• All this bushwhacking is taking its toll on my feet and legs

    All this bushwhacking is taking its toll on my feet and legs. Irish Wilderness, Missouri. February 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Morning tea in my hammock — Irish Wilderness, Missouri

    Morning tea in my hammock — Irish Wilderness, Missouri. February 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Day Four — View from my hammock, February 2, 2024

    View from my hammock, February 2, 2024 — I grabbed two liters of water at Bliss Spring, and that had to last the eight-mile hike out, including the last evening and the final day. The spring on Whites Creek I had hoped to get water from was dry. Irish Wilderness, Missouri. February 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I survived the night 🙂 (at my age I sometimes wonder!), but my heart was still in AFIB1. I had enough water for breakfast (12oz), a cup of something hot (10oz), and about 4oz for the trail.

    I decided to take a slow morning and another pill. Hopefully my AFIB would clear up before I started hiking again. It’s not a lot of fun hiking with AFIB. I know, I’ve done it before.

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

  • Day Three – Camped above the Eleven Point River to the Whites Creek crossing on the North Loop

    I stopped at Bliss Spring to top up my water, I carried out two liters, my one-liter pouch and one liter of unfiltered water in my dirty water pouch. I was banking on getting water for the night from Whites Creek, near the crossing.

    Water sorted, I had some snacks and headed off on the North Loop. I missed the trail almost immediately. I Realized my mistake and was soon back on the trail on the long climb up from the spring to the ridge on the south of the hollow. Near the top of the ridge I lost the trail, and that was the story for the rest of the hike. The trail was difficult to spot and mostly buried in leaves.

    Around four, I arrived at the steep descent down to Whites Creek. Peering over the drop-off, it didn’t look good. I couldn’t see any water in the creek. The pool I thought was fed by a spring was dry. I’d just have to make the two liters of water I had last the night and the hike back to the car.

    I set up camp where I camped in March last year. In March 2023 I had the opposite problem, too much water. Following a series of storms, Whites Creek was running too high for me to safely cross!

    2023: I’ll wait this one out, Whites Creek Crossing. Irish Wilderness, on the trail to Bliss Spring — I estimated the water to be four feet deep, but actually it was only around three feet. Having decided not to attempt the crossing, it was time to find a place to stop for the night. I should have taken some video to show how fast the creek was running. Copyright © 2023 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I felt very tired after the hike, my back wasn’t too bad, but my feet were sore in places (new, not broken in huaraches, on this trip). I was obviously nowhere near as fit as I thought I was, and the climbs were hard. The continual bushwhacking wasn’t helping either.

    My pack had been misbehaving, the left shoulder strap was continually slipping off my shoulder, no matter what adjustments I made to the various straps. I’ll admit I was getting pretty annoyed with it. The slipping strap was another reason why I didn’t fill up fully with water.

    As I sat in my hammock it slowly dawned on me that my heart was playing up (AFIB). Time to take some pills and rest up. The good news was I only had three-and-a-half miles to go in the morning. I regretted not taking on a full load of water, as dehydration is one of the things that (I think) causes my heart to play up.

    Apart from my watch’s heart monitor alarm going off a couple of times it was a quiet night.

  • Eleven Point River, Scenic Overlook — Irish Wilderness, Missouri. February 2024

    This is the only scenic overlook on the Whites Creek Trail. The trail along the top of the bluff is a tad sketchy in places, but it is fine at this point, though you will need a head for heights to step out on the overlook.

  • Eleven Point River, scenic overlook

    Eleven Point River, Scenic Overlook — Irish Wilderness, Missouri. February 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    And the only scenic overlook on the Whites Creek Trail. You had better enjoy it! The trail along the top of the bluff is a tad sketchy in places, but it is fine at this point, though you need a head for heights to step out on the overlook.

  • Video: Irish Wilderness Whites Creek Trail, trail conditions along the Eleven Point River bluff

    It’s a rugged and gnarly hike. Not a trail for anyone who’s not sure footed or has problems with heights!

  • Gear all packed

    Gear all packed — Irish Wilderness, Missouri. February 2024. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • My winter backpacking gear ready to be packed away

    My gear ready to be packed away. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    Well, I already had a lot of my stuff laid out on my ground sheet while I was playing “Hunt the glasses,” providing an oportunity for a gear photo.

  • Hammock Camping in Irish Wilderness, lost & found, and a bad back

    Hammock Camping in Irish Wilderness. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    The cold nights bring out a lot of condensation. I took advantage of the early sun to air and dry out my top quilt before getting on the trail.

    Lost & found

    I have managed to lose, and subsequently find three items of gear on my hike so far.

