• Lanie and Ginger chatting — 2024 Total Solar Eclipse

    Eclipse Camp (Monday, April 8, 2024). 2024 Total Eclipse. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Eclipse Day, and the weather is looking wonderful. Warm with clear skies.

    We spent the morning chatting before breaking camp around midday ready for the big event which was due at one fifty-seven (by my calculations — which turned out to be correct).

    Eclipse Camp (Monday, April 8, 2024). 2024 Total Eclipse. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • 2024 Total Solar Eclipse Camping — Sunday

    Eclipse Camp (Sunday April 7, 2024). 2024 Total Eclipse. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    This is my third and (most likely) last total solar eclipse. 1999 in France and 2017 in Missouri being the first two. Ginger wanted a more open view of this eclipse, prompting me to find a small Farm Road in the Mark Twain National Forest, near the center track of the eclipse that offered clear views of the sky. Checking aerial views online, it looked like there were several likely spots along the road that had been used by RVs during the pandemic (when campgrounds closed).

    My original plan had been to hike into Irish Wilderness, but Ginger wanted to keep the hiking distance short, and I wasn’t going to complain because we’d have to pack in all our water (several gallons), as there would be three of us. Ginger and Lanie, sharing the Duplex tent, and me in my hammock. I did offer Lanie my spare hammock, but (for now) she says she prefers to remain a ground dweller so that critters cannot walk underneath where she is sleeping.

    To avoid traffic, we decided to set off on Saturday, spend two nights in the forest, ready for the eclipse on Monday.

    We drove up and down the farm road checking out places to park before deciding on the first one we passed ¯\(ツ)/¯ I dubbed the place “Pottyville” due to the various abandoned commode seats that had been left behind, presumably when all the RV-ers decamped back to the regular campgrounds.

    We bushwhacked about half a mile from the road into the forest and set up camp.

    Saturday and Sunday were overcast, with a fair bit of wind — too much Saturday night to let us have a campfire — and even a short pattering of rain at one point. Sunday night the wind eased off, and Lanie kept my Firebox Nano woodstove going all evening.

    Monday was forecast to be clear with some slight high-level cloud, nothing to worry about.

    Eclipse Camp (Sunday April 7, 2024). 2024 Total Eclipse. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Journal: Three days hiking the Big Piney Trail, Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024

    Pool below the shut-ins. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I spent three days on a hike of the sixteen-mile loop of the Big Piney Trail in Paddy Creek Wilderness which I managed to extend to twenty-two miles. I also managed to break some more gear and at the end of the hike needed to call out a tow truck to get me home.

    For details of my trip

    Journal & Photos
    Photos

  • Postscript. It was at this point I discovered that the factory-supplied tire iron did not fit these lug nuts

    It was at this point I discovered that the factory-supplied tire iron did not fit these lug nuts — Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    It took three hours to get someone to come out with the right tool to switch the tire.

    Later research uncovered the fact that this is a problem with several Ford models. The lug nuts swell! Needless to say, I have now had new lug nuts fitted that will not swell.

    Somehow, Ford dodged a class action on this because they are not considered ‘unsafe.’ Bah!

  • End of hike selfie & Trip summary

    I Hiked over twenty-two miles in two-and-a-half days. I’m happy with that.— Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I’ll let my trail journal do the talking…

    1120 On the trail. Clear, Sunny, Windy! 70°F
    1125 at the short cut jct. ECG inconclusive. I’m feeling good so I’m going for the 7 miles.
    1205 Little Paddy Creek crossing
    — Bear? tracks on the trail [Future Gary: No, it’s a dog.] I cannot be sure if it went through before or after my run through on Wednesday.
    Two deer.
    — filling up with water.
    1241 Three Creeks short cut Jct carrying straight on.
    1245 On the North Loop. 1 Deer.
    1300 Trash can. Met two hikers + pack dog.
    1312 at the turn off stock pond. Water & Snickers stop
    1320 Back on the trail.
    1421 at the falls. 5.3 miles so far. 3 hikers.
    1445 on my way eta 1545?
    1500 at the Nrth/Sth Trail Jct.
    1525 at TH Flat Tire?

    6.73 miles +757 -664 2.2 mph 1.6 mph

    Overall I’d hiked 22.19 miles in 2½ days.

    Unusually, there were several cars in the parking lot. It being a Friday afternoon probably helped. There was a group of Scouts at the registration point when I got there.

    Gosh! There are cars in the trailhead parking lot! That makes a change. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Big Piney Trail, ‘Figure of eight’ route, starting counterclockwise from the Roby Trailhead. 40ft Contour lines.

    What worked

    • My jury-rigged hiking pole made it out with no issues, though I discovered later that the middle section was also damaged beyond repair, so I have a new pole on order.
    • The Circadian Hammock is excellent, and possibly a long-term replacement for my Chameleon.
    • Bringing my winter under quilt.
    • The Bedrock Cairn Evo PRO Sandals were excellent. The main improvements over my Luna Sandals are:
      • Better grip on the soles.
      • A much grippier footbed.
      • They have a much more secure fastening system that doesn’t come loose on the trail.
      • They hold my feet much more securely.
      • Much easier to put on and take off.

        I only have two issues with the Bedrock Sandals so far:
        • The heal strap is not as well padded.
        • My foot seems to go over the side of the footbed at times.

    Lessons

    • I need to buy a portable tire inflator.
    • I must be more careful in picking my routes when bushwhacking.
    • At this point I’m not sure what I need to do to minimize the chance of AFIB. I’m exercising a lot more, one hour a day five days a week, 30 mins cardio & 30 mins strength. I’ve (almost) cut out alcohol entirely. I don’t think it’s really practical to do a lot more.

