden or turned off for the duration of your stay and you can take a very interesting tour of the facility.

I highly recommend this easy hike for anybody in the central/north Georgia area. Plan on making reservations at least 3-6 months out.

Len Foote Hike Inn Trail

Continue reading »]]> Sunday 8/17/08
Trip: ~3 miles
Elevation: 1686ft (max) 1025ft (min) 761ft (total accent)
Time: 1h 11m
Temperature: 85 F
Wind: Light breeze
Conditions: Clear, hummid, no precipitation
Pack Weight: <10lbs (day hike)

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

Continue reading »]]> Sunday 7/27/08
Trip: ~2 miles
Elevation: 960ft (max) 870ft (min) <150ft (total accent)
Time: 1h 30m
Temperature: 90 F
Wind: Light breeze
Conditions: Clear, no precipitation
Pack Weight: <10lbs (day hike)

Summary:

We finally had a chance to get the whole family out for a short hike this weekend. Our Golden Retriever hasn’t had a chance to go swimming in months so we thought it would be nice to take her out to one of her favorite swimmin’ holes: [Stone Mountain State Park].

This is just one of several trail options offered at the park. We like the Venable Lake Loop because it has several easy entry points for the dog to go swimming and just enough length to make it worthwhile as a leasurely hike.

Venable Lake Trail Loop

Continue reading »]]> 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.

Continue reading »]]> I‘ve finally gotten all my notes and pictures put together from our recent adventures on the Georgia section of the Appalachian Trail. Unforetunately, my knees couldn’t handle the prolonged punishment from carrying a 40lb pack and the constant ups & downs so I had to tap out late Wednesday night. It sucks because the issues I was having never manifested during my training hikes but we still had a great time and I learned a ton about long distance hiking. I’ve split up my journal entries by day – you can read more detail on my [Hiking Journal page].

Sunday weigh-in: 218.5 lbs
Wednesday weigh-in: 208.5 lbs
Sunday pack weight: ~40 lbs
Wednesday pack weight: ~33 lbs
Total Mileage: 38 miles
Total Ascent: 7826 ft
Max elevation: 4485 ft

Mark, Scott, and I are already looking at a return date for finishing off the parts we had to miss due to my injury. We’re thinking a long weekend some time in October. With that goal in mind, I’ve got some training I need to do between now and then – most importantly, strengthening everything from my knees down. I’m also going to use hiking poles from the very start and rework my entire packing list in an effort to drop my base weight even further. Oh and I’m changing my diet – it’s time to drop some of the extra baggage.

Springer Mountain – Tesnatee Gap

Continue reading »]]> 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.

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

Continue reading »]]> Tuesday 6/3/08
Trip: 12.4 miles
Elevation: 3906ft (max) 2850ft (min) 2356ft (total accent)
Time: 6h 16m (moving) 4h 35m (stopped)
Moving Avg: 2.1 mph
Temperature: 80 F
Wind: Light breeze
Conditions: Clear, no precipitation but very humid
Pack Weight: ~35lbs (2L water, 5 days food)

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