    • The first was on Day One, when a tie out for my tarp went missing. I guess I didn’t fit it securely when I was changing the tie out fittings. I wasn’t concerned, I guessed it had fallen on the ground when I opened out my tarp. I reckoned my light would find it when it got dark (the rope is reflective). As it was I found it on the ground a few minutes after I realized it was missing.
    • The second was last night (Day Two). I tripped over a tie out and kicked a stake out of the ground. I spent around 20 minutes on my hands and knees in the dark looking for it. Again not a problem, I carry spares, but I didn’t want to lose it.
    • The third was sometime overnight, a bit more problematic and expensive. I lost my glasses. I was sure I’d put them in the tidy that hangs from the ridgeline of my hammock. Maybe I missed the tidy? I carefully emptied everything out of my hammock and laid it out on my ground sheet. Nothing. They weren’t in my quilt, my under quilt, or my under quilt protector, which acts as a general catch-all for things that get dropped in the hammock.

      I was resigning myself to spending several hundred dollars buying a new pair. Without them I am only able to see vaguely in bright sunshine — that will make following the trail interesting, to say the least. Not to mention the drive home!

      I decided to check the ground around my hammock. The chances of me, without glasses, being able to find my glasses among all the leaf litter seemed to be fairly remote. Once again on my hands and knees, I sifted through the leaves, and finally found them. Phew!

    Oops, I did something to my back

    While bending over and crawling around looking for my lost tarp stake, I put my back out. Badly. The slightest wrong movement caused a lot of pain.

    Taking it slowly, I could stand up straight, and get into and out of my hammock with only a few stabbing pains.

    Pain or not, I was only halfway round, with another ten miles to go. Today I have another 200 ft. climb too, and I’ll need to carry water, as the North Loop is notoriously dry. Though I was hoping to find some water at what I presumed was a spring on Whites Creek, where I planned to stop tonight. We’ll see how that goes.

  • Camp at first light, Irish Wilderness

    Camp at first light, Irish Wilderness — The pre-dawn light got me out of bed to enjoy the sunrise. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Looking down the Eleven Point River covered in mist

    Looking down the Eleven Point River covered in mist — The pre-dawn light got me out of bed to enjoy the sunrise. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Looking up the Eleven Point River covered in mist

    Looking up the Eleven Point River covered in mist — The pre-dawn light got me out of bed to enjoy the sunrise. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Video: First Light, Irish Wilderness

  • Day Three — First Light, Irish Wilderness

    First Light, Irish Wilderness — The pre-dawn light got me out of bed to enjoy the sunrise. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Irish Wilderness Day Two — Fiddler Spring to the end of a ridge overlooking the Eleven Point River

    I managed the two ridge climbs quite quickly, seven minutes for the first after leaving Fiddler Spring and fifteen minutes for the second, after crossing Whites Creek. The trail was nowhere to be seen for most of the way on the three ridges I hiked along. A lot of bushwhacking was required.

    When hiking without a clear trail, it would help if I used the compass I always carry (and know how to use). Doing so would save me some time and trouble. I also have a bad habit of getting a wild idea that I know where I’m going and before I know it, I’m way off trail. It only happened a couple of times on this hike, but on the first occasion, I had to swallow my pride and backtrack a fair way. At least I realized I was off track and decided to check my location.

    I arrived at my campsite at four-thirty. My trail notes said:

    1630. Stopped for the day. The trail was non-existent on the last section. Decided to stop on the top of a hill, we’ll see how that works out. Cell service!

    — Tired physically — the two hills and bushwhacking for miles took it out of me. Worth it though!

    Future Gary says, if I had I thought about what I’d written, It might have dawned on me that there was a hint of potential problems to come. That said, I expected the trail from Bliss Spring to the trailhead to be in as good condition as the trail on Day One from the trailhead to Whites Creek. Yeah. Probably not…

  • Eleven Point River view from my campsite — looking south

    View overlooking the Eleven Point River — Looking south. I camped about half a mile from here back in March 2023. I thought this location might offer better views. It did. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Eleven Point River view from my campsite — looking north

    View overlooking the Eleven Point River — Looking north. I camped about half a mile from here back in March 2023. I thought this location might offer better views. It did. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

  • Appearances can be deceptive

    Appearances can be deceptive. Whites Creek, Irish Wilderness. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    A quarter of a mile upstream the creek was dry. I had to backtrack a little way to get water for lunch and to stock up with water for the afternoon and night. There wasn’t going to be any water where I planned to stop.

    That meant I was going to carry three liters (6.6 lbs.) of water 200ft. up the hollow on the north side of Whites Creek to get to the ridge.

    On my last visit I camped on the ridge to the south of Bliss Spring. Studying the map, I saw that the ridge ended quite abruptly about 260ft above the Eleven Point River. Seems like a good place to spend the night, and it’s also quite close to the trail for an easy getaway in the morning. We’ll see.

  • At the Float Camp Junction of the Whites Creek Trail

    At the Float Camp Junction of the Whites Creek Trail. Copyright © 2024 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.

    I was last here in March 2023.

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