mts4602
07-22-2007, 21:29
This is really long, but if you are bored, read on.
I feel like telling this story because I think it's a good description of the many things a first time backpacker can do wrong. Some of you might get a good laugh out of it as well.
I first went backpacking about three years ago when I was a senior in high school. I always thought it would be fun to do but had just never done it. Plus I was clueless about what to do. I went with five guys, two of which were eagle scouts and the other three of us had never been before. We decided to go to the Smokies and climb Mount Sterling. It was sometime in November and we had a three day weekend so thats when we decided to go.
Whether or not my eagle scout friends advised us on what to do and what not to do and bring, I really don't know. Or maybe it was just me thinking "it's no big deal, what do they know". I can't remember. I certainly didn't bring the right stuff. On my body, and in my pack was, you guessed it: ALL COTTON, plus every little thing I certainly didn't need. My pack weighed around 40 pounds and of course I thought it was fine. Oh, and picking it up the night before to bring it down stairs was "no big deal", haha.
So we leave around 4 right after school. We get to the Big Creek Campground around 11 that night after coming from Louisville, KY. After getting our gear ready and dividing our food up between each of us, it was close to midnight before we started off on the Big Creek Trail towards campsite 37. When we started out it was drizzling and pretty cold being November. I put on 3 or 4 layers of clothes, not knowing that it's bad to sweat and my cotton clothes won't dry. So off we go and not to long into it I am sweating like crazy. My friends realize what I did and freak out. So I take off a couple layers. They didn't tell me it was serious, and I didn't know until later, but they said we really need to get to camp soon. I was shaking like crazy at the time. Finally we get to camp at around 3am and as others have said, there were tents everywhere. We set up our tents and I managed to get pretty warm in my sleeping bag falling asleep around 4am.
We woke up around 11am and were the only ones in camp which was actually pretty nice. We started out around noon on Shallow Fork Trail up towards Mount Sterling. I am beat down already, not to mention I was getting over being sick the week before. As many of you know, this trail KICKED MY BUTT. There were times when I could only go for 30 seconds before I had to stop. But never the less we made it to camp, again in darkness. We cooked up some mountain house food. I had the chicken with rice...thinking it was more chicken than rice..NOPE. You would think they'd call it rice with little chunks of chicken, but I digress. I hate rice, so I got down what I could without throwing up, haha. The fire tower was awesome even though we couldn't see anything. And even though we got to camp last we got the little spot on the side that is secluded from everyone else...so that was cool as well.
That night was HORRIBLE. I don't know what the temperature was but having done research about Mount Sterling after the hike, I'm surprised it didn't snow on us. My QUEST brand sleeping bag, although rated to 20 degrees was a piece of c**p. Though I'm sure I did sleep, I don't remember acutally falling asleep. Just moving around made cold air come in it seemed from everywhere.
We had planned on staying the whole next day atop Mount Sterling just to "chill", but being so cold and miserable we elected to hike down Baxter Creek Trail. I did manage to lay in the sun by myself for a few minutes before we left. There are those few moments when something so simple makes you happy and that was one of them. As we hiked down I found out my boots were too small for me. When I decided to use them for the trip I thought that they were a little snug, but thought "oh well, they've never hurt before". After 10 miles of hiking and 40 pounds slamming down on them. They sure did hurt.
After finally making it back to the car, we drove to the KFC and ate mucho chicken. Mountain Mammas was closed for some reason. Having left the mountain a day early, we checked into a holiday inn and sat in the hot tub for hours. After finally relaxing, I could not walk. I limped everywhere.
It was on the drive home when I realized I actually liked what I did. For some reason I wanted to do it again, though a little better prepared. For me it was the adventure. We were out on our own, hiking through the forrest with everything we needed on our backs...at 2 am no less. What were our friends doing at the time? Certainly nothing as interesting. Even with all my mistakes it was still a great trip and a great story. Plus I now know not to be stupid and come prepared.
So for any of you that are actually reading this and are thinking about going backpacking for the first time...do your research, come prepared, and you will have a great time no matter what you do.
