Finally, some backpacking time! A week ago Chris and I went with my dad, brother and some of their friends from my brother’s old Boy Scout troop to the Eagle Rock Loop in Ouachita National Forest. I was very happy to be getting some hiking in—on mountains especially. I was hoping that part of it would be reminiscent of the Appalachian Trail and I was pleasantly rewarded with birds, vegetation and smells that we saw on our hike of the A.T.

We split the drive up, leaving Houston for Dallas at noon one day, then jumping in the car that my dad, brother and another hiker were in to finish the rest of the way to the forest. We were meeting everyone else at the Little Missouri/Athens-Big Fork Junction Trailhead. Unfortunately the directions we had to get there, once inside the forest, were a little jumbled—turning at forks and somehow we managed to end up taking the wrong split. At Bard Springs we found a map and managed to figure out what forest roads we needed to take to get where we were starting the hike, finally arriving at nearly midnight.

Headlamps on, we found an area with the least amount of poison ivy to set our tent up and hit the sack.

The next morning the rest of the group emerged from the woods near the parking area to eat breakfast and chat. I was happy to see two other women on the hike, the wife of one of the other hikers—also the mother of the other female on the hike. We set off by 7:30 am, crossing the Little Missouri River, which at this point is merely a small creek we could rock hop across—vastly different than what we would see later on in the hike.

We started off on the Athens-Big Fork trail, a trail with 8 ‘peaks’ to go over. If we had been on the Appalachian Trail I’d say it was a mini-rollercoaster. Since it had been awhile since any of us had been on mountains, the first mountain took some time getting up. Slowly, but surely we made it up and over the first peak. Beyond, we saw the next couple we would have to go over.

Going down the first mountain I was reminded of my knees and how badly they hurt after finishing the A.T. I never thought they would recover, but 2-3 months later I finally woke up one morning and realized I didn’t wince getting out of bed or kneeling down to grab something off the floor. Most of the downhills were mild but there was one or two that were more steep than the others and caused a bit of pain going down.

This time of year, with the number of water crossings in this section, carrying a lot of water isn’t needed. Between every mountain is a small creek, mostly rock-hopping sized, and water is easily collected from there.

Chris was excited to find a lot of big leaf magnolias around the forest. He’d just bought one for us to grow at our house, someday—it is currently in a container, so seeing an abundance of them were quite exciting for us.

Due to the varying speeds of the hikers most of the time we waited near the creeks for everyone to catch up. Since we weren’t on any sort of time crunch to get to a destination for the evening it was nice to relax and enjoy the trip instead of breezing by everything.

Chris’ big goal was to be able to fish along the creeks and streams while we hiked. It was late morning before we came across one with a deep enough pool to warrant fishing. Had it been mid-afternoon and the weather warmer, a dip in this little pool of water would have been wonderful!

At lunch we came to the first stream that required taking our shoes off to cross. My brother, Chris and another hiker had gone up ahead and were already there when we arrived. Ahh, hiking lunches—leisurely and relaxing, time to take a snooze, and eat hiker food. Chris and I opted to boil water for every meal—oatmeal for breakfast, beans and tortillas for lunch and hiker meals for dinner.

Luckily we had lunch where we did because the next mountain we climbed was long and arduous, not to mention the afternoon humidity skyrocketed. We didn’t even hit the top of that mountain, a short side-trail would take you to the top, but we rested on makeshift wood benches at the top before heading back downhill.

I’d been looking forward to this vista, Eagle Rock Vista, the whole day as it was the only one providing a real view. Most of the other mountains were shrouded with vegetation and offered no views. The side trail up to this view as short and easy from a campsite near the top.

I didn’t see the cottonmouth, Chris took that photo, but I did see some of the crawfish. Really bright, aren’t they?

Ahhh, the campsite, time to eat and relax. It all just made me want to do it for many more consecutive nights…nights that turn into months.

I’ve still got two more days to share, so stay tuned!

