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Thursday, July 23, 2020

Ladies Backpacking Trip


The very first time I went backpacking, I was twelve. It was in Colorado. We actually went to the top of Mt. Elbert, the highest peak in the state. And standing on that mountaintop, I knew I had discovered a hobby that would be with me for life.


There is something about the process of going into the woods and working hard to achieve something difficult, like standing on top of a mountain, that changes you. That first trip (and the following four trips I completed) were with Wilderness Trek. Those trips taught me life lessons like: how encouraging others when you are struggling will make your own experience easier.


One year, we circled up and had to pass our pack to the person on our right. This taught me that we are all carrying heavy loads, and as heavy as my load might be, the one next to me might be heavier. It also taught me that if we are to reach the top, EVERYONE has to reach the top. If one is unable to make it, we are all unable to make it. And sometimes circumstances outside our control, like the weather, will keep us from finishing. And those trips where we didn't meet our goals are still worth the effort because of the personal growth and relationships that are formed regardless of how things play out.


When Daniel and I met it was on a caving trip that I was leading in college. He was invited by a mutual friend and he ended up being a great help to me as that particular trip ended up being the biggest group I had ever taken. Daniel stayed in the back and made sure no one got separated or too far behind. It was one of the things that really stuck out to me about him on that trip. I guess I must have made an impression on him as well because he kept showing up in my circle of friends after that!

 

After we married, we didn't have a lot of money. I had a college degree but we were in a small town and the only job I could find in my industry was at a small family-owned printing company that only paid $7/hour and did not provide insurance. We were scraping by while Daniel finished his degree in engineering. During that time we decided to spend as much time as possible together in the woods. It was a relatively inexpensive hobby and it gave us a lot of time to connect outside of school and work.

 

We did backpacking trips all over east Tennessee. Now that we live back in the state I find that we stumble across old trails I had forgotten about and memories from almost twenty years ago come flooding back.


After Daniel finished his degree, we moved to Charlotte, NC, where we would purchase our first house and complete a five-year renovation. This left little time for our passions in the outdoors (although we did manage a few trips). After the recession of 2010, we ended back in the Tennessee Valley. In early 2011 (the year Jack came along) we did one final backpacking trip in the Sipsey Wilderness area. That was my last time on a trail overnight.


When Jack was little, we attempted a backpacking trip that ended up being a bust, and I decided to put that part of my life on the back burner.

 

So when a friend of mine asked on Facebook if I, along with any other women, would want to do a last-minute backpacking trip with her. I wanted to shout a resounding, "YES!" across the internet.

 

It would be a quick out-and-back two days after I got home from camper-camping in Florida. If I am honest, I was a little worried. My friend wanted to complete 13 miles in the heat of July. I hadn't been working out regularly since the coronavirus took down the world, and I wasn't 100% confident in my ability. However, I did have a lot of experience backpacking and I was more than ready to be on the trail again. I wanted to remind myself of what I was capable of. And I also wanted to go to encourage the two women who would be joining us who had never backpacked before.


We met Saturday morning for a shakedown. Basically my friend Shannon and I partnered up with Billie and Marty and helped them determine what they could leave behind. We ended up cutting both their piles of equipment in half. I'm pretty sure they were both grateful that we didn't let them bring all the things.

 

Then we hit the trail. The temps would reach in the mid to upper 90s with heat indexes well above 100. And part of the trail was on exposed rock faces that radiated that heat back at us even more. It was HOT.

  

As we started, Shannon took the lead and set a good pace for us. I have found that it is best to have one experienced person do that and a second experienced person to stay at the rear to encourage the group and not let anyone fall behind (like Daniel did on my caving trip all those years ago). Both the front and rear person are extremely important. 

 

So as the day wore on, I would remind everyone to drink water, and when necessary stop to eat as a group. Because of my experience on the trail, I know first-hand what it feels like to get unbalanced electrolytes from not eating properly and also what severe dehydration feels like. With that knowledge it makes it easy to remind others what to do to combat that so they don't have a bad experience.
 

The trail would have us climb from the North Chickamauga Creek, gaining the ridge on the side of Mowbray Mountain and dropping back down to our campsite at the creek on the far side of the mountain. This trail is listed as hard on AllTrails and it was definitely that. I would venture to say it was even strenuous at times.


I actually did a portion of this hike with my kids earlier this year, as part of our weekly homeschool day hikes. We did a small part of the Hogskin's Loop to Strip Mine Falls and back down to the Blue Hole. The extended version of this hike, with overnight packs, was much harder!


For our ladies hike, after hiking all day in the heat, it started to thunder as we came down the back side of the mountain. I could see a rocky overhang at the bottom and suggested we get there and wait out the rain that appeared to be on the way. This ended up being a good decision because it did start raining and this gave us a good 45-minute rest and everyone's gear stayed dry.

 

The other benefit, that we were unaware of at the time, was that we had a mile of hiking left to camp. And that mile would be brutal. We would be picking our way over large rocks all the way down. Our toes would be jammed into the front of our boots, leaving our feet bruised. It was rough.


We reached the Stevenson Branch campsite at 5pm. Shannon's original goal was to squeeze in another three miles. However, we all agreed that due to timing and difficulty of the trail it made more sense to stop and enjoy the evening at camp (this would reduce our overall mileage from 13 miles to 10). We completed five miles that day and were all pretty worn out.


We dropped our packs, changed into sandals and went down to the river to get fresh water and also soak our weary feet. We all ended up getting in the water to cool off as well.

 

After soaking for a bit, we felt refreshed and headed back to camp to set up our hammocks and get supper and a fire going. Spending a day like this is not for the faint of heart. It was hard. But it also takes down barriers and allowed us all to share freely. We talked until after the stars came out. This is one of my favorite things about being on the trail. 


The next morning we ate breakfast, packed up camp, and attacked that first mile that we knew would be challenging. Climbing up the trail on fresh legs was still hard, but much easier than the day before.


Our initial goal of the day was to get high enough to have cell service to check in with our families. We had thought Verizon had full coverage of the area, but it turns out that even Verizon doesn't cover hidden hollers in East Tennessee.


Shannon and I kept telling the others that walking out would be easier. It always is. And while it was still hot, and still hard, it was easier. We all left the trail with smiles on our faces. I know I will be back in the future, though I am definitely more of a fall and spring camper that a middle-of-summer camper!


Saturday, July 04, 2020

Weekly Hikes/Outside in June


We kicked off our outdoor activities in June by doing a family bike ride to the Brow. Isaac is getting closer to making it up the big hills, but still has to walk some.


A Few days later we met up with friends to ride bikes on the Riverwalk and swim in the Tennessee River. This was an almost perfect day, ruined slightly by the older gentleman who chose to yell at us for not keeping our kids in line (they had stopped in a section of trail that bottle-necked, the rest of the time they had been doing great).


Just an FYI, if you continue to yell at mothers, it might bring out a mama bear. Thankfully he did not yell at the kids and afterward we used it as a teaching moment of how you should not treat people and also discussed that maybe he was having a bad day/month/year.


The following weekend my brother drove over from Nashville and picked up me and the boys to head down to Florida for the weekend. Before we left our house, the boys demonstrated for their Uncle Mark their new rappelling skills. He was impressed.


While in Florida we did a day trip to Dog Island by boat. This was our second trip like this (the first time we were temporarily stranded and had to ride out a storm). This time was more benign, though we did accidentally run up on a sandbar trying to find the deep channel. Lots of memories for my kiddos.

Back at home the following week, we met friends to ride bikes at the local Pump Track. Jack is getting better with catching air on the hills and Isaac is getting better in general. I love to see them doing what they love. It's even better when we can do it with friends.

On Juneteenth we had a talk about what that holiday was and met some friends to ride bikes and share watermelon at a local park. Unfortunately we got rained on, but it was still nice to be out with friends.


For Father's Day weekend we did our third annual float trip on the Hiwassee River with our friends, the Pattens. In the past we have camped and rented rafts and paid for a shuttle. This year we bought two inflatable kayaks and our friend bought tubes. We met at the take-out spot, then crammed all of our gear and both families into our SUV. This ended out working beautifully. At the end of the float, we grilled burgers and ate together and then the dads drove back to pick up the other vehicle. We all had a blast and hope to do it more regularly than once a year.

To end the month, we met friends to camp for the weekend at Edgar Evins State Park and completed a day hike to Cummins Falls. The kids, ages one to eight, all did great. This was the second time I have taken my boys to hike to this waterfall. If you are visiting, new rules due to Covid-19 require that you get a day pass ahead of time – it is $6 per person. That part is a bit of a bummer, but it is worth it, and the trail wasn't overly crowded.

We are all thrilled to be back to spending time outside, with people when possible. We have some fun things lined up for July as well.


A look back at monthly hikes for this year:
January
February
March
April

Friday, July 03, 2020

Camping with Friends: Edgar Evins


Last year we realized that we had several friends who had campers and we started camping with them semi-regularly. Besides the mutual love of camping, we all have similar age kids (mostly boys) which makes these camping trips a lot of fun.


In March we started planning out our camping season with them, adding in dates we were all available through the end of summer. Coronavirus quickly put a dent in our carefully made plans. First, with Rock Island closing and refunding us our reservations. Talk about a bummer.


Anyways, as our state opened back up, we revisited the idea of camping again and were able to tentatively pencil in some new weekends. Last weekend marked the first of such camping trips for this year.


Our family was actually supposed to go to Rock Island for the first part of the week since Daniel had onsite work at the Rock Island Dam. Unfortunately, due to circumstances outside of our control, we ended up missing that portion of the trip. Click here to read why.


Thankfully we were able to still join our friends at Edgar Evins for the weekend. We had six little boys running around, ranging in age from one to eight. They had a blast. The parents all had a good time too.


We had late night meals, chats around the campfire. The boys did a little fishing in the lake. We took a hike down to Cummins Falls, where all of the boys were troopers. It was just such a good weekend.


This was our first time to camp at Edgar Evins. All of the sites are on elevated decks and some of the sites had pretty steep angles for trying to park a camper. I would suggest making sure you read about every site to make sure you reserve a level one if you are planning to camp here.


Before leaving, we scoped out the sites that are on the water and hope to come back and snag one of those in the future.



I am so thankful we were able to get back to camping. Next week we will be heading to Florida to see my family again and then camp at the beach. We cannot wait!