I feel like telling this story because I think it's a good description of the many things a first time backpacker can do wrong. Some of you might get a good laugh out of it as well.
I first went backpacking about three years ago when I was a senior in high school. I always thought it would be fun to do but had just never done it. Plus I was clueless about what to do. I went with five guys, two of which were eagle scouts and the other three of us had never been before. We decided to go to the Smokies and climb Mount Sterling. It was sometime in November and we had a three day weekend so thats when we decided to go.
Whether or not my eagle scout friends advised us on what to do and what not to do and bring, I really don't know. Or maybe it was just me thinking "it's no big deal, what do they know". I can't remember. I certainly didn't bring the right stuff. On my body, and in my pack was, you guessed it: ALL COTTON, plus every little thing I certainly didn't need. My pack weighed around 40 pounds and of course I thought it was fine. Oh, and picking it up the night before to bring it down stairs was "no big deal", haha.
So we leave around 4 right after school. We get to the Big Creek Campground around 11 that night after coming from Louisville, KY. After getting our gear ready and dividing our food up between each of us, it was close to midnight before we started off on the Big Creek Trail towards campsite 37. When we started out it was drizzling and pretty cold being November. I put on 3 or 4 layers of clothes, not knowing that it's bad to sweat and my cotton clothes won't dry. So off we go and not to long into it I am sweating like crazy. My friends realize what I did and freak out. So I take off a couple layers. They didn't tell me it was serious, and I didn't know until later, but they said we really need to get to camp soon. I was shaking like crazy at the time. Finally we get to camp at around 3am and as others have said, there were tents everywhere. We set up our tents and I managed to get pretty warm in my sleeping bag falling asleep around 4am.
We woke up around 11am and were the only ones in camp which was actually pretty nice. We started out around noon on Shallow Fork Trail up towards Mount Sterling. I am beat down already, not to mention I was getting over being sick the week before. As many of you know, this trail KICKED MY BUTT. There were times when I could only go for 30 seconds before I had to stop. But never the less we made it to camp, again in darkness. We cooked up some mountain house food. I had the chicken with rice...thinking it was more chicken than rice..NOPE. You would think they'd call it rice with little chunks of chicken, but I digress. I hate rice, so I got down what I could without throwing up, haha. The fire tower was awesome even though we couldn't see anything. And even though we got to camp last we got the little spot on the side that is secluded from everyone else...so that was cool as well.
That night was HORRIBLE. I don't know what the temperature was but having done research about Mount Sterling after the hike, I'm surprised it didn't snow on us. My QUEST brand sleeping bag, although rated to 20 degrees was a piece of c**p. Though I'm sure I did sleep, I don't remember acutally falling asleep. Just moving around made cold air come in it seemed from everywhere.
We had planned on staying the whole next day atop Mount Sterling just to "chill", but being so cold and miserable we elected to hike down Baxter Creek Trail. I did manage to lay in the sun by myself for a few minutes before we left. There are those few moments when something so simple makes you happy and that was one of them. As we hiked down I found out my boots were too small for me. When I decided to use them for the trip I thought that they were a little snug, but thought "oh well, they've never hurt before". After 10 miles of hiking and 40 pounds slamming down on them. They sure did hurt.
After finally making it back to the car, we drove to the KFC and ate mucho chicken. Mountain Mammas was closed for some reason. Having left the mountain a day early, we checked into a holiday inn and sat in the hot tub for hours. After finally relaxing, I could not walk. I limped everywhere.
It was on the drive home when I realized I actually liked what I did. For some reason I wanted to do it again, though a little better prepared. For me it was the adventure. We were out on our own, hiking through the forrest with everything we needed on our backs...at 2 am no less. What were our friends doing at the time? Certainly nothing as interesting. Even with all my mistakes it was still a great trip and a great story. Plus I now know not to be stupid and come prepared.
So for any of you that are actually reading this and are thinking about going backpacking for the first time...do your research, come prepared, and you will have a great time no matter what you do.