View Full Version : GREAT Weekend at Amicalola with my daughter!!
Just coming back now to report on our little trip. We had a WONDERFUL time. I couldn't have special ordered better weather and she really enjoyed it a lot more than she expected to. I don't think the "hiker bug" bit her, but she said she would do another short 1 or 2 night trip again, which is saying a lot! When I say we crawled... I mean we really did. We didn't even finish the entire approach trail because we decided to go home Sunday instead of Monday. She wanted to get home to her friends and I felt like I had taken enough of her weekend so I agreed to leave a day early. It gave me time at home to rest up for work today anyway. We got 6 miles of the 8.8 done though. A whopping 3 miles per day. It was because we were having SO much fun though. We stopped at a campsite for lunch and just hung her little Eno hammock so we'd have somewhere to sit and swing. We climbed in that and ended up taking a nap right beside the trail. It was blissful. We would stop for a little breather and end standing there for 15 minutes having a deep conversation before moving on. It was everything I wanted it to be, except I would have liked to finish it on Monday.
Things learned:
1. Water/liquid is extremely HEAVY. We each were carrying 6 20oz. bottles.
2. Gum is your friend when you need to control water consumption.
FIRST TIMES:
Dug my first cat hole. Sure do wish many others had. Saw some pretty disgusting abuse of the campsites and stupid mistakes that will eventually cost a person and/or a bear their lives.
Hung my first bear bag. To perfection, I might add, and it only took me an hour!!! Man, throwing that stupid little rock bag takes some serious practice. That was a job of work! But I got er done!!
A few of my fave pics: Sorry, I don't know how to rotate them.
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DuneElliot
09-06-2016, 12:57
Thanks for the trip report...glad to hear you had so much fun together, after all that's what it's supposed to be about!
I find that I consume a liter of water every 5 miles or so, less if it's cool, more if it's hot and strenuous. I hate carrying the weight, but I also hate filtering all the time. I generally carry a liter for me and the dog, a little more if I have two dogs with me. I usually fill up once during the day over 10-12 miles using two 1L Smartwater bottles.
I discovered after several times of struggling to throw a rock bag that the heavier the rock, the easier it will be. I usually try to find one the size of a bar of standard-sized soap, and as long as there aren't any other branches in the way (a problem in with pine trees in Wyoming) I can usually get it over at the right place in 1-2 throws.
And humans are disgusting...digging a cathole is fun!!!!
DuneElliot
09-06-2016, 12:58
I should amend that to say I fill up with water the night before, and then one MORE time during the day...so technically twice usually.
Thanks for the trip report...glad to hear you had so much fun together, after all that's what it's supposed to be about!
I find that I consume a liter of water every 5 miles or so, less if it's cool, more if it's hot and strenuous. I hate carrying the weight, but I also hate filtering all the time. I generally carry a liter for me and the dog, a little more if I have two dogs with me. I usually fill up once during the day over 10-12 miles using two 1L Smartwater bottles.
I discovered after several times of struggling to throw a rock bag that the heavier the rock, the easier it will be. I usually try to find one the size of a bar of standard-sized soap, and as long as there aren't any other branches in the way (a problem in with pine trees in Wyoming) I can usually get it over at the right place in 1-2 throws.
And humans are disgusting...digging a cathole is fun!!!!
The approach trail was dry, so we had to load up from the start, and then drink sparingly. This was also a factor in the extreme slow progress. Less stress, less need to guzzle down water. Had we stayed Sunday night too, that would have been our second night of dry camping. We climbed the stairs of the falls and then went to the lodge and ate a huge lunch and drank like 4 glasses of water at the restaurant. We were well hydrated and weren't hungry for dinner then, so that saved some water usage too.
