ways wanted to hike in a skirt (and no, not a kilt like some of the guys do, but a true hiking skirt.) I have to say though, that her cute outfit didn't help her much when she almost ate it not more then 1/4 of a mile into our 9.4 mile day. (It really wasn't funny and it almost put her out of commission for the entire trip.... ok, maybe it was a little bit funny.) Remember all the rain last night? Well, it made all the rocks, roots, and logs we have to trudge through slick. Not to mention all the mud rain creates. So we were walking along the 4.8 mile section of Sugarland Mountain Trail head (5870), when SHO
E stepped up on a log and started slipping and sliding all over the place until she caught herself. I swear she was flapping around for a good 5 seconds before she steadied herself. (That was the funny part.) Well, she sort of tweaked her right knee and it bothered her a bit the rest of the trip. Due to the conditions, we decided to take it slow and easy. Most of this section was either flat or down hill, but sometimes going down hill is actually more painful then climbing. My poor knees and ankle joints took a beating on the descending sections. 
Along the way, we spotted a few blackberry bushes and stopped for a taste. They reminded me of a summer spent in Kansas, where my grandmother made homemade blackberry ice cream and had homemade blackberry jam. mmmm.... Simpler times. As we continued, we noticed bear scat every couple of miles and I wondered if we would ever catch up to that bear. We finally make it to the intersecting trail and decided to stop for lunch. I assembled a tasty bacon and cheese tortilla wrap with a couple of boiled eggs. (Yes, I lugged eggs in my backpack, I needed the protein!) When I look over at SHOE, I see her putting together some fancy gourmet lunch. She slathers a round flat bread with peanut butter, sprinkles some dried banana cubes, and drizzles it with chocolate honey. After lunch, we decided to lay in the middle of the trail like homeless people and relax. A 1/2 hour later, we get the gumption to put on our packs and descend the 2.8 miles down Rough Creek trail. The first part of the trail was pretty slow going, but then it got better and we sailed down the trail, crossing three small little streams. We make it to Little River Trail and our last 1.8 miles to camp (all up hill.) As we climb the gradual graded trail I start to run out of steam and just pray that the campsite is coming up a
ny second. There are three river crossing on this trail. The first two are tough, with long jumps from rock to rock, but I dared it and rock hopped it across just fine. SHOE's been slipping and sliding all day long, so she opted to put on her crocs for the crossings and ended up hiking the rest of the trail in her crocs. Well, the last river crossing was a CRAZY! First, we had to hike about 25 feet through a mind field of moss covered boulders(AKA, slick ass rocks) then rock climb down to a decent rock to jump off of to ford a fast flowing, deep river. I watched SHOE carefully navigate across the river and decide to take off my boots and put on my croc wannabes on for this little adventure. I carefully step down into the icy cold water and it feels sooooo good on my tired feet. aaaahhh.....
ny second. There are three river crossing on this trail. The first two are tough, with long jumps from rock to rock, but I dared it and rock hopped it across just fine. SHOE's been slipping and sliding all day long, so she opted to put on her crocs for the crossings and ended up hiking the rest of the trail in her crocs. Well, the last river crossing was a CRAZY! First, we had to hike about 25 feet through a mind field of moss covered boulders(AKA, slick ass rocks) then rock climb down to a decent rock to jump off of to ford a fast flowing, deep river. I watched SHOE carefully navigate across the river and decide to take off my boots and put on my croc wannabes on for this little adventure. I carefully step down into the icy cold water and it feels sooooo good on my tired feet. aaaahhh..... We finally stroll into camp and as soon as I have my tarp up, it starts raining buckets! We waited out the rain, finish up camp chores, and make dinner. I decided to try those Knorr's noodle Garlic and Herb sid
e dishes for dinner and WOW, with the babybel Gouda cheese that SHOE gave me it was so warm and yummy. (SHOE also shared her dark chocolate cheesecake freeze dried meal and O.M.G. that was so good.) I had to eat under my tarp b/c it started raining again. When the rain lulled a bit, we hung our food bags with the bear cables and chit chatted with a couple that just got to camp. As soon as we started talking to them, the sky just opened up. We ran back to our campsite and called it a night. It continued to rain the ENTIRE night. Luckily I was hanging, so I was off the muddy ground that shortly turned into a lake. At one point I peeked my head out of my hammock and saw SHOE's tent surrounded in a pool of water. It was like she was camping on top of a lake! Luckily nothing got wet. It was only 8pm, but we called it a night and went to sleep. Around 11pm, I got up to water the leaves, then fell back asleep, warm and dry til the next morning.
e dishes for dinner and WOW, with the babybel Gouda cheese that SHOE gave me it was so warm and yummy. (SHOE also shared her dark chocolate cheesecake freeze dried meal and O.M.G. that was so good.) I had to eat under my tarp b/c it started raining again. When the rain lulled a bit, we hung our food bags with the bear cables and chit chatted with a couple that just got to camp. As soon as we started talking to them, the sky just opened up. We ran back to our campsite and called it a night. It continued to rain the ENTIRE night. Luckily I was hanging, so I was off the muddy ground that shortly turned into a lake. At one point I peeked my head out of my hammock and saw SHOE's tent surrounded in a pool of water. It was like she was camping on top of a lake! Luckily nothing got wet. It was only 8pm, but we called it a night and went to sleep. Around 11pm, I got up to water the leaves, then fell back asleep, warm and dry til the next morning. Oh, and that bear, whose scat we were following, we never saw it. Seems that when we turned left to go to our campsite on the Little River Trail, he turned right. The couple who made it to camp late told us they saw him as they were coming up that day. Oh well... Stay tuned for the Sunday's adventures.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment