gregp
07-07-2009, 20:52
First of all, I’d like to say thanks to all of you who not only gave me great advice, but do so to so many others here. Without experienced hikers giving freely of their knowledge, many of us noobs wouldn’t stand a chance out there. That being said, here’s the recap.
I made a series of mistakes on this trip. Some bad, some not so bad, and some were just plain stupid. I am including these mistakes so that anyone who reads this may learn something from them.
Sunday morning, I arrived at Mt. Rogers outfitters where I met some really good folks who were also hitting the trail for the first time. They were heading a good bit farther out than I was so I only got to speak to them for a short while. (I hope their trip is going ok.)
I was dropped off at the trail head at around 9am. Here’s where I made my first mistake. Bright eyed and full of adrenaline, I saw a sign that read “Elk Garden” and proceeded down the trail. Down I went, knowing all along, I should have been going up. After not seeing a white blaze for close to a half an hour, I finally talked myself into turning around. Sure enough, after arriving back at the trail head I realized that there were infact two trail heads there. The “Elk Garden Trail” and the AT. I told you guys I’d get lost! :rolleyes: :D
So, now it’s around 10am and I’m actually on the right trail. Here’s where it started raining. Not a soft little tinkle, but a good, steady rain. And here is also where I made my second mistake. This one could have been bad. Due to the forest blocking much of the rain, I elected to hike on rather than put on my rain gear and pack cover. This lasted for about an hour before I realized how wet I and my gear were really getting. Needless to say, had it been colder, I think I could have gotten into some trouble here. Lesson learned.
It took around two and a half hours to reach Buzzard rock. It was pretty much a white out up there and the views I had hoped for were shrouded in thick clouds. That and a thirty mile an hour driven rain expedited my stay there.
Here’s where my third and probably most costly mistake came in. Rather than listen to my body (knees in particular) I moved briskly down the mountain towards lost mountain shelter. I figured before hand, that the “ups” would be far more difficult than the “downs”. I could not have been more wrong. I reached Lost Mountain shelter at 3pm and my knees were wrecked. I had planned on hiking on down to the creek to set up camp but my knees, and the weather helped me to decide to stay at the shelter for the evening. A dry place to cook supper was the deciding factor.
It wasn’t all bad though, A NOBO section hiker stayed there as well for the evening and I must admit that the company was welcome. Around 8pm, and it was time to turn in.
Fourth mistake. Rather than stay in the shelter, I decided to pitch my tarptent out back in the rain. Needless to say, it was a long, cold, damp night.
By 8am Monday morning, I was back on the trail. Knees felt pretty good due to rest, and about 8 asperine. Here’s my fifth mistake. Rather than take it easy, I pushed on hard due to the time I perceived I had lost by stopping early the day before.
There are two big ridges to climb up and over between Lost Mountain and Saunder’s shelters. By the Second climb, my knees were again a wreck. By the time I finally made it to Saunder’s, it was noon. Four hours to travel six miles. I stayed at Saunder’s shelter for about an hour, eating gorp, asperine, and resupplied my water. Surprisingly, my knees had rebounded yet again and I pushed onwards harder than I should have. By the time I reached the level where you begin to parallel the Creeper trail, I decided that I just wasn’t going to be able to tackle the last big up and down. So I decided to walk down to the Creeper trail and did the last several miles into Damascus on it.
All in all, I consider this trip to have been a great and enjoyable experience. I learned a great deal and I now know that I need to do some serious work on getting into better shape. I already miss being out there and can’t wait get back.
Thanks again everyone for the great advice.
Here are some pictures from the trip. They are in reverse order.
Pictures
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/40181014@N05/)
I made a series of mistakes on this trip. Some bad, some not so bad, and some were just plain stupid. I am including these mistakes so that anyone who reads this may learn something from them.
Sunday morning, I arrived at Mt. Rogers outfitters where I met some really good folks who were also hitting the trail for the first time. They were heading a good bit farther out than I was so I only got to speak to them for a short while. (I hope their trip is going ok.)
I was dropped off at the trail head at around 9am. Here’s where I made my first mistake. Bright eyed and full of adrenaline, I saw a sign that read “Elk Garden” and proceeded down the trail. Down I went, knowing all along, I should have been going up. After not seeing a white blaze for close to a half an hour, I finally talked myself into turning around. Sure enough, after arriving back at the trail head I realized that there were infact two trail heads there. The “Elk Garden Trail” and the AT. I told you guys I’d get lost! :rolleyes: :D
So, now it’s around 10am and I’m actually on the right trail. Here’s where it started raining. Not a soft little tinkle, but a good, steady rain. And here is also where I made my second mistake. This one could have been bad. Due to the forest blocking much of the rain, I elected to hike on rather than put on my rain gear and pack cover. This lasted for about an hour before I realized how wet I and my gear were really getting. Needless to say, had it been colder, I think I could have gotten into some trouble here. Lesson learned.
It took around two and a half hours to reach Buzzard rock. It was pretty much a white out up there and the views I had hoped for were shrouded in thick clouds. That and a thirty mile an hour driven rain expedited my stay there.
Here’s where my third and probably most costly mistake came in. Rather than listen to my body (knees in particular) I moved briskly down the mountain towards lost mountain shelter. I figured before hand, that the “ups” would be far more difficult than the “downs”. I could not have been more wrong. I reached Lost Mountain shelter at 3pm and my knees were wrecked. I had planned on hiking on down to the creek to set up camp but my knees, and the weather helped me to decide to stay at the shelter for the evening. A dry place to cook supper was the deciding factor.
It wasn’t all bad though, A NOBO section hiker stayed there as well for the evening and I must admit that the company was welcome. Around 8pm, and it was time to turn in.
Fourth mistake. Rather than stay in the shelter, I decided to pitch my tarptent out back in the rain. Needless to say, it was a long, cold, damp night.
By 8am Monday morning, I was back on the trail. Knees felt pretty good due to rest, and about 8 asperine. Here’s my fifth mistake. Rather than take it easy, I pushed on hard due to the time I perceived I had lost by stopping early the day before.
There are two big ridges to climb up and over between Lost Mountain and Saunder’s shelters. By the Second climb, my knees were again a wreck. By the time I finally made it to Saunder’s, it was noon. Four hours to travel six miles. I stayed at Saunder’s shelter for about an hour, eating gorp, asperine, and resupplied my water. Surprisingly, my knees had rebounded yet again and I pushed onwards harder than I should have. By the time I reached the level where you begin to parallel the Creeper trail, I decided that I just wasn’t going to be able to tackle the last big up and down. So I decided to walk down to the Creeper trail and did the last several miles into Damascus on it.
All in all, I consider this trip to have been a great and enjoyable experience. I learned a great deal and I now know that I need to do some serious work on getting into better shape. I already miss being out there and can’t wait get back.
Thanks again everyone for the great advice.
Here are some pictures from the trip. They are in reverse order.
Pictures
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/40181014@N05/)