• Gary ready to start out on the last leg of the trip

    Gary ready to start out on the last leg of the trip. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Another three hours or so and I should be in my nice warm car heading home!

  • Bad Decisions Make Good Stories

    Bad Decisions Make Good Stories. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    It’s coming up on midday, and I’m packed, ready for the last six miles back to the trailhead. It turns out my ‘Bad Decision’ to carry on with my hike on Day Two was a good decision after all.

    I’ve managed to keep my hiking pace down the last couple of days, and I’ve stopped frequently. My heart rate has remained below 115 BPM most of the time. Now, I need to get back to the car without bringing on my AFIB, and everything will be good.

  • Breakfast treat, a Pop-Tart

    Breakfast treat, a Pop-Tart. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • View from my hammock. The Berryman Trail, December 2024

    View from my hammock. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Day Four — Making breakfast

    Day Four — Making breakfast. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    It was quite cold last night — 36 Degrees — and it’s pretty damp, too, so it feels colder than it is. A Pop-Tart, ginger and orange tea, with biscuits and gravy will soon warm things up.

  • Berryman Trail — Day Three stats

  • Camped at sunset

    Camped at sunset. The colors were glorious. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    And the ATV/Side-by-side convoy? They moved on at around six O’clock.

  • Camped at sunset

    Camped at sunset. The colors were glorious. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Setting up camp

    Setting up camp. I camped here in 2020. It’s a good spot on a ridge above the trail. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I don’t believe it, but I can hear it, so it must be true 🙂 The ATV/Side-by-Side convoy has stopped on a Forest Road along a ridge to the west of me — probably Smith Mill Hollow Road. Engines, loud voices, and music are wafting over the air.

    I’m hoping they don’t decide to drive along the disused roads that run along Smith Mill Hollow. There’s an unmarked Forest Road twenty yards from where I’m camped!

    For the first time ever, I’ve seen water flowing in the creek in Smith Mill Hollow, and the spring below my campsite has water, too. So much for carrying all that water from Brazil Creek for the last few hours.

  • Trail-side pretties

    Trail-side pretties — unfortunately my cell phone camera couldn’t do it justice. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Gary crossing Floyd Tower Road

    Gary crossing Floyd Tower Road. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Now it really feels like I’m on the last lap. I arrived at Floyd Tower Road just before three p.m. only a couple of hours of daylight left, and I have still got to get to my campsite and set up camp.

    In other news, I can hear the distinctive sound of the ATV/Side-by-side convoy getting closer. Are they chasing me?!

  • Trail conditions on the East Segment of the Berryman Trail

    Trail conditions on the East Segment. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    The section of trail from the road crossing of State Highway W to Floyd Tower Road (FR2265) is a bit more isolated than the West Segment. Parts of it run along the original trail route.

  • A trail marker for the original Berryman Trail

    Trail conditions on the East Segment, with one of the original mile markers from when the trail was considerably shorter. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Trail conditions on the East Segment of the Berryman Trail

    Trail conditions on the East Segment. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • The things people leave behind

    The things people leave behind. A hillbilly hunting hide. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Seventeen miles down, another ten or so to go

    Seventeen miles down, another ten or so to go. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Brazil Creek

    Brazil Creek. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I arrived at Brazil Creek at twelve-fifteen. I thought I’d seen the last of yesterday’s ATV/Side-by-side convoy. But no. As I dropped down the hill to Brazil Creek, I watched all twenty-one of them (maybe I miss counted yesterday), cross the Brazil Creek Bridge on State Highway W heading north.

    I stopped and ate some trail snacks while I toyed with the idea of not taking on any extra water and relying on the small spring where I’d be camping. I decided that wasn’t a good idea, because if there wasn’t any water, I’d be quite dehydrated by the time I finished the hike. I’d not had a reoccurrence of my AFIB so far, and dehydration equals AFIB, so why risk it?

    Lunch and filtering water at Brazil Creek. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Packing up camp

    Packing up camp. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    After a breakfast of biscuits and gravy and a cup of Ginger and Orange tea, I packed up camp and was back on my way just before eleven-thirty. It felt cold, with a brisk wind and damp air, even though it was a balmy 48 degrees. I was wearing shorts yesterday. Not today!

  • A tiny bit of sunshine

    A tiny bit of sunshine. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Day Three — Planning the day’s hike

    Day Three — Planning the day’s hike. There was six hours of rain last night, which bodes well for water being available on the trail. The Berryman Trail, December 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    It was a wet and misty morning. Last night, six hours of rain fell, which bodes well for water availability on the trail.

    My plan? Hike to the Brazil Creek Campground, fill up with enough water to last me through the night and the next day, and then stagger along the trail until I reached the place where I camped on the first night of my 2020 hike of the trail. That should be around six and a half miles, with a decent climb out of the Brazil Creek valley.

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