I.
We followed the trail
Up and over many peaks
With sweet, humid views.

II.
Water crossed our path
Hop, skip, jump, across the streams
Splish, splash, don’t fall in!

III.
The woods smell divine
Wafting heady aromas
Can I soak it in?

IV.
Dusk falls, night begins
The woods come alive with sound
Who cooks for you all?

V.
Hiker stench sets in
Sweat drips, bugs bite, stomach growls
One more hill to go.

VI.
Back at the trail-head
Feet ache, hiker hobble, tired
Ready for some food.

Been awhile since I’ve written a haiku—ok, probably since high school which was 14 years ago—so I hope I got the syllables right. If not…oh well!

Finally sharing the rest of the photos I took when I went to the Gulf Coast Bird Observatory a few weekends ago with Keely and her boyfriend. These photos are from the grounds of the GCBO and the Wilderness Park across the bayou from GCBO.

Nature is my medicine. ~Sara Moss-Wolfe

Early in the year Chris had scheduled out several camping trips throughout the spring. I had warned that he could potentially be in the field all spring—things hadn’t started up yet and he not received word about work. Even so, he made reservations to many state parks in anticipation of spring wildflower season. So far we’ve had to cancel most of them, but we rescheduled this trip to Huntsville State Park to a weekend sooner then planned since he was going to be off that weekend. Unfortunately a cool front with rain came through causing us to postpone leaving to the campground until early afternoon, when the rains had passed.

We had a site right on the lake so Chris could set up his fishing pole. I had a book to read while lounging in the tent and all was perfect. At about 4 p.m. we decided to go for a short hike and were only about a quarter mile or so down the trail when the rain decided to come back. It had stayed overcast most of the afternoon but we really thought it was done. Back to the car we went and into the tent too, taking a nap while the rain passed.

Dinner was made quickly as dusk began to fall, the lantern turned on during the last minutes of dinner in order to wash up our plates and put everything away.

That afternoon the campsite was lively with a woodpecker, this yellow bellied sapsucker, keeping our interest and allowing for a few portraits to be taken.

A few other birds were hanging around, too.

The next morning we ate breakfast and soon after the clouds began to clear. The park has an extensive trail system and we decided to do part of the outer loop, connecting the Chinquapin and Triple C Trails.

The rain left the trails rather muddy but most of the trails were in good condition.

The Carolina jessamine is still lighting up the forest right now.

View looking east from the dam into the lake.

The dam….

which heads to Prairie Branch Creek downstream.

Fairly certain this is basket grass. Or a Dichanthelium.

We didn’t stay too long hiking that day as we still had other chores to do and Chris wanted to get a few other things done before driving back to his hotel later that evening. It’s only about an hour from our house so I would love to come back here on the weekend and hit up the other trails, or even connect to the Lone Star Trail.

President Houston wasn’t too far away, but maybe next time we’ll finally stop in and say hi!

I’ve been thinking about this post for a few days, mostly because I am waxing nostalgic on the Appalachian Trail since March is around the corner, peak time for thru-hikers to start. And it will be 2 years since we left Georgia for Maine. Seriously, where did the time go?

Food is important on the trail and if we aren’t thinking about it, we’re talking about it. While I have been eating fairly healthy (with nice doses of cheese at restaurants) and mostly vegetarian for almost a year, my mind does wander to the junk food and not so healthy items that only people burning 5K+ calories a day can eat.

Typically people think about backpacking food in the manner of oatmeal, some variety of nutritional bar, and a dehydrated backpacker meal. Sure, there is a lot of that, but after awhile it gets old and the taste buds need some variety. Pair that with having to resupply in weird places like a gas station, you have to get creative. Some of my favorite backpacking foods aren’t what you might think about.

