Day Two — Breakfast. As usual, I’m heating my water on my Fancee Feest alcohol stove. And I’m using my boxed Firebox Nano wood stove to keep the alcohol burner off of the ground. +1
Outdoor Activities
Time spent in the great outdoors hiking, backpacking, camping, fishing, paddling, and shooting. Anything well away from the madding crowd.
Dawn, Day Two on the Whites Creek Trail. Tales of stupidity, critters, and angry deer in the night Two-minute read.
December 13, 2024 6:57
Dusk in Irish Wilderness. A couple of hours later and I’d left the trail in search of a spot to stop for the night. It was just about to get dark as I selected some suitable trees for my hammock. +1
December 12, 2024 16:55
Camp Five Pond, Irish Wilderness. December 2024. What a wonderful afternoon to be hiking in the woods! This is the view from the trail across the Camp Five Pond earthen dam. +1
December 12, 2024 14:36
Camp Five Pond, Irish Wilderness. December 2024. +1
December 12, 2024 14:34
Gary at the Camp Five Pond Trailhead, Irish Wilderness — It’s late in the day (14:30), and I’m carrying 4 liters of water. I want to get around four miles in and camp set up before it gets dark, in about three hours.
December 12, 2024 14:32
It’s a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Irish Wilderness from Springfield.
December 12, 2024 12:37
Prepping for a four-day hike in Irish Wilderness — There’s a break in the weather and even some rain in the forecast. Tomorrow I’m driving the two-and-a-half hours east to Irish Wilderness, and I’m hiking the Whites Creek Trail counter-clockwise and I’m going to take a leisurely four days to do it. Two-minute read, +2
December 11, 2024 22:48
Journal: Getting outside my comfort zone, Paddy Creek Wilderness, December 2024. Things have conspired to keep me off the trails this year. I’ll be pushing my comfort zone as I don’t normally venture out if the daytime temperature is going to drop below 40°F. Journal: 10 20
December 5, 2024 16:20
Frozen stock pond — And that’s the last picture of this trip. Plus, a trip summary. Five-minute read, +2
December 5, 2024 14:36
Keeping my feet warm at 26°F — A change of plan, I decided to hike the five or six miles back to the trailhead and go home. I ought to be able to finish the trip before it gets dark.
December 5, 2024 14:04
Frost Flower.
December 5, 2024 13:04
A bed of frost flowers.
December 5, 2024 13:03
Wrapped up warm for a cold hike — I’m going off in search of a trail that I’m sure runs from where I’m camped near Little Paddy Creek to the North Loop. Then I plan to look for a better campsite at ‘Spring Hollow’.
December 5, 2024 13:00
Imagine a hammock between those two trees. Why? Because I forgot to take a picture before I took the Tarp and hammock down. Oh well, I wasn’t going to put it up again just for a picture.
December 5, 2024 12:38
Day Three — Slushy water bottle. It dropped to around 19°F overnight, and is currently 21°F. The forecast is for it to not go above 26°F.
December 5, 2024 10:29
There are a lot of trees down across the trail. One-minute read, +1
December 4, 2024 14:58
A better place to cross. Climbing down the bank here and crossing Big Paddy Creek would have been the clever thing to do. But scouting for a good crossing point I didn’t see it. So, I crossed the hard (and cold) way.
December 4, 2024 14:22
The Big Paddy Creek Crossing has been washed out. But I crossed here anyway. It was deep and cold. How deep? Well, my trail journal in my pocket got wet.
December 4, 2024 14:20
The trail’s a mess at the bottom of the ridge, but I made good time until … Until I got to the Big Paddy Creek Crossing that is.
December 4, 2024 14:00
Enjoying the view and some lunch.
December 4, 2024 12:52
Gary at the Big Paddy Creek Scenic Overlook.
December 4, 2024 12:51
Big Paddy Creek Scenic Overlook. I love this spot and stopped for a bite to eat before embarking on what I reckoned was going to be a difficult time on the trail at the bottom of the ridge. The area flooded recently, and no doubt the trail will be messed up.
December 4, 2024 12:49
View from my hammock, with a hot drink in hand. And the water is boiling to heat up my Biscuits and Gravy for breakfast.