  • Old signpost

    Old signpost — the sign itself is long gone, and I’ve no idea if this was for the trail or something else. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Big Dog!

    Big Dog. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    By eleven-twenty I was back on the trail. After the (very) short hike to the Short Cut trail junction, I concluded that I was fit enough for the longer — around seven miles — hike out via the North Loop. I’d not gone far down the short cut trail before I saw this set of impressive prints. “Nice Doggy!” Can you see the racoon and deer prints?

  • Heating water for breakfast

    Heating water for breakfast. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Morning Coffee, camped off of the Big Piney Trail

    Morning Coffee, camped off the Big Piney Trail. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Finally, the sun reaches inside my hammock

    Day three, sunrise from my hammock. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Enjoying the view from my hammock (with legs)

    Enjoying the view from my hammock. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Enjoying the view from my hammock

    Enjoying the view from my hammock. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Day three, sunrise from my hammock

    Day three, sunrise from my hammock. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Well, I’m still alive! That’s a good thing. My AFIB has abated, and if I’m feeling okay, I’ll take the longer more arduous route back to the trailhead.

  • Hammock set up at ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga’

    Hammock set up at ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga.’ Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    It’s good to be back, I had to put in a long hike (with AFIB) today to get here, but it is such a great place to set up camp.

    My afternoon’s journal entries:

    1520 Time to get moving – 3 ltrs of water to be carried!
    1525 Should be on the trail.
    1546 AFIB! Bah! Took a pill.
    1556: at the top of the ridge. It was a good climb despite being forced to stop by my heart. I’m writing this while I’m waiting for it to slow/steady again.
    1706 @ Paddy Creek Trolltunga.
    75°F and dropping. 2 Deer
    7.8 mi +742 -622 2.2 mph 1.3 mph

  • Uh oh!

    Uh oh! Pills out on the trail can only mean one thing. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Pills out on the trail can only mean one thing. Yup, the dreaded AFIB1 has struck again. Going as slow as I could and taking a rest at what seemed like every few yards, it was still a struggle to bring and keep my heart rate down. It was also impossible to get it to settle into a regular rhythm.

    It didn’t help that it came on at the start of the particularly steep and long climb up on to the ridge.

    1Afib — Atrial fibrillation is a quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure and other heart-related complications.

  • I don’t want to lose another pencil

    I don’t want to lose another pencil — I found some stick on pen holders on Amazon, and they seem to do an excellent job. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    As I was taking gear pictures, I thought I’d also take a picture of my solution to losing my pencils while backpacking.

    This was brought on by losing one of my mechanical pencils on the trail at Piney Creek back in February. I did some online searching and came up with these handy dandy pen loops on Amazon, which, so far, are working very well.

    I added one to each of my four leather journal binders1, and after a month or so, they all seem to be holding in place.

    I don’t want to lose another pencil — I found some stick on pen holders on Amazon, and they seem to do an excellent job. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Updates

    • March 2026. The pen loops are still working well, with no signs of the loop losing its elasticity or the adhesive losing its grip. I even bought some more!

    Footnotes

    1Four journals:

    1. Backpacking — lightweight field notes journal.
    2. Personal — my angst and ‘agony aunt’ journal.
    3. Work and notes — just the day-to-day general stuff. It’s much bigger (A6), thicker, and heavier.
    4. Pocket notebook — for notes on the fly.

  • Lunch stop, and time to filter some more water

    Filtering water while I heat up and eat my lunch. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Shortly after Two O’clock I arrived at Little Paddy Creek. That’s very near my first planned campsite for tonight. I was glad it was early because I really wanted to make it to ‘Paddy Creek Trolltunga,’ several miles further on the trail. Though to do so will mean carrying extra water all the way back up onto the ridge. While I was heating water for my lunch, I topped up my fresh water and packed some dirty water for later. Above is a picture of my water filter in action.

    My water filtering kit — At the back, my dirty water bag, and in front, my Platypus water pouch (clean water), waterscoop and bleach, and the excellent Sawyer Mini water filter. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
    Water filter and bleach in my water scoop. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Taken fresh from the creeks and springs, the water isn’t ‘dirty.’ Though it may be contaminated by dead animals and animal (or person) waste, so I always filter or boil the water I drink, and I also treat my filtered water with bleach. You know, to get rid of 99.9% of all known germs. When I’m carrying ‘dirty’ water, I’ll either pour it straight into my cook pot for boiling or filter it as normal.

    It’s not a good idea to let your water filter freeze, which means I have to keep it in my pocket or with other non-freezable gear… Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    It’s not a good idea to let your water filter freeze, which means I have to keep the filter in my pocket or with other non-freezable gear (like my camera and cell phone). I needed a way to stop water dribbling out of the open ‘dirty water’ end. So, I made a stopper out of a hose connector and some hot glue. it works very well.

  • Virginia Bluebells by the trail

    Virginia Bluebells by the trail. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Three quarters of an hour later and I’m quite possibly near to where I’d land if I miss-stepped and fell off the scenic overlook. Though more likely I’d be impaled on some tree somewhere on the way down. Probably best to not dwell on that.

  • Long way down

    Long way down. Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • New hiking sandals

    New hiking sandals — Solo backpacking in Paddy Creek Wilderness, March 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I’m not sure when they stopped calling shoes like these huaraches, but sandals appears to be the current nomenclature. These are Bedrock Cairn Evo PRO Sandals. So far, I am much preferring these to my Luna sandals.

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