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- Apr 25, 2007
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Just as a little switch-up from the "Izula Folder" and "Where are the stainless RATs" threads...
Got back in last night from a 5-day trip in Kentucky. We backpacked in the Red River Gorge/Clifty Wilderness area. It was an interesting trip on several levels. It was my (as well as everybody's) first time in the Appalachians. It was wet most of the trip. The terrain was much more heavily wooded than I am used to. And the six-person group was broken up into two sets of very different hiking philosophies, which made the trip pretty difficult in that sense. We actually set off without a map
and ended up quitting a day early. Because of the lack of getting to look over a map and get to know the area beforehand, our route really sucked and this was a major contributor to quitting a day early, even though the weather on the last couple days would have been fantastic. Anyway, on to a few pictures, I'll tell a bit of the story as we go.
I'll start off with my signature trailhead picture. These two fellows and myself are fairly experienced hikers, and although I'm the only one of us who had done more than a 4-day trip previously, these guys knew what was going on. We were all nervous about several things about the trip, not the least of which was the lack of map and general knowledge of the lay of the area.
Because of poor planning issues, we didn't hit the trail until almost 7:00 PM and only got in about a mile before having to make camp. Some storms had obviously come through this area and made a huge mess. We camped on top of a ridge, and it drizzled the whole night.
The next morning we found a neat waterfall off the trail after hiking a ways.
This prairie-raised boy found the forest a bit claustrophobic at times.
Another small foible on the trip can be seen here. One of the guys brought along some coffee for the percolator, but it was in whole bean form. The guys used cans and the percolator lid in conjunction with the pommel of my Breeden hatchet to crush the beans. I don't drink coffee, but was very amused by this whole process.
Some of the trails were really, really muddy.
At the end of the hike we found some boulders and caverns to camp near. Camped near a small creek. Too close, actually, but after the long day we just needed to stop and make camp.
Here's camp. We slept on the tarp with one of the tent flies covering us. It was one of the dampest nights I've ever spent out. I was not a fan of this idea from the start, and it was just as bad as I had thought it would be. It was not too cold, just drizzly. Condensation was another major problem, and all our sleeping bags were pretty soaked in the morning. I walked an extra 5-6 miles after getting to camp to figure out where the hell we were this day. I found the visitor center at Gladie, and although it was closed I took a picture of the trail map outside the building for the time being. We walked by the next day and I bought a real map.
Going to continue this in the next post, so hold on for a few minutes...
Got back in last night from a 5-day trip in Kentucky. We backpacked in the Red River Gorge/Clifty Wilderness area. It was an interesting trip on several levels. It was my (as well as everybody's) first time in the Appalachians. It was wet most of the trip. The terrain was much more heavily wooded than I am used to. And the six-person group was broken up into two sets of very different hiking philosophies, which made the trip pretty difficult in that sense. We actually set off without a map
and ended up quitting a day early. Because of the lack of getting to look over a map and get to know the area beforehand, our route really sucked and this was a major contributor to quitting a day early, even though the weather on the last couple days would have been fantastic. Anyway, on to a few pictures, I'll tell a bit of the story as we go.I'll start off with my signature trailhead picture. These two fellows and myself are fairly experienced hikers, and although I'm the only one of us who had done more than a 4-day trip previously, these guys knew what was going on. We were all nervous about several things about the trip, not the least of which was the lack of map and general knowledge of the lay of the area.
Because of poor planning issues, we didn't hit the trail until almost 7:00 PM and only got in about a mile before having to make camp. Some storms had obviously come through this area and made a huge mess. We camped on top of a ridge, and it drizzled the whole night.
The next morning we found a neat waterfall off the trail after hiking a ways.
This prairie-raised boy found the forest a bit claustrophobic at times.
Another small foible on the trip can be seen here. One of the guys brought along some coffee for the percolator, but it was in whole bean form. The guys used cans and the percolator lid in conjunction with the pommel of my Breeden hatchet to crush the beans. I don't drink coffee, but was very amused by this whole process.
Some of the trails were really, really muddy.
At the end of the hike we found some boulders and caverns to camp near. Camped near a small creek. Too close, actually, but after the long day we just needed to stop and make camp.
Here's camp. We slept on the tarp with one of the tent flies covering us. It was one of the dampest nights I've ever spent out. I was not a fan of this idea from the start, and it was just as bad as I had thought it would be. It was not too cold, just drizzly. Condensation was another major problem, and all our sleeping bags were pretty soaked in the morning. I walked an extra 5-6 miles after getting to camp to figure out where the hell we were this day. I found the visitor center at Gladie, and although it was closed I took a picture of the trail map outside the building for the time being. We walked by the next day and I bought a real map.
Going to continue this in the next post, so hold on for a few minutes...
