Bearwaller Gap 2-2-2013

I woke up on Saturday morning to snow. After the three of us backed out, I checked the weather and decided to go solo. Because I was getting a late start, I decided to begin at Tater Knob Overlook and hike in to the campsite and just hike out in the morning in order to be home in time for Superbowl festivities.
As I was getting on the interstate, I called one of my buddies that cancelled to let him know that I had decided to go afterall. Brad called back in a while to let me know that he would be joining me afterall and to expect him to reach camp around sundown.
I arrived at Tater Knob at 2:00 pm just as it started snowing. As I hiked, I enjoyed the scenery along with intermittent snow, sleet and rain. It is approximately 2.75 miles to the campsite. The trail offers a bit of elevation change with good views of Cordell Hull Lake and dam. I reached the campsite around 3:20, just as I was starting to get a little too damp for comfort. There is a shelter there which allowed me to get set up without getting wetter but the ground in the shelter was muddy. This is a great campsite for hammocks, complete with grills for the fire rings and a nice outhouse! There isn't, however, a lot of level ground for tents.
My hammock setup consisted of a windshield reflector lining the bottom of my Clark NX-250 and my Big Agnes 15 degree bag with a BA insulated air core sleeping pad in the pocket of the sleeping bag. Since the temps were only supposed to reach around 30 degrees, I hoped that I would be comfortable.
After the hammock was up, I began the task of looking for dry firewood and hopefully getting a fire started. The rain and snow had stopped at this point, so I didn't have to hunker down under the tarp. I was actually able to get a nice fire going just before dark and was in the process of getting my food bag hanger ready when true to his word, Brad walked into camp.
I made sure that we had enough firewood while Brad set up his tent,(I Haven't been able to convince him to try hammocks yet). Then we hung out around the fire, prepared dinner and later, setteled in for a good nights sleep.
Throughout the night, there were snow showers followed by rain as I slept in comfort. The only thing I heard all night other than the rain was several owls, who were very close!

http://youtu.be/_fGswdhuFYw

This is my first attempt at adding pics, so please forgive the quality.

Was it video or photos you were looking to add? Glad your buddy could make it out and looks like a good time.

I couldn't find the charger for my camera, so those pics were from my phone. There would have been more and of better quality otherwise.

sounds like fun. Too bad about the camera but glad you got to go. Thanks for sharing.