There was a forest underneath the tree limb I was shooting for. I bet I threw that rock 20 times. One - I am not athletic, didn't play softball in my youth, so aim was my own personal problem. Then the stupid trees and briars underneath I had to drag it through every time I missed, was no fun. I considered looking for another tree, but this truly was the perfect limb and the side of the trail would not have been any clearer anywhere else so... I kept throwing.
Glad y'all had fun. I've been wondering all weekend...
OH!! And I almost forgot.... we very nearly witnessed a widow making in progress. We were eating breakfast in camp (I know we shouldn't have, but we truly left no trace whatsoever, so it was fine) and a guy is walking down the trail and we hear this really loud thunderous crash and it scares the crap out of me so I yelled "Holy Cow!!!" and turn to see a tree branch had just fallen right in the middle of the trail about 3 feet in front of that hiker. The branch was maybe a foot in diameter at the base where it was once connected to the tree. It was no little limb. Had that guy been 3 seconds faster it would have killed him, or hurt him critically. He never even slowed up. He just stepped over and kept on trucking. Not even a pause. Freaked me out!
We never saw any bears, but some hikers passing us while we were eating breakfast told us a little bear had just run off down the hill in front of our campsite, so we were near one, but never saw it. Of course, that sped up our breakfast time a great deal and we packed up and got on the trail pretty quickly.
Glad y'all had fun. I've been wondering all weekend...
It was probably a once in a lifetime trip for us and I will cherish it. We laughed and talked and I will never forget it.
DuneElliot
09-06-2016, 13:25
I have found that instead of throwing the rock itself it is often easier to use a lasso-type technique, swinging two-ish feet of the rope with the rock bag on the end in a vertical loop at your side using the momentum of the swing and letting go as the bag begins it's upward curve to take the rock bag up and over the branch. It takes a little practice to know when to let go of the rope, but it's a lot easier to get power and direction. It's can also be modified in swing direction depending on whether you are trying to get height or distance (clockwise for height, counter-clockwise for distance)
I have found that instead of throwing the rock itself it is often easier to use a lasso-type technique, swinging two-ish feet of the rope with the rock bag on the end in a vertical loop at your side using the momentum of the swing and letting go as the bag begins it's upward curve to take the rock bag up and over the branch. It takes a little practice to know when to let go of the rope, but it's a lot easier to get power and direction. It's can also be modified in swing direction depending on whether you are trying to get height or distance (clockwise for height, counter-clockwise for distance)
That how I finally got it where I wanted it... the lasso swing. Still, this is just a practice makes perfect scenario for me and I had never done it before. Took an hour to get it up there right and all of 5 second to get it down the next day.
Glad to hear you two had a great time!
chknfngrs
09-06-2016, 14:51
fun makes better memories! Much kudos on your "approach" to your trip, if you will.
Trailweaver
09-07-2016, 02:15
Sooo happy you all had a good time! Maybe you can squish in another trip before it gets cold. . . in just a few weeks the water situation should be better, and you would, if you continued from Springer, encounter several springs and not have to carry such a load.
chknfngrs
09-07-2016, 06:56
Yes, the adage "strike the anvil when the iron is hot"
Uncle Joe
09-07-2016, 09:47
We were out there too. Not sure how we missed you but glad you had a good time! We left water at Nimblewill Gap so I hope you took advantage. Others availed themselves which is good and left enough for us to finish off.
bigcranky
09-07-2016, 15:05
We were eating breakfast in camp (I know we shouldn't have, but we truly left no trace whatsoever, so it was fine).......
Really, eating breakfast in camp is fine. It's one of life's small pleasures -- enjoying oatmeal or granola or even a pop tart with a mug of hot coffee on a chilly morning with the sun peeking through the trees, wrapped in a warm layer or a sleeping bag. Enjoy it.
Glad you both had fun on the hike.
I saw my first bear near the little single campsite just north of the second intersection with the Hike Inn trail. Momma and two Cubs. Had thought about staying there but pushed on to Springer. Glad I didn't now. Lol
Hope you didn't carry all that water up the stairs.
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