Time spent in the great outdoors hiking, backpacking, camping, fishing, paddling, and shooting. Anything well away from the madding crowd.
Uh oh! — Pills out on the trail can only mean one thing. Yup, the dreaded AFIB 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, and impossible to get it to settle into a regular rhythm.
I don’t want to lose another pencil — As I was taking gear pictures, I thought I’d also take a picture of my solution to losing my pencils while backpacking. +1
Lunch stop, and time to filter some more water. +3
Virginia Bluebells by the trail — 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.
New hiking Sandals — I’m not sure when they stopped calling shoes like these huaraches, but sandals seems to be the current nomenclature. These are Bedrock Cairn Evo PRO Sandals. So far, I am much preferring these to my Luna sandals.
Running Repairs — Last night I cobbled together a repair of my broken hiking pole. Hopefully it’ll last the ten-plus mile hike and various creek crossings on my way back to the trailhead. So far, so good.
View from the Scenic Overlook — looking northwest. Clear skies and a higher sun made it a lot easier to see the lie of the land.
View from the Scenic Overlook — looking southwest. Look carefully and you can see the two roads I still have to cross. But first I have to get down off this ridge and cross the creek.
View from the Scenic Overlook — clear skies and a higher sun made it a lot easier to see the lie of the land.
So that’s what happened to the “No Motor Vehicles On This Trail” sign. +1
My new Hammock Gear Circadian Hammock — My first impressions are that it is wider, and the structural ridgeline is slightly shorter than my Chameleon’s. That appears to result in my being able to lie flatter, and I’m not bashing my head on stuff hanging on the ridgeline when I get in and out of the hammock.
Camped below the shut-ins.
Day Two. It got a little frosty — The temperature last night was a lot lower than forecast, not that I was surprised — it’s not my first rodeo. At least this time I came prepared with my 10° under quilt. +1
Oops! What was that about bad decisions making good stories? I took a risky route to the campsite, misjudged my footing, nearly fell in the creek and broke a hiking pole. I may not be getting too old for backpacking, but I may be getting a bit old to try falling head-first into a deep pool in a 45°F creek while wearing a backpack.
Reflections in the pool below the shut-ins.
Looking downstream.
Pool below the shut-ins.
Shut-ins on an unnamed creek — Paddy Creek Wilderness. This is the upstream side of the shut-ins I discovered on my last visit to the wilderness — for some idea of the scale, it’s around 75ft wide here. The boulders are big!
Stopped for lunch by Little Paddy Creek.
Little Paddy Creek — I stopped for lunch and to top up my water.
Abandoned Homestead Ruins, Paddy Creek Wilderness — Taking advantage of some cell phone reception I sent Ginger this picture taken by the old chimney breast at the junction of the South Loop and the shortcut to the North Loop.
Well and stock pond — This is good, I was last here in December and the well was dry. And when I got to the short cut junction (it links to the North Loop) the well there was full too. +1
Checked in and ready to go — I got away without any major delays, and here I am at eleven-thirty all ready to hit the trail.