Father's Day Backpacking!

ROCK6

ROCK6

Joined
Feb 8, 2004
Messages
4,172
My wife is “under-employed” right now, but has been doing some on-line curriculum design and review for a virtual school. She picked up an odd project from a guy she hasn’t worked with and the guy is an idiot. She’s been so frustrated this past week that on Thursday, she said…”let’s pack up and do little backpacking trip for Father’s Day and to get away from the phone and computer!” Well, everything was pretty much ready, so we headed out for a few days to Panther Creek in northeast Georgia. We haven’t been here since 2004.

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The trail was decent, but had a few rough areas; we hiked in just a few miles and set up camp.

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My wife and I were a little disgusted with some of the trash left in the camp sites we passed. The area is pretty close to the University of Augusta; I don’t want to blame the college kids, but we did see some on the trail. I’m all for having a good time with friends, but the trash, wine/beer bottles, empty tin cans of food and general “crap” was disturbing. It’s such a beautiful area and that beauty is spoiled to a degree when ass-hats leave their refuse. We’re not your hard-core “green” advocates, but we do believe in good stewardship and policing up after yourself. I’m tempted to recommend that some signs get made and even leave a couple of dispenser boxes with trash bags; maybe it would encourage them to pack their crap back out.

I do feel somewhat guilty. Our pooch packed in a can of Guinness for me…I need to balance out his food and water bowl!:o I was so looking forward to that stout, smooth and creek-cooled Guinness…I asked my son to put it into a secure spot in the creek. Well, his location wasn’t too secure and my much awaited can of Guinness was gone! We looked and looked and couldn’t locate it…my son felt awful, not only at the loss, but that he contributed to the “pollution”. I’m just hoping some angler downstream stumbles across it after a long hot/humid day of fishing…boy, wouldn’t that be a sight! Good news is that I had a couple waiting for me when we got home…

ROCK6
 
I did get an opportunity to do a little fly fishing with my Emmrod. There we so many potential holes and deep banks that I really need to go back and spend a couple days focused on fishing! I caught a couple of small trout, but landed this beauty…she tasted supreme!

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I just season with a little salt and pepper and wrapped it up in aluminum foil…I had forgotten how heavenly these little guys are. I thought it was a brookie at first, but looks more like rainbow (although not the rainbow I grew up with in the Pacific Northwest).

I experimented with some bannock. We made three batches, I think a little more brown sugar to serve as sweet bread, but my morning recipe held some dried cranberries and blue berries…it was a big hit and will become part of our backpacking pantry.

The Sawyer 4-liter gravity water filter was exceptional! I brought along my Katadyn filter and will most likely just bring the mini as I didn’t use it at all (the mini would still be used for day hikes to fill bladders or bottles). Flow rate was almost too fast and you had to keep an eye on the smaller bottles.

The area is very damp…almost like the Olympic National Forest; much cooler, wet, damp and quick decomposition of wood. There were numerous trees downed and bulk firewood wasn’t hard to find (just need to avoid the rotten wood). Biggest problem was getting enough small dry wood to get the fire going…fortunately there were enough small pieces on the ground that were dry enough. I kept the fire going all night with some larger half-burned logs from another camp site.

We hiked down to the falls…beautiful as always!

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All in all, a great time and although physically taxing at times, really recharged the batteries and helped to forget all the stressors of the “civilized” world!

My son did run across a mystery during his creek exploration:

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I wish I could have got a better picture with something to measure it against, but the leg spread from front to back was close to five inches! This was no wolf spider! After a little research, it looked more like a fishing spider…no web, just a hunter along the creek, I just had no idea what it was but was very surprised at the size!

All in all, a great trip at the last moment…it pays to be prepared!

ROCK6
 
nice pics! sounded like an awesome trip. yeah, i hear you about the trash. you'd figure the empty bottles would be way easier to bring out but nooo, these f'ers just leave it there :mad:
 
JV3 said:
nice pics! sounded like an awesome trip. yeah, i hear you about the trash. you'd figure the empty bottles would be way easier to bring out but nooo, these f'ers just leave it there :mad:
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Yeah, I was pretty ticked. If can't burn it, I carry it out...even the aluminum foil I used was packed out. Even as a wild college kid where we did bonfire parties up in the mountains, we didn't trash the place and we didn't leave crap all over. Maybe it's asking too much, but respecting the outdoors included policing up after yourself...

ROCK6
 
Excellent Rock6! I'm glad you were able to get the wife, son and dog out for the weekend. And thankyou for the great pictures. Young man looks a bit tuckered out in a few, no doubt the heat and humidity was oppressive at times. Hopefully I'll get my chance to escape for a few days in a week or so.

Codger :thumbup:
 
great pics buddy, I just picked up a grand trunk hammock and like to see how others use there's, I'm not that good at making bannock yet, I'll keep on trying.....
 
Family, waterfalls, and drunken trout :D

Doesn't get much better than that. And don't think your son will soon forget. Memories for life.

Thanks for the pics.
 
Great stuff buddy, I think I'd have been on edge for the rest of the trip after spotting that spider....I love snakes, lizards, you name it but I can't stand spiders !!!!
 
brians said:
Family, waterfalls, and drunken trout :D
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Ha! I didn't think of the trout..how selfish of me...gave me a good laugh though:D


pitdog said:
Great stuff buddy, I think I'd have been on edge for the rest of the trip after spotting that spider....I love snakes, lizards, you name it but I can't stand spiders !!!!
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Yeah, it was fast too, I was trying to put my folder down beside for size reference it but it shot off towards the creek. I have a mild case of arachnaphobia, but as long as they stay away from me, I can deal with them. I went down to the creek that first night to wash the sweat off and clean up a little and I was pretty much down to my Ex Officio briefs and I stood up...a massive Orb Weaver spider with a body about as big around as a silver dollar and a web suspended between two branches spanning about 4-5 feet:eek: Nothing like being caught in your underwear on a slippery rock in the middle of a cold creek staring into the many eyes of a massive arachnid!!!! She was beautiful in that heebie-jeeby sort of way, thank God I had my Zebra headlamp on or that would have been a kiss with an eight-legged lady:D

andrewthetuba said:
Chacos are the best. On my last canoe trip I saw a spider that was 8 inches in diameter
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Man, I love Chaco's and want to pick up a second pair. These are the ultimate outdoors sandals!!! Last time I saw spiders that bid was in Ecuador...large tarantulas; thanks for bringing back those memories!:eek:

ROCK6
 
Looks like a beautiful time. Although it sucks to hear about the littering that was left behind. Also, I could have did without the spider pic ;) Frightened of them things.
 
ivan51 said:
What are some of your thoughts on that Martin? Did it replace your Bravo-1?
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I'm enjoying the Martin BT and had a good talk to both the brothers at the Blade Show. I really like the sheath system and it rides quite well even when wearing the backpack's hip belt.

I'm not too happy with the current profile and need to do some more work on the edge as it just doesn't bite as good as I'd like it to. As I mentioned in my initial review, I ordered 1095 but received S30V. After talking with Ed, they don't harden their S30V like most and leave it a little softer to make less brittle and easier to sharpen...it's still pretty tough stuff! The handle is a little flatter, but still hand filling; it sort of feels unbalanced with the size of blade and I think the Bravo-1 is a little better balanced. The BT also has a little more of a clip point than the Bravo-1.

For my do-all backpacking blades, I'm usually switching between the Bravo-1, Skookum and now the Martin... I've just decided to "review" the BT this summer. I would say the BT and Bravo-1 both fill the same category of being a short, stout, outdoors blade.

ROCK6
 
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