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3 Day Backpack Trip (day 2)
Woke up to a beautiful morning. Let the dogs out of the tent and had to take a picture of thing 2 enjoying the sunshine. We packed up our campsite, had breakfast (cliff bars and our last liter of water) and started our up hill ascent of Bluff Mountain (4686). Luckily, we were already half way up ;) so we only had 1 mile to climb. The water situation was getting a bit scary. All the brooks and streams we passed were dried up. I knew there was a spring about half way down Bluff Mt., but we still had to get up over it. We took a break on some rock croppings at the very top and met a family hiking from Lemon Gap to Hot Springs (14 miles) today. Got back on the trail and started the descent and hopefully towards water. We got to the blue blaze trail for water and
were pleasantly surprised with the spring. Boo pulled out the filter and pumped clean water in both of our 3 liter bladders and into our two 1 liter nalgenes, twice b/c we each drank a liter right then and there.
The dogs got their fill too. We strapped on our newly hydrated packs and continued the 3.7 mile down Bluff Mt. There was a downed tree on a section of the trail that we had to crawl under. After a couple of miles, I'm in a good groove when suddenly, I step on a loose rock and SLAM, I eat it, right there on the trail. I thought I had sprung my ankle and just sat there, feet hanging over the deep gorge that I avoided falling into and just prayed that the pain in my ankle would go away. I'm so absorbed in my left ankle that Boo points out the bleeding gash on my right knee. I clean up my knee with some wipes and antibacterial gel, finally get up on my feet, and would you believe it, my ankle felt 10 times better! Anyways, w
e made it to Garenflo Gap (2500) and stopped for lunch. (Instant loaded mash potatos) After a 45 min break, we knew we still had two climbs ahead of us, Long Mt. (3120) and Lamb Knob (3204). We were pretty beat, so we decided to split a GU Energy gel packet and some lime flavored energy jelly beans to sustain us. Boo also filled his 3 liter bladder with red gatorade powder. We make it up the two mountains and took a small break. All that is left til our campsite is Canebrake ridge. We huff it for 2 more miles and finally make it to Gragg Gap and Deer Park Shelter. I ask Boo how he's doing on water and he tells me he drank 
ALL of his 3 liters in the last 4 miles. We decided to head down the blue blaze trail towards the spring to camel up. Well, the spring was a disappointed. There was hardly any water to pump out and its been a while since the dogs were able to drink anything, so after we filtered 3 liters of water, we let the dogs at it and they drank and drank and drank. We walked back up the hill and hopped on the 75 yard trail to Deer Park shelter. We noticed a second, better spring on the way and decided after camp chores we would walk back to the spring to load up on water. As soon as we got to the shelter, we dropped the packs and rested for a good 30 mins b/f doing setting up camp. We were all tired from the 8 miles we logged. We set up camp behind the shelter and made dinner (Mountain house, Jamaican BBQ Chicken which was not that good, the dogs had nice treat that night) After dinner, we got water, let the dogs fill up once again, and then boiled the water til it was pitch black outside. Finally we take our tired bones to bed. We didn't have the amazing star gazing view we did last night, but I did have a better nights sleep.
Woke up to a beautiful morning. Let the dogs out of the tent and had to take a picture of thing 2 enjoying the sunshine. We packed up our campsite, had breakfast (cliff bars and our last liter of water) and started our up hill ascent of Bluff Mountain (4686). Luckily, we were already half way up ;) so we only had 1 mile to climb. The water situation was getting a bit scary. All the brooks and streams we passed were dried up. I knew there was a spring about half way down Bluff Mt., but we still had to get up over it. We took a break on some rock croppings at the very top and met a family hiking from Lemon Gap to Hot Springs (14 miles) today. Got back on the trail and started the descent and hopefully towards water. We got to the blue blaze trail for water and
were pleasantly surprised with the spring. Boo pulled out the filter and pumped clean water in both of our 3 liter bladders and into our two 1 liter nalgenes, twice b/c we each drank a liter right then and there.
The dogs got their fill too. We strapped on our newly hydrated packs and continued the 3.7 mile down Bluff Mt. There was a downed tree on a section of the trail that we had to crawl under. After a couple of miles, I'm in a good groove when suddenly, I step on a loose rock and SLAM, I eat it, right there on the trail. I thought I had sprung my ankle and just sat there, feet hanging over the deep gorge that I avoided falling into and just prayed that the pain in my ankle would go away. I'm so absorbed in my left ankle that Boo points out the bleeding gash on my right knee. I clean up my knee with some wipes and antibacterial gel, finally get up on my feet, and would you believe it, my ankle felt 10 times better! Anyways, w
e made it to Garenflo Gap (2500) and stopped for lunch. (Instant loaded mash potatos) After a 45 min break, we knew we still had two climbs ahead of us, Long Mt. (3120) and Lamb Knob (3204). We were pretty beat, so we decided to split a GU Energy gel packet and some lime flavored energy jelly beans to sustain us. Boo also filled his 3 liter bladder with red gatorade powder. We make it up the two mountains and took a small break. All that is left til our campsite is Canebrake ridge. We huff it for 2 more miles and finally make it to Gragg Gap and Deer Park Shelter. I ask Boo how he's doing on water and he tells me he drank 
ALL of his 3 liters in the last 4 miles. We decided to head down the blue blaze trail towards the spring to camel up. Well, the spring was a disappointed. There was hardly any water to pump out and its been a while since the dogs were able to drink anything, so after we filtered 3 liters of water, we let the dogs at it and they drank and drank and drank. We walked back up the hill and hopped on the 75 yard trail to Deer Park shelter. We noticed a second, better spring on the way and decided after camp chores we would walk back to the spring to load up on water. As soon as we got to the shelter, we dropped the packs and rested for a good 30 mins b/f doing setting up camp. We were all tired from the 8 miles we logged. We set up camp behind the shelter and made dinner (Mountain house, Jamaican BBQ Chicken which was not that good, the dogs had nice treat that night) After dinner, we got water, let the dogs fill up once again, and then boiled the water til it was pitch black outside. Finally we take our tired bones to bed. We didn't have the amazing star gazing view we did last night, but I did have a better nights sleep.
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