My favorites:

• Cheddar Waffle Crackers: I ate these some growing up but then they seemed to disappear from shelves in Texas. I found some at a Fresh Market in Florida but still have not found any in Texas. On the A.T. once we started hitting northern states I started seeing these crackers. Yes, they are probably not ideal because they can crumble, but sometimes that is all the better.
• Pringles: Probably not a good long term item to carry, but for three days, sure! The tube fits great in the outside bottle netting on packs so you don’t have to worry about crushed chips. Cheddar flavor is my favorite.
• Goldfish Crackers: preferably flavor blasted cheddar.
• Tortillas, bean dip, and cheese dip. Do you sense a cheese theme with me? Ounce whores will not appreciate these because they are ‘heavy’ and the tins are kind of annoying, but really, at some point you don’t care and you just want enjoyable food. Again, if it is a short stretch, why not? It gets you out of the peanut butter rut.
• Breakfast cookies: I think my dad got us started on these when he came to hike for a few days in Virginia. Best. idea. ever. Oatmeal: check. Other goodies like chocolate and raisins: check. You don’t have to cook it, you still get some filling oatmeal and fiber, but it isn’t nearly as hard to swallow after eating packets of oatmeal for weeks on end.
• Corn Nuts: Chris started these and after I had a few of his then the bug hit me. They offer a crunch you might be wanting but also give you back salts that have since leeched off into your shirt from sweat. Oh, we had some good salt rings on our shirts! I know a few other hikers who had it even worse!
• Gummi Bears: or worms, whatever. I like some sugar and I like chewy and this is a great combination. Again, ounce whores won’t appreciate them. Chris carries other candy like Mike & Ike’s. We met many hikers who had never thought about carrying candy other than the obligatory Snickers bar. It is a great addition if you don’t mind some added weight.
• Instant Refried Beans: We met a southbound thru-hiker in the White’s at the Crawford Notch General Store. He’d just received his maildrop and had too much of a resupply and handed off a package or two of beans to us. He also gave us taco seasoning to go with it, and we had some Taco Bell sauce (maybe Taco Casa?) in our drop as well, in addition to tortillas, so it worked great. We ended up eating our first meal of it at lunch at the Lake of the Clouds hut the following day. The beans will last several meals and if you have a block of cheese, it makes it even better.
• Macaroni Grill meals: or similar meals—even good old Hamburger Helper would work. This just breaks you out of the ramen or Knorr side rut. It works well for us because we used a pot cozy and didn’t have to boil our water constantly and waste fuel or have it really stick too heavily on our pot. Repackage into baggies after buying the box at the store.
• Cheese. Cheddar is ok in winter but will turn oily in hot weather and not do so well, stick with hard cheese in warmer weather and eat relatively quickly. Asiago, parmesan are great choices…though they tend to be a bit more expensive in the specialty cheese section.
• Backpacker Meals: We relied on these about half the time, having pre-purchased some of them for our drops but also buying them along the way. We did have our favorites and while some people turn their nose up at them, they really aren’t that bad. Although most hikers don’t have much good to say about the breakfast ones. Some of our favorites were… Backpackers Pantry: Louisiana Red Beans and Rice, Santa Fe Chicken, Mountain House: Lasagna with Meat Sauce, Alpine Aire: Summer Chicken, Garden Risotto. I know we have had other Alpine Aire meals, but I think, at least in my opinion, they are one of my favorite brands of backpacking meals. Someday I want to try Mary Jane’s Farm brand. We haven’t before because they are quite a bit more expensive.

I think I miss whoopie pies the most. When I went back to look up this post about whoopie pies I didn’t realize I’d semi-covered this before, but not in such detail. I should have done that then. That was a pretty good day, but I wish we’d sidetracked for a bit to the Gulf Hagas.

Backpackers, what are your favorite atypical backpacking foods?

I’m kind of amazed that I grew up in Texas and never visited Enchanted Rock. My parents took us camping a couple times a year but I know we mostly drove within two hours of home. This would have been nearly five hours away, so probably not a feasible trip back then. I had mentioned this park as a place to go on our Texas Roadtrip in September 2010 but for some reason it didn’t make it to our list of places to visit. Well, we finally did make it.

