Trip Plan 06: Black Creek Trail, Mississippi, 41 miles

MAP

Planning this as a late fall/early spring hike with friends.

Hoping to double the fun by tacking on a canoe trip to the end!

Trip Plan 05: AT from Springer headed north

Planning this one for June, Melissa, my hiking partner, has started a new job and does not have much free time now.  But she's taking 6 days in June and we will be backpacking 5 of those, getting as far north as we can manage.

My plan is to either keep heading north on my own or skip to Max Patch and end thing up at Hot Springs.  As long as it's not pouring rain the whole time, I imagine any stretch is a good one.

Food

A few meal ideas I thought I would go ahead and post, mainly to make them easier for me to find.
And if it helps someone else with an idea or two, yay!

I shoot for 2,000 calories because I only hike around 10 miles a day.  If you hike more, you need more.
Add nuts!

Breakfast: ProBar Meal Bar
Mid-morning/long climb: sport beans
Lunch: Tuna and tortilla
Dinner: potatoes with tuna and dehydrated mixed greens
Snacks: Snickers
trail mix from coconut and salad toppers

Breakfast: ProMeal Bar
Lunch:
rehydrated beans/tortilla and Taco Bell sauce (I ask if I could take a half dozen extras, they usually don't mind, but do ask)
Dinner: soup!
Snacks: Snickers, meat bar and snack bar

Breakfast: ProBar meal
Lunch: nut butter and tortilla
Dinner: precooked rice (measure it out, you won't want to haul the whole packet) and tuna
Snacks: Snickers, meat bar, Clif bar and salad topper mix

Breakfast: ProMeal Bar
Lunch, Tuna and tortilla (So glad tuna comes in so many flavors!)
Dinner: noodles
After dinner: cookies/crackers and nut butter
Snack: Snickers and gummy bears

NO COOK:
ProBar breakfast
Lunch: bars, usually one around 11 and the other at 2
Dinner: Tuna and tortilla
Snack: Granola/pecan trail mix
Snickers

ProBar breakfast
Hummus and tortilla lunch
couscous and chia (or other seed/nut) dinner
Snack: Snickers, protein shot and energy gels

Usual breakfast
Lunch: Honey and hemp seeds with tortilla
Dinner: Quinoa and tuna
Snack: Snickers and energy chews and...mashed potatoes!
Some days you just need the carbs

Other snack ideas:
Um.  Snickers
Peanuts/other nuts, tuna mixes, meal replacement bars, dried fruit (I love plantain chips!) hard cookies

Drinks!
Tea, electrolyte replacement, various flavor mixes and of course, Emergen-C
If the water is discolored or warm, I dump one of the big Crystal Light tubes in there.  You have to stay hydrated and if you need to treat your tastebuds, do it.

Other meal ideas:
be sure to add protein.  I use a lot of tuna, but there's salmon, chicken, even SPAM slices in individual foil packets.

FLAVOR:
When the tuna gets dull or you find all that's left is instant potatoes, a packet of flavor can help save the day.
Mixes for dip or soup add-ins are easy and light.  McCormick is doing a series of pre-measured herbs and spices for recipes, a card of 3 is $1, but they are sealed and ID'd and weigh nothing.
Dipping sauce comes in loads of flavors and if it's a shorter trip where weight is not as big of an issue, it can be a great addition!  Taco Bell sauce, and don't forget plain old salt.  If you carry paper tubes or packets, keep them sealed in a baggie with a moisture absorber.

Finally, whiskey.  Red Stag to be exact.
2 things.  Don't drink and hike-be in camp and set up for the night.
Don't drink whiskey in place of water, it's not hydrating.
Oh, and be sure it's okay where you will be camping! 

There are so many more foods to eat while hiking and camping!  Think about your calorie burn (flat walking, no weight burns around 110 calories a mile, a hard climb with a pack would be closer to 200 a mile) and how much you want/need to replace.  If you have fat to burn, you have more leeway.  Keep in mind, the more you hike, the more efficiently your body will work, so you will burn less as you get stronger.  But if your muscle mass increases, you will burn more calories just from having muscles to fuel.  It's a balance for everyone and to assuage worry, always take along a couple extra bars.  Some days you will not feel like eating much and some days your stomach demands more food, more food.

I usually eat my dinner for breakfast, as setting up camp happens when I am tired out and there's so much to do already without cooking and cleaning up added in there.  So I will eat a hot dinner the next morning, my bar at lunch and have tortillas and tuna at camp. This works really well, though it sometimes takes as much as 2 hours from when I wake up to when I hike out. Not usually a big deal, but sometimes you want to be ahead of a rain, move out while it's still cool or you have a lot of miles that day and want to get a move on.  Plus, dallying is taxing for some partners.  Which I will discuss later.

