I was confronted with this pile of what appears to be hot pink trail blaze tapes as I was signing in at the Roby Lake Trailhead at Paddy Creek Wilderness. My initial guess was that someone had been over-enthusiastically blazing the trail, and had some spare blazes left over. Whatever.

I’m here for a two-night stay of the Big Piney Trail. I plan to get in around twenty miles, on what’s going to be my first long hike in around nine months.

• Today, Wednesday, February 18, 2026, I’ll be taking the South Loop up to the North Loop short cut, and then the North Loop to a spot I’ve called ‘Spring Hollow’ I’m heading there, as we’re still in the middle of a drought, and despite some recent rain, it’s still pretty dry, and the spring there has proved reliable so far.
• Thursday, I plan to hike the remainder of the North Loop north and back around to the South Loop and then get myself to another favorite place I’ve nicknamed ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga.’ Thursday night and Friday morning will be the coldest of the trip, 34°F and 45°F, respectively.
• Friday, I’m taking the shorter (faster) route back to the trailhead, continuing along the South Loop. Why the rush? It’s our wedding anniversary, I dropped Ginger off at her parents on the way to Paddy Creek, and I’ll join her when I’ve finished my hike on Friday.

The weather is going to be mostly warm and sunny, albeit windy too, so I took a gamble and packed my 40°F fair weather top quilt. Judging by the wind and weather, I thought a ‘burn ban’ was likely so instead of my alcohol stove, I packed my butane stove (MSR PocketRocket).