Fun in the Foothills

Saturday was the big day. After months and months of talking about our Spring Break backpacking trip the day had finally arrived. But not without a few glitches. First, we had been planning to head up to Jones Gap State Park, which is situated right next to Caesar’s Head State Park in the northern part of the state, and set up a base camp. Tricia, Ainsley, and Ty were going to camp for the night while Harper, Muluken, and I headed out on one of the many trails offering backcountry camping. On Friday I called Jones Gap to get some suggestions as to which trail would best suit us and to find out if I needed to reserve any of the campsites. I hadn’t done this ahead of time because there’s a two-night minimum when making early reservations and I knew this was going to be a one night trip.

When I called the park office I received a message stating that office hours are from 11 – 12 each day. It was already 3:30 in the afternoon. I then called Caesar’s Head and luckily got in touch with someone. The lady on the line told me that all campsites were full except for one. The one available site was a few miles into the woods. This obviously wouldn’t work for Tricia and the little ones. I began to panic. Time was ticking and it suddenly occurred to me that with the nice weather and spring holiday all the parks may be at or near capacity.

I frantically searched the internet and considered many places. Finally, I found Oconee State Park in northwest South Carolina, near the Georgia border. There were many sites available inside the park and given that Oconee offers access to the Foothills Trail, Harper, Muluken, and I would be able to hike out and find a spot before returning the next day. It was perfect.

We packed up all our gear Friday night, woke up relatively early on Saturday, and headed out. However, what was supposed to be a three-and-a –half hour drive became a bit longer when we found out that I-385 was closed. Tricia began digging through the glove compartment in search of a map. Given that we tend to get lost fairly often we have a variety of maps that we’ve collected from gas stations throughout the state. After a few moments she found one.

Getting off the highway may have slowed us down but it also gave us an opportunity to drive through some nice little rural towns like Walhalla and Peltzer. These towns were picturesque. Each had a Main Street lined with small shops and restaurants that did not read Wal-Mart, Walgreens, or Mc Donalds. There were many beautiful trees towering above the one and two story houses that sat comfortably back from the road with meticulously maintained lawns. Of course, there was also a spattering of rusted-out trailer homes being consumed by weeds in overgrown lots, sinking porches stuffed from floor to roof with trash, and stretches of long-abandoned businesses and homes. And then there were the Confederate flags. While not everywhere, there were enough of them, in homes and storefront windows, to remind us where we were. To remind us that living in quaint Southern towns can often, though not always, come at a price.

Finally we made our way to the park. Oconee State Park sits nestled in the Blue Ridge foothills. Built in the 1920’s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, the park has an abundance of camping sites and cabins. It also has a small lake filled with bass and bream, a playground, and a putt-putt course. As we pulled in the front gates and made our way back to the park office we were quickly reminded that this was a holiday weekend. There were people everywhere.

Fortunately the site that Tricia was camping on with Ainsley and Ty was located back in the woods away from the crowds. We had to walk their gear in about two or three hundred yards to the heavily wooded site that sat just fifty yards from another smaller lake in the park. When we got back to the site we were surprised to see there was already a tent set up on our lot. As I walked up to it I noticed an open pocket knife lying on the ground amidst a collection of trash and other debris.  Muluken and I walked up to the tent to see if anyone was there. Piled up in front of the tent door was a small mountain of assorted cowboy boots.

“Hello,” I called.

No answer.

“Is anybody here?”

Suddenly a surprised face shot out from the side of the tent door. It was a young guy, maybe eighteen or nineteen, with messy red hair and a small beard running down from his lower lip to his chin. He looked a lot like Scooby Doo’s good pal Shaggy. And by the way he seemed to be trying to hide his body from view I imagined he must not be dressed.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Hey, we have this lot tonight. So we’re just gonna drop our stuff over here in the clearing and go out for a hike.” I explained. “We’ll be back in a few hours to set up our camp. That’ll give you a little time to get everything packed up.”

“Oh, okay,” he replied. He looked confused or embarrassed. Or maybe even irritated. I’m really not very good at reading body language.

Muluken and I headed back over to Tricia to explain the situation when suddenly the head, this time accompanied by a fully dressed body, came jogging over to reassess the situation.

“Hey, I think we have this spot for two nights,” he said. “Are you sure you have the right lot?”

I showed him the map the ranger gave me and pointed out that it was the very lot he was on.

“We’re headed back up front so we’ll just stop in and double check with the ranger.” I said.

I really thought this would be enough to make him want to move if, in fact, he was trying to pull something over on us. Turns out he was. About twenty minutes later we returned with a ranger who had to kick him and his buddies off the lot. They started to pack up.  Since Tricia was camping there alone with the two little ones it was all a bit unsettling but turned out well, none-the-less.

We headed back to the van so that Tricia could give Harper, Muluken, and me a ride to the trailhead. It was only a few minutes away and we were excited to finally get started. I had hoped to be on the trail by 12:30 or so and it was now already past 1:00. By the time we unloaded our stuff from the van, signed the trail register, and made our way a few yards down the road to the trail it was 1:40. Finally, we were here. We said our good byes and headed off into the woods.

 Those first few hundred yards come and go easily. The packs are light, the sun is soft, and the trail is flat. Soon, though, the kids started to wear down a bit. We had started at the southern terminus of the Foothills Trail, a seventy-seven mile trail that runs along the Blue Ridge escarpment in the Southern Appalachians. The trail begins at Oconee State Park and takes you through deep forests, past waterfalls, and to the highest peak in South Carolina, Sassafrass Mountain. Eventually, the trail comes to an end at Table Rock State Park. Our adventure was not nearly so ambitious, though. We were just hoping to get in some good mileage, find a spot to camp for the night, and then head back in the next morning where we would meet Tricia at the ranger office, hopefully around noon.

Fifteen minutes into the trip I heard my first “Can we stop for a break?” I don’t remember if it was Harper or Muluken who said it but it doesn’t matter because they immediately teamed up with one another and pleaded to rest. The trees were just beginning to get their very first spring leaves so there was little relief from the blazing sun. What had started as a light pack was soon turning heavy and making shoulders pinch and backs ache. We found a relatively shady spot, dropped our packs, and sat down for a small snack of granola bars and, for Muluken, beef jerkey.

Soon after, Muluken asked if he could go to the bathroom.

“Go way back off the trail and pick a tree,” I said. “And try not to trample any plants. And don’t put your foot anywhere you can’t see what's under it.”

“Dad,” he said.

“Yeah.”

“I don’t need to pee.”

“Oh."

It was at this moment I think we were all initiated into the wilderness. Things were explained.

“I have to do what?” Muluken asked.

“He has to put his toilet paper where?” Harper asked.

I laid out the need to protect the plants and animals and beauty of the woods and how this sometimes means doing things the hard way.

Muluken quickly got over the shock and happily headed back into the woods, trash bag and toilet paper in hand. Harper and I giggled about this for some time and agreed that we wouldn’t write about it in our blogs – a promise I knew I’d never be able to keep. So we agreed to at least leave out the specifics.

While we were stopped there on the trail a young couple passed us and said hello. We would later see them again, as well as an older man who was coming back in from a spur trail leading to a sixty foot waterfall. These were the only three people we saw on the trail all day and most of the next morning.  The further we got out the more we felt truly alone.

It took only about thirty minutes or so before our next stop. We were walking just below the ridge line, again, exposed to the full sun. There were an endless supply of ups-and-downs and Harper’s pack was feeling heavy on her shoulders. She was carrying her sleeping bag, sleeping pad, change of clothes, snack, and water bottle. Just the morning before she had tried to bring along a stuffed bear and two stuffed ponies. I didn’t make her leave them at home but she could tell from my tone that it was a bad idea.  Climbing yet another hill with that pack on her back, I’m sure she was happy to shed the weight. Even if it was only a fraction of a pound.

Our second stop was along a steep pitch near a spur trail that led up to the Long Mountain Fire Tower. We sat there, side-by-side, looking down at all the trees below us. I suspected we were spending more time resting, at this point, than we were actually hiking. The kids talked about all kinds of things. The chatter started with hiking related topics but soon moved to Demi Lovato’s supersized smile and how she does this “Yeaow” thing at the end of all her songs. Amazingly, Harper and Muluken carried on an entire conversation about this. Since I didn’t have a clue what they were talking about I was reduced to eavesdropping. Finally, though, I made them explain to me who in the world they were talking about. It winds up it was the girl from the movie “Camp Rock,” which I’ve seen.

About this time I started thinking about how late into the afternoon it was getting and how we weren’t going to get as far along the trail as I had hoped if we didn’t get going soon. We’d really need to stop taking a rest every fifteen or thirty minutes and pick up our pace. We’d need to focus a bit more on the forward progress. But then it hit me. The trip didn’t need to be about mileage or even hours spent on the trail. Rather, the trip needed to be about silly conversations and potty humor and just taking our time. Enjoying each other. At that very moment I decided to let go of any goals I may have had about how far we might go or what we might see.  Instead, I’d just let it all happen and enjoy it for what it was.

Ten minutes later we were stopped again so the kids could climb across a downed tree. About forty-five minutes after that we were stopped in a shaded clearing to eat an early dinner, sandwiches from Jersey Mikes. A little after four o’clock we finally came across our first stream – and not a moment too soon. Muluken had run out of water and we were a little concerned whether we were ever going to find a water source. We jumped down into the creek, gathered up some water, and purified it using my snazzy new SteriPen (which looks a lot like a small light saber that you stir the water with). I told the kids about the dangerous bacteria that were in the water and how dangerous it could be even though it looked really clean.  They enjoyed taking a turn purifying a batch of their own.

About a half hour later we found a really nice spot back in the woods along a stream. It was level and peaceful and covered in a nice soft layer of leaves. We decided to make camp. It was 5:30. We had hiked 3.2 miles in four hours.

Harper and Muluken set up the tent as I sat and took pictures of their progress. They worked together beautifully and were patient with one another when something didn’t come out right. In just over ten minutes or so they had it up. I helped them put on the rain fly and stake it out. They then proceeded to change into their camp sandals and splash around in the stream for the next hour or so. They were so excited to play in the water. Ideally you should not camp next to a water source like this but I couldn’t resist letting them play and, later, lay in their sleeping bags listening to gentle sound of the water passing over the rocks.

Around 7:30 we got our stuff together and hopped into the tent. After setting our pads and bags up, we played some Crazy Eights and then I taught them how to play Hearts. A little less than an hour later we hopped in our bags for the night. Ready to get some rest to do it all again in the morning.

As it turns out, the hike back was much quicker. What had taken us four hours the day before we did this time in just two. A cool morning, fresh legs, and a renewed excitement works wonders. We actually came upon Tricia, Ainsley, and Ty as we neared the end of the trail. They were headed out on a 5 mile hike to the waterfall. We decided to head back to the van, drop off our packs, and meet them at the falls. We had to really hurry since we were giving them a forty-minute head start but we did it. By the time we made it to the end of the trail, unloaded our gear, doubled back, and finally reached the falls they had only been there a short time.

The kids all loved climbing up rocks and splashing through the ice cold water. It was a great time. Eventually we all hiked back together. All six of us. Our total for the day was eight miles. The entire trip totaled 11 miles. Not bad for our maiden adventure into the woods.

We’ll go back out again. Eventually.

Harper has decided to write a non-fiction book about the Appalachian Trail for a class assignment. I can’t wait to read it.

Muluken thinks it might be fun to do the entire Foothills Trail one day.

I couldn't agree more.