Trip Plan:04 Benton MacKaye Trail 287.2 m

To walk. To see.  To see what you see.
-Benton MacKaye (mac-eye)

PLAN:

Hiking Southbound (Northbound Mileage)

Mile 0 (286.2) Matt will drop me off at the northern terminus

Mile 56.7 (229.5) Will meet AT member at Bryson City for resupply.

Mile 97 (189.2) Dragon's Den at Deal's Gap
Pick up first box of supplies!  Fried food and soda pop!

Mile 134.8 (151.4) Green Cove Motel to resupply
Pick up second box of supplies!

Mile 176.2 (110) Reliance, TN.  Meet Matt for resupply, town time and 0 day!

Mile 214.2 (72) Watson Gap.  Will call for shuttle to grocery store, resupply and pick up supply box

Mile 248.0 (37.2) Restaurant ON THE TRAIL!

Mile 267.3 (17.9) Skeenah Creek campground .5 miles from trail.  Pick up final mail drop.  It's actually 19.9 miles to the closest trailhead parking, so 2 more days of hiking and then meet the family to head home!

 287.2 trail miles!  (I did the math in my head, so I may be off a little, it's still a plan.)

UPDATE:
July 15
Ordered down jacket and 2015 guide book/trail maps today!
Still need one man tent and better rain gear.

List: 04 How to Load Your Pack

You have all your stuff and are ready to pack. How should you put it in the pack?

The best plan is to put lighter, bulkier stuff at the bottom. Your sleeping bag, extra clothes, repair kit and sleeping pad all go at the bottom of your pack. Put the heaviest stuff on top of that and against your back.

Cookware, the stove, tent poles, heavier food and so on should be against your back with lighter items like your towel, rain gear and tent (or hammock) between that and the front of your pack to keep it from shifting at all. The weight against your back keeps the load from pulling your shoulders more. On top of that layer goes the rest of the food, your fleece/puffy and rain gear and your first aid kit. Keep your map, compass, camera, snacks, notepad and water bottle in your outside pockets or a fanny pack turned around to your front. You can clip your hat and bandanna to the outside when not in use.

Always have several big trash bags along, you can put wet gear in them either in your backpack in the case of a soaked tent or in your tent in the case of soaked clothing and shoes.

Use a tiny flashlight as the zipper pull on your pack and you will always have a quick way to see what you are digging around for.

Get a system in place for stuff sacks and gear/food. Keep your food packed together either by day or by meal, keep all toiletries in one colored bag, first aid in another, rain gear in a third and so on. This will make organization simple once you have learned your system and will ensure you don't forget anything if you load your gear the same way each time, it will be obvious immediately that your small red first aid sack slipped behind the log you were sitting on the night before.

Do not head out without knowing how to use your gear, even if you upgraded to a newer version of what you already had. Read the troubleshooter tips for filters, stoves and so on and make sure you know how to deal with possible common problems. Set up your tent or hammock several times to get a really good feel for how everything goes. It may be dark or raining when you arrive at your site. If it's raining and your tent is mesh with a rain fly, practice putting it together upside down so the bottom gets wet instead of the inside floor and then flip and slap on the fly super fast.

Look at your gear and decide what can do double duty. 

Unless you are going for just one night or it's otherwise a relaxed trip, don't take anything you think, "Just In Case" about.

a properly loaded pack is the key to a comfortable hike

List:03 What to Bring

My Packing List:
Not everything goes on every trip, this is what I have taken that I will take again.

Backpack with rain cover
Fanny Pack
Stuff Sacks

Shelter:
tent with poles and stakes and fly
tarp/ground cloth

or hammock, net and rain fly

Sleeping bag and liner
Sleeping pad
inflatable pillow

Kitchen:
stove
Fuel

lighter/matches
Kettle or pot

cooking pouches
extra baggies
long spoon
sporks
toaster fork/foil
water bottles
mug
water purification system

Clothing:
weather reliant layers
always bring a knit hat and extra wool socks
camp shoes
sunglasses and sun hat
bug net for your head
poncho or rain gear
light fleece jacket or puffy
You can use extra clothes in a stuff sack as a pillow or find room for one.
sleeping clothes

Lighting:
headlamp and tiny flashlight that I clip to my pack zipper so I can see inside it
Luminaid lantern

Repair kit:
Tenacious tape
2 small zip ties
small multitool
ripstop nylon patches
3-4 large sturdy safety pins
2 sewing needles and a length of dental floss
extra buckle
air mattress repair patch
tent pole repair sleeve

First Aid:

Small packet of wet wipes
tiny tube of hand sanitizer
self-sticking wrap
6-8 bandaids in a couple sizes
butterfly closure strips
tooth cement (a tiny plastic container of numbing agent to pack into a cracked or broken tooth)
Saline misting spray if anyone is prone to nosebleeds
Tylenol
Benedryl
antibiotic ointment
tweezers
Pepto tablets
2 gauze pads
extra tampons
moleskin
tiny nail scissors

sunscreen

lip balm

bug dope

stick-on forehead thermometer
foam ear plugs

Also:
Map of trail
compass
trail guide if possible

2-3 clips (mainly to attach wet clothing to dry on your pack, you will find many other uses)

trash bags (compactor bags are good for this)

small umbrella (light rain or hot sun protection, just tuck the handle in your pack strap)

hiking poles or stick

towel/chamois

paracord

toilet paper and trowel
toothbrush and paste
comb/hair holders

notebook and pen

camera/battery
bandanna (more than one)

It looks like a TON of stuff, but everything on the list adds up to a little over 20 pounds!  Most of it is tiny.

Ultralight gear is awesome AND it's $$$ AND it is very often made with fragile materials to keep the weight down, making it something you have to really care for every step of the way to keep from getting shredded. I advise going for the lightest you can afford that still has good durability, so 20 to 25 pounds is a very attainable goal. Your Big Four are pack, shelter, sleeping bag, sleeping pad. Get the weight down on these-even if you have to swap out as the money is there to do it-and each upgrade will improve your situation.   

List:02 Food Options

I discovered early on that I don't like trying to clean goo off the inside of tiny pots when there's no sink with a drain that takes care of the waste water or bubbles involved. So, I adopted a 3 prong approach, I call it Trident Cooking. No, I don't really, but I should.

Prong One.
Cook in foil or on sticks when possible!

Prong Two.
Cold foods!

Prong Three.
Rehydrating foods using quart size freezer bags tucked into insulating pouches!

With all three methods there is only a small amount of trash to pack out and zero dishes or pots. All you need is a kettle and stove/fuel to use freezer bag cooking.  Some foil and a fire for campfire cooking.

I recently got a pair of these little guys, they will go in my kitchen kit and live there:

Always think ahead if you are planning to cook using a fire. Are you sure there will be fires allowed-could there be burn bans for dry conditions? Is the area popular-is there a chance available wood could be used up?

In your kitchen kit consider a couple extras, especially for shorter trips when weight is not as much an issue:

A small cutting board if you have along cheese, bread or veggies. I have nightmares about a knife slip into my thigh trying to get a chunk of cheese.  So I just eat the whole block in one sitting.  Safety.

A collapsible sink or bucket. This is so useful, I take one on every camping trip, even in the van.

A small tube of hand sanitizer to cut down on the chance of making yourself sick via touching your food without cleaning your hands.

If you use foil/stick/freezer bag cooking, you will have nothing to wash, so don't need soap or a cloth to clean with, you won't need to dig a grey water hole, won't have to haul more water or do anything more than eat, roll up your bag or fold the foil and put it in an odor-blocking baggie to carry out.

List:01 10 Essentials

When packing for a trip, it's always easiest to work from a checklist. As soon as you return, make note of what you did not need or use and consider leaving it behind the next time. Same thing goes for some gadget you toted along and only used because you had carried it the whole time. Also, make note of what you did need or are running low on and be sure it's on the list for next time.

There are 10 essentials that should be packed for every single trip. The list was created to ensure hikers would have a way to bail themselves out of most situations. These are not in order of importance.
1. Illumination
2. First Aid
3. Nutrition
4. Fire starter
5. Knife
6. Hydration
7. Insulation
8. Navigation
9. Sun Protection
10. Emergency Shelter

1. Illumination:
Flashlight, headlamp, backpacking lantern-it does not matter as long as you have a way to light the darkness. LED bulbs of course, use much less battery life. If there is any chance you will be in a cave, have 2 sources of light. Even just a tiny flashlight on your key ring or as a zipper pull on your pack can save the day. Night. Trip.

2. First Aid:
The lists for this vary and reading what individuals take is like a checklist of their worst fears. When the kids were young, I carried a full 2 pounds of first aid gear even on day hikes!
Now, I carry Tylenol (Vitamin I), bandaids (all waterproof, 3 sizes, a dozen total) and antibiotic ointment. Moleskin and tiny very sharp nail scissors, a sports wrap, tweezers and a couple Benedryl. I have never needed anything beyond this list. I also carry a tiny plastic thermometer strip that is heat activated which I have never used, but can't seem to ditch.
A whistle is always good to have along, 3 toots at a time is a signal for help.

3. Nutrition:
More on food in general below, this is the essentails list for every hike and on every hike you need a couple protein bars, some trail mix (with nuts and dried fruit at least) or some other calorie-dense snacks, enough so that if you are stuck out overnight, you can have something to eat. If you need a calorie count, 1200 is what I go for, that's what you will burn walking 10 miles on easy terrain at a 2.5 MPH clip. If you know you will be walking up hills, running, climbing or out when it's below 40 degrees, take more calories.


4. Fire Starter:
Flint and steel, lighter, waterproof matches-your choice. Some folks like to have along something to get the fire burning, a film canister filled with dryer lint soaked in parafin or a small fuel tablet are good choices. Always store it in a waterproof baggie.


5. Knife:
I will go one more level here and suggest a multi-tool with a good blade or as a seperate item altogether. The knife will be useful in obvious ways, but small pliers can come in all kinds of handy for repairs and while on repairs, a strip of Gorilla tape (it's waterproof) can save the whole trip. People wrap it around their hiking poles or water bottles, but I just carry the remainder of a one inch roll in my kit, 2 feet max.


6. Hydration:
Extra water or a way to purify water along the route. Tablets are the lightest way and have come a long way in the past few years. They used to leave your water orange tinted and tasting funky. Now they have neutralizers you add as a second step and it clears the water and the taste. It also takes about half an hour, longer if the water is cold, and up to 4 hours for cryptosporidium (Cryptosporidium is a genus of apicomplexan protozoans that can cause gastrointestinal illness with diarrhea in humans. ) . Most folks have this system as a backup, if not first choice just because it is light, cheap (under $10) and fairly fool proof.
Filters are a good way to go, you can haul out water and hang to filter via a gravity filter, pump water through a filter into a 'clean' bottle, add a filter to your hydration line and just have 'dirty' water in your bladder or bottle or drink straight from the creek or bottle using a filter straw. Drawbacks include clogs from debris, potential damage from falls or freezing temps and back home, you have to dry them out. You need extra things in the field because there's always the chance with squeeze systems (where you collect creek water in one bag and force it through a filter to another bag for use) that the squeeze bag will break. So you need a syringe (to backflush debris) and backup bag. This method runs anywhere from $15-$90 for a group sized filter.
UV light is new and what I use myself. It kills off everything filters filter out and more-filters can't get viruses, but the UV light kills them. Drawbacks include the fact that it runs on batteries and when it's not in the case, it's an exposed long glass bulb. Water isn't filtered, so any debris needs to be pre-filtered via a coffee filter or bandanna. These are around $80.
Boiling the water works-kills everything. This is a good choice for water with lots of debris or that has been standing as the boiling will cause the gunk to settle at the bottom of the pot. Drawbacks include time, fuel usage and waiting for the water to cool. It's also flat after being boiled and should be poured back and forth between 2 clean containers to get some air back in there and improve the taste.



7. Insulation:
Protection from the elements! Rain gear, a poncho at minimum, and a jacket. Most people eliminate the jacket in summer, but a lightweight puffy packs down to nearly nothing and can add comfort like nothing else if you end up lost or injured. Being able to keep warm and dry is essential.


8. Navigation:
At the VERY least-a trail map, even on your phone (or take a photo at the kiosk), is better than heading out thinking you will follow this one trail or use blazes to navigate.
Best case would be a topo map and compass (and the skill set needed to use them) and a gps.


9. Sun protection:
Slip, Slap, Slop is the mantra they teach in Australia to all the kiddies and it's one you should follow year round hiking anywhere. Slip on your sunglasses, slap on a sun hat and slop on the SPF. The only thing is, not in that order. Hahaha. Sunscreen first, then hat and glasses and don't forget lip balm with an SPF factor as well. A sunscreen tube, like a big chapstick, is great for your whole face, it won't run into your eyes when you sweat and can go right on your lips.


10. Emergency shelter:
A large trash bag and a space blanket, a bivy sack, a tube tent or a lightweight tarp. Backpackers would have some type of sleep system along, so this is more for day hiking, but always have a system in place to keep dry. None of these items weigh much at all or take up much space.

Planning:02 Trip: South Cumberland State Park 12.5 mile Fiery Gizzard Trail (X)

12.5 mile end to end trail.  Leaving one vehicle at Grundy Forest, catching ride to Foster Falls to start hike there.  Camping at Raven's Point overnight, planning side trips to the overlook as well as Anderson Falls.

MAP

Joining the hiking group for this one.

DONE!

Planning:01 Trip: Montgomery Bell State Park 10 mile BP Loop

10.4 mile loop at Montgomery Bell State Park.  This is a loop trail with camping shelters and only rated as moderate, which is good because it's 100 degrees BEFORE you add in the heat index.  July. Yea.

MAP

Taking advantage of the proximity to the REI store in TN to stop in for a visit, I have never been before!  I want a huge pillow, my current camp pillow is like sleeping on a tictac.
Update: the July Cairn box had THE pillow I coveted but was unwilling to spend $30 on.  SCORE

I will be meeting Melissa for this hike, she's going on a caving trip beforehand, but for some reason that is not appealing to me right now.

Since it is so hot and there are camping shelters, I plan going sans tent and will take my hammock, no stove, basic summer gear.