Foothills Trail (Day 4-5)

Day 4 After waking up around 6am, I eat an oatmeal breakfast, feed Charlie, grudgingly change out of my warm sleep clothes, pack up a wet camp, and hit the trail around 8:am (in the rain.) Since we did most of the climbing already, our first 2 miles are nice and flat on a wide road bed trail. We pull into Bearcamp creek, near Hilliard Falls and see that JERMM and Don are still asleep, so we continue on, crossing several small wooden bridges over small streams.

The rain lets up as the trial starts to descend steeply, I mean really steep! We climb down a 20ft wet wooden staircase, embedded in earth. Seriously, this is like a steep ladder and I go super slow so I don't slip and tumble down. Charlie does amazing during this section. He actually preferrs to hike off the stairs and on the dirt, so he's next to me. We finally get down to Horsepasture river and take a quick break befor crossing the 115ft wooden bridge. We climb steeply up out of the ravine and continue down the trail, crossing several more large bridges. Around the 8th mile, my stomach really started grumbling. For some reason, I've been ravenously hungry all day. I eat a granola bar every hour on the hour, but can't seem to satiate my hunger. I'm worried I'll eat all my food for the rest of the trip. I decide I need to stop soon. Just as I get to a turn off near an iron pipe gate, JERMM comes up from behind and tells me she has plans to stop for lunch at Bear Creek campsite. I decide to hike with her to camp and take a much needed lunch break. As we enter the campsite, we see a tree trunk littered with hundreds of butterflies. I take a picture and as we move into the campsite the butterflies start swirling around us. I felt like I was in some magical movie! We find a nice log to rest on and Charlie finds the stream. He takes a quick splash while we eat lunch then comes and sits by me and naps the rest of the time. Don finally rolls in and pulls out a ziploc bag of pickles. He says pickles are his favorite trail food. Ok... to each his own. What shocked me was that fact that he carried these pickles for 4 days, in a ziploc bag, full of hot pickle juice (belch) Oh man... just the thought of that ziploc breaking all over my gear and having that putrid smell all in my stuff made me gag. But hey, everyone needs their trail luxury item. For some it's a pillow, for others it's, evidently, 4 day old pickles. After a nice laugh at Don's expense, I filter some water for the next climb and then Charlie and I are off.

During lunch I looked over my Foothills book and read that Canebrake, the lake Jocassee boat access was 5 miles away. It would mean a 13 mile day, but I thought very doable. We just had one climb, then the last 3 miles was down hill. So we pushed on. During this climb, there were several times the trail crossed a dirt road and it got really confusing. I had to bust out the guide book to make sure I was turning the right way. It was like a spaghetti bowl of trail intersections. I even almost stepped on a snake! He was curled up on the trail, trying to sun itself, when I spotted it out of the corner of my eye. My next step would of been right on it. All I know is that it was a brown, beige snake that barely moved as I jumped around it. Not sure of the variety, but I'll say copperhead. It's the right color and makes the story sound more adventurous. haha! I finally weave my way though the crazy trail and get to a section that has alot of big boulders in the middle of the trail. Well, as a human, I can pretty much contort myself through a maze of rocks. My poor doggie can't. You see we came to an impass of sorts. There were two big boulders that I could squeeze my feet and legs through. But it was too narrow for Charlie and his pack to squeeze through and too high for him to jump. Also, one side of the trail went straight down and the other side was the boulder. After I passed through, I was going to take my pack off and then take Charlies pack off for him to squeeze through. Well, when I turned around, I saw Charlie attempt to ram through the rocks. He backed up and attempted to ram thru again a couple more times. I laughed so hard, pulled out my camera and snapped a few more attempts. Just before I go to help him out, he wriggles his body so he's leaning on one boulder and walking on the rocks sideways. He slowly pushes his pack and himself through the rocks. Then he looks at me, wagging his tail like nothing happened. I just laughed and gave him the biggest hug. I love that silly dog. We continue on and stop at a stream about a mile away to load up our 6 liters of water.

We finally make it down to the lake around 5:45pm and I am exhausted, hungry, and filthy. Guess what... there is no good place for a campsite. One side is a steep climb up and the other is the water. I almost cry b/c my feet are feeling the 13 miles. After a quick rest, we decide to hike one 1 more mile to the designated campsite on the otherside of the lake. Just as I climb over a little hill, I see the sweet stealthyish campsite. It's on a wooded peninsula jetting out into the lake. We walk off trail and find the perfect spot to camp. As soon as I unfold the poncho liner, Charlie climbs on and lays down for the night. He is out! Poor little buddy. I suppose today was a long and tough day. I lay down for a few minutes, then change clothes and air out my wet gear. As I wander off to hang my bear bag rope, I find a nice size stream and dip my aching feet in for a few minutes. I decide to do some much needed laundry, so I go back, grab my hiking clothes and convince Charlie to walk back to the stream with me. As soon as we reach the stream, he plops down in the middle of it and lapps up water. I rinse out my clothes while my feet luxuriate in the cold stream. We head back and Charlie plops back down on his blanket and I hang all my clothes on every branch, rope, tree I see. It's a warm night and the slight lake breeze feels amazing. I snap a picture of my hobo homestead and start boiling some water for dinner. I'm having maxpatch mac -n-cheese tonight with 2 chocolate bars. I'm still ravenous after dinner, so I have a breakfast granola bar and hope I won't run out of food on this trip. After dinner, dessert, second dessert and two liters of water, I lay down with Charlie and flip through my next days itenirary. As I'm reading the mile markers section, it dawns on me that Charlie and I have passed the halfway point! I let the wave of elation wash over me as I let a huge grin spread on my face and hug the crap out of Charlie. He doesn't seem to understand my excitement as he lays there, thumping his tail, taking the hugs, and listening to me coo, over and over again, in my doggie mom voice (really baby talk voice) that we are over half done and that I am so proud of him. Then it hits me. We can do this. I can do this. Though I feel fatigued from the day, I still feel good, strong, healthy. I can finish this trail. I let myself briefly think of Table Rock and it feels awesome. I love today. For the first time, I truly feel like I can finish this trail. We go to sleep tonight to the sound of bass fish piercing the surface of the lake.

Day 5 I wake up renewed, revised, refreshed, reenergized, and happy. I know we have a tough climb today. We have a section called "heart break ridge", but I am ready. We pack up a dry camp, eat breakfast, and around 7:50am we step foot back on the trail. In a mile we cross over a 65ft bridge and pass the designated campsite where Don and JERMM are still sleeping. So we continue the lake side trail for another 1/2 mile before we turn away from the lake and begin our days strenous climb. We literally have to climb 5 sets of steep staircase. As I climb up the first one, I realize why it's called heart break ridge. My heart is pumping so hard I feel like it's going to fly out my chest! Not to mention it's hot and muggy out already. I get to a wooden bench and take a quick break. Then we start climbing again. We climb 5 sets of steep ladder staircases to get to a steep roadbed trail. We finally make it to the ridge and start a nice rolling section. We cross 35 footbridge near a designated campsite, hop back on a roadbed trail, and that's when the sky opens up. I stop to get my rain jacket out and soon we are walking with rain pelting down on us. Poor Charlie gets soaked thru, but he's still wagging his tail. He is such a great hiking/backpacking dog. I don't put him on a leash, b/c I don't need to. He hikes directly behind me and when I stop, he stops. I couldn't ask for a better outdoor dog. I hope he was enjoying the trip as much as I was.

The rain finally lets up and we continue with a gradual climb on an old logging road trail. We stop for a quick lunch at the Laurel Fork boat access spur trail intersection. I rehydrate another blackbean salad burrito and scarf it down. By now I am hungry all day long. I need to remember to readjust my food supply the next time I do a long distance trail. After 20 mins. we pack back up and continue up the trail. For the next four miles, we cross over several large wooden bridges til we reach Laurel Fork Creek. Where we stop to filter some water and relax a bit. Here, we meet a westbounder. You see, I am hiking the Foothills trail from west to east, so I am an eastbounder. Anyways, he just started a couple of days ago from Table Rock. We chit chat and exchange info on trail details. He says I have a rough climb to look forward to at Sassafras Mountain. He pets Charlie and tells me he wishes he had brought his black lab. He was lonely. I wish him good luck and he tells me the same, then we part ways.

Soon Charlie and I start to climb and we see signs for Virginia Hawkins waterfall. We get to the overlook and I snap a few photos. I hop back on the trail and that's when I see them. Stairs... stairs that go on forever. I'm tired from already having hiked 10 miles, so I stop, take off my pack, eat a granola bar, and pull out my Foothills trail book while Charlie lays down for a rest. I read that I have 100 stairs to climb to get to the top of the falls. After a 10 min. rest, we start climbing. About mid way up is a nice wooden bench, I take advantage of it and rest for a second. Then I fnish off the stairs and enter a thick rhododendrum tunnel. I climb through the rhody trail and pray that all my climbing is over. It's been a pretty long, rainy, exhausting, hunger pang day. I'm looking forward to changing into some dry warm clothes, eating a hot dinner and relaxing in my hammock. We finally reach the top of the mountain, cross a gravel road and start descending. About a mile later I cross a wooden bridge and see the designated campsite. It's huge and really open. I look at Charlie and say no, not here buddy. I hike down past the stream and start the small climb up the other side and that's when I see it. A stealthy campsite. We walk 10 yards off the trail and I take off my pack and take Charlie's pack off of him. I pull out the poncho liner and we both spread out and lay there for a few minutes. My grumbling stomach urges me to finish camp chores so we can eat dinner. I look at my watch, it's only 4:30pm, too early for dinner. So I eat another granola bar and start putting up my tarp and hammock. Then, I change out of my grimey clothes, give myself a good wet wipe bath and put on my warm comfy camp clothes. I feel 80% better. My feet still ache in my red croc wannabe's so I decide to reward myself with a nice cool foot bath in the stream, but only AFTER I hang my bear bag rope and I filter our 6 liters. So off I go to bear bag. I've been pretty lucky in my bear bagging this trip. I usually make it in the first couple of tosses. I coax Charlie into coming down to the stream with me and he slowly gets up. I see it's been a tough hike for him too. I make a mental note to give him an extra few minutes on his nightly rub down/massage.

I get to the stream, ease my feet in and feel the cool water envelope them while the pain slips away. ahhh.... Charlie climbs in the stream and lays down lapping up water. I start filtering and get to 3 liters when JERMM and Don roll through. I chit chat a bit before they take off for another mile or so to their campsite. After they leave, I go back to filtering and almost get another liter in, when the sky opens up and rain comes pouring down. Charlie and I bolt back to our campsite and sit under our tarp, watching the rain stream down. I eat dinner under the tarp, (Enertia El Capitan Chili) and when there's a lull in the rain, I quickly bear bag the food. For the rest of the night, I hang out with Charlie on his blanket, keeping him company. Around 8pm I slip into my hammock for the night. It's still raining and the winds have picked up, but we are in a nice protected valley like area so I mainly hear the wind. I read my next days itenirary and slowly doze in and out of sleep while the rain beats down on my tarp. I try calling Boo from my celly (I've had no service the entire trip) I get through and that's when I find out the storm I'm in is really a tornado! I also get a text from Kellye and an email from Hemlock. Both are worried about me in this weather. I sent out mgs letting them know I was safe and then shut off my phone and went to sleep.

Around 11pm, the thunder started rolling, crackeling, almost growling and clapping. Then the lightning came and iluminated the entire area every few seconds. The wind was howling and the rain came down in buckets. I heard Charlie stirring about, so I stuck my hand out from my hammock to pet him. He poked his snout into my hammock as if to check on me then he sat there, making sure he was touching my hand. We stayed awake for the next 2 hours, with the weather getting worse. Finally, around 4am, it let up a bit and I was able to fall back asleep. What a crazy night. Thank goodness for my OES tarp. We stayed warm and dry.