The park itself is in the boondocks between Llano and Fredericksburg, west of Austin. The road the entrance is on has cattle guards on it with signs warning about free range cattle on the roads. I’d posted to Facebook that we were going out there and my friend Sara replied that she was driving down there for the day with her family. I was excited about this because Sara is a friend that I’ve gotten to know through the internet these last few years though we actually know each other from high school. Because I’ve been here-there-everywhere I haven’t had the opportunity to hang out with her in person all that often, it is nice to see her when the opportunity presents itself. In high school we didn’t really know each other that well back then even though we were in the same art class for three years, but it took the internet to realize that we had more in common than we thought. You know, high school and all its weirdness.

We arrived at the park around noon and were stunned to see a line to get into the park. It was New Years weekend after all, but still. This was craziness! Luckily the side coming from Llano was much, much shorter than the side coming from Fredericksburg. A few hours later, on top of Enchanted Rock, we saw the line from Fredericksburg was at least 3/4 of a mile long or more! I suppose that is something good to communicate, that there are that many people willing to wait in line to visit a state park and this isn’t even a touristy commercial park like Disney or Sea World or heck, the mall! But, we were around Austin and well, they don’t have Keep Austin Weird bumperstickers for nothing. It is the eclectic awesome spot of Texas—despite that so-called school that happens to be there. Austinites/Hill Country folks enjoy nature a lot.

We made it in and I gave Sara a call. She was still going to be a few hours so Chris and I set up camp and decided to go explore the area. Little Rock, the ‘smaller’ rock to the west of Enchanted Rock was right behind our campsite so we left straight up from there, building our own pathway as we found it. It was a pretty awesome thing to do!

It was beautiful out and clear, which for the last few weeks it had been cold and overcast. This is what I had been looking for all winter!

From near the top of Little Rock looking over to the east at Enchanted Rock. We had to dip down into a short gap (I like to say gap because it is very A.T.) between the two rocks.

I think this might be the only color photo I took the entire time, an orange sulphur butterfly, a female I believe. I used our Butterflies Through Binoculars Florida edition to figure it out. Colias eurytheme.

We played around on Enchanted Rock or awhile before I texted Sara to figure out where she was. She was still about fifteen minutes from the entrance by this time so we decided to hike half of the loop trail that went around the rocks. By the time we arrived back at camp I phoned Sara and they were on Enchanted Rock enjoying the late afternoon and I invited them to drop by our campsite before they left for home again. About an hour later they showed up and I was glad to sit and chat with them for awhile. Her two sons are super sweet and a bit shy but they really enjoyed playing on and pushing their dad on our hammocks.

Sara and her family didn’t stay long as they still had their nearly five hour drive back to DFW and it was already pushing dark by this time. (I hate winter—dark at 5:30 is not very fun!) We said goodbye and I went off to shower and hopped into bed at a much too early time but spent it reading a book by flashlight. I really need to get a portable battery operated lamp for winter. Chris headed off to take star photography shots. He’s still working on those so I can’t show you them.

And you will just have to wait for the next half of this trip report!

One of the photos I processed from our weekend at Enchanted Rock last weekend. We were trying to find a supposed cave but instead we found a slot of rocks to walk/crawl through. I spent most of the weekend shooting in black and white with a red filter on my camera. The landscape seemed to beckon for that type of treatment, but Chris managed to get some color shots that were stunning!

I’m going to slowly be working on the rest of the photos. I’m trying to get a baby blanket finished and it is trying my patience and frankly I just don’t want to do it. Instead I want to quilt but I don’t have a sewing machine. I think what I want is a quick reward, but I know what I need is to spent a weekend watching chick-flicks and pushing myself to early arthritis to get it done. I need to get the blanket done so I can focus on some other projects, but first things first.

Did a bit of a redesign around here too. Need to change some links on the blog list—my brother’s blog changed. The header is now a bit different. The photos are from left to right: a capuchin monkey from Inti Wara Yassi when we went to Bolivia in 2008, Chris and I at Pensacola Beach on the last day of our Florida Trail thru-hike last year, my dad, brother, me and Chris at the Crosstimbers Trail on Lake Texoma last spring, me in the mud and cut grass of the Big Thicket last spring, me heading up Hump Mountain in the Roan Highlands of Tennessee on the AT in 2010, and the final photo is a red eft I saw in PA in October.

Florence + the Machine is tearing up my mp3 player…not sure if it will ever get old.

When we left Dog Canyon the next morning the sky was relatively clear. The forecast did not predict any significant problems so we left the campsite with an intent to take it easy along the way to our initial destination, the Tejas campsite. We planned on stopping along the way to enjoy the scenery, take lots of breaks and really soak it all in.

On the Bush Mountain trail we headed in a westerly direction along the crease between two hill tops. We followed on the flat terrain for maybe a mile, perhaps less, before starting our wind up the hill. Initially we’d bundled up but as soon we we entered the sun out of the shade from the nearby mountain we started shedding layers, plus it became warm as soon as we started exerting effort on our climb up the hill.

On top of the first hill we knew we’d have it easy for awhile as we ridge walked and then descended again before going up once more. On the first ridge is where we looked to the north and thought, “Uh oh”. Ominous clouds were in the distance and we both said we hoped that it didn’t involve rain, but we saw a rainbow and, well, you know how rainbows are formed. We trucked along when all of a sudden the temperature dropped and I scurried to put some layers back on. Then Chris pointed out that he thought the precipitation that began coming down was snow flurries! It was then that I suddenly had an image of a freak snow storm and us trying to find our way on a mostly unmarked path, other than the well trod path we followed. No blazing, very few rock cairns….we were going to be stuck in a snow storm. Ok, so I got an overactive imagination at that point, but it does help to start thinking about what you might do in a situation like that.

We started descending down the hill and of course it was cloudy, snowing lightly and getting colder. Now would have been the time to go up hill. Over to the south we could see the Marcus trail where we could be going up another hill in a little while.

Down at the trail junctions we stopped to take a snack break, get some sugar into the system before heading up the hill. Heading down the Marcus trail we were again walking on flat trail between two sets of mountains and we found evidence of previous homesteads or campsites when we walked by an old trash pile with rusted cans and bottles that were quite possibly 100 years old. Right before that we had scared up a decent herd of mule deer, one fawn heading off in the wrong direction at one point but we knew they would all gather back together somewhere out of sight.

Then it was time to start climbing again, and it wasn’t terrible and of course I took my breaks. We were on top of the next ridge before we knew it and as I was eyeing a downed agave, Chris decided to take a photo of a live agave near it. I took advantage of the moment to rest and eat a snack. The sun was fully out now and it was warming up a bit by this time, enough to shed a layer or two. The ridge was peaceful and quiet and in the distance we thought we spotted a golden eagle but weren’t sure. Chris thought the flight pattern was definitive of an eagle but the bird never flew close enough for a positive identification.

From the top we wound around the edge of the ridge, slowly descending and flattening out.

Along the flat part we stopped to check out this flower, initially thinking it might be an orchid but then deciding it wasn’t upon closer inspection. No matter, we had plenty of time to stop and take photos so we both dug our cameras out and took some shots.

Chris left me to take these macros, slowly walking down the trail to see what he could find. When I finally started heading his direction I walked slowly, taking my time and enjoying the quietness of walking alone. I rarely walk by myself in the woods and the feeling is very different.

When we intersected the Blue Mountain Trail we knew we were about a third of a mile from the Tejas Trail junction. We were descending into a small valley where the topo made made it appear we would walk along a creek. Sure enough, after the Tejas trail junction we did find the creek and walked for about a mile after to the entrance of the Tejas campsite. It was only 1pm; we’d talked about moving on to the Pine Top campsite which would allow us to have less miles in the morning and to be completely downhill for our exit of the park. With a ten hour drive back to Houston, less hiking was probably ideal. We sat for thirty minutes or so at the Tejas campsite entrance to snack and rest before summoning up the energy for the final ‘up’ to the Pine Top campsite. The topo signaled it wouldn’t be very difficult, a few switchbacks and then mostly straight up on the ridge with a small up at the end to the campsite.

When we got up the first set of switchbacks and to the the top of the first hill Chris declared that he thought it was PUD, “pointless up and down”, because we shortly descended a bit to rise back up to another small hill. From there it was easy walking and I kept trying to determine which bigger mountain we were aiming for, which one the Pine Top campsite was located at.

In front of us the mountains grew larger and I finally determined that we were getting closer, thinking that the mountain in front had to be Guadalupe Peak. Finally, we saw the metal sign marking the trail junctions.

And there it was, Guadalupe Peak, where we’d been only days before.

Looking southeast towards the visitors center.

Chris scoped out a place for sunset photos and we walked the .2 miles up to the campsite. Several of the tent pads were not very level, we bypassed those for one further back and more sheltered from the wind up top. Quickly we set up the tent to dry out from the previous night’s rain; it had frozen to the tent and still had not melted. We shook the fly off, ice flying everywhere. Later we looked down at the ground and saw a pile of what appeared to be snow and wondered if that was what had come off of the tent or if we had somehow overlooked the little pile of snow/ice when we set the tent up.

We ate dinner early, partly because we were hungry and partly because we were cold and wanted something to do. I attempted to walk around further down the other end of the Bush Mountain Trail but was too cold to want to bother with much.

I did manage to take this before heading back to camp to get into the tent for the night. I snuggled in the sleeping bags, doubling Chris’ over on top of me until he got back from taking photos. Despite zipping our sleeping bags together for the night we were still shivering for awhile before sleep, tossing and turning throughout the night when one of us got too cold.

The next morning we quickly took the tent down and scurried over to the edge of the ridge where Chris attempted to take sunrise pictures.

We weren’t exactly in the best position, so we packed things up and headed downhill. Along the way we stopped a few times for Chris to take a few shots but then we stopped for longer to watch a small herd of Barbary sheep.

Neither of us had a zoom lens on us and instead we made do with our landscape lenses. I cropped this one so you could see the sheep. One of them, maybe the leader, was ahead of the pack and already topped the small crag and went over the other side.

Only a few miles more and we were at the Pine Springs campground once again. I was partly glad to be done but sad to not be out in the backcountry still. There are still other trails we didn’t see that I hope to eventually hike one day.

So much to see and not enough time!

We rose at the McKittrick Ridge campsite the following morning to clouds. It had been quite windy the previous night and a few times it sounded like rain outside, but despite all of that, the ground was relatively dry. We ate a hurried breakfast, taking the tent down first in case the bottom fell out of the sky, so that the tent wouldn’t be wet later. I asked Patrice and Justin if they were awake so they could get up if they wanted to get back down to the McKittrick Visitors Center before the rain came. We were expecting at least a 70% chance of rain for the day, as per what the rangers told us when we picked up our backcountry permits. Luckily our day was relatively smooth and then downhill to Dog Canyon.

A quick snapshot of the four of us before we jetted off to the west.

The wind was kicking pretty good when we left but we also saw hints of the sun reflecting off of the mountains to the west and for about thirty minutes it appeared that perhaps the day might not be so terrible. The topography for the day was supposed to be relatively smooth with a few minor ‘ups’ in there. We crossed another small knife edge and the wind whipped straight across and I was thankful there wasn’t rain involved with the wind at the moment. Atop a few of the small hills we climbed I thought it was very beautiful, pine covered and rustic, good places to stealth camp. I wished we hadn’t been racing the rain so we could have stopped to snap a few shots.

We were on top of the ridge shortly before descending a bit to walk along the edge of the ridge on the south side, blocked from most of the wind by the mountain on our north. Midway through this walk the sprinkles started and we put our pack covers on to keep our gear dry. Up went the zippers on our rain jackets and the hoods to cover our heads. It wasn’t terrible until the trail made a turn around the curve of the mountain to the north and we got hit full force with the wind and the rain.

The trail junction for the Tejas Trail and McKittrick Ridge Trail came quicker than we anticipated and I was excited that we had only about four miles left to descend to Dog Canyon. Luckily the rain ceased for the most part at this point and the clouds seemed to calm. We spotted a mule deer buck at one point across a small gap on another hill and we stopped to admire it for a few seconds before moving on. Down below we spotted a building but thought it might not be in the right direction and that it was potentially too far to be the Dog Canyon visitors center. (turns out it was the visitors center)

The trail followed around to the mountain we saw the mule deer at and then a bit further we spotted three other deer. The terrain was this point was smoothly downhill and very nice. Even if we were to come back this was it wasn’t terribly steep, an ‘up’ yes, but nothing horrible. To the north was New Mexico and it seemed that the terrain mellowed out a bit for awhile.

Down and down around the switchbacks we went until we finally came to the bottom of the canyon where we followed an on and off creek. On and off because sometimes it was wet and other places it wasn’t. At one point I thought I heard a voice and sure enough just around the bend we encountered hikers heading up the canyon for a day hike.

In addition to day hikers we ended up seeing two backpackers heading up and all I could think was that I was glad it wasn’t me because I knew what the weather was supposed to be all day. We later found out those same hikers turned back after encountering sleet at the higher elevations later on that day.

At the visitors center we sat down at the picnic table out front to wait for the ranger on duty. She returned shortly and informed us we could just self pay for a campsite. The campground was relatively quiet so we had our pick of campsites. We were half hoping for a soda machine because there had been one at the Pine Springs campground but alas, no soda machine.

It wasn’t even 11 a.m. but we ate a first lunch (second lunch came later) and saw that more clouds were rolling in so we set off to find a campsite and pitch the tent. Good thing because during our nap several storms rolled through. I was very glad to be in a tent!

After our nap we did a little exploring and I went off down the nature trail to see what I could find.

I kept my eye on the sky the entire time because of scenes like this, clouds rolling in and I didn’t want to be caught in the rain. There’s mountains behind the clouds.

I just took the little trail in, taking in the different scenes.

Overall it was a relaxing day and I enjoyed it a lot. We tucked in early for the night; not much to do after dark when it is cold, might as well get in the tent. It does make for some long nights, though!

Next we’ll follow the Bush Mountain Trail to the Marcus Trail and then to the Tejas Trail.

When I told my dad we were going to Guadalupe Mountains National Park for Thanksgiving he recounted his tale of it being one of the hardest hikes he’d ever done. He regaled me with a story about my brother and him being ahead of the rest of the Boy Scout troop, and climbing and climbing to the McKittrick Ridge campsite they were all supposed to stay at that night, however night fell and they ended up laying out their sleeping bags somewhere in the middle of the trail. Eventually everyone got caught up together but then there was an issue of getting water and the only place was several miles downhill, so my dad and a few others carried everyone’s water bottles down to fill them up and then hauled them the several miles back up.

I just kept thinking, It can’t be that hard!

Um. It was.

Or at least for out-of-mountain-shape me. Patrice and Justin were still rocking their trail legs so they were patient with me as I eased up McKittrick Ridge.

First, we had to descend Guadalupe Peak, approximately four miles, then refill on water and shuttle a car over to the McKittrick Ridge trail head. Patrice and Justin were going to come back out the same way the following day so they could head to Carlsbad Caverns for the weekend.

When we pulled into the McKittrick Visitors Center I noticed a Backpacker Magazine vehicle parked in the lot and two people, a man and woman, with gear outside of it. Our interest was piqued. Chris headed over to the car as soon as we parked and we all followed suit. It was the Get Out More Tour, with Sheri and Randy Propster. Chris told them we were all AT thru-hikers to which they said they were as well, but they’d also completed the American Discovery Trail which is how they ended up being chosen for the position with Backpacker.

We chatted with them for quite awhile, very interested in their lifestyle of traveling the country nine months a year, testing gear, traveling trails that readers choose as some of the best routes and then reviewing them on their blog, and giving clinics at various outdoor retailers around the country. It’s a pretty good gig and they know it! Patrice and Justin informed them they were interested in doing something similar and it seemed that the possibility of something being available could happen in the future. I was definitely envious!

Sheri and Randy had just done part of the loop we were planning and did inform us that the trail up to McKittrick Ridge was a good trail but very relentless with many false tops.

Chris was anxious to get going since it would be our longest and hardest day and he was still hoping to get to the campsite before dark. The first several miles would traverse along McKittrick Creek through the canyon and would be relatively flat. Yay for flat! Then it would be a steep and relentless hike up to the ridge and campsite.

The first mile or two were slowly busy with day hikers traversing the creek.

I did a double take at the vegetation along the creek and had to run my hand up the side of it. It was sawgrass and I even looked it up on the USDA database to see it was listed for that county out there. Definitely stunned! The big tooth maples were past their prime but still held a bit of color.

For lunch we made it to the Pratt cabin where we sat at the picnic tables next to the creek and chatted with some older day hikers from Austin. Patrice and Justin showed up shortly after we sat down for lunch, we’d left them back at the cars since Chris knew he wanted to go slower and take photos, knowing they would catch up to us.

This is part of the cabin that was built by Wallace Pratt back in the early part of the 20th century. On Google Earth it appears that a road continues through the canyon to the north; someday I’d like to walk back on that road and see where it leads.

A little further down Chris stopped to take photos of trout in a small puddle of the creek.

About a mile past the Pratt Cabin is a grotto down a short trail and then a bit further another cabin. Patrice and Justin scoped out the cabin while I sprawled out on the top of a picnic table to rest.

The open area to the south of the grotto appeared to be a good stealth camping place…

Shortly after the grotto the climb up began. It was about four miles to the campsite and it was definitely 95% up! Switchbacks and more switchbacks…it was never ending! But it offered up some amazing views and as we climbed I didn’t feel too guilty for stopping to catch my breath because we could stop and peer out over the canyon below.

Eventually we wound up high enough and spotted four other hikers that Sheri and Randy had told were ahead of us. I was surprised to have caught them, thinking they were further ahead than we were. Patrice and Justin pulled ahead of us when Chris stopped to take a photo of a yucca. Eventually when we came to the top of the first false summit and then realized we had to go down to cross a knife edge and then go back up I was a bit disheartened. Chris kept saying we wouldn’t make it for sunset and since I didn’t wear a watch while hiking I had no clue what time it was, nor did I want to ask because knowing the time and distance only frustrates me when I am not going fast enough.

We were on the south side of the knife edge and we saw the four hikers climbing up the north side of the knife edge. Later we found out that Patrice and Justin were both waving to us from the top of the other side but we didn’t see them. Eventually on the other side we did catch up and pass the other four hikers who were hiking in jeans. I know, hike your own hike, but really, jeans? Ouch!

The four had separated into two groups of two and both asked us how far we thought camp was to which we estimated about a mile to a mile and a half. When we passed the second group it wasn’t but ten more minutes before we arrived at the McKittrick Ridge campsite, thankfully a shorter distance than anticipated.

And it was only 4 o’clock, an hour until sunset! I hadn’t walked as slow as I thought, not thru-hiking pace but not the turtle pace I felt I was going.

P&J said they’d only been there about ten minutes and were in the process of setting up camp. We got our tent ready and dinner too, and then spent a few hours chatting with them about the A.T. and thru hiking as well as post trail life.

And then it was all of 5:45pm or so and time for bed. Yep, hiker midnight!