This is a return trip to this little part of the world we love so much. I'll let you look at the previous thres I did on this last month for more detials on where it is and all.
This trip was an opportunity for The Boy to invite a little friend of his and his friend's father. It turns out that we are all going to Orlando together this weekend (still a surprise to my son and daughter). So it served to keep him off the trail of that little deal and also to make hammock converts of the friend and his dad.
The last trip we tried to find Owen's Creek Waterfall but couldn't find the trail and were told by another camper, "You can't get there from here. Trail is closed down". Remember that little tidbit for later. So after a little more research on my part and what I thought was a better map, I had the trail figured out and this would be our goal on this little jaunt.
We got a later than desired start but upon arrival we were able to lay claim to the spot my son loves to camp at (it has that special tree) and we set about setting up the two small hammocks for the boys to insure everyone knew we intended to stay there that night and we went hiking.
As we hiked around the service road to the trailhead for Owen's Creek we found another site even better and discussed pulling stakes and moving when we got back but that idea got scraped in the end. We found the trailhead and it stated 2.5 miles to Owen's Creek. We had already knocked off about .6 when we hit the entry point so we were off to a swimming start. I should note that long hikes are my ideal. I can hike from sun up to sun down with little concern. I'm not super fast but I'm steady and like it that way. That's just me but I was concerned to make sure the rest of the crew were ok with what would be a 6 mile loop before supper. They were and off we went.
Not much more than .4 miles in the trail is blocked by a large blow down. I'm leading so I think, this is what the guy was talking about. Funny part was that I litterally bushwacked all of 100 feet in one direction and then back and found the trail no problem and we were rocking once more. If that was all that was keeping folks from hitting this trail they were surely missing out.
The trail is a challenging one in that there was a lot of elevation change. Here we were just coming back up from a very short road crossing climbing back up to the main trail. The photo may not do it justice. It was really steep, but short.
This was another look at the change in the trail. It went up like this then straight back down then up again. I loved it. The boys were over the novelty in short order.
At the top of one of the rises we came upon an old grave site. Most all of these were from one family and everything was from around the Civil War. There were roughly 15 or so graves. The boys enjoyed looking at the dates and pieceing together the who, what, and wheres that come from family sites like these. It was not lost on Derek (the other dad) or me that this was right before Memorial Day. A holiday instituted to remember those fallen soilders from both sides of the Civil War. All gave some...but some gave all, is true in every war. May God rest their souls.
We still never found the waterfall. Nothing to be found (by us at least) but a dried up creek and lots of hills. We gave the boys the option of leading us out and what path to take. They chose to bushwack to the Trace and head back to the camp area that way. In hind sight the trail was better. While the elevation changes were a challenge we hardly had an issue with bugs. On the road I thought the gnats were gonna pick me up and cart me off they were so bad. Derek said I had a halo of them around my bald head the whole way. Definately not the angelic look I would prefer.
Once back at camp we decided to stick with what we had and I set about getting Derek and me set up in hammocks as well
This is everyone set up and cooking. The one in the front is my HH Expl sporting my brand new HG Incubator. She is so pretty. This was the inagural hang in this UQ and I was pleased to say the least. I won't go back to a pad (except for extreme cold 0* and still in conjuction with my Incubator). Note the 30D ACU Digi Camo on the outer. WHHOOOOOO BUDDDDYYY. I am in love.
The whole time I'm setting up Derek is watching, helping as needed and commenting on how cool the hammocks are and how much he's gonna enjoy this new experience. The hook is in but he ain't swallowed yet.
I set him up in porch mode and tell him to test it out. Well, he swallowed it hook and all and he ain't gettin' loose now. The rest of the trip all he talked about was he was gonna get hammocks for him and his whole family. A new convert is born....
So after a meal of hotdogs roasted over the fire, Mountain House Mac&Cheese (man that stuff is rich - way cheesey) and SMORES, the boys settled in to sleep and Derek and I got to have an adult conversation (a treasured rarity in my world sometimes) until about 10 p.m. We turned in and sleep like logs....sort of. We had a huge racoon come sneaking very boldly around the site while we were talking. He slid off to another site while we were up but just shortly after I got in the hammock I feel a tugging on my suspension where I have my pack hung. All I can think is it's the racoon. I try to shooe him off from inside the hammock to no avail so I'm up and out. Taking the pack and locking it in the car to take the temptation away, only to realize walking back to my hammock that silly me, I hung my hammock and Derek's from the same tree. He moves, I move and vice versa. Oh well, too lazy to change it and still slept great (as did Derek).
The next morning we had Mountain House eggs/bacon and hot tea. I was gonna send The Boy back with our friends as I had work near by to do and would be out most of the day, but I just couldn't pull away just yet. I suggested an early morning slip to the creek so The Boy could lead a little and show them some of the fun we found on the prior trip. So The Boy took the lead and did a fine job of navigating the trail and some points of interest along the way.
Nobody was home....thankfully.
The piling crossing though with much less water this trip. We still had a great time looking at rocks on the sand bars. I quit counting the fossils we found. They were that many.
We interuppted a beaver in the pursuit of his daily "grind". This was about as fresh as I've ever found.
All in all it was another great trip and we added several more to the growing ranks of those with an elevated perspective. My work here is done now.
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Originally Posted by